Hot on the heals of Orange offering a pay as you go deal for a Blackberry Pearl, T-Mobile are now offering a pre-paid Blackberry Pearl which include unlimited internet and push email for a year.
The ˜Pay once’ concept is a market first, giving people the chance to experience the hugely popular BlackBerry email service and access to internet sites and social networks on the move for a year “ all for just a single payment of £179.99. Customers just have to top-up their credit as usual to make calls and send texts and picture messages.
T-Mobile’s new offer is set to make BlackBerry smartphones accessible to new groups of mobile phone customers. It’s sure to be a hit with students, letting them stay connected to family and friends by email, via IM, Facebook or MySpace. And for those just starting out in business “ whether they’re running a small business or entering the workplace for the first time “ it’s the perfect way to access personal and work emails, without the worry of hidden costs.
Many a late night I have spent playing this game on the PC and now according to Times Online this game will shortly be appearing in the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is what they have to say:-
The Times can exclusively reveal that the best-selling football management sim Championship Manager is about to come to the iPhone.
Our man would not give a precise release date, but we believe that the new game is with Apple right now, and awaiting their approval for launch on the App store.
"ChampMan" as it is known to the faithful, started life in 1992 as a PC game, but has now gone mobile.
The iPhone version will come complete with all the usual stats and managerial headaches, with a 2D match engine. A 3D version for the next PC edition is currently in the works.
One thing we’re not clear about is how the new game will take full advantage of the iPhone’s touch screen. Watch this space for more details, such as price and playability, when we have them.
So there you go, another fantastic game winged it’s way to an App Store near you.
via Times Online and Just Another iPhone Blog
Several of Panasonic’s Lumix range of cameras have been reviewed here on tracyandmatt.co.uk and over all seem to have a pretty good reputation. I’ve been given the Panasonic Lumix FX500 to test out.
Panasonic Lumix FX500
It looks and feels great. So we’ll see if it lives up to our expectations.
What’s in the box?
- Lumix FX500 Camera
- Battery
- CDROM
- Manuals
- Battery charger
- Mains cable
- AV cable
- Stylus
- Wrist strap (although there doesn’t appear to be one with this review camera)
You can check out Matt’s Unboxing video for more information
Panasonic Lumix FX500 specifications:
There’s so much about this camera so I’m not going to list everything here. Matt has already listed most of it along with his unboxing video or you can also have a look at Panasonic’s website.
General:
Front
The Panasonic Lumix FX500 has a 25mm Wide-Angle, 5x Optical Zoom, Bright F2.8 LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens. The sensor is 1/2.33″ and 10.1 million effective pixels (10.7 million total pixels). You can see in the picture below the built in flash, the lens and at the top right is the AF (auto focus) assist lamp.
Panasonic Lumix FX500 – front view
Top
Working from the left of the picture – There’s the speaker (the four holes), the single hole is the microphone, then the on/off switch, and then you can see the shutter button which is housed in the middle of the zoom lever which you slide left and right.
Panasonic Lumix FX500 – top view
Bottom
On the bottom of the camera is where the battery and the SD card are housed. There is also the standard tripod attachment hole (can be seen in the front view of the camera)
Panasonic Lumix FX500 – bottom view
The connections
AV Output (NTSC/PAL), USB2.0 High speed and HD AV Output (Component). The wrist strap loop can also be seen here.
Panasonic Lumix FX500 – connectors view
Back
- The large 3″ display screen is also touch screen.
- The switch at the top left is to switch between record and playback mode.
- Mode button – lets you choose which recording or playback mode you want to use
- Display button – changes the on screen display
- The Menu/set button takes you to the menu to be able to change the general settings of the camera and also acts as the ‘select’ or ‘ok’ button. This button also doubles up as a joystick to navigate through the menu.
- When in record mode the joystick also works as shortcut keys to the self timer, exposure compensation setting, flash settings and auto focus
Panasonic Lumix FX500 – back/screen view
Highlights:
- Large 3″ screen
- Touch screen
- 25mm Wide-angle lens
- 5x Optical zoom
- Excellent picture quality
- Functions and features
Lowlights:
- Sometimes a lag when taking action shots
- Can be difficult to change shutter speed and aperture in manual mode
- No zoom function when recording video
Review:
The Panasonic Lumix FX500 definitely has a quality look to it. The model I am reviewing is a silver brushed metal version. Panasonic also offer this FX500 model in a black brushed metal version.
Its robust build and impressive large 3″ touch screen immediately gives the impression of a high quality camera. But enough about its looks, lets investigate deeper into its functions and of course performance.
The 25mm wide angle lens is quite impressive for a point-and-shoot camera, and the 5x zoom gives it a range of 25mm to 125mm.
I played about with the camera over a few days taking loads of pictures using different modes that the camera offers. However, after a while I found that the mode I liked best was in fact the Intelligent Auto mode. where the camera does all the work! Now, before you go and start calling me lazy, I normally use a DSLR camera so normally like mucking around with shutter speeds, apertures and lighting – So, makes a nice change!
The Intelligent Auto mode does as the name suggests and automatically changes the mode, exposure (shutter speed), aperture, etc. It seems to be quite accurate. The only thing I found myself changing was forcing the flash off (as I don’t like built in flashes)
The touch screen offers an Auto Focus (AF) tracking function whereby you touch the screen on the subject you want the camera to focus specifically on. So if the subject moves after the AF has been set the tracking will follow the subject so that it is still in focus. This is a great feature, which comes in very handy when trying to capture active pets or children!
Now, you can change modes by clicking on the Mode button and then selecting what you want by pressing on your choice on the touch screen. The scene mode gives you 17 different scenes to choose from. I found some of them a bit bizarre at first. For example, there seems to be one for ‘Baby 1’ and one for ‘Baby 2’, then there is one for ‘Pet’. I thought, “why would taking a picture of one baby be different for another? Have Panasonic gone a bit bonkers?!”
But. It all came clear later. When you enter into the playback mode you can play slideshows or just flick through the photos. and filter the ones you want to view. Hence, Baby 1, Baby 2 and the pet!
There is the option to change to shutter priority, aperture priority and full manual mode so experimenting with this camera is possible. My only issue here is that when on any of these modes the way to change the the setting of the shutter speed or aperture is to use a slide bar on the touch screen, and it’s quite hard to slide to the setting you want accurately. This is where the stylus (the strange piece of plastic that Matt found in the box!) comes in handy. This is supposed to attach to the wrist strap so it’s there when you need it.
When using the ‘Sports’ mode (action shots) I noticed a lag ever so often between pressing the shutter release to the shot actually being taken. I seem to have a few shots of my dog’s tail now!! Never mind! Maybe I just had to get used to the camera a bit more.
You can change the brightness of the LCD display which is useful as LCD screens can be hard to see in bright conditions. You can also set it so that you see the screen clearly when holding it up above your head. “Why?” you ask. Well, idea for gigs/concerts. Especially when someone taller stands in front of you. That always happens to me!
You can record video on the Lumix FX500. Just change the mode to the Motion Picture setting and away you go! You can record in widescreen (16:9) or standard (4:3) and you can change the metering, quality and frame rate. It does record for HD play back and you are also able to extract individual frames as photos. It’s not too bad I have to admit, but, there is one thing. you can’t use the zoom when recording video.
I think I’ve gone on enough about modes and settings so I’ll move onto the picture quality. I’m impressed! And, wait for it. even in low light!! (sorry, I had a rant in a previous review about low light picture quality).
You do get some visible noise in the higher ISO ranges (the higher the ISO the more light the sensor will take in) but that’s to be expected and isn’t bad enough to put me off the camera.
You can get some great images with the camera so here’s an example of some macro shots I’ve take with it. I had the Intelligent Auto mode set on these and it switched to macro mode just as I needed!
Macro photos taken with the Panasonic Lumix FX500
The other example I have for you is using the backlight feature. The button for this is on the touch screen at the bottom. Pretty handy as you can change to this quickly. It’s for when the light source (e.g. the sun) of the picture is behind the subject.
Left: Backlight off Right: Backlight on
Conclusion:
I definitely like the Lumix FX500. I wouldn’t change to it from my DSLR but it’s a great point-and-shoot compact camera and the image quality impressed me.
I would have liked a larger optical zoom but 5x is the norm for compact cameras. (Panasonic do have a super zoom range of point-and-shoot cameras as well)
The large 3″ screen is great for reviewing images on and the touchscreen functions make this camera that much more ahead of the game than some others on the market right now. Mind you, as with all touch screen gadgets you end up with finger marks all over the screen!
So, over all, the Panasonic Lumix FX500 is a definite hit!
Reviewed by: Emma
What is so special about this app? It is an iPhone app released by a company owned by Greg Grunberg, who is an actor from popular “Heroes” TV series (about mutants with superpowers).
Here is how this app looks like:
Continue Reading »
From its annual All Hands Meeting in Tokyo this week, the Bluetooth SIG formally adopted Bluetooth Core Specification Version 3.0 High Speed (HS), or Bluetooth 3.0. This latest iteration of the popular short-range wireless technology fulfills the consumers’ need for speed while providing the same wireless Bluetooth experience – faster. Manufacturers of consumer electronics and home entertainment devices can now build their products to send large amounts of video, music and photos between devices wirelessly at speeds consumers expect.
Bluetooth 3.0 gets its speed from the 802.11 radio protocol. The inclusion of the 802.11 Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) provides increased throughput of data transfers at the approximate rate of 24 Mbps. In addition, mobile devices including Bluetooth 3.0 will realize increased power savings due to enhanced power control built in.
Orange today announces the eagerly anticipated HTC Touch™ 3G for business customers. Available at Orange in exclusive matt black, the Touch™ 3G cleverly combines work and leisure applications in one device through a range of powerful multimedia and mobile email capabilities. The Touch 3G additionally offers UMA technology, enabling calls to be made over a Wifi/Broadband connection, allowing customers to benefit from enhanced network coverage.
With capacity for a 32GB MicroSD card, busy professionals can use the HTC Touch™ 3G to catch a movie, listen to music or surf the web on the move while mobile email means they easily can keep on top of their work load. Powered by Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional, customers can simply, easily and cost-effectively synchronise all Outlook email, contacts and calendar information directly with their phone.
The Sanyo Xacti HD2000 is a recent upgrade from the HD1010. It looks similar, it feels similar. So what’s changed?
The Sanyo Xacti HD2000
What’s in the box?
Have a look at Matt’s Sanyo Xacti HD2000 unboxing video for more.
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 specification:
Video
Zoom: 16x optical
Resolution: 5.31Mp (HD)
Definition: High
Scan method: interlaced & progressive
File type: MPEG-4
Image size: 1920×1080
Focus types: Continuous area AF, manual
Minimum illumination: 2lux
Monitor: 2.7in TFT LCD screen
Interface: HDMI, component, S-video, composite
Formats: NTSC, PAL
Power: Li-Ion battery
Still
Zoom: 10x optical
Resolution: 8Mp
Sensor size: 1/2.5in
Sensor type: CMOS
Image size: 3264×2448
File type: JPEG
Sensitivity: ISO50-3200
Storage: SD/SDHC
Focus types: 9 point AF, spot
Normal focusing: 50cm-infinity
Close focusing: 1cm-1m
Metering types: Multi, centre-weighted, spot
Exposure compensation: /- 1.8EV in 1/3 step increments
Shutter speed: 1/2-1/1000sec
Flash: In-built
Monitor: 2.7in TFT colour screen
Interface: USB 2.0 via docking station (included)
Power: Li-Ion battery
Size: 112.6x90x54.5mm
Weight: 311g (inc. battery and card)
Full specification can be found on the Sanyo Website
General:
Sanyo have adopted the pistol grip design again for the Xacti HD2000. It has a compact and robust feel to it with almost all of the controls at just a thumb’s reach away.
Front
The Lens – 10x optical zoom, focal range = 6.3-63.0mm (35mm equiv = 44.4mm-710mm), aperture = f/1.8-f/2.5, filter diameter = 40.5mm. The lens also has a built in neutral density filter.
The Sensor – 1/2.5 inch CMOS
The microphone and headphone sockets are located near the top of the pistol grip along with the infrared remote sensor.
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 – front view
Top
The integrated flash is located on the top and has a button to manually activate it
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 – top view
Right side
The right side of the pistol grip is the battery housing. Nothing else here!
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 – right view
Left side
The flip out 2.7 inch LCD screen can be seen here in the closed position. The perforated section on the back of the LCD houses the inbuilt microphone and speaker.
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 – left view
The Screen
The LCD screen flips open and can twist around 270 degrees. The switch you can see to the left of the screen is a menu type selector – switching between normal and simple.
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 – opened view
The controls
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 – controls view
Pistol grip
The SD card fits into the back of the pistol grip. At the bottom of the grip is a DC in socket for charging the camera.
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 – grip view
Highlights:
Lowlights:
Review:
Opening the box and emptying the contents would make you think that the Sanyo Xacti HD2000 is a complicated device as there is so much there! This is not the case! Once you’ve managed to get your head around all the cables, adaptors, remote, docking station, etc (or just ignore them for the moment) the device itself is quite strikingly simple!
Conveniently the battery was already charged up (thanks Matt!), so when I flipped open the LCD screen the first feature of the camera came to light. It switches on and off with the opening and closing of the screen. The time it takes from being switched off to being ready to shoot is surprisingly fast. Without getting into the different settings, the basic functions of the camera are quite clear from the controls which are all a thumbs reach away. You can take still pictures, record video footage, playback the images and video.
Looking into what features the Xacti HD2000 offers opens up a whole other chapter and I could go on and on about the different features.. but. I won’t. I’ll try and pick out the main highlights and lowlights. After that, I recommend that you have a look at Matt’s sample videos taken with the Xacti HD1010. I know it’s not the HD2000 but the features are pretty much the same so you may find the videos useful.
The fact the this camera is relatively small and compact makes it really appealing and easy to carry about. The pistol grip design that Sanyo have decided to stick to seems to work well and the positioning of the controls is well thought out.
For still photos the 8MP camera takes a decent picture in good lighting. It has a feature aptly named the ‘face chaser’ which, well… you can guess! This can detect up to 12 faces in the frame which is useful for getting your pictures as sharp as possible.
The main issue I have with the camera is the low quality of images in low light situations. You can use the flash but I’m one of those people who hates using built in flashes. The light bounces straight off the subject giving a really unnatural look to the picture. So what can I do about that? The ISO (light sensitivity of the sensor) can be changed manually and can be set right up to 3200. I tried a few shots at different ISO levels but still not that thrilled about the camera in low light. The noise levels on the pictures are pretty bad (especially on the higher ISO settings.
But, apart from the low lighting issue, it’s possible to take some good pictures with the camera and you can take advantage of the 10x optical zoom and handshake reduction/stabiliser setting
Video recording is a breeze with Sanyo’s Xacti HD2000. As mentioned before, the controls are nicely positioned making it very easy to start and stop recording without too much movement when pressing the capture button. The video stabiliser helps with and handshaking and the zoom is a 16x advanced zoom. This is an upgrade from the 10x zoom on the Xacti HD1010.
You can probably guess what I thought of video recording in low light!! Say no more!! In fact, I have to mention one thing though. There is no light/lamp for taking video in low light. Would have been a useful feature to include in this upgrade.
Moving on! There are seven different video formats you can choose between and an additional setting to record voice only (the different formats can be seen in more detail on the Sanyo website). On the highest resolution (Full-HR 1920×1080 (60fps/24Mbps)) the video output is excellent. As you can imagine it take up a lot of memory though. Matt mentioned that he uses the HD1000 to record the unboxing videos and has it set to HD-SHQ 1280 x 720 (30 fps/9Mbps). You can see the quality in the unboxing videos is pretty good even though it’s at a lower setting.
The most interesting video format is definitely the ‘Web’ format, or more commonly known as the slow motion format. It’s great fun to play about with an you can get some pretty amazing footage. Again, check Matt’s videos from the HD1010 as he’s got footage in there using this slow motion feature.
One feature I really like is that you can take still pictures whilst recording video footage. This is definitely not a standard feature with camera/video camera devices.
The Xacti HD2000 comes with a docking station where you can place the camera to charge, connect to a pc or connect to a TV. You can also charge the camera by plugging the charger straight into the bottom part of the grip so you don’t need to take the docking station with you if you don’t want to. There is also a remote control included that you can control the camera with and carry out almost all of the functions with from it.
Software:
The CD ROM provided includes Nero 8 Essentials and Xacti Screen Capture 1. It also includes the instruction manual. (there is a hard copy one in the box too).
The footage captured will play on recent versions of QuickTime, which most people already have installed on their PCs/Macs.
Conclusion:
The Xacti HD2000 has definitely impressed me. It’s compact and easy to use design makes it enjoyable to use and the quality is generally quite impressive (just don’t put me in any low light conditions!!)
The fact that it’s just so simple to use makes it a great camera/video camera for anyone to use.
The only thing that would really put anyone off would be the price. Whilst writing this review I checked out the price range that the Xacti HD2000 was selling for and it ranges from £400-£500. If you’re looking for a good camera to take still pictures with you could buy a pretty decent DSLR camera and even be given change from the money we’re taking about here.
It’s a shame that the price is what’s letting this camera down as I did enjoy using it.
Reviewed by: Emma
Our latest podcast is now available to download, in episode 33 we discuss the HTC Touch Diamond2 review, SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 software, Samsung Tocco Ultra review, iPhone applications, Nokia N97 and HTC Magic launch dates and much more.. You can subscribe via iTunes, RSS or download the mp3 file here. Full show notes after the break.
Apple has approved an illegal clone of Donkey Kong with illegally used name (albeit with added "i" at the beginning) and with illegally used (cloned) game layout from original Donkey Kong of Nintendo! Go get this game ($0.99) now as we think that soon it will be removed from the app store…
What is Donkey Kong? It is a classic arcade game – one of those old games thanks to which Japanese company Nintendo became huge corporation. Since Nintendo has its own mobile gaming console – Nintendo DS (lately extended with DSi model that features camera also) – there is not even one game from Nintendo in app store of Apple. We are sure that Nintendo will not tolerate clones though…
Here is how this game looks like:
We’ve recently been looking at a number of the Sony Ericsson Cybershot and Walkman phones and this is our latest, the Sony Ericsson C510.
The Sony Ericsson C510
The C510, as the ‘C’ in its name suggests, is a member of the Cybershot range and as such is more camera oriented. However it only has a 3.2 megapixel camera and while image quality is certainly not all about the number of pixels it would seem to be a bit limiting given that there are 5, 8 and 10 MP camera phones out there now. We’ll have to wait for Nick’s review to see how it shapes up.
The accessible Sony Ericsson C510 Cyber-shot™ handset is jammed packed with the highest quality imaging technology and encased in a stylish handset design expected from Sony Ericsson.
The Sony Ericsson C510 is a small, slim and attractive looking handset, it’s also light and easy to pop in a pocket and a handset that’s easy to take with you on a night out. Check out the unboxing video for a closer look:
Sony Ericsson C510 specification:
- Dimensions: 107 x 47 x 12.5 mm
- Weight: 92g
- Display: 240 x 320 pixel, 256K colour TFT, 2.2 inches
- Camera: 3.2 mega-pixels, Autofocus
- Smile Shutter™
- Face detection
- Network: – GSM: 900/1800/1900 (Tri-band)
- UMTS (3G), EDGE
- Music: Media player
- Album art
- Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
- Music tones (MP3/AAC)
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, E-mail & Instant Messaging
- Memory: Phone Book: 1000 entries, up to 2500 numbers
- 100MB (internal)
- Memory Stick Micro M2 (external)
- USB support
- Geo tagging of photos (cell-id)
- Google Maps™
- FM radio with RDS
- YouTube client
Don’t forget that you can find many more unboxing videos on our other site www.unboxings.com
Posted by: Matt
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