I upgraded to this from my Xperia Arc, based on numerous
online reviews comparing it favorably to the Xperia T, Galaxy SIII and/or
iphone 5. So far it's all good; the phone feels more solid in the hand than the
Arc, and clearly bigger - about as big as a 'phone' can practically get. The OS
is very smooth and stable, installing a dozen apps as fast as I could find and
select them, obviously the extra power helping out here. Battery wise, with
some of the power saving options selected, I'm getting around two days on a
charge with medium usage, much the same as the Arc. You'd need to have everything
turned on and cranked up then use it non-stop for hours for flatten the battery
in the way some people have suggested. The infamous socket flaps are a mild
inconvenience, but that's the price you pay for water resistance, and their
presence is hardly a secret so I fail to see why some people are acting so
shocked and horrified by them; is it not normal to do a bit of research before
buying a £500 product? On the whole, I'm very pleased; it's pretty much exactly
what I expected from the majority of professional online reviews.
To tell you the truth when I got the package I was shocked at how light it was and I taught it can't be the phone but it was. Brand new. I am in love with the phone's physical appearance, a beautiful device. Back cover tends to get dirty easily unfortunately but I have bought a hard cover for it (HTC HC C800 Hard Shell for Desire X) which doesn't make it much thicker, still slim and elegant with it on.
Well the performance is great. It's my first smartphone so can't really compare but I am happy with it. A 1GHz dual-core processor does it justice. I was not going to buy anything less with than 1GHz for sure. For a mid-ranged phone it is perfect. Camera quality is good. The fact that it does not have a front camera does not bug me that much. The key rockers are reachable and not hard to press as I have heard on online reviews, at least when you get used to them.
I do recommend this smartphone, I think it is a great price for the specs. Oh, and when I first plugged it I was shocked it did not start up, haha... a few minutes later it got to me though, the battery was still in it's plastic cover, hehe hope you learn from my mistakes. Good luck! HTC, surely quietly brilliant :)
The game is what you would expect for the sequel to the best selling DS game, New Super Mario Bros.
It isn't incredibly challenging, but can still keep me - a teenager - interested. The children will love it too!
There are eight levels, two of which are secret, and the game certainly has longevity. It isn't your complete-in-2-hours-Imagine-game. It seems interesting and I expect longevity from this.
As for playing on the 3DS XL, it is simply amazing. The graphics are excellent and you feel as though you are in the game. The 3D effects are good, but not necessary to enjoy the game. Thus, those under six (or the who hate the 3D) can still enjoy this gem.
It is very similar to the original, but the levels are quite different. There are perks and new suits, etc. but it is still familiar enough to know what to expect. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it creates a feeling of nostalgia.
My only concern is that the collecting coins thing could become tedious. I know they needed a different plot-line but listening to that sound could become monotonous and hanging around for coins can be frustrating! But, it encourages you to spend more time on the level, thus allowing the game to last longer.
I love this game and I would recommend this to anyone!! If you haven't played the original, I would recommend you buy that as well. Truly amazing - you won't be disappointed! Pretty and with substance...a true rarity in the gaming industry today. And, this is why Nintendo still sell consoles...The quality is undeniable.
I got this phone three weeks ago, and so now I'm going to share some of
my thoughts about it. I am very impressed with it, as it is a massive
improvement on my last phone which was a blackberry bold. The first
thing I noticed is that it's really fast, and I never notice any lag
opening apps and playing high graphics games, so I love it.
It's
screen is really good, and I would say it is the best screen you can get
on a phone. The colours are very clear, especially the whites, and it
can go very bright. Watching films and using the internet is also really
easy on this phone because of the large screen, and the text resizes on
the internet to fit the screen which makes it really easy to read.
The
headphones are extremely high quality, and better than any other phone.
They pack a lot of bass for such small buds, but the high notes and
mid-tones are great as well. The beats audio EQ makes them sound even
better, as it boosts the bass and high notes to make the sound suit the
particular headphones better.
The battery is not, amazing, as it
only lasts a day and a half for me when I'm using the phone a lot.
However, there is a free app on the android market called juice defender
which I would recommend downloading, as it improves the battery life
dramatically by turning off battery draining aspects of the phone when
you're not using them.
Lastly, the design. I think that the red
accents on the speaker grill and the camera look really good, as they
give the phone a limited edition feel, and with design becoming more and
more important in technology, the red accents make it stand out from
the rest of the market as a premium handset, with the beats logo on the
back adding a bit of "cool" as well.
The camera takes really high
quality photos for me that still look good even when I view them on a
computer. Surprisingly, it takes better photos than my actual camera
does, and I use it the whole time. The video also seems great quality,
and you can choose what quality you take photos and videos in, in
settings, if you want to take up less space on the memory card. Another
great thing about the camera is that it comes with some editing
functions, like cropping, and you can add effects to the photos like
negative or sepia and more. The phone comes with a 16GB micro sd card
already in it out of the box, which is great for storing music, photos,
and videos.
The last strong point of the phone is the Android
operating system, and that is a major factor to thing about when buying
this phone. The Samsung Galaxy SII also has Android, but the Sensation
XE also has HTC Sense, which is a skin, changing visual interface that
you interact with when using the phone, to make it look much better and
do more, and this is much better than Samsung's user interface, called
Touchwiz. HTC have announced that the HTC Sensation XE will receive an
upgrade to the latest versions of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, in
the next three months, which will bring more features, and make it an
even better phone.
Overall, from my experience of using it over
the last few weeks, and then comparing it to the iPhone 4S and the
Samsung Galaxy SII, I would recommend it as the best phone out there at
the moment, beating all the competition due to its design, its sound
capabilities, its phenomenal speed and the Android versatility.
I have had my ipod nano a few days now and here is my review:
Appearance and general:
This thing is tiny! It has a 1.5 inch screen and is very thin and light. I got mine in a pink color and it look fantastic! The battery life is impressive. You can get hours of playback- I think I get about 20... Loading music on is very easy. You need to install itunes and load up any CDs and then they can be synced onto the device. Features:
Here are all of the features on the iPod nano:
Playlists.
You simply let your favorite songs and create your own albums. I find this feature very useful when I just want to listen to half an hour of my favorite songs.
Genius mixes.
This is a feature where, from what you have been listening to and what is in your library, it suggests new songs and albums for you to try. I found this feature good at times but it mostly goes unused.
Music.
This, obviously, is the main part of the ipod. You can select what songs to play via Artists, Songs, Albums, Genres or composers. Music quality is excellent, but I would recommend that you buy some half decent headphones. You can shake to shuffle. There is a voice-over feature, by holding on the button on the apple earphones, it can tell you what song you are listening to and who it is by in a robot voice. I do not use this feature and so did switch to better quality earphones.
Radio.
Not the best. But what, really, can you expect? Some stations have decent quality, like the local stations the nano finds for you. You can select certain stations as your favourites, and then you can find them easily. You can also stop and rewind the radio.
Podcast.
High quality stuff. There are loads of podcasts to choose from, for free, on the iTunes store. It does not play any podcast that are video and not audio, instead you can listen to it whilst you see a freeze frame.
Settings.
You can basically change the brightness wallpaper, set a pedometer goal, change photo settings and other settings.
Photos.
The photos are incredibly high quality. You can play slideshows where they zoom in on the photos.
Fitness.
A basic pedometer. You can also view your pedometer personal bests and your workout totals.
Clock.
As you would expect. Also includes a stopwatch and timer.
The bottom line is that it is a very good device. Some people may be missing the video and camera features. But I do not. The small size and shape just wouldn't be suitable for video or a camera.
I'm going to aim this review at people who have never really played video games before or who have only had a passing interest, as I think there may be quite a lot of you who are considering, or actively trying your best in, purchasing a Wii. If you are a more experienced gamer, you may find another review more helpful.
Basically you take the Wii home, get it out of the box, plug it into your TV and into the mains just like a DVD player, and then plug the 'sensor bar' into the Wii unit. You then place this same sensor either on top of or just underneath your television. The sensor bar is basically a long, slim grey piece of rectangular plastic with a cable running out to plug it into the Wii.
You then put some batteries into your 'Wii-mote' (Wii remote, included with the Wii console), and use it to turn the unit on. Of course, you're going to need a game to play. The Wii uses a disc format the same size and shape as a DVD; you just slot these into the unit. To get you started, Nintendo includes a game disc with the machine called 'Wii Sports'. This features Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf and Boxing. To actually play the games, you'll have to go through a few menus. Just use the Wii-mote by simply pointing at a particular point on your TV screen and clicking the buttons (the Wii-mote is kind of half-way between a computer mouse and a TV remote - but so much more).
It's when you actually get into the game that the fun begins. You don't just sit there pressing a series of buttons like with most video game consoles. Yes, you will probably have to push or hold one or two buttons, but the real idea here is that you move the remote around, and the sensor bar (which I told you about earlier) does the rest. The sensor bar can tell the Wii the place on the television screen where you are pointing the remote - but it also tells the machine exactly *how* you move the remote. Basically, motion sensitivity! What this means is that to play golf you hold the remote like a golf club, and take a swing; and hey presto, your on-screen character hits the golf ball with just as much power, lift and spin as you put in. There is some very well developed technology at work here!
Tennis is much the same: swing the remote like you would a tennis racquet. In bowling you hold the remote as if it were a ball and 'throw' it (you don't actually let go of it!). Each different game makes subtly different use of the remote, and there are loads available to buy: from one called Zelda where you get to sword-fight using the remote; to Wii Play which features a number of fun games; and of course, Wii Fit...but that's another review.
I can testify that this is fun for everyone, from age 3 to 63 or older. Nintendo have been sorting out supply difficulties so it's generally now much easier to get your hands on one. If you are having difficulty, I would suggest checking out the Amazon Wii 'Customer Discussions' for helpful advice, just scroll down to under the reviews on this page. Good luck!
I've now had this camera for 10 months now. I do plenty of photography and spend a good deal of my time shooting wedding photographs, events and parties. This camera now has a soft spot for me.
Key features for me are the 18 MP APS-C CMOS sensor, 19 point AF-system, the much improved metering systems or iFCL, which takes into account focus, color and luminance across 64 zones. The brilliant (and I can't reiterate this enough) new custom controls interface; you can have countless customizations for control. A god-send if you ask me. How many times would you just like to use the custimisation you want in a jiffy.
On top of this it has weather sealing, believe me this is brilliant, I had a Nikon that failed on me during heavy rain session, I used this camera during a session at a wedding and it stood through the torrid rain and I just kept on shooting. Another brilliant addition is the integrated speedlite transmitter, this allows you to open up the system and no requirement for a master unit. This is brilliant for family photo's and studio photoshoots, I rigged this up to set off 4 slave lights in 2 groups, under certain condition to just give enough light to my shoots and no over exposure.
The build of the camera is great, it feels strong and very well built. You can work with this camera all day, I have no issue with weight and feel. It is a semi-pro camera with pro features. The camera has performed very well. I carry a 64GB CF pro card and all my photo's are generally shot in RAW and not once have I lost a shot. It is fast and very responsive. I was shooting in continous mode and the 7D never missed a beat.
Once of the strong points of the 7D is it's AutoFocus and this thing never missed a beat, I mainly use the Ultrasonic lenses and this baby rarely gave any unfocused images. Maybe out of a 1000 photos I may have 2-3 that were not focused correctly, but they could have well been my fault as well as tiredness creeps in and the un-focused shots were all during the end of my days.
Also, if you do plan to use this camera at high ISO levels, for example 16000 onwards the 7D is a star performer. I was getting decent results at 32000 so that is great news for any photographer.
Just a point on the movie mode, in the 7D you have full manual control for shutter speed and aperture. the best part is you can use your varied lenses to give a good short video. I created one as an experiment for a wedding and it was impressive although it's not always practical as you need to change lenses, but it works well however you want to look at it.
The images this camera produces are top notch and it's ability to work extremely well in low light conditions and give good images are it's strongest points.
My colleague who is a Nikon fan for 15 years has succumbed to the point to say he would be taking this camera out with him than his D300S, now that is a testament to how good this camera is. I by no means am a Canon fan. I believe in using the right camera for the job. I personally switch between a D3X and Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III for special events, so I can say with hand on heart, that this camera in this class is the best there is. At the end of the day it is upto the consumer to try them out and then make a valued decision.
If you can afford it then this is the camera of choice in my personal opinion.
Another call of duty sequel. Once again opinion swings erratically from person to person with some swearing blind to viewpoints which others see as ludicrous. This makes it enormously difficult to review. But i'm going to anyway. I'll focus on the multiplayer here as thats the mainstream appeal of the franchise. Zombies and the campaign are what they are. I enjoy them and if you liked them from previous call of duty titles i fail to see how you could dislike the offerings of black ops 2. I'll say i enjoyed this campaign more than the original black ops.
So, the multiplayer. As always, the usual rocks are being thrown at a fresh CoD window. 'A field day for campers,' 'bad servers', 'terrible spawning,' 'bad connection', 'requires no skill', 'the same as last year,' 'cash cow', 'terrible maps' etc etc. As far as i'm concerned, pretty much EVERY call of duty experiences these issues. I'm not saying these criticisms are simply wrong. What i am saying is that these problems are not unique to black ops 2. Certainly for me Call of Duty is becoming increasingly stale as the years go by so these criticisms are becoming louder and more commonplace. No, it will never be the way it was in the good ol CoD 4 days. A shame, but inevitable.
Anyway, i'll kick off with the maps. It's clear from the off that every attempt has been made to compartmentalise larger battlegrounds. If you plan on camping, be aware you're going to have to do it damn well or as part of a team to pull it off because there are very few areas which involve a single area which needs watching. You'll need eyes in the back of your head and a rather dull philosophy on how the game should be played to succeed at sitting around. Maps like carrier and turbine are a large blend of open areas with indoor cover to offer variety, and contrast drastically in atmosphere. As does the distinctly WWII feeling standoff and the casual modernity of Plaza. Sure, there are places to sit but unlike previous CoDs you're highly unlikely to survive there for long. The graphics are sleek, but for me lack the realism and grittiness of the original black ops. Maybe thats to be expected from a futuristic setting.
As for spawning, I can't help but laugh. Its worse than previous titles. Much worse. But it seems intentional to me. If you charge off away from your teammates to an unoccupied area then black ops 2 will flip you the bird and spawn your opponents around you in abundance, pretty much behind you in some instances. Hint: work as a team! I see the idea behind this, but i dislike the result. Personally i find it very difficult to string any killstreaks together or even get a handle on where my enemies are during matches. Unless you're an absolute speed demon with a good internet connection, prepare to die. A lot.
On to the new loadout system. Ten slots to fill with what you wish, however you wish. Want more perks, you'll need to make sacrifices elsewhere, be it weapon attachments or grenades. For me, this is how create a class was meant to be. Black ops 2 doesn't restrict you in the way previous CoDs have with regard to how you want to play. What it does do is balance out the classes excellently. In previous titles, perks such as assassin/ghost have been greatly overpowered. If you want to be a stealth machine on black ops 2, you're going to need a plethora of perks to make the grade (cold blooded, ghost and blind eye are all seperate perks which you'll need to shell out a slot for.) Gone are CoD points and back is the unlock as you progress system. You also gain tokens as you level up to spend on newly available options to customise your loadout. So choose carefully!
I like the gun selection. There are new ones to use and new customisations to be put on them e.g. the new target finder sight to identify enemies with a specialised reticle. Gun levelling also makes a welcome return. I've noticed that a lot of people have identified certain guns/smgs as overpowered. Well, anyone remember the ACR/MP7 from MW3? Frankly, the people who use these guns are just as killable as everyone else. If all guns were the same/underpowered, then it would irritate me more to be quite honest. Personally i've been a fan of the SCAR since MW2 and i'm delighted to see it make a return. It serves me well and as such i pay very little attention to what other people are using. Frankly, i don't care.
Scorestreaks. Well, despite the fact i rarely get above a dragonfire, i think the principle is a step in the right direction. You are rewarded with points toward a streak for doing pretty much anything which benefits your team, from destroying a bouncing betty to suppressing an opponent with a guardian turret. Great. Mostly, these scorestreaks are revamped versions of existing killstreaks e.g. Lightning strike is simply a sexed up mortar team from the original black ops. Another minor difference is that care package rewards such as the death machine are now kept until the end of a match rather than your next death. A welcome bonus!
So, to conclude this slightly long winded review i'll clear up my rather ambiguous position. I like the game. It surprises me that they marketed this as a sequel to Black Ops. With the obvious exception of the campaign, it bares no resemblance to the original in my eyes. Yes, it has its flaws but no, these are hardly shocks to the system. If you're getting tired of CoD and buy this game with expectations of a brand new gaming experience then prepare to be disappointed. Personally, i find it very difficult to pick up this game and get into it from the off as i could with B Ops 1, hence the 3 stars. It is however a step away from both its predecessor and modern warfare as far as i'm concerned, or perhaps even a balance between the two at a stretch. Either way, a unanimous 'we love you' from CoD fans was never a viable possibility. I'm sure we can all agree on that at least!
Samsung galaxy S3 features an
incredibly powerful 1.4 GHZ quad-core Exynos CPU making it the most powerful
Android phone. Is this power enough to knock iPhone 5 from its perch? In raw
performance, certainly, although power doesn't make a winner but it depends on
what you use it for. Samsung had some grand ambitions for the Galaxy S3 because
it surely leaves a remarkable mark that other competitors admire
Display
Galaxy S3 is sleek and slim at just
8.6 mm thick. Its display is built to draw your eye to its huge 4.8-inch, 720
by 1280 pixels touch screen Furthermore, the display is 720p high definition.
This makes it a pleasure watching videos more so those HD videos from You Tube.
Smart stay
The phone is designed to watch
whether you are looking at it. if you are, it stays away. This feature helps if
you are reading a long document, or perhaps checking email. You don’t have to keep
pawing the screen every minute or two to keep the phone alive but the phone
automatically keeps itself active.
Speech recognition
Samsung galaxy S3 has a cloud-based
speech recognition system that allows the user to issue commands to the phone
or ask questions. It might take sometime for the phone to learn its way around
your accent but for the simplest of commands it works almost perfect.
Camera for taking photos
The rear facing camera records
images at 8 mega-pixels and full D 1080p video at 30 frames per second. The
video and photo quality are great.
Quality build iPhone 5 is slick, fashionable, and well designed. It is the thinnest, lightest and fastest iPhone ever. It’s a little bit taller too to accommodate a larger 4-inch screen. The device back is made of anodized aluminium with glass at the top and bottom. The front is almost entirely made of glass. Thus you should watch out as the glass could shatter if the iPhone drops to the ground. Sleek screen IPhone 5 has increased the size of its screen to 4-inches from the previous 3.5. They have done this by lengthening the device but kept the width the same. This allows for an extra row of icons on the home screen. The screen features Apple’s retina display which is second to none. The text is smooth regardless of how much you pinch-zoom and has bright and accurate colors.
Speedy performance IPhone 5 features a 1.2 GHZ dual-core processor called Apple a^, and a triple –core graphics. This is not the most powerful smartphone processor in the market but that doesn't mean it’s not fast. Apple has opted not to include a quad-core processor probably because of the high power it consumes from the battery. Snappy camera iPhone 5 8 MP camera has improved low-light performance and lens cover is more resistant to scratches. Apple Maps Although Apple has replaced Google maps with its own Apple maps, it is pretty atrocious. You have to see it for yourself to believe how bad it is compared to Google maps.
