nsbabra - blog

7 days with Xperia Sola - First Impressions

2012-08-20T02:27:00.001+05:30

For those of you, who know me, I still love Windows Phone and the killer hardware combination Nokia's Lumia range of devices has provided to it, but my love for Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 could not make me buy one. Instead I bought an Android powered smartphone, Sony Xperia Sola. This is my first Non-Nokia handset in the past 5 years. (Buckle Up Nokia, you lost another Customer :p) .
Jokes apart, as the name suggests, these are the first impressions of 'actually' owning an Android powered device (for a week now).

To start with, most of my friends questioned me about not buying Lumia 800/Lumia 900 as I love WindowsPhone+Nokia combination. The short answer is, Windows Phone 7.5 is not mature enough, atleast not yet. I'm sure Windows Phone 8 will be, but 7.5 is not there. And as I've been using Symbian devices, like Nokia N8, Nokia 5800 etc. I needed a smartphone with a dedicated File Manager, Bluetooth File Transfer and the ability to sideload apps without rooting my phone and currently only Android provides it (as Symbian is a dead end), so I bought one.

Hardware
Xperia Sola is powered by a 1Ghz Dual Core ARMv7 processor, Cortex-A9 on The NovaThor U8500 chipset with a Mali-400 GPU. It also has a strong built and a good design. Similarly priced phones are HTC One V (has a Single Core CPU with an 8Mp Camera and ICS out of the Box) and Galaxy S Advance (Cheap, Ugly phone with a 768Mb of Ram as opposed to 512Mb of Xperia Sola). So Xperia Sola is a pretty decent bargain for its price range . It is one of the few phones to have a Dual Core CPU, a good GPU and that too under 20K.

TimeScape UI
The TimeScape UI (Sony's Custom Skin) is ages better than TouchWiz 4 (Samsung's Android Skin). Even though it runs Android v2.3.7 a.k.a Gingerbread underneath, the UI looks and feel modern and mature. And Not to mention a planned upgrade to ICS is in the works for Q3. TimeScape may have lost a functionality or two like not being able to add or delete Home Screens, still it is a lot better than that kiddish looking ugly UI, which Samsung calls TouchWiz. TimeScape UI is smooth, possibly the smoothest out of all OEM's custom skins except HTC's Sense 4.0 which is almost as smooth except for scrolling in lists menus.

Multimedia (Camera & Music Player)
Sony did not disappoint me here again. Xperia Sola has 5 Mega-pixel camera which is a huge downgrade from my N8.(The 12Mp Monster) but the photo quality makes up for the lost pixels. Photos are very-very good for a 5 Mp shooter with a single LED flash , resolved detail is superb and Auto-focus works well most of the times. Its just Sony's Image Processing Algorithms, that are still not perfect and tend to suppress noise , specially in low light conditions. Just for the info, it put a 8Mp shooter of a friend to shame two days back. :P
Music Player is good, Cover Flow is buttery smooth and it has an inbuilt option to edit tags, which I missed on my N8. Music player can also find you the YouTube video, lyrics or artist info for the song ,which comes in pretty handy. It can also find the album cover for you. Furthermore its UI is the Best I've seen on a smartphone.

Apps-Google Play Store
Google's Play Store is the 2nd largest app store (behind only apple's). And soon it'll overtake Apple's app store as well. But my experience with Play Store was a mixed bag. Most of the apps worked fine except one Game which refused to download saying "It is not Compatible with my Phone" .
The problem here is Fragmentation, probably the biggest problem with the Android platform from a developer point of view. Android devices are powered by different chipsets like NovaThor, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments and that too with a resolution support of 320x480 to 1920x1200. So application developed for a particular chipset/resolution may not work with your device.
Other than that, Play Store is good and even allows wireless installation of applications from Play Store's website to your device which I found quite handy.

Battery
This is something Android devices has been criticised since day one, poor battery optimization. Xperia Sola has a Standard Lithium-Ion 1320 mAh battery which lasts for a day , at most (on Normal usage).
My N8 had a 1200 mAh Lithium-Ion battery , and that would last for about 2 days or more with similar usage. This is not Sony's fault completely, but Android has some major battery draining issues. To maximize battery life I have to disable Data Connectivity/Wifi when not in use, keep the brightness low and even disable Mobile Bravia Engine (which I'd love to keep on) and even then it last for a maximum of 18-20 hours. Still, thanks to the provided charger (5V-850mAh), the battery gets fully charged in just about an hour.

On the whole, except for the battery, the transition from Nokia N8 (Symbian Belle) to Xperia Sola has been quite smooth till date. And for anyone looking for a Good Looking Android Device under 20K, this smartphone is worth a look.

Feel free to shoot any comments.

Microsoft Surface - Hit or Miss

2012-07-28T16:06:00.000+05:30

Microsoft, The Redmond Giant unveiled a new Surface on 18th of June.

No misunderstandings here. For those of you who know the Original Surface, Its not the new version of Gigantic touchscreen device , that was first unveiled in 2007 and then again at CES 2011 with v2.0. That is now renamed to "Samsung SUR40 with Microsoft Pixelsense ".

This is a whole new world of Microsoft Surface.

First of all, Surface is the first hardware piece that made me say "I want One" during the live keynote.
and the last time I said those words , they were for Nokia N8 , which I proudly own today, even after Nokia abandoned the platform . For the Microsoft Surface, The Redmond Giant has done an incredibly good job with the hardware, though it missed on a few parts other than hardware, will get on to that a bit later on.

Surface will be available in two variants.

Surface with Windows RT, will be powered by Nvidia Tegra-based ARM chip. My wild guess it'll either be a Tegra 3(Cortex-A9) or a Tegra 4(Cortex-A15) .
The tablet will feature a 10.6" Cleartype HD capacitive display. Storage capacity will be either 32GB or 64GB. I/O wise, it'll feature a USB 2.0 and microSD cards slots. This is a huge plus point for users like me, who keep their data on multiple flash drives . And microSD cards can expand the storage by another 32GB.
As, we all know, Windows RT won't be able to run any desktop applications, well Microsoft took an exception and integrated Office Home and Student 2013 RT in the Surface - Bonus Point.
What it means, is that you'll be able to enjoy Metro Interface of the Windows RT with an additional benefit of full Office suite on the go.
It'll be a direct competitor to Apple's iPad, atleast according to Microsoft. And if Microsoft can do well in getting some Quality apps for the ecosystem, this might be a stellar.

Surface Pro - The more power packed sibling will run Windows 8 Pro and will be powered by Intel's Ivy bridge based processors. The one used during the keynote had a 3rd Gen Core i5. The display will be a 10.6" Full HD i.e. 1080p Cleartype capacitive one. It also has two storage capacities , like its other sibling, 64GB and 128GB.
It will also feature USB 3.0 and microSDXC for extended capacities and a Mini Display Port (think of it as an HDMI+).

Full Keynote Here :

May be I'm stretching it a little bit but, Surface Pro is the Real Desktop PC Replacement. Its the new form factor of PCs and this is exactly what tablets were supposed to do. To bring Desktop Environment to the small/handy form factor, unlike most competitors. You can run full fledged desktop applications like Photoshop etc. without breaking a sweat. Transfer content to and from flash drives and microSD cards, and do virtually anything you could do on your Desktop/laptop.

And With Vapor-MG case , built-in side stand and those cool Touch Covers for both. Users are in for a delight. Furthermore, Surface Pro comes with a pen, an accessory for Office users, that can be used to fill forms/documents using the Digital ink.

Microsoft, missed on a few notes though , Pricing for one, hasn't yet been revealed for either models. Furthermore, the availability is still in a couple of Months.
And, it does not comes with a stretched windows phone. Its a REAL Desktop Environment on those Tablets.

I'm getting one, The Pro, as soon as I've enough money...!!

What are your thoughts ? Leave in the comment section below.

iOS 6 - Google Out Facebook In

2012-06-13T00:58:00.000+05:30

At WWDC - 2012 , the major 'Software' Announcement was iOS 6 ,which according to Apple is 'The World's Most Advanced Mobile Operating System' . And despite the fact that OS X Mountain was also updated iOS 6's announcement was much more anticipated as Apple has a large user base of iOS followers viz. iPod Touch, iPhone and the iPad (as compared to Mac's), . And from what was announced , it seems like Apple had a mantra during iOS 6's development ' if it ain't broke, don't fix it' . Being an Apple fan , I can count upto hundreds of new features , that the Cupertino Giant added in the new Mobile Platform . But does all of those 'additions' really matter to the masses or at-least to me ?
Lets' have a look..

According to Apple, iOS 6 has more than 200 new features.

First of all Google Maps, as speculated are officially out from iOS . And taking its place is Apple's own Mapping Services build from scratch . And from what I could tell watching the keynote and a few demo, Apple Maps looks awfully similar to what Google announced a few days back.
Both offers a flyover feature and while Google calls its as Tour Guide, Apple chose the name 3D Flyover (not iFlyover). We hope Apple's is better, because if not then there is no point in kicking Google Maps out of iOS.
One additional feature Apple has in its mapping services is the Siri integration.

iPhone 4S's virtual assistant, Siri got upgraded. Siri can now tell you Game Scores, Restaurants - can even book a table for you via OpenTable, Movies in multiplexes and finally Siri can also launch apps.
One more update about Siri is that now it is not only exclusive to iPhone4S. 'The new iPad' will now boast the virtual assistant too.

iOS 6, like Twitter, got Facebook integration too (*cough* Windows Phone *cough*).

During an incoming call, you can now slide up the call alert screen, and either reply with a custom message or you can choose 'Remind Me Later' option. You'll then be promoted to choose when to remind you . One excellent feature is 'Remind Me, when I leave . Choose it and you'll be reminded by the iOS device when you leave your location.

Another Similar feature, Do Not Disturb, Check it and no Pop Up Notification will alert you.

Next up is Safari, it got iClouds Tab feature - with it you can explore the same tabs on your desktop/Mac's Safari and your iOS device. Safari can now save web pages for offline reading too. In landscape mode, safari turns fullscreen.

There's another feature called 'Smart App Banners' .

There is 'Passbook' - An app which can scan and then combine all of your passes in one place using the QR Code.

Then there is improvement in Guided Access - Accessibility options.

This is what the new iOS has got recently.
Apple did what they do best. Make a good product, in this case iOS 6, and market it well.
iOS 6 is good update but not great. Some excellent features are(according to me) iCloud Tab feature, Offline saving of webpages and the new incoming call alert. But others fail to impress. Well, that's my impression . Let us wait till fall and see for ourselves.

Android - Everything You Need To Know

2012-06-10T13:00:00.001+05:30

"Android is probably the Most widely known and used Linux based Operating System." Only for mobile devices like Smartphones and Tablets, the OS has made a huge impact on the smartphone market which was previously dominated by Apple's iPhone, Nokia's Symbian and RIM's Blackberry OS . It didn't even stop there and is now giving a fierce competition to low and mid end feature phones whilst dominating the High end market.

Android was initially developed by Android Inc. However Google acquired 'Android Inc.' in August 2005 and made further developments with the Android Inc. team.
Android was first unveiled on November 5, 2007 by the Open Handset Alliance, an association of companies like Google, Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung and a few more, as a platform for mobile devices based on Linux Kernel.

Android consists of forked Linux kernel , is based on ARM Architecture with the APIs written in C language and GUI in Java and XML. It is developed by Google under the project 'Android Open Source Project' which means anybody can download the source code and use it on their devices and the Best Part about it is that you won't have to pay anything to Google to use their OS.

Apps for Google's OS are compiled to produce Dalvik dex-code which runs in Dalvik Virtual Machine . Apps are written in Java, and dx tool converts .class files to .dex which can be executed on Android using Dalvik Virtual Machine. The reason Android used .dex executables but .class is the limited hardware capabilities of the mobile devices like processing power and memory as compared to standalone PCs and Laptop etc.(which use JVM).

The first Android powered mobile device was HTC Dream launched in October,2008 and ran Android v1.0 out of the box. However it gained popularity in mid 2009 when Google introduced Android v1.5 a.k.a Cupcake and along with it there new naming convention , where each updated version was to be named after a dessert in alphabetical order. However, the first Android phone I remember that actually made some news was Sony Ericsson(it was Ericsson then) Xperia X10 back in November 2009. It was 2010 when Android actually gained popularity, with Samsung, the largest smartphone vendor now, releasing their Android flagship Galaxy S in March, 2010. The phone didn't sell just well but quite well. As of 2011 Samsung has sold more than 10 Million Galaxy S. The phone was succeeded by another best seller Galaxy S-II in 2011 which , the recently launched Galaxy S-III will succeed .

Companies like HTC,Samsung,Sony,Motorola and few more local ones use Android as their primary Smartphone OS. Reasons are -

It is supported by Google, one of the largest Software Giants.
Second Largest and soon to be 'The Largest' Apps Store.
They don't have to pay anything to Google to use their OS.
Being Open Source, they can alter the UI and other functionalities to differentiate themselves from other Manufacturers.

However being OpenSource has its disadvantages too. One of them is Fragmentation, that'll be discussed in other posts. As of Quarter1 of 2012, Android is leading the Smartphone market with a share of 59% with iOS being 2nd at a market share of 23%.

Android ,despite its disadvantages, is leading the Smartphone Market and will do so for at least a few years to come.

Nokia,Microsoft - The Story So Far

2012-06-09T23:02:00.001+05:30

Ever Since Nokia and Microsoft entered into a strategic alliance with Nokia using Windows Phone 7.5 a.k.a Mango as their Primary Smartphone OS in favour of their own Symbian and Meego (a project with Intel Corp.) rumours have it that Microsoft will buy Nokia . But it hasn't happened yet and we hope it never does.
The questions is "Has this partnership helped Nokia or Microsoft ?"

The Answer is a Yes and a No .

The partnership has helped Microsoft for sure . Windows Phone, ever since its release in October 2010 has been appreciated for its Minimalistic Design , Buttery Smooth UI and Hardware Optimizations. However it never got the enough 'hype' it needed to be a successful smartphone platform . With The Software Giant teaming up with Nokia , it has now access to those Global Markets where Nokia is still a brand of trust n has large market share (like India and Other Asian Countries).

In china , WindowsPhone market share has passed iOS leading 7% to 6% in just about 3 Months.

The partnership has also helped Microsoft as now Bing Maps will use Nokia's sat-nav services.

With its partnership with Nokia , Microsoft has benefited for sure. They got the 'hype' WindowsPhone needed and with Nokia's hardware designs n their Global Reach Microsoft knows they have the best opportunity to be the third Ecosytem.

For Nokia, the partnership is a Mixed bag as of now. Nokia may have jumped from the 'burning platform' but tough times are still not over. Since their partnership on 10 Feb,2011 - Nokia was quick to launch 2 windowsphone powered Smartphones viz. Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 . Although Nokia has the rights to alter the UI and other functionalities on any windowsphone device they make , the CEO Stephen Elop said they won't do it , at least for now. Reason - Any alteration would mean delayed updates. Rather they differentiated from other windowsphone users by adding apps like Nokia Maps,Nokia Music and Nokia Drive.
Nokia recently signed a special contract with companies like ESPN,Rovio and a few more to bring their apps to the windowsphone Marketplace , most of them are/will be exclusive to Lumia range for a few time.
They even expanded their portfolio with apps like Nokia Reading and Nokia Transport .

With Lumia 710, Nokia paved their way to North American Market , where Symbian never appealed to customers or carriers. The handset was made available at a contract of $50 for two years with T-Mobile and it did quite well for its competition.

At CES 2012, Nokia launched their flagship device Nokia Lumia 900 which was made available in US with a 2 year exclusive contract with AT&T at $100. The handset managed to outdo many Android phones in similar price range and has been selling like hotcakes. Even AT&T staff were happy to see its sales with their Chairman seen promoting it instead of the iPhone. So, as far as US is concerned , Nokia did quite well.

As for the Emerging Markets like India, Nokia still has a long way to go. Android is getting most of the Symbian shares as Symbian is declared dead by Nokia and windowsphone has many limitations for customers in these markets. Take Bluetooth File Transfer,File Manager,Ability to install apps outside from Marketplace as example. WindowsPhone supports none of these ,as of now at least and Symbian customers are moving to Android because of these limitations.

With WindowsPhone 8 a.k.a. Apollo arriving this Q4, we can expect some multi-core phones and tablets at Nokia World 2012 with some amazing 'Pureview' technology and perhaps 'waterproof' devices.
I hope they do well and regain their lost market share.