Tags: Technology

Sony Xperia Z2 review: Brilliant display, familiar design, but not flawless

- Friday, 30 May 2014 No Comments

Sony's contender for the 2014 flagship battle

The Sony Xperia Z2 is the follow up to Sony’s Xperia Z1 which debuted last year. Compared to the other flagships we’ve seen so far, the Z2 takes a more conservative approach as it’s not radically different from the Z1, at least cosmetically. With a price tag of Rs 49,990, the Z2 will compete with the HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy S5 and the upcoming LG G3. With a Rs 15,000 premium over its predecessor, can the Z2 justify this if you leave aside the bundled goodies?

Design and Build

Sony has done a commendable job with the design and build of the Z2. It’s a clone of the Z1 almost but that’s a good thing as we thought the Z1 was one of Sony’s best efforts. The aluminium chassis makes the handset extremely sturdy and a few knocks won’t really hurt it much. The Z2 also gets the IP 55/58 certification making it amphibious like the Samsung S5.

The SIM and microUSB ports

We have tempered glass on the back and front, which work overtime in keeping scratches away. The same cannot be said for fingerprints though. The surface attracts smudges very easily and is a pain to get off. Having said that, we’re glad Sony has moved away from adding a scratch guard to the display, which used to pick up hairline scratches pretty easily.

The Z2 can easily withstand the elements

All the ports are right where you expect them to be, just like in the old phone. There have been complaints about the improper fit of the glass in the front and our model too had gaps along the bottom edges. This also raised concern of the Z2’s waterproofing capabilities. However, we can confirm that these gaps don’t affect the IP 55 certification as we’ve submerged our unit in bucket of water and it’s still working.

Tempered glass back

Around the back, we get the same 20.7MP sensor from the Z1 and the single LED flash. Sony has played it safe with the Z2 and stuck to what worked for them in the past. In a way, this is good thing but not so much if you’re an existing Z1 owner looking to make the switch. We would have liked to see an addition of an IR port or dual-LED flash for that matter.

The new IPS display makes all the difference

The Z2 also feels a lot longer than it should be. Given that the screen has barely grown in size, there’s a lot of spare bezel at the top and bottom, which makes it slightly difficult to use single handily.

Features

The biggest and most notable change from the Z1 is the new IPS display. At 5.2-inches, it’s 0.2 inches larger than the Z1’s TFT panel and sports the same Full HD resolution. Naturally, colours and brightness levels are a lot better and the display feels lively and vibrant. This makes it ideal for multimedia consumption. Sunlight legibility is also a lot better this time around although it does wash out pretty bad under bright sunlight.

The UI is still familiar but slicker this time around

The Z2 runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat along with a slightly tweaked Xperia skin. The functions and features are pretty much the same with a few exceptions and tweaks to the theme. The notification bar gets redesigned toggle switches and there are new subtle animations applied to the lock screen, music player, etc. The display setting gets a new ‘Smart backlight control’ feature, which keeps the screen on as long as you’re looking at it.

Strong numbers cross the board

Beating underneath is the new Qualcomm Sanpdragon 801 SoC. This is the same MSM8974AB chipset found in the HTC One M8, but is clocked a bit slower at 2.23 GHz. The good news is that the Z2 gets 3GB of RAM which leaves you with about 1.3GB RAM free at any point in time. This more than double of what the S5 leaves you with.

Overheating causes stressful apps to crash

One thing we did notice was that the Z2 heats up pretty quickly when playing back HD videos so shooting stills. This was another issue that many users have been complaining about. It never gets uncomfortably hot to hold but enough for apps to crash and stop working. In fact Sony has a ‘Overheat control’ process that’s always running to monitor the temperature. We had this issue while using some of the Creative Effects in the camera app and while running 3D Mark.

Media

Media playback has always been one of the strong points of Xperia phones and the Z2 is no different. However, they’ve always been lacking when it comes to loud speaker quality and the Z2 manages to plug that gap as well. With stereo speakers mounted on the top and bottom, the Z2 delivers good stereo separation for music and movies.

Media playback is good

This is exploited to the fullest only with the S-Force Surround enhancement enabled though. Without this, the audio lacks any punch.  FM radio is also present. The stock video player also supports 4K video playback.

Storage wise, you get 11.5GB that’s usable out of the 16GB. You can expand this by up to 128GB, if you can afford it.

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia Z2 is a quad-band 3G and 2G device but sadly, the model sold in India does not support 4G. Other connectivity options includes Wi-Fi ‘ac’, USB Host, Bluetooth v4.0, NFC, GLONASS.

Stock apps work well

Sony also bundles a whole bunch of Xperia and third party apps. There’s Sony Music Jive, Big Flix, Sony LIV, Social Life, Sketch, Line, Pixlr Express, Office Suite and What’s New. The latter keeps you updated on the latest games and apps from Sony as well as updates from the Playstation Store. You can also purchase games from your phone and then download them through your PS3.

There’s plenty of RAM to spare on the Z2 unlike others

There are bunch of Xperia Connectivity options as well like screen mirroring, DLNA, support for DualShock 3 controller, etc.

Camera

The camera and the interface is pretty much the same as the Z1, with just a few new apps added. One thing you should note is that in ‘Superior Auto’ mode, the Z2 shoots images in 8MP and records video in 1080p by default. Apparently, the sensor captures the full 20MP image but downscales it to 8MP to increase quality. You can shoot in full 20.7MP in ‘Manual’ mode, the results aren’t as good as in Auto mode. You can’t manually select scene modes as well if the resolution is above 8MP, which we thought was a little odd.

The camera UI gets some new apps

The dedicated shutter key makes capturing images a breeze. Amongst the new additions, we get Timeshift Video, which lets you slow down the entire clip or portions of it. Here, you’re restricted to 720p video.

This was shot in Superior Auto mode

Another macro shot

Shot using HDR mode

The Background Defocus app in action

Quality of stills is very good and the 1080p at 60FPS mode works very well too. The big addition here is 4K video recording. Rather than incorporating it within the settings, it’s been added as an app. While the quality is good, there’s a very bad audio lag which is noticeable when you have people talking in the frame. Clearly, the 4K bit was just slapped on at the last moment for that extra tick on the box as it needs improvement.

Battery life

The Z2 gets a slightly bigger battery at 3200mAh which assures you of more than a day’s worth of usage. After our rigorous 8-hour test, we had 39 percent remaining. This was without any of the power saving modes switched on.

Verdict and Price in India

Sony has launched the Xperia Z2 at Rs 49,990. With this, they are also throwing in the SmartBand and a flip cover to sweeten the deal. While this is definitely a much better package than what the others are offering, we feel the price is bloated and here’s why. The Xperia Z1 launched for Rs 42,000 in September last year and is now available for roughly Rs 37,000. The Z2 is only a mild refresh which makes us wonder if Sony has already added the price of the SmartBand and cover to the launch price, while making it out to be a ‘freebie’.

Whatever might be the case, we feel the Xperia Z2 has a slightly bloated price right now, especially if all you want is the phone and don’t care about any of the bundled goodies. There’s also the overheating issue which causes apps to crash and 4K video recording which needs some polishing up.

Having said that, the Xperia Z2 makes a better all-rounder when compared to the competition. Now, if only Sony would release the shackles of the bundled accessories, we could have more sensible pricing.

Credit: TECH2.

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Tags: News / Technology

Beware of Fake Anti-Virus Developed to Invade Mobile APP Stores. See it here.

- Monday, 19 May 2014 No Comments

 Kenya: Fake antivirus programs are increasingly appearing in mobile app stores. Kaspersky Lab recently found two such programs imitating the company's products in two different official app stores for mobile devices.

The first fake app was discovered in Windows Phone Store. This in itself was unusual because scammers tend to target users of Android via Google Play due to the platform's popularity. The app in question went by the name of Kaspersky Mobile. The fact there is no such program in Kaspersky Lab's product line suggests the fraudsters didn't expect anyone to notice the discrepancy.

Another interesting feature of this particular app was the fact users had to pay for it. This meant its creators immediately started making money without having to devise additional scams such as demanding payments to remove "malware" that had supposedly been detected on users' computers.

The second fake app imitating the Kaspersky Lab brand was for sale on Google Play and was called  Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2014. Again, there is no Kaspersky Lab product for mobile devices by that name. The screenshot used on the page of the fake app was simply copied from the official Kaspersky Internet Security for Android page. Unlike the app for sale in Windows Phone Store, the creators of this fake app didn't even bother to add a simulation of a scanner - the functionality was limited to random series of statements appearing on top of an "official" logo.

"The story of paid fake anti-virus for mobiles started with the appearance of Virus Shield in the Google Play store. Now we are seeing how one successful scam spawns numerous clones. Scammers who want to make a quick buck from inattentive users are selling dozens of fake apps, copying the design, but not the functionality of the original," commented Roman Unuchek, Senior Malware Analyst at Kaspersky Lab. "It is quite possible that more and more of these fake apps will start appearing. One thing is for sure, the security mechanisms put in place by the official stores cannot cope with these kinds of scams."

The scammers however seem to show a bit more knowledge about software developers and their name-dropping wasn't limited to Kaspersky Lab. The fake AV creators uploaded numerous other types of paid apps to Windows Phone Store that used the names and logos of several popular programs.

They include Google Chrome for 99 rubles (approximately $2.80), and Google Chrome Pro, which for some reason cost just 59 rubles. There are some "antivirus" applications from unknown developers, but upon closer inspection the only difference between them and Kaspersky Mobile turned out to be the logo and the colors used in the interface.

Tags: Life style / News / Technology

Treni za juu kama hizi kujengwa Dar hivi karibuni. Serikali yathibitisha.

- Thursday, 15 May 2014 No Comments

Umekua ni usafiri mwingine mzuri na wenye starehe yake kama ukipata nafasi ya kuutumia kwenye nchi zilizoendelea kama Marekani, Uingereza Dubai na kwengineko ambako kuna watu wengine wanategemea sana kuutumia na kuacha magari yao nyumbani na kujikuta wamewahi town na kumaliza shughuli zao manake hamna foleni.

Dar es salaam likiwa jiji la tisa kwa ukuaji duniani huku kwa Afrika likishika nafasi ya tatu, limekua na foleni kubwa ambazo mamlaka ya mapato Tanzania (TRA) inasema huwa kila siku inapatikana hasara ya shilingi BILIONI TATU kutokana na foleni Dar es salaam.

Waziri wa uchukuzi Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe ameongea na TBC1 na namnukuu akisema ‘mradi unaanza wakati wowote mapema iwezekanavyo manake wenzetu tayari wanazo pesa hivyo ni sisi kukimbia tuanze mara moja huu mradi, barabara za juu za treni zinatengenezwa viwandani moja kwa moja hivyo kazi ni kuzisimika tu barabarani ndio maana haitochukua muda mrefu kukamilika’

Elisha Elia alimuuliza Mwakyembe… Je umeme wa bongo tunavyoufahamu na historia yake utafaa kuuwezesha usafiri huo wa Treni kufanya kazi yake? manake treni hizi za kasi zinatumia umeme.

Akajibiwa ‘hawatotumia umeme wa TANESCO, watatumia umeme wa solar na vyanzo vingine vya umeme ili isitokee treni ikasimama katikati manake umeme ni lazima uwepo kwa saa 24′

Kazi hii ya ujenzi wa barabara za juu za treni na treni zenyewe Dar es salaam itafanywa na jopo la wawekezaji ambao tayari wameshakubali kuwa tayari kuifanya hii kazi kwa kuanzia Dar es salaam, baadae Arusha kisha Mwanza na kwa Dar es salaam mradi huu kwa kuanzia utatoa ajira kwa zaidi ya watu elfu moja.

credit: Milladiayo

Tags: Technology

Samsung Q1 profit dips as smartphone sales slow down

- Tuesday, 6 May 2014 No Comments

Samsung's profits have fallen again. 

Samsung reported its second straight fall in quarterly profit on Tuesday, as weakness in flat-screen panels and the maturing high-end smartphone business weighed on the South Korean giant’s earnings.

But the company said the football World Cup in Brazil should help boost sales of screens and smartphones in the current quarter, as fans invest in fancy gadgets to watch the action.

The world’s biggest smartphone maker is also banking on its flagship Galaxy S5 handset, launched in April, to outsell its predecessor and widen profit margins, a senior executive told Reuters earlier.

For January-March, South Korea’s largest company by market value said operating profit fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier to 8.5 trillion won ($8.2 billion), versus guidance of 8.4 trillion won.

Profit in the mobile division reached 6.43 trillion won, down 1.2 percent from a 6.51 trillion won profit a year earlier.

“Samsung is expected to see profits rally in the second quarter and beyond, on the back of improved sales of display panels and home appliances,” Samsung said in a statement.

“Orders for display panels that are used for premium smartphones and TVs are expected to increase, as new mobile devices are rolled out into the market and as consumers look forward to the upcoming World Cup in Brazil.”

Even so, Samsung could be heading for its first annual profit fall in three years as margins tighten across the product line, analysts say. As growth in Samsung’s core high-end smartphone business eases in wealthy countries, the battle is shifting to cheaper, narrow-margin phones in emerging markets.

Shares of Samsung Electronics, worth $220 billion, climbed 0.3 percent after the results, in line with a 0.3 percent rise in the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index.

Samsung’s mobile business is poised for an uncertain 2014, analysts say. Its broad range of low-end phones are being caught by the improving quality of Chinese-made offerings, while the large-screen advantage of its top-range phones could be countered by new models from Apple Inc.

Any further decline in profitability could increase pressure from shareholders to produce a new growth engine or increase payouts.

Samsung’s flat-screen panels business ran an 80 billion won loss during the January-March period, compared with a 770 billion won profit a year earlier, as weaker global sales weighed on prices.

The company also cited higher costs stemming from an increase in production in China as a reason for the earnings slump in the panels business.

In the chip business, profits rose 82 percent from a year earlier to 1.95 trillion won, in line with similarly strong results from rivals such as SK Hynix Inc thanks to solid demand from PC makers and tight supply.

Tags: Technology

Some Galaxy S5 devices have a fatal flaw that renders the camera useless

- Monday, 5 May 2014 No Comments

Barely a couple of weeks have passed since Samsung launched its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone and reports have already emerged about a serious flaw in some models. This one has to do with the 16MP ISOCELL camera, that’s said to be one of the best in the world.

According to The Verge, users of S5 are seeing a “camera failure” error pop up randomly. The flaw emerged when users started complaining on various forums about the camera flaw. As of now there is no confirmation of the reason behind this issue and whether it is a software bug or some hardware issue, but a Samsung spokesperson told the site, “We have learned that a limited number of Galaxy S5 devices may have an issue that causes ‘Camera Failure’ pop-up error message.”

The flaw simply disables the camera hardware permanently and the only option with the user is to get the handset replaced.  Service provider Verizon Wireless, whose S5 model is one of those affect, has tweeted about the flaw.

The Verge claims that Samsung has started a helpline number for aggrieved users for help in getting their handset replaced under Samsung’s warranty. Another option for the users is that they can swap their smartphone with their respective carriers.

Tags: Technology

TECH: Samsung Galaxy S5 Google Play edition spotted on US Play Store

- Sunday, 4 May 2014 No Comments

Though Samsung or Google never officially announced a Google Play Edition (GPe) for the Galaxy S5, it looks like the device is on its way. Now, Droid Life has discovered an image of the Galaxy S5 – among the GPe of HTC One, Xperia Z Utra and others – on the Google Play Store.

While browsing through Play editions currently available the site noticed that the S4 thumbnail showed the Galaxy S5 image. Though Google was quick enough to rectify the glitch, site managed to take a snapshot.

Galaxy S5 Google Play Edition on its way?

However, clicking on the link, it would direct users to the Galaxy S4 page instead. While Google may have accidentally swapped the thumbnail image, it has left tech enthusiasts wondering whether the Google Edition of the S5 would hit store shelves anytime soon.

While Google’s plans to kill the Nexus line have reportedly surfaced, Samsung has been mum about the possibility of the GPe S5 ever since the device was launched. It is highly speculated that one of the reasons why Samsung may have decided to bring the GPe of its flagship could be to compete with HTC. HTC recently announced the Google Play edition of its One M8.

Tags: Technology

Does HTC One M8 have enough firepower to outsell Galaxy S5, Xperia Z2?

- Saturday, 3 May 2014 No Comments

The HTC One M8 is finally here and immediately, the inevitable comparisons ensue. The One M8 will go on to compete with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Sony Xperia Z2 so far. LG has yet to unveil the successor to the G2, which will be the fourth contender in the group. The M8 is an evolutionary upgrade to HTC’s previous flagship and the focus seems to be heavily centered around the design. But in doing so, HTC seems to have neglected other key aspects of what makes flagship smartphone in today’s day and age. Could this neglect cost them a spot amongst the top three smartphones of 2014?

Roydon Cerejo

There’s no denying the fact that the One M8 will go down in history as one of the most beautifully crafted smartphones of all time. In fact, HTC has consistently churned out stunner after stunner in their One series. Design is one of the pivotal aspects of the phone and I don’t think the other flagships even come close to what HTC has achieved. But that seems to be the whole and soul of the phone as there really isn’t much else that’s substantial enough for you to sit up and take notice. They’ve increased the screen a bit, dropped in a faster chipset and tweaked around with the skin a bit. Yes, battery life has gotten better but that’s to be expected when you use a more efficient CPU and a larger battery. The depth sensing camera also sounds a bit gimmicky to be honest.

I’m all for a superbly designed phone, I really am. But when I’m paying upwards of Rs 40,000 on a phone, I expect to get the best of everything. One of the biggest drawbacks of the M8 in my eyes is that HTC went ahead with the same Ultrapixel camera from last year’s model. Behind the whole marketing spiel that is Ultrapixel, it does snap pictures at just 4MP and that’s not good enough for a flagship device. Compare this to Samsung’s 16MP and Sony’s 20.7MP sensor and suddenly the chinks give way to deep gashes in the M8′s armor. The One M8 will definitely sweep the title of the ‘best looking’ phone of 2014 but sadly, it already feels like a tough sell when you consider the whole package.

Shruti Dhapola

HTC’s new smartphone, the HTC One M8 looks pretty much like its predecessor and the Taiwanese company seems to have stuck with the same design and look. Dual speakers on the front, Snapdragon quad-core processor, a slightly bigger screen (from 4.7-inches to 5-inches). As far as its rivals go, it would be unfair to say that HTC hasn’t done enough. New premium smartphones don’t have much to offer nowadays other than a bigger screen, more megapixels in the camera and a better processor.

The only problem for HTC is that it has stuck to the 4 megapixel camera, when in consumer perception, more megapixels mean a better smartphone camera. A lot of users might not be comfortable paying a high price for a premium smartphone with a 4 megapixel camera.  HTC has tried to stand out in the market by talking about Ultrapixels, but given the response that the HTC One got in 2013, it should be clear, that this marketing strategy hasn’t paid off and is unlikely to work in 2014 either.

Nikhil Subramaniam

Year after year, we wait for the next HTC flagship to see how the Taiwanese manufacturer will finally challenge Samsung’s monopoly on the Android smartphone market. Year after year, HTC brings the fight right to Samsung’s doorstep, but loses steam just when it needs to punch.

Sadly, that’s the case this year too. The HTC One M8 looks great. The hardware is great, the design typically stellar, surpassing even the iPhone 5s in my opinion, and there are a ton of innovative software features too which should make it a pleasure to use. Everything seems to be just perfect.

Everything but the camera. One would have thought that HTC would have improved the one glaring disadvantage in the 2013 One after the underwhelming reviews. The Ultrapixel camera on the One was its major pitfall and it’s making a reappearance, with tweaked imaging software, to improve some of the picture quality. Nevertheless early reviews state that it’s not that much of an improvement, if at all.

Yes, there’s the so-called Duo Camera, but how many of us want to tinker with the focus of an image after it’s taken? How many even venture into the picture editor to resharpen an image right now or to make the colours pop more?

HTC should have instead built on the Ultrapixel technology and blown our minds with an 8-megapixel camera or thereabouts with larger pixel size, so that detail and colour reproduction are at par with the competition. Some may say it’s just a camera, and it doesn’t matter because phones are not supposed to be cameras. But at a time, when point-and-shoots are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the light of superb camera phones, HTC has missed a huge beat.

Instead what we have is an hamstrung flagship, one which could have been a sellout; it could have been a blockbuster and given Samsung real cause for concern. Instead it’s a 2014 smartphone with a 2013 camera, that wasn’t all that great in the first place. In conclusion, I would say HTC has done a lot to make the M8 a worthy challenger, but it seems to have fallen short again.