It's amazing how tiny and thin this machine is and it does not loose power, getting instant on has been a craze for me for a very long time, ever since I got my iPad earlier this year, i Wanted to work with machines that boot up the moment you press a button. The Macbook Air works like that.
I also would have loved to have an Ethernet port, especially when you are working on a Gigabit network, but then this is too little to ask for, the portability on this machine does not make you miss the Ethernet port. Here I opened and used a 13" Model, but would personally like to own an 11" model only, mine are on it's way and another few days we can do the unboxing and pictures of the 11" plus a dedicated review.
I did not like the fact that the keyboard does not have a backlight, I some how have fallen in love with the Backlight on the MacBooks and the Macbook pro's, so am a little disappointed.
The speakers work fine on this machine and we also tried playing some stuff off garageband as you will see in the Video, the machine works cool and looks cool, now in a few days, will give you comments on the Battery time and if I feel the machine is too slow or the missing hard drive is giving me trouble, for now, this is one Amazing Machine.
Steve Jobs, Shine the Light on me. Thank you @maninderpals for sharing the machine with me the moment it Landed in India.
Finally after waiting an year I got my EPL1 Micro 4/3rds from Olympus, and here is the first set of Unboxing Pictures and Videos, and a Couple of shots. I am now going to play with this over the next few days while on Holiday in Himachal, and will comment what my thoughts are in a few days. I bought the 2 Lens Kit, which ships with a Micro 4/3rds 14-42 mm f: 3.5 to 5.6 ED Lens (The Lens has A Diameter of 40.5 mm and it was very difficult to find a UV Lens for it, but I managed to get an Indian Companies lens from Sonia). The Other Lens is a Standard DSLR Lens Which is a 40-150 mm f 4 to 5.6 ED Lens again, but uses a Four Thirds Adapter MMF-2 to fit onto the camera.
The Color Options available in the EPL 1 are a Black Body, a White and Beige Body and a Light Gold Body. The 14-42 mm lens is either a Silver or a Black Lens, while the 40-150 lens is a Black colored Lens.
Olympus has also given away the XD Card slot for an SD and SDHC Card Slot in the Camera. The camera features a 4/3 type MOS sensor that has a total of 13.1 million pixels, but you get a 12.3 million effective pixels in use. making this a 12MP camera for people who want to know the ratings. It also has a Video Mode using Motion JPEG and can support upto 30 frames per second in either 1280x720 or 640x380 pixel mode. Though I will not be using the PEN to shoot videos as I have the Zi8 for that, but in case you want to look at a one stop solution this camera does offer it.
The Other Alternative for me was the Canon G11 which I was seriouslly interested in, especially since it had an optical view finder, a Tilting LCD Screen, and Dedicated Dials for EV and ISO Settings, but when I compared the Photo Quality and also the option of getting it with a 14 mm to 150 mm lens range (albeit on two lenses), compared to a 24-140 in a single lens and then waiting for Canon to get you lenses, I opted for the PEN.
The PEN though is very similar to the original PEN that olympus has had for years, and a few people thought I was buying / shooting with a Film camera when testing this out in the office.
Anyway, for the EVF you can buy an option Electronic View Finder, and also you can buy an additional Flash. The Flash in the EPL1 can be used for distances upto 10 feet (compared to 7 feet in the G11), and I love the feature that for you to be able to use the flash, you have to manually release it (Thank God, I hate auto flash features). A Major missing feature which can be annoying at times is the Orientation Detector, this camera works very similar to a Film camera, where there is no orientation detector, so purists may love it, but that's a feature every one seems to be using these days.
I was also interested in checking out the Sony NEX Cameras, but as per the PR for Sony these would launch only towards the End of November. The Alpha Series has not had serious buyers in India for Sony, so was unsure if they will really ever get the NEX Series here. The Next Alternative was the GF1 from Panasonic, but there was no place possible to try it out or to actually feel what they felt in hand.
Though compared to the Price that you pay for an Olympus (Rs. 30,000 for Single Lens Kit, and Rs. 39,990 for Dual Lens Kit), and a G11 (Rs. 30,000), you pay a much lower Price for some of the feature rich DSLR's, but the portability and the format on the 4/3rds is appealing to people in case you want to move up from a point and shoot and don't want to carry bulk around with you or if you already have a DSLR and want a similar quality on a smaller camera.
In case you want to know more on what a Micro 4/3rds System is all about, check out this wikipedia article.
Anyway, enough said on the specs, in case you want to check out more of this camera look at the Olympus Website. Now the Few Shots that I have taken for trying it out and some videos of un-boxing it. Remember the photos of the Un-boxing were taken using my Zi8.
The screen on the Camera is unable to handle very bright sunlight environments, and you tend to get blinded out. Though I am still playing around with options, but this means soon I will need to pick up an Electronic View Finder for this Camera.
Click on the pictures to get high resolution files.
The Collection of Solar Plants I have in my Office Window A close up of one of the Solar Plants A very old Thermometer and Hygrometer from Russia that I have lying in my Window At Q'BA nu.delhi, a place I have always loved The Bar at Q'BA nu.delhi The Chandelier at Q'BA nu.delhi
In My Meeting with The Sony Ericsson Team, I had requested for them to send over their Green Portfolio Phones, and in the 4 Phones they sent me, they also included the Cedar which has just been launched earlier this week. At A Price point of Rs. 6200 the Cedar is an attractive phone, with 3G Data Capabilities, a Good Quality Speaker and Screen.
The Cedar's Camera is a 2MB, with capabilities to shoot a 30fps Video in VGA Mode. The Included Web Browser is a Access Netfront™ 3.5and Sony has Built in Apps for You Tube Streaming, Some Games, An FM Radio, also something called a Widget Manager 2.0 – an application which allows users access social networking via the stand-by screen. Widget Manager can login to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace accounts. There is also a Web Based Backup of the phone book (Thumbs Up) and an EAS Push mail capability. The Screen is a 2.2" 262K colors TFT. The Phone weighs a cool 84 Grams, and feels light and nice in your hand. The claimed talk time is 12Hours 30 minutes, with a Standby time of upto 420 minutes.
I loved the keyboard, especially the ridged edges, though the missing bumps on the 5 Key, and the key layout is something that you have to get used to, the keys work well lighted in a dark room (See video at the end of the post).
The CEDAR in it's Box. If you notice the box is pretty Small. In my conversation with Anurag Kontu last week, he mentioned that Indian Consumers are not too happy with a Small box Packing, they feel that they should get a bigger box, but the smaller box is a part of the Green Heart process at Sony, to reduce packaging material. Let's go ahead and open this box up now.
The box has minimal stuff in it, and notice there is no plastic bags, a big part of going green, to reduce any waste material. Sony has also included a micro USB charger that switches to zero power usage when the phone is not plugged in, or the phone is fully charged. Also included is a small pouch that has your phone, with a Green Heart Logo, you can use this to carry the phone around, as the material quality is pretty decent. There are two small booklets with the SAR and Important Information in it. The Phone user guide is on the phone itself and is not included as a Printed Copy.
Let's Go ahead and now look at the phone.
That's the phone. The phone box contained a Black and Red combo, also available is a silver and Black Combo but I loved the red on this phone. More Pictures to follow.
Let's Power on this Baby
The 3.5 mm jack is on the top of the phone and the Micro USB is on the bottom of the phone.
Here are the Demo Videos, both in a Bright room and a dark room
I am going to now use this phone over the next 2 weeks and will report about the performance. In the first preview I love the screen and sound Quality, keeping in mind that this phone is just Rs. 6200 and has 3G HSDPA capabilities. Though the camera is only 2Megapixel (but a Quick time support means I will be able to shoot some videos and port them to my Apple Mac Easily)... Let's see how the usage comes along on this one.
I also got the Hazel, Aspen, and Elm from Sony to test out, which are all a part of their Green Portfolio. I will post pictures of these soon. The Aspen is a windows Mobile phone, while the Hazel and Elm use the same OS Cedar Uses (Sony's Proprietary OS)
Dangerously Funny, Entrepreneurial Sardar, who Hacks Life, lives like a Nomad, is Hands On with everything Tech, mentoring people, speaking at conferences, loves food, travel, technology (not necessarily in the written order), just an average geek next door.
