Friday, July 25, 2014

Nokia Lumia 1520 Full Review - The Biggest And The Most Powerful Windows Phone

Design 

This device resembles the Lumia 1020 before it . Distinctively a Lumia smartphone, seeing that it boasts most of the typical design characteristics that have been attached to the popular smartphone line, we can’t say that the design of the Lumia 1520 is particularly original. Nevertheless, it continues to be an appealing one, since its rounded edges and tapered design both lend to mask its rather boxy look. Obviously, this is a big phone! And by big, we mean amazingly big, mainly because it dwarves most other phablets. Therefore, it’s something that proves to be unwieldy for those with smaller hands, as its wide figure is undoubtedly a handful – thus, requiring two-handed operation. In addition, the corners of the phone are rather pointy, to the point that it jabs our palm when holding it. At the very least, we’re comforted to find that it sports a pretty thin 0.34-inch profile, and for the most part, it’s pretty uniform looking throughout its body.

As the standard formula goes, the right edge of the phone packs in all of the handset’s physical buttons, which consist of its power, volume, and shutter keys. Buttons feels clicky but little bit too much flat , but over all easy to press and to reach . On the left edge, the engineers over at Nokia manage to discretely hide away the handset’s nano SIM and microSD card slots, as it blends into the phone







Display

It's the first Windows flagship  with a full HD Display , that is The handset gets the prestigious recognition of being the first Windows Phone smartphone to feature a 1080x1920 display. And boy is it gigantic, the largest sized display to grace a Nokia smartphone ever! To be exact, it’s flaunting a gorgeous looking 6-inch 1080 x 1920 IPS LCD panel – giving it a sharp pixel density count of 368 ppi. Honestly, this has been a long time coming, as Windows Phone has been constantly downplayed for the lack of devices with 1080p resolution screens. Needless to say, 1080p screens are nothing new in the smartphone space, but we’re just ecstatic to find it here on a Windows Phone. Naturally, it produces a ton of sharp details, to make even the most miniscule of text easily visible to the eyes. 

Camera

 The 20-megapixel PureView camera on the Lumia 1520 comes with a dual-LED flash (no Xenon here) and protrudes just slightly on the back – not so much as to be in the way, but enough to make it clear to passers-by that it’s a serious cameraphone you’re holding. It indeed is one of Nokia’s strongest camera efforts with a larger than usual 1/2.5” (25mm2) sensor, backside illumination and optical image stabilization. Still, the Nokia Lumia 1020 for instance features a more than twice as large 1/1.5-inch (58mm2) sensor, while the also 20-megapixel Sony Xperia Z1 has slightly larger 1/2.3” (28mm2) sensor. Talking about specs, we must note that it features 6-element Zeiss lens with f/2.4 aperture and optical image stabilization.

Pressing down on the shutter key, we’re again transported to the Nokia Pro Cam app – just like on the Lumia 1020 before it 

When it comes to quality, overall, it’s a solid effort put forth by the Lumia 1520, as it produces better-than-average photos – albeit, the Lumia 1020 still comes out on top. For shots that are taken outdoors where lighting is plentiful, there’s a lot to like with the quality put out by this, as its full-sized 19-megapixel samples ooze with a ton of details, to the point where we’re able to make out words on a sign in the distance. Colors appear vibrant in tone to give the shots a pleasant lively look, but it sometimes tends to cast a morsel of saturation. Thankfully, it handles dynamic range on a very good scale, seeing that there isn’t a huge disparity between the light and dark areas of the shot. However, the shots exhibit more of an underexposed look. Out of everything, we have to admit that the Lumia 1520 excels the most with macro shots. In fact, it produces that neat blurring effect with the background – while the subject receives an effective level of sharpness. 

Under lower lighting situations, details naturally get a softer tone to them, but we’re glad that noise is kept at a minimum. Unlike its esteemed sibling in the Lumia 1020, the Lumia 1520’s camera doesn’t do just as good of a job with brightening up the scenery. On top of that, its dual-LED flash isn’t as potent as we’d like.

Battery

 Usually ,  Big phones get big batteries, so the Lumia 1520 gladly obliges this norm by giving us one too. To be exact, its slim body is stuffed with a beefy 3400 mAh battery, which is one heck of a large capacity. Impressively, it’s able to provide us with a battery life that’s long lasting! In our experience, it’s able to deliver a solid one day of heavy usage consisting of surfing the web, sending text messages, checking email, and making an occasional phone call. As for those who aren’t as demanding, you can sleep knowing it can pull out as much as two whole days under light usage.



Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Nokia Lumia 1020 Full Review !! Best Camera On A Smartphone.

Design  



If this looks familiar to you, then you shouldn’t be surprised in the very least, since the Lumia 1020 employs all the characteristic design elements of its predecessor(s). By now, the unibody polycarbonate design of the handset is pretty much expected, but instead of sporting a glossy chassis, it has this strange matte finish to it – making it less prone to smudges and fingerprints. Unfortunately, seeing that it’s packing one hell of a beefy camera in its rear, it’s profile is nowhere as bulimic thin as some of the other flagship devices out there.

Honestly, the hump in its rear makes it a bit awkward holding and using the device at first, but after some adjustment, it doesn’t become too much of a nuisance – albeit, it still feels a bit alien. Sure, it’s top heavy due to all the hardware stuffed into its camera housing, but when we think about a 41-megapixel camera, we’re surprised how light it really is, especially over the 808 PureView. Overall, the handset still has an appealing design seeing that it very much looks like a smartphone first with an impressive camera attached to it – as opposed to being designed as camera first, with the smartphone part being secondary.

Much like other flagship Lumia smartphones, this is packing the same set of buttons and ports around its body – they include the familiar trio of capacitive Windows Phone buttons, microUSB port, 3.5mm headset jack, noise-cancelling mic, standard mic, power button, volume control, and two-level shutter key.

Without question the star of the show, the Lumia 1020 is most notable for its mind-boggling 41-megapixel PureView camera – you know, that noticeable bulge in the rear. Knowing that it’s the single most prized feature of the handset, Nokia made sure to arm it with some serious technology. For starters, it features a 1/1.5” sensor, which is actually smaller than the 1/1.2” one in the 808 PureView. Now don’t let that fool you, mainly because its size is what helps to keep the Lumia 1020 far more admiring in size than its far cousin. Rounding things out, it also packs along a six-element lens with ZEISS optics, second-gen optical image stabilization (OIS), backside illuminated sensor, 3x lossless zoom, LED flash, and a Xenon flash.

Display


We really can’t blame Nokia with this one, just because it’s limited to what the Windows Phone 8 platform is able to handle at the moment. Sharing the same exact displays found in the recent Lumia 928 and Lumia 925 models, the handset’s 4.5-inch 768 x 1280 PureMotion HD+ display with ClearBlack technology is beginning to sound stale. At the very least, we want a 1080p display, just to keep it in the same company as other high-end models on the market. Despite the fact that there’s no improvement with this particular display, it’s still pleasant looking with its iridescent color reproduction, deep black color, and wide viewing angles. And at the same time, its resolution is effective enough for us to make out even fine text in the web browser – albeit, it’s obviously not as sharp as the competition.


Camera



Taking a glance at today’s flagship smartphones, they’re all packing some fantastic cameras that would easily make them point and shoot replacements. Some emphasize low light performance, while others manage to shine thanks to their exorbitant amount of shooting modes and control. Well folks, you get the best of both worlds with the Nokia Lumia 1020’s 41-megapixel PureView camera, but on top of that, it’s gunning to capture the absolute best details on any camera phone out there. Let’s find out why that’s the case! 

Technology:

The Nokia Lumia 1020 actually has a very large by smartphone standards, but it’s still a smaller sensor than the one in the 808 PureView. While the one on the 808 measures 1/1.2” in size, the 1020 has a 1/1.5” sensor. What this means is that you have less space and smaller pixels. Without the oversampling, the
 physical size of pixels on the Lumia 1020 is 1.12µm compared to the larger 1.34µm on the 808.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 has some key advantages that come with that smaller sensor. The most obvious is the physical size of the device, it’s much slimmer than the chubby 808 PureView. Next, the small size made it possible for Nokia to include optical image stabilization (OIS) that allows for longer exposure times and ultimately better video and low light shots

Image Quality 

When taking shots with the Lumia 1020, it produces two sets of images, which tends to add some delay between each shot. To be precise, it saves a sharing-friendly 5-megapixel sample, and the higher 38-megapixel one. Frankly, it’s amazing at how much of the scenery that the Nokia Lumia 1020 is able to capture with its higher resolution sample. There’s nothing compromised whatsoever with the results, which particularly are best seen with snapshots taken with plenty of lighting. Details are astoundingly sharp, enabling us to view even some details that are sometimes softened the further back they are in the background. Better yet, it excels with macro shots as well, seeing that its focus can hone in on one particular point in the shot – thus, producing a pleasing bokeh effect to the background. In terms of color reproduction, we can’t complain either about its accuracy, as it’s able to cast a very neutral stance.


Under low lighting situations, the only time we find it struggling is when it’s completely pitch dark outside. Sure, its optical image stabilization helps to minimize blurring, but it’s not something we can entirely escape. Essentially, its details tend appear more soft in tone, but it’s able to significantly brighten up the shot – much better than what we see with comparable shots taken by the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4. However, when photos are taken when there’s a bit of lighting present, it’s able to draw out more sharp looking details with its shot, and at the same time, its Xenon flash casts a potent lighting to cover everything evenly – and without over or underexposing certain areas. Frankly, its quality is unrivaled at the moment!

Battery 

During our first day of using the Nokia Lumia 1020, we were totally shocked by the poor 10 hours of battery life it was able to churn out. However, we soon realized that the culprit behind the poor result was due to Windows Phone’s ‘glance’ feature, which discretely displays the time whenever the handset times out. After disabling it, we’re able to push the smartphone into the 18 hour mark of normal usage. It’s not bad per se, nor is it class leading – so it’s pretty much close to average.

Conclusion:

If you haven’t noticed it yet, we’re a society that inherently loves to record our lives in digital imagery. Naturally, people are just inclined to snap photos, even random things they come across, just because they want to have that memory ingrained into their minds. Ever since the first set of camera phones hit the market, we’ve seen people take their devices to capture the moment – raw and uncut, ready to share with friends and acquaintances.

Needless to say, the Nokia Lumia 1020 would’ve been a device thought to be impossible a couple of years ago, but here we are checking out a smartphone with an insane 41-megapixel camera attached to it – plus, it’s considerably better looking in design than the 808 PureView. Let’s cut to the chase here folks, this is hand down, without question, the absolute best camera phone on the market. It’s undoubtedly a point and shoot replacement in every way imaginable, seeing that it delivers in its features set, quality, and precision control, to capture the utmost best photos. Unlike the 808, the Lumia 1020 greatly benefits with Windows Phone’s always sprawling ecosystem, which at times might put off power users, but heck, it’s still able to please a wide audience.



Sunday, July 20, 2014

Sasmung Galaxy Note 3 - Full Review

Design

In a typical fashion, the Note 3 goes the same route as its predecessors by following the design of Sammy’s original flagship smartphone series. Distinctively a more spaced out and larger sized version of the Galaxy S4, the Note 3 doesn’t necessarily have a unique design of its own, aside from its massive size of course. Yes, it manages to one-up its predecessor by being thinner in profile – while still packing on a larger display at the same time. As a whole, though, the look doesn’t deviate from what we expect.

The buttons present on the Note 3 are all easy to feel and press, with very good tactile feedback, and that goes for the trademark physical Home key underneath the display as well. The Menu and Back keys, placed alongside the Home key are of the capacitive kind.

 Around the rear, the Note 3 is armed with a beefier sized 13-megapixel auto-focus camera, up from the previous 8-megapixel snapper in the Note II. Naturally, it features all of the goodies we’d expect from a high-end smartphone – like a backside illuminated sensor, LED flash, 1080p video recording, and slow motion video capture. Peeling off the faux leather back casing, we gain access to its equally ginormous 3200 mAh battery. Something we tend to rarely see amongst high-end devices, Samsung continues to make us happy by providing us with that microSD card slot.

Display

A 1080 x 1920 pixel displays are nothing new on smartphones, but  we’re constantly impressed by them nevertheless. Adding another 0.2-inches to its size over its predecessor, this latest Note 3 smartphone wields an even larger 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display. And it simply looks marvelous over last year’s model! With so much real estate to work with, details don’t get compromised thanks to its 1080p resolution, which makes even miniscule text in the web browser pop with plenty of clarity. Additionally, it exudes all the qualities that make our eyes glisten with joy – like its rich & saturated color reproduction and wide viewing angles. Despite all of its niceties, it continues to wash out when it’s used outdoors where the sun is present.


 Utilizing the same technology seen with the Galaxy S4, the Note 3’s Air View functionality extends to our fingers as well – something that isn’t exclusive to the S Pen. Specifically, the display is able to recognize when our finger is hovering over it. However, the handset seems to do a better job of tracking the S Pen more than our finger, but nevertheless, we’re glad to know that we have the option to use our finger too.



Processor and Memory

 A smartphone of this class deserves to be powered by a top-of-the-line processor, isn't that so? In the Note 3's case, the silicon providing it with processing power will vary from one region to another. The LTE-capable version will get the Snapdragon 800 SoC and its 2.3GHz quad-core CPU, while the HSPA+-only model will sport a 1.9GHz octa-core Exynos 5 chip. We have the former on our hands and boy is this thing fast!

In true fashion, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a beast when it comes to putting up impressive benchmark scores. Likewise, we can firmly attest that its real world performance is also equally as delicious, as it exudes enough responsiveness with its operations. However, we do notice every now and then just a smidgen of delay/choppiness when navigating around its homescreen – especially when there’s a ton of widgets. Multitasking is also silky smooth, which comes as no surprise given the whopping 3GB of RAM tucked under the phone's hood.

There's plenty of storage on board the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – enough to store tons of music, photos, applications, and hours of high-definition video. 32- and 64-gigabyte models will be made available, with the option to add extra space using a microSD card of up to 64GB. And if that's not enough, Samsung is treating Note 3 buyers to 50GB of free Dropbox storage for 2 years – ideal for backing up important and not-so-important files on the cloud.


Camera

The Note II had a very capable main camera and we're expecting its successor to follow suit. On the back of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 we see a 13MP shooter with a BSI sensor and digital image stabilization, backed by a high CRI (Color Rendering Index) LED flash. The latter is touted as capable of producing highly-accurate colors when used. But before we get to the actual photo samples, let's say a few words about the camera's features and UI. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3’s 13-megapixel camera doesn’t mess around in the quality department, seeing that it takes some of the best shots around. Right on point, it doesn’t disappoint with its outdoors shots, as it composes images that rich with detail and colors. In the details side, there’s no shortage of clarity and sharpness, as images pop with attention to even the most miniscule things in the scenery – complemented further by the accurate colors it’s able to replicate. Honestly folks, we wouldn’t hesitate to use this one!

 Hardly a surprise, the Note 3 is also fantastic with its video recording quality, since it exhibits the same lovable elements we see already with its still capture quality. Just as long as there’s sufficient lighting around, the Note 3’s videos come to life with its smooth recording, sharp details, accurate color reproduction, and clear audio recording . The Note 3 actually has the ability to shoot video in 4K resolution; 3840 x 2160 pixels. No doubt, it’s a rarity amongst smartphones in general, but it’s not something we find too practical right now – especially when 4K TVs are still rather pricey. Worst yet, the file size of these videos are exorbitant, which can eat up your precious storage and data allowance if you’re not careful!

Battery

With absolutely no surprises , with a big phone comes a big battery !! Power users will especially fall in love with the Note 3, seeing that its equally monster sized 3200 mAh battery pulls in some impressive results. Under normal usage, we’re able to pull close to two whole days of battery life from a full charge – whereas heavier usage permits us a full 24 hours! The latter is pretty impressive because we normally get through only an 8-hour work shift before charging is necessary. Therefore, we’re pretty stoked that we’re able to get a full 24 hours out of it!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Samsung Galaxy S5 Full Review

Design

Appearance has never been a strong characteristic of Samsung's Android-powered products. As if the company realizes that, the South Koreans have been tweaking and changing the exteriors of their top smartphones with almost every new generation. Last year, the Galaxy S4 launched with a glossy plastic design, but the Note 3 brought forth a different take on that style – a faux leather look for the plastic back cover. That new design language made its way to some of the other phones and tablets of the company, but thankfully, with the Galaxy S5, Samsung is once again looking for that new visual style that would give its flagship phone a much-needed boost in the design department.

But the Glam look! Samsung's new design for the Galaxy S5 ditches the faux leather for a new rubbery plastic finish with a nice, dotted pattern. which gives it a nice grip and comfortable feel and it's by no means as slippery as some of its metal competitors (hello, HTC One (M8).

In terms of size ,  the Samsung Galaxy S5 got  quite a bit bigger from the relatively compact footprint that its predecessor Galaxy S4 had. While the display has only grown by 0.1 inches, the dimensions have increased from 5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches (136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm) in the Galaxy S4 to 5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 inches (142 x 72.5 x 8.1) in the GS5 , Over all the phone is quiet big but still comfortable to hold and work with.

In terms of weight, the Galaxy S5 tips the scales at 5.11 oz (145 g) – a bit heavier than the (130 g) of the GS4, but oh well, we guess all the new goodies hiding under the hood are to blame for the bigger dimensions and added heft. Even then, however, the Galaxy S5 remains lighter than some of its top competitors, like the HTC One (M8) (160 g), and the Sony Xperia Z2 (163 g)).


Besides the sizable 5.1" display, the front side of the Samsung Galaxy S5 houses the earpiece and Samsung's logo, positioned near the top edge. Below the screen, there are the physical Home key (doubling as a fingerprint scanner), and the touch-sensitive Multitasking and Back keys. In contrast to most other Android makers out there, Samsung is refraining from using on-screen navigation buttons, leaving the entire 5.1" display available to system and third-party. We actually tend to appreciate this, since we don't like it when there's a thick, black bar taking up precious screen space, as it is on the new Nexus, One and Xperia smartphones. Of course, this benefit will become less important in the future, when more and more applications begin to take advantage of Android 4.4 KitKat's Immersive Mode, but at the current time, having every pixel of your screen available to your content is definitely a good thing. But back to the physical keys and their execution – the home button, as well as the volume rocker and the power/lock key all function really well. They are easy to find by touch alone (the power key could be a bit better in this respect), while they also have that nice, clicky feel, making them pleasant to use.

The volume rocker of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is occupying its traditional place on the left hand side of the phone. The same goes for the power/lock key that's found on the right hand side. The top edge is where you'll find the 3.5 mm headphone jack, as well as the IR blaster, while the bottom side houses the securely covered microUSB 3.0 port.


The back side of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is where the new, 16 MP camera resides. Naturally, the slightly protruding camera is accompanied by an LED flash, as well as the Samsung logo and the loudspeaker, but there's also something else... Right next to the LED flash is where we find a brand new feature – a dedicated heartrate sensor! Whether it works well and if it's more beneficial than all those apps claiming to detect your heartrate accurately

 

Display 

Super AMOLED screen technology gets better remains just as flashy as before.

 You may not think that there's much difference between the 5-inch, 441ppi screen on the Galaxy S4and the 5.1-inch, 432ppi display on the Galaxy S5
Both sport the same 1080 x 1920 resolution and boast Super AMOLED technology to ensure a bright, colourful display, but the Galaxy S5 has been shown to perform way above its predecessor.

 As usual with Super AMOLED displays, viewing angles are superb. Yes, there's some visible color alteration happening as you start tilting the display, but brightness and contrast barely budge. This is especially convenient if you have a bunch of friends alongside you and you're all watching a video or something else on your phone. Of course, having good viewing angles is also helpful in a variety of other cases, such as reading.


 Software 

This is a totally new Samsung that we're seeing here in the Galaxy S5. The company's latest flagship smartphone introduces a new, vastly improved version of the TouchWiz user interface.
Powered by Android 4.4.2 KitKat , the GS5's TouchWiz UI has gone through some serious visual simplification. Following recent trends, most design elements, such as icons or built-in widgets, now appear flat and more simplistic-looking, with less gradient effects and more solid colors. The transitions used when switching between homescreen pages have also been reworked, mostly for the better. All in all, the general UI aspects have gotten cleaner and simpler, but also more polished than before. For example, icons finally have tap effects (a visual effect that appears when the user taps on an icon), while response times have been brought to a minimum.













Fingerprint sensor

Right below the 5.1” display, hiding just underneath the home button is the fingerprint sensor. Being of the swipe type, the Galaxy S5's scanner works differently from that of the Apple iPhone 5s, as you actually have to slide your finger down over the home button/sensor for it to read your fingerprint. Samsung's solution also doesn't work as seamlessly as that of Apple, because getting a correct reading with the Galaxy S5's sensor depends too much on the exact positioning of your finger. To be more specific, the chances of getting a correct reading are quite low if your finger isn't perfectly vertical, relative to the phone, which is rarely the case for your thumb when you're holding the device in your hand. This means that probably the most suitable way to use the fingerprint scanner is by registering the index finger (or some other one) of your other hand – the one that you're not holding the phone with. This way, the success rate when using the sensor is quite high, but you have to go through the discomfort of having to use two hands. Users are allowed to register up to 3 fingerprints on a Galaxy S5, each of which can be used to unlock the phone, authorize PayPal payments, or authorize access to their Samsung accounts. So, having the ability to authorize PayPal purchases is quite big, but Samsung has also created an SDK for developers that allows them to make use of the fingerprint scanner in their apps. This means that in the future, there will be third-party applications that use this feature for access authorization or other purposes. Meanwhile, Apple isn't giving developers such options, and is keeping Touch ID as a way to unlock your iPhone, or authorize iTunes purchases only.
In short, we don't see the Galaxy S5's fingerprint sensor as a suitable method for phone unlocking, but it could be quite useful, if you're making purchases through PayPal often.


Heart rate monitor

Another unusual feature the Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with is the heart rate monitor. This new sensor is integrated with the new S Health application, which is designed to track a variety of health-related parameters, a new one of which being your pulse. Checking your pulse is actually very easy, at least in theory – you just activate the feature, position your index finger on the sensor (located next to the LED flash), stand still without moving or talking for a few seconds, and voila – S Health will tell you what your heart rate is at the moment... provided it works fine, of course. Unfortunately, we found that the app has trouble reading our heart rate in a substantial part of the attempts we made. It probably works in more than 50% of the tries, but overall, the success rate isn't so high. Of course, you should have in mind that even if it does get a reading, it's possible for the measurements to not be spot on at times – after all, that's not professional medical equipment.

The idea of having a heart rate monitor in your phone is a cool one, but now that we've tested it against a popular pulse-detecting app from the Play Store, it appears that their readings are actually almost identical. This makes us wonder if it was really needed for Samsung to include a dedicated sensor for this task in the GS5...



Processor and Memory


Sporting the most powerful variant of the Snapdragon 801 system chip (MSM8974-AC), you can imagine just how fast the Samsung Galaxy S5 is going to be. Indeed, the horsepower hiding under the hood of this spectacular smartphone is just mind-blowing. Let's take a look at the specificis!

The above-mentioned Snapdragon 801 chipset features a super-fast, quad-core Krait 400 CPU, with each core having a maximum clock frequency of 2.5 GHz. Alongside this, there's the Adreno 330 graphics processing unit, which might appear the same as the one on the slightly older, Snapdragon 800 processor, but it should actually be capable of performing even faster in some situations (up to 28% faster). RAM amount is set to 2 GB – more than enough for any high-end smartphone right now, even though the Sony Xperia Z2 has that number upped to 3 GB.


What we're really glad to report is that the Samsung Galaxy S5 actually treats us to some remarkably low response times with its interface. Hi-end Android smartphones have gotten very fast and powerful, but should you compare their response times directly to an iPhone, it gets obvious that Apple's product is much more instantaneous in its responds to the user's touches. Well, it looks like Samsung has tried to achieve a similar effect on the Galaxy S5, as this is probably the most instantaneous Android smartphone that we've used!

Meanwhile, we have absolutely no worries with regards to games, other heavy applications, or multitasking, since the cutting-edge silicon powering the Galaxy S5 is sure to deliver more than enough punch for it all to work seamlessly and fluidly.

On the storage space side of things, the GS5 comes with either 16 GB (10.7 GB accessible to the user), or 32 GB (26.7 GB accessible to the user) of internal memory, but for those who require more, there's always the option of installing a microSD memory card, and guess what – that card can have a capacity of up to 128 GB!



Camera

16 megapixels, large sensor, phase detection autofocus – it's a treasure trove for smartphone camera enthusiasts.

 


Samsung's phone cameras are usually among the very best ones available, and we have every reason to think that the one in the Galaxy S5 would further cement this position. Equipped with a new, 16 MP camera with a relatively large, 1 / 2.6” sensor (native aspect ratio is 16:9), and an aperture of F2.2, this already shapes up as a rather formidable camera module! The individual pixel size of the shooter is 1.12 micron, suggesting that digital noise should be kept at reasonable levels.


What's more, Samsung is throwing in some innovation here as well, by including phase detection autofocus – an autofocusing technique used in SLR cameras. Smartphone cameras, on the other hand, traditionally use the so-called 'contrast detection autofocus'. In this method, the camera determines the amount of contrast between nearby pixels, and it adjusts the focus according to this data. The main disadvantages of this system are that it doesn't work very well in low-light scenarios, plus it's not super-fast. Meanwhile, phase detection autofocus allows the camera to adjust the focus based on an analysis of the light that enters the sensor, rather than the contrast between pixels. This system has allowed Samsung to enable the Galaxy S5's camera to lock a focus in just about 0.3 seconds!

It's an excellent camera! The images produced by it have a wonderful detail level – everything looks exceptionally sharp and fine when viewing the images from a zoomed-out view. Viewing them in actual size reveals some areas where pixels kind of blend together, but why would you need to view 16 MP photos in actual size... Colors are more than realistic – neither too warm, nor too cold. The fact is that if you're looking at a photo taken with the Samsung Galaxy S5, chances are that the things in that photo have looked exactly the same way in real life, at the time when the picture was taken. The handset also seems to be doing a very good job with exposure – we noticed that it made the more preferable decision in some tricky situations, even if that meant cranking up the exposure in a very dark room, just so that we can actually see what's been there in that room, despite all the noise.





Battery

 A new 'Ultra Power Saving Mode' can get you up to 24 hours of stand-by time with just 10% battery level!



The Samsung Galaxy S5 packs a juicy, 2800 mAh battery. That's less than the Xperia Z2's 3200 mAh, but more than the One (M8)'s 2600 mAh. Of course, there are other important factors to consider when it comes to battery life, such as the screen, chipset, and software running on the phone, so making conclusions about battery life based on capacity alone would be unwise.

Actually, official statistics claim that the Galaxy S5 would be able to deliver the remarkable 21 hours of talk time and about 16.2 days of stand-by. Meanwhile, continuous web browsing is rated at 10 hours, and continuous video playback time is said to be about 12 hours.

The result from our battery life is fairly optimistic – the GS5 managed to last through it for the respectable 7 hours and 38 minutes, suggesting excellent longevity. In comparison, it promises to deliver more than the HTC One (M8) (7h 12 min), but less than the Sony Xperia Z2 (8h 10 min).

Even though we believe Samsung's handset should provide decent battery life, comparable to what you can get out of most top-shelf smartphones out there, Samsung has also added a compelling new set of features: Power Saving Mode and Ultra Power Saving Mode. The former is pretty straightforward – it limits the phone's performance in order to save battery energy. The Ultra Power Saving Mode is more intriguing - what it essentially does is to disable non-vital phone features and leave you with a phone that has just the basic set of functionality enabled. Oh, it's also going to switch to a grayscale mode for the display – yes, things may not look as pretty as when you have those jolly Super AMOLED colors displayed, but Ultra Power Saving Mode is said to increase battery life greatly: for example, with just 10% battery level and Ultra Power Saving Mode enabled, the Galaxy S5 should be able to remain powered-on for up to 24 hours in stand-by, and that's awesome!





 

 



 

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Sony Xperia Z2 - Performance and battery

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smartphones-news/409512939187795?ref=hl

Performance

The Xperia Z2 is yet another phone that's powered by latest-generation Snapdragon technology. In this case, it is the Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 beast  processor, which is supposed to be just a notch slower than the AC version found in some other phones like the Galaxy S5, but in reality, there are other factors in play that will have a much bigger impact on the perceived performance. One such example is the software that's running on the phone , For Games the phone shipped with the Adreno 330 GPU which is perfect for some heavy graphics games.

Overall, performance seems to be great completely lag-free. Memory-wise, there are the whopping 3 gigs of RAM


 

Battery

 

Sony's latest flagship smartphone has a pretty thin profile, but the company has still managed to fit in a remarkably juicy, 3200 mAh battery. With such a respectable capacity, the Xperia Z2 is officially said to remain operational for 19 hours of 3G talk time or 30.8 days of stand-by time. Additionally, the handset should be able to deliver up to 120 hours of continuous music listening, or up to 10 hours of video playback. These are some formidable battery times, which should make it possible even for users heavily relying on their phone to have a no-compromise experience for full 1 or 2 calendar days (depending on the user's activities and usage time).

The Sony Xperia Z2 has passed through our battery test with flying colors, finishing with a result of 8h 10 min - one of the best we've seen! For those who don't know, our battery test runs a custom-made script on the phone, and it's specifically designed to replicate real-world usage. Of course, while it's not perfectly accurate (as any other synthetic benchmark), it does give a relatively good idea of what to expect from a certain handset in the battery life area.

So, as you can see in the graph below, the Xperia Z2 has turned out to be among the best performers in the field, finishing right behind the Galaxy S5, which also has a fantastic result. It's always a good idea to keep in mind that battery life experience can greatly vary from user to user, due to different usage patterns and intensity, but all in all, it's hard to argue with numbers, and the Xperia Z2 has given us just that - indisputable proof that the battery it packs is a real marathoner!

Meanwhile, it seems the time it takes to charge the Xperia Z2 is fairly standard, which is to say that it's slower than some more forward-looking phones, like the GS5 and the Oppo Find 7a, which obviously employ techniques that allow them to fill up their tanks significantly faster.

Like Us On Facebook :) :  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smartphones-news/409512939187795?ref=hl

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Sony Xperia Z2 - Camera

Camera App & Performance

 


The Sony Xperia Z2 has one of the most feature-packed camera apps we've seen. There's an awful lot to digest, but it avoids becoming a terrible mess by offering a Superior Auto mode that covers just about any possible shooting situation for the point and shoot crowd. Unlike normal auto modes, it can use HDR for backlit scenes, and the super low-light mode when it's needed.


The actual camera shooting screen is pretty simple too.


The default Auto mode is much more controlling than that of most phones. It's the Manual mode that provides the 'normal' mobile shooting experience. 

Let's be clear – this is not a real manual mode. It lets you choose the resolution of your photos (It's all 8MP in Auto), pick scene modes and choose whether or not to use HDR. It's not for photo pros, it just gives you a little say beyond when to press the shutter button.

The rest of the camera modes are a little more creative or frivolous (/fun). There's the AR (augmented reality) mode seen in the Xperia Z1, which plasters anything from dinosaurs to little gnome fellas on your screen – kids will love it. There's a fantastic selection of filters too, including some pretty dynamic picks like the Harris shutter, fisheye lens and kaleidoscope


The Sony Xperia Z2 has the highest-resolution camera among its big-name peers – the Galaxy S5, the iPhone 5S and HTC One M8. It uses a 20.7-megapixel sensor. What's initially hard to get your head around, though, is that it uses this sensor primarily to take better 8-megapixel photos. Not 20-megapixel ones.

This is a 1/2.3-inch sensor, a fair bit larger than the 1/3-inch sensor of the iPhone 5S, the 1/2.5 S5 sensor and the 1/3-inch One M8 sensor. When you shoot in the auto mode, the output from the 20-megapixel sensor is used to create a higher-fidelity 8-megapixel image than most phones of that resolution could muster.

While you can shoot 20.7-megapixel and 15.5-megapixel photos in the 'manual' mode, you're heavily dissuaded from doing so. Shots higher than eight megapixels can't use any scene modes or the HDR function. For this reason, we're only going to use full 20MP resolution shots to look at the detail this phone can produce. The rest of our images are 8MP.


Sony Xperia Z2: HDR

 

We're also slightly disappointed by the HDR mode here. It's fairly low-key, and so doesn't leave you with artificial-looking photos, but it's also not all that effective. Since seriously high-performance HDR modes started appearing in mobiles around a year ago we've started using them to 'fix' photo scenes that phones would never have been able to cope with a few years ago, but here you won't get very far.


Flash, Video and Front Camera

 

We've sidelined the flash so far because the XPeria Z2 does its level best to make sure hardly ever need it. And as such, it no surprise it's pretty unremarkable. It's a single-LED flash with none of the duo-tone tech you get with an iPhone 5S or HTC One M8.

The front camera is conventional too. It uses a 2.2-megapixel sensor, with a wide-angle lens.

Like some other new high-resolution sensor cameras, the Xperia Z2 can capture 4K


Here's Some Pictures  With the Xperia Z2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    In the end the Z2 Camera offers some great pictures with a great and fast auto-focus , HDR Mode has to be improved  ,  And you can take 4K Videos with it , so you won't get diss pointed with the Z2 Camera

 

 


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Sony Xperia Z2 - Display


A Great upgrade from Sony with the new Z2's screen , Sony's finest has embraced the beloved IPS (in-plane switching) technology, in order to deliver a superb viewing experience, with eye-catching color reproduction and viewing angles that are on par with most of the competition.

The 5.2” display has a high-end resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixelss , giving it a  pixel density is 424 ppi – more than enough to give a great viewing experience and a sharp detailed display .

The display has a tolerable maximum brightness of about 460 nits , minimum brightness is a bit high, at 16 nits, so viewing in the dark may not be as comfortable as with some other phones like the iPhone 5s (5 nits) or the Galaxy S5 (2 nits).


Compared with the Galaxy s5 , the Htc one M8 And the LG G PRO 2 , The Xperia Z2 Has a more natural color production unlike the AMOLED Display used on the Galaxy s5 , and the Htc one M8 and the G PRO 2 is a head of bit more brighter , The G PRO 2 has the same display used on the Z2 ( IPS)

Over All , what you should take away from all this data is that the Triluminos-powered screen of the Xperia Z2 is definitely a very high-quality one, though not exactly as accurate as we'd have liked it to be (of course, it's way more accurate than Samsung's AMOLED displays). There's still some room for improvement ahead of Sony !