It’s been a whole week since my wife got an iPhone 5. She’s done two things to this point. First she’s downloaded a number of apps. For example she has an app to aid in her Starbucks addiction, an app to help her find cheap gas, get recipes, and even solitaire. But her favorite app is the Nike + app that allows her to map her runs and keep track of all sorts of stats such as distance, pace, and time. It’s making her running friends jealous.
I was also feeling uncomfortable that she was putting the phone in her purse without any protection. So I bought her a case to make sure her new phone didn’t get scratched or worse. I did some research and found that there were not a whole lot of cases out there yet. But I did find this one by UK company Tech21 and I was able to grab it at my local Best Buy. One thing that drew me to it was the fact that it had a cover for the screen. That’s big for me as I know lots of people who have their screens cracked by things in their pocket or purse. It also has a hard shell polycarbonate casing which will help it to protect the iPhone from drops. At the same time, I bought her an extra Lightning cable as her use of the iPhone 5 which has been non-stop since she got it has really taxed the battery. Thus I wanted to make sure she could recharge the phone if she needed to.
What surprises me about all of this is the fact that she’s said for years that she’s not the smart phone type and would barely use one. That was true with her Palm Centro which to her was just a phone that happened to get e-mail and had her schedule and contacts. Now she’s checking her e-mail from her work account, her home account, and her iCloud account every time the phone goes “ding.” Sounds like she’s now an iPhone addict.
Posted in Commentary with tags Rogers on October 1, 2012 by itnerd
A press release crossed the wires this morning announcing the availability of LTE on the Rogers and Fido networks in the following cities:
British Columbia: Victoria, Abbotsford, Kelowna
Alberta: Edmonton
Saskatchewan: Saskatoon and Regina
Ontario: St. Catharines/Niagara, Oshawa/Pickering/Ajax, Windsor, Sudbury, Kingston, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Barrie
Quebec: Quebec, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières
If you look at their coverage map, Rogers and Fido appear to have a very large LTE footprint which according to them covers about 60% of the population. Also, it’s going to get larger as new cities will be added later this year and in 2013. Thus, those of you with the iPhone 5 or the Sony Xperia Ion just to name two LTE enabled phones can get the super fast access that you crave.
Posted in Products with tags Sony on October 1, 2012 by itnerd
With all of the noise about the iPhone 5, the question has to be asked. Why am I reviewing the Sony Xperia Ion? It’s simple. There are many other smart phones out there and they all have their advantages. The Xperia Ion is such a phone and let me tell you right up front, I’m very impressed by it.
For starters, it’s a large phone, but not too large. I was able to put it comfortably in my pants pocket and not really feel it. Not that I would recommend doing that on a regular basis as that’s a great way to crack a screen. But it’s nice to know that you can if required. It feels and looks nice. It feels like a well put together device. But the phone seems to be a magnet for dirt and fingerprints. You might want to keep a microfiber cloth handy. The phone has a normal MicroUSB port as well as HDMI port so that you can hook it up to your TV. There’s a 4.6-inch 1280-by-720-resolution display capable of 720p which Sony has dubbed the HD Reality Display. I personally don’t care what it’s called, all I know that it’s bright and vibrant. It’s easily one of the better smart phone screens I’ve seen lately.
Inside there’s a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 CPU. Not exactly new when compared to the A6 in the iPhone 5. But it does seem to work well while running Android 4.0.4 which is heavily customized by Sony. I’ve always been a fan of the way Sony customizes their phones as it sets them apart from pretty much every other Android phone out there. One thing I should mention is that I usually hate typing on touch screen phones. But I found it really easy to type on this one. I really liked that!
Using the smart phone was kind of interesting. Its voice quality was pretty good, but the real story was the fact that this phone is LTE enabled (in this case, on the Rogers network). If you have a need to consume data at a rapid pace (and you can afford to do so) this phone will support your need for speed. YouTube and anything else is no problem for this phone. At this point, I should also mention the battery life. It lasted the day for the most part but heavy LTE usage will absolutely cut into that.
The next thing is the camera. Rather than do my usual camera tests, I decided to take it to Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival this past weekend to see how it performed. Since it was at night, I figured it would ether show how capable the camera was, or really show it’s shortcomings. First the still pictures:
The above photo was taken outside Toronto’s Trump Tower. Click to enlarge to see the quality. It’s pretty good. But there was a lot of light. That takes me to the next picture:
I came across the quasi-famous Toronto Batman and snapped a pic in lower light. Not bad. Here’s one more in even lower light.
So for still pictures, you can see this camera is pretty good. One thing I should note, the auto focus function was kind of weird. I didn’t get how it worked and sometimes it would contribute to fuzzy pictures which required me to do a reshoot. But when it did work, it worked well.
How about video? I’ve taken three videos for your viewing pleasure:
The video quality is pretty impressive given the lighting conditions and the audio seems pretty clear in the first and third videos. I honestly don’t know what happened with the sound in the second video. My wife shot the same scene on her iPhone 5 and got clear audio. Perhaps I accidentally covered up a microphone? But in any case, Sony has worked hard on the camera and it really shows.
So what’s my verdict? If you want a phone that’s got a great camera and is quick when it comes to LTE, this is the phone for you. It has a nice screen and feels great in your hand. It’s not too big and it’s battery life is decent. If you want something other than the iPhone 5, take a look at the Xperia Ion and you might find a phone you want to take home.
Apps And A Case For My Wife’s iPhone 5
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple, iPhone 5 on October 1, 2012 by itnerdIt’s been a whole week since my wife got an iPhone 5. She’s done two things to this point. First she’s downloaded a number of apps. For example she has an app to aid in her Starbucks addiction, an app to help her find cheap gas, get recipes, and even solitaire. But her favorite app is the Nike + app that allows her to map her runs and keep track of all sorts of stats such as distance, pace, and time. It’s making her running friends jealous.
I was also feeling uncomfortable that she was putting the phone in her purse without any protection. So I bought her a case to make sure her new phone didn’t get scratched or worse. I did some research and found that there were not a whole lot of cases out there yet. But I did find this one by UK company Tech21 and I was able to grab it at my local Best Buy. One thing that drew me to it was the fact that it had a cover for the screen. That’s big for me as I know lots of people who have their screens cracked by things in their pocket or purse. It also has a hard shell polycarbonate casing which will help it to protect the iPhone from drops. At the same time, I bought her an extra Lightning cable as her use of the iPhone 5 which has been non-stop since she got it has really taxed the battery. Thus I wanted to make sure she could recharge the phone if she needed to.
What surprises me about all of this is the fact that she’s said for years that she’s not the smart phone type and would barely use one. That was true with her Palm Centro which to her was just a phone that happened to get e-mail and had her schedule and contacts. Now she’s checking her e-mail from her work account, her home account, and her iCloud account every time the phone goes “ding.” Sounds like she’s now an iPhone addict.
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