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)
India’s first dedicated email device promises a lot, but the service lets it down It was about four months back that I heard that the Peek, 2008’s gadget of the year, was being launched in India by Aircel. About two weeks back, this dedicated mobile email device was finally launched in India with a relatively low-key announcement. Thanks to the Rs 2,999 price tag, it didn’t take long for the units to fly off the shelf.
I finally managed to find a retailer who had an unsold unit, and decided to get myself a prepaid service as the post-paid account entails a lot of paper work. I was hoping to get my email configured and working as soon as I opened the box, but I was in for a rude shock, as it takes up to 48 hours for the handset to be activated. Though Aircel call centres have different excuses for this, it appears that the company has to go back to the Peek guys in Bangalore and get it manually activated.
I managed to get the unit activated after two days, but not without a number of phone calls. Once online, however, I was able to easily get my Gmail and Yahoo mails working. Though only Rediff Pro mails work on the unit, it can be configured for Windows Live Mail.
The box clearly stated that it had support for Exchange Server and all mail servers that had a Pop or an IMAP port available. This is where I got another shock. To get your office mail configured, your IT team will have to fill up an Excel sheet form and share your username and password with Aircel, which in turn will sent it to Peek to get the account configured. But, I was not going to share my password with anyone and it finally took a brilliant guy at Peek to find a way around it.
The handset design is really catchy, with properly spaced QWERTY keys ideal for typing. However, the keys are a bit hard and the spacebar somewhat smallish, though there are dedicated @ and number keys. The right hand side has a scroll wheel and an escape key, while the power key is placed on top. The 2.5” screen works decently in bright sunlight and has a welcome matt finish to it.
The metal rear has the Aircel and Peek Email logos etched on it. The handset can store up to 5,000 emails before it replaces the oldest with new mails. It also supports up to 1,000 contacts which can be directly downloaded from your Yahoo or Gmail account. However, I had trouble downloading contacts from my corporate server. You can configure up to three email accounts, though they will all appear on a single inbox. But you can choose the account for outgoing mail. Sent mails are also stored on the handset, and there is a search function too. While there is an auto-complete for email addresses, the unit does not come with a spelling checker or auto correct. The battery is great though, as a three-hour charge stays for around three days despite all the email usage.
There are some other issues too. Since the online self management portal is still not online, you will have to depend on Peek support often. Currently my Peek runs about 30 minutes delayed, so it is not exactly a push mail service or even live. But I think this is more of a service provider issue.
The device is still a good alternative for those who want access to email 24/7 but don’t want to spend on a BlackBerry. Sadly, Aircel charges Rs 300 a month for unlimited access, roughly what you would pay for a much better BlackBerry package. Rs 100 a month seems a better price point for the service on offer.
This is a dedicated email device and there is no way you can use it to make a call, which will appeal to many buyers. But it is unclear whether the units will work outside India. However, if you are that hooked to your mail, I suggest you invest in a BlackBerry.
How To Buy
To buy the Peek, you need to pay the Rs 2,999 handset cost, Rs 897 for the first three months service, Rs 25 for the SIM card. Later, you can buy a Rs 300 coupon every month from Aircel.
Services
You can check you account balance using the item menu, though it will take roughly 10 minutes to retrieve the information. The Ask Peek services let you fetch cricket scores, movie information and other information services by sending an email.
-- The Above article / review appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 28th March 2010.
The top has a Camera for Video Calls, a white dot, don't know what that is for right now, but the walkman logo looks attractive from here. close up of the Controls, end / call, next track / previous track, play pause and 2 function keys. The round dial (next track / last track) can be used as a short cut during the phone and is 4 direction. The phone with it's slider open.
Walkman shortcut button on top of the phone
Lock for Battery cover at the bottom of the phone. The Battery cover does not open till you slide this grey lock to unlock position. Speakers of the Walkman, wonder what made them put this at the back of the phone. Camera on the Walkman phone. 3.2 Megapixels, pretty Bad. You can also see the microphone for pickup of voice in a Video. you can also see the flash (and yes, me thumb)
I got the soon to be released Sony Walkman W705 Phone from Sony the other day to test it out. After living with it for 2 Weeks, I have the review ready that will be printed in the Indian Express on the Coming Sunday. Till then some pictures of Unboxing the Product and Also Pictures Taken with the Camera
The Box it ships in, the box is very attractive and the shiny Pink color just pulls you near it.
Open the Box and you see the phone in front in a tray. The Motif Design with the blobbed white dots looks very attractive.
The sad thing Sony calls a Headphone. This is a really bad quality Headphone. Though it comes with in-ear rubbers, but the sound quality was pretty bad, the cable length too short as it is designed to be used in addition to the Proprietary port to 3.5 mm converter
Properitory connector to 3.5 mm Earphone Jack Converter, why can't they just give the 3.5 mm jack on the phone ? The microphone and the Call end button is on the converter only.
Image of the USB Cable. On one end is the Sony Proprietary Connector, on one end the USB Port to connect to your PC
Sony's Proprietary Connector for Charging, Headphone, USB Cable Interface
The Phone from the Front, very attractive.
Charging connector already connected to the Phone. You can see that there is a connector on the backside of the charger connector also, helps you connect your at the same time.
3.5 mm jack converter riding on the charger converter. One of the neatest ideas I have seen, charge your phone while listening to music.
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.
