Staying Frosty - MW3

Since 2007, FPS gamers have had something of an annual event to look forward to, every November, with the release of a Call of Duty game. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare started this tradition, followed by:

World At War
Modern Warfare 2
Black Ops

This years' offering is Modern Warfare 3, the final part in an impressive series of games from Activision and Infinity Ward/Sledgemhammer Games (more on this later). The game picks up where MW2 left off, with series protagonists Captain Price and Soap McTavish on the run and wounded, before the player is immediately launched headling into WW3, while at the same time attempting to stop the war, kill the bad guy and clear their names. Phew!

Impressive stuff indeed, made all the more impressive by the 18 month turnaround of the game following the ructions at Infinity Ward in late March 2010. Gamers across the planet waited with baited breath regarding the future of the franchise, which is when Sledgehammer Games stepped up to the plate to deliver...

...and deliver they have! IGN commented on the game, saying it had a largely forgettable plot, but I beg to differ; the reason they couldn't remember the plot is probably because of the sheer enormity of it.

Taking in New York, London, Paris, Prague, Berlin, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the Middle East and Siberia and featuring setpiece highlights such as storming a Russian submarine in the Hudson River, NYC, to battling terrorists on the London Underground, providing aerial cover from an AC130 for ground troops fighting their way out of Paris and fighting through the streets of a decimated Berlin, no one can deny the ambitious size and scope of this game - it's massive and stuffed full of more than just the setpieces mentioned above.

Throw into this heady mix of violence and awesomeness an interesting story (not forgettable!) that draws the series to a close, including a killer twist in the tale as well, and you have a great game. Sure, it's a little short; I finished the game on Regular mode in 6 hours and 3 seconds, but it's one hell of a thrill ride and it has the wow factor for replay as well.

Playing throught the first two acts again over the weekend gave me a fuller apprecation for the game. I must admit, the first time I played the game I was slightly overwhelmed - the 'shock and awe' factor of the game is staggering. It's less mental than MW2 but is far more intense.

And it's not just the campaign that offers replay, as once again the fabulous multiplayer returns; retweaked, retooled and rejuvenated - if you can get to play it, that is. Due to the sheer overwhelming numbers of people playing the game, the multiplayer is jam-packed to an extent it's nigh-on unplayable. As in, you can't play a game. At all. Bit of a poor show really, considering the makers were aiming for a bug free game - this major glitch has effortlessly pissed all over that ideal.

It seems a major mis-step to me to fumble so badly on the really the most popular part of the COD experience - I've got mates who buy COD simply to play online and have barely touched the campaign at all. When, a week before launch, you openly brag on your official Facebook page about the 3.5 million preorders for MW3, you hope in some way the developers are prepared for a significant portion of that audience to want to play online. So, when the game is released and thousands of people are having problems with multiplayer, the excuse "we were swamped by unprecedented demand" just doesn't cut the mustard - as you've already TOLD us how many people you're expecting!

And it gets worse, people who are on Orange broadband are having to adjust the settings on their router, just to get onto the Acitivision servers. I've heard it's something to do with the way the Elite information is gathered, though I don't recall having to fiddle with my router for Black Ops and was able to see my Playercard in quite some depth. I'm hoping there's a better reason, but Activision/IW et al are curiously tight-lipped about the whole situation, I'll stick with them fishing about on my PS3 for Elite details. For now,at least!

Thank goodness then for the welcome return of Spec Ops. This has been also been retooled to include the now seemingly obligatory 'horde mode' as featured in Treyarch's games, this time round called Survival. However the main difference here is, just for a change...it's not zombies!

Another new feature has been unveiled, incorporating a new ranking system that lets you advance in a similar fashion to multiplayer, unlocking various weapons, perks and special features that helps make things a little more interesting in the Survival mode. You can also play online with anyone in the standard Spec Ops missions and Survival as well, and jolly good fun it is too, as playing with a partner makes getting those three precious Veteran stars that much easier.

Standout missions for me in the 2011 Spec Ops include:
* Toxic Paradise - Juggernaught suits for all! Highly enjoyable level, stuffed with carnage of all kinds.
* Firewall - 2 player minigun mayhem
* Hostage Taker - the trickiest and most infuriating annoying of them all. 65 seconds on Veteran - it's actually more fun if you take your time!
* Resistance Movement - an excellent level. 160 seconds on Veteran
* Invisible Threat - Also a great level, on the same map as Little Bros. Another round in the Juggernaught suit, with Predator missiles for good measure.
* Fire Mission - 2 player mayhem, one on the ground, one in the air - raining fire from an AC-130. Easy on regular, incredibly annoying on Veteran - especially if your partner on the ground is rubbish.

In summary then, the campaign is excellent. Visual, visceral and great fun to play, it's an engaging and immersive experience. The multiplayer is good, when you can get online to play it and the changes made have been pretty beneficial. The ever-reliable Spec Ops is better than ever, and serves as a worthy replacement while the MP servers are fixed, and is something I will definitely be coming back to in the future.

Despite the glitches, it's an essential purchase. You know you want to.

Update: a series of patches have been released, at least two in December alone, which have improved the online experience considerably, though I stand by my original comments - there shouldn't have been a problem to begin with!

Walk This Ray

A recent turn of good luck yielded me a 2011 Mini Pro from the good folks at SE, and the wife managed to upgrade her handset to the Xperia Ray. As she's a fan of the Mini, having owned the 2010 model, and I'm a fan of the Ray, we both readily opted to swap handsets. This should in no way detract from the little pocket-rocket that is the Mini; sporting a 5MP camera, 720p video and a 1GHz processor, it's no slouch. However the Ray suits someone like me down to the ground as it packs a better camera, more memory, a slimmer build and numerous other gadgety things more inclined for boys and their toys. Although saying all that the Ray is being marketed more towards females...hmmm.

Anyhoo, as I've previously stated, I've been impressed this year by the way SE have managed to cram everything from the Arc into the Neo (plus a little extra) and then shoehorned the contents of the Neo into the even smaller Ray, stripping out the almost non-essential things like the HDMI-out (be honest - how often have you used it?!) but still managing to deliver the same performance as the Arc and retaining the front-facing camera introduced with the Neo. The progression is staggering, even if there are some slight problems along the way with the design and UI in this particular model.

The minimalist design of the Ray is, well, fairly minimal, right down to it lacking a camera button. All the other handsets I've seen this year have one, so it's a little strange for it to be missing here; the touch screen is now the sole reliance for using the camera. It's a minor gripe really as I use the touch capture far more than I ever used the camera button on my other phone(s), simply because the button can be irritating at times!

The build quality is pretty good. Once again the matt finish utilised in the 2010 X10 series and on this years' Mini series tops everything off, giving a decent grip in the hand, which is useful as this is a super slim phone. Even if you have a penchant for uber-skinny jeans, you'll find the Ray is so sleek and slim it's barely noticeable in the pocket, which comes in very useful when smuggling the phone about to use it discretely i.e. in the office. Of course this does make it a little easier to misplace so top tip; don't put it on silent unless absolutely necessary!

I had some reservations with the size of the screen, which as it turns out weren't completely unfounded; having had the Arc and Neo this year already and been used to the acreage of their screens (in particular the 4.3in Arc screen), dropping to the Ray screen was a bit of a pickle initially. I use things like Swype for text input, which here has been replaced by a keypad similar to 'old fashioned' phones.

Having used touch screen input for a couple years, it wasn't that big an adjustment to make to switch back to standard T9 input, but I'll be honest and admit it did initially cause some minor frustration and the occasional profanity to erupt from behind clenched teeth. Swype is probably still available to use on this phone – I haven’t checked yet – but I would imagine the keyboard for this would be tiny!

Something else that's irked me, particularly with the Mini Pro and the Ray, is the bare minimum of MicroSD memory being provided with the handset; 2GB with the Mini Pro and 4GB with the Ray. To me that just doesn't seem enough, particularly for what I use the phone for, and for a phone offering high quality music playback (coming as it does with the excellent LiveSound earphones, at least on unbranded handsets), HD video capabilities and 8MP pictures, the minimum memory provided should be 8GB. I've beefed up the memory on the Ray to 16GB, so it now offers the same sort of space as my trusty (though ailing) iPod Touch. With this improvement the Ray is now something of a powerhouse handset that delivers pretty much everything I need from a media perspective.

I loaded Tron: Legacy onto the Ray and it looked pretty handsome; vivid colours, great sound reproduction. Tron: Legacy really gave the BRAVIA engine something to work on and it's a pretty impressive experience even on a smaller screen!

If I had any other real gripes it would be with the touch response on the screen; it's a little flaky at times. Not all the time, but it can miss a touch or two here and there, mainly when using pattern protection to unlock the phone. The home button has a nice semi circle of light around it, which also acts as a notification light, but the back and menu keys are just keys, they don't light up or anything. Call me fussy but I think it would have given the handset some extra oomph if they had. Again, it's a minor gripe over a design decision I had nothing to do with, one that really was probably driven by cramming so much into such a small handset, so something had to go!

In summary then, the Ray offers the same performance and virtually all the features of the Arc and Neo from earlier this year, while coming in at a lower price. Get the phone off network and chances are you'll get the excellent LiveSound earphones included, saving yourself RRP £60! It's an excellent handset and represents SE's 2011 progression and dedication to their craft in a stylish handset at a very decent price.  

Update: after tinkering with the keyboard input settings, T9 isn't the only input option, the standard Android keyboard is also available! And comes with Ericsson's version of Swype/gesture input, which ain't too shabby!

Xperia & 2012

Judging by the stories that have been leaking out from SE the past few weeks, about the forthcoming 2012 range of Xperia phones, the coming year looks to be Sony Ericsson/Sony's biggest year yet. I shan't wade through everything that's been written, but the best of the handsets currently mooted really has the potential to be something extra special; The Nozomi, possibly to be named the Duo or Cloud on it's release, sports a veritable slew of features:

1.5GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
12MP camera
1280x720 HD screen
32GB of onboard memory.

I'm sure there will be other features that are just as amazing, but even if the above list is *all* we get, that's pretty amazing. Dual core has been asked about a lot on the SEUK wall really since the Arc was released and there are members of the Test Lab who have been pushing for this feature. The Arc S introduced the fastest Xperia handset ever to the market, but those of us who've rooted and booted our phones have been overclocking to 1.78GHz and beyond for months - although at a detriment to the life of the 1GHz processor. At least it shows SE are listening to their fanbase AND following market trends etc, so top marks then for the 1.5GHz.

12MP cameras were first introduced with the Satio, but sadly thanks to a shoddy operating system this phone was something of a damp squib; it should've been a lot better. A real pity; one suspects if the Symbian operating system was able to be replaced with Android we would have seen a really good phone. Though it's now faded into obscurity, it appears it's getting something of a resurrection - the 12MP camera at least - with the new phone(s).

I'm far more interested in the 32GB of onboard memory, however. My trusty 2007 1st Gen 16GB iPod Touch is really starting to show it's age this last couple months, so I've been utilising the phone music player a lot more. To this extent I've also purchased a 16GB MicroSD card so I can carry more of my library with me. Added to this I'm using the excellent Sony Ericsson LiveSound headphones and things are looking and sounding (pun intended) pretty good on the music front.

So, back to the memory; the 32GB, although probably closer to 29GB after the filing system is set up, should really give the Nozomi a chance to compete with the iPhone, allowing users to carry far more of their music with them, while still leaving room for 12MP pictures and a few other bits and pieces. It's a very, very generous allocation of memory which neatly trumps at least two of the current iPhones available.

For me it still would've been useful to have the Micro SD slot on the phone, either to utilise the extra memory as an expansion slot or to use it as a backup for pictures and things like that. Let's not forget; people don't religiously clear their phones out and if anything goes wrong with the memory, it's not like it can be removed (not that we know of) and replaced with another card - it's integrated into the phone, so the whole lot would have to go off to be repaired/replaced. Still with cloud technology getting better and better, and the likes of Box currently offering 50GB of online storage for free, there's no reason why we couldn't be backing up our photos and personal bits and pieces pretty much anytime, anywhere.

So the Nozomi should prove to be a game changer for Sony - if all goes to plan it should piddle quite handsomely all over the iPhone 4S -  and hopefully lightly tinkle on the feet of at least a couple other phone makers as well! Throw into the mix at least one other phone with similar specs, a couple more handsets at least on a par with this years' Arc...AND an upgrade for 2011/2012 handsets to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich...it's shaping up to be a bumper year and a busy one at that for Test Lab. Roll on spring 2012!

Mini Pro - A thing for rubber.

Last summer, my wife upgraded her contract phone to the X10 Mini. It's a nice little phone, with some useful features and proved a plucky little handset, given it's initial Android 1.6 handicap. A few months later, in January of this year (2011) and on the basis of my wife's satisfaction with her SE Android handset, I upgraded my contract phone to the X10i - specifically the HD variant with Eclair 2.1 on board. Also a great handset, limited again to 2.1 (or so we were led to believe) as it was SE's first foray into the broader aspects of the Android market.

Jump to November 2011 and the kind overlords at SE have furnished me with another phone; the 2011 Mini Pro...And a fine handset it is too. I first saw this little beauty back in the summer and was immediately impressed with it. Sure it's stubby and a little chunky, but it sports some considerable heft in the hand.

Fiddling with the slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, I found this to be a much smoother experience than when using the Play, which I felt had a slight 'wobble' to it, even when tucked away under the screen. No such problems here, everything tucks away where it should be with barely a rattle to be heard when it's closed. Nice. Sturdy. Solid.

The screen itself is bigger than last years X10 screen and is a very nice screen to behold. It's bright, it's vivid, it renders photos taken with the 5MP camera very well and displays video taken with the phone quite handsomely as well. The BRAVIA engine is onboard this phone so that does play a part in making things look better. The UX for this phone has improved somewhat; the corner docks can now accomodate more than just one app, I think you can have 4 apps in each corner which comes to a grand total of 16 'bookmarks' for your electronic delectation. Pressing the menu button on the homescreen now draws up the same menu as seen on other 2011 Xperia handsets, which is something of a relief as the menu on the original X10 Mini was a nightmare!

I was disappointed the phone only came with a 2GB card, personally I found this a bit mean, especially considering phones like the Arc and Neo came with an 8GB card - surely at least a 4GB wouldn't have gone amiss? Not the end of the world though, as Micro SD's are easily replaceable and I seem to have a glut of 8GB cards knocking about, so that's that problem solved

And now we come to the point behind the curious title of this post - rubber. The 2010 X10 series and the 2011 successor Mini handsets all have a fabulous matt finish which is, surprise surprise, almost rubbery in places. I personally find the finish to be of great use and value. For starters it makes the phone easier to grip. I like the look of that finish compared to glossier finish of the Arc/Neo, though I will admit they do still look nice, but the glossy finish does tend to make the phones a little slicker if your hands are wet, for example. And it does rain here in good old Blightly. A lot.

Anyway, fetishes aside, the 2011 Mini Pro is a considerable improvement on it's predecessor. I've given mine to my wife in trade for her Xperia Ray, coming on contract this week (review to follow soon!) but that should by no means suggest it's a phone for girls. Sporting a fine camera, a decent screen, sturdy build, a zippy little processor and a respectable amount of RAM, it's also running the latest version of Android - with ICS right around the corner. In short, it's a great little handset and worthy of anyone's attention.

Neo/Arc, Arc/Neo?

I've been chopping and changing between the Neo and the Arc the last couple months, really just because I can (!), but also to really gauge how, despite running the same operating system, how different each handset is. And also so I could decide which handset was worthy of the 16GB microSD card I've had my eye on for a bit on Amazon.

Surprisingly, the Arc wins out overall. Sure, I raved about the Neo in the summer and I really do still like the Neo and it's stubby coolness, but the disappointing lack of memory (380MB compared to 512MB) means the Neo is more prone to getting mired in its own, er, mire, and I constantly have to restart it and that's only using the bare minimum of apps - I've only got 3.5 pages of apps on both my phones. Not something that's entirely useful when the option to restart is provided by third-party apps, although this also applies to the Arc until I reinstall Quick Boot.

Personally, with regards to flash memory, I still think it a little cheap of SE to only offer 8GB cards with the Xperia range (and I think certain models in this years' range only come with a 4GB card). The smartphone to beat in the marketplace is of course the iPhone, and that comes in 8, 16 and 32GB variations. Again and again, we see SE offering the bare minimum when it comes to besting the competition - 8GB is the bottom of the scale, why not at least TRY and compete and bundle a 16GB card? Based on their position in the sales market, surely it's worth a gamble?

That said, there are strong and persistent rumours some of 2012 Xperia range will come with integrated onboard storage, somewhere in the region of 32GB if the stories are true. If this is the case, I would hope for consumers moving away from iOS and it's strict hand-holding and migrating to SE. IF the rumours are true, the 2012 handsets are game-changers for SE, in a big way. I can't wait for the New Year and MWC.

LiveSound

I've never been a fan of cramming things in my ears, save the occasional cotton bud, but after receiving a set of LiveSound headphones from the good folks at Iris Digital/Sony Ericsson I'm planning to cram something else into my earholes.

Touted as the very latest thing in music audio technology, check out the blurb from SE:

Hear your music as it was meant to be heard. Experience LiveSound™ hi-fi headset. 
Genuine Sony Ericsson sound. Deep, punchy bass. Balanced, clean and dynamic audio reproduction. LiveSound™ hi-fi headset boasts premium design. Flat tangle-free cables. LiveKey™ app control. And remote on-cable music and call-handling. These sleek stereo headphones were engineered for music lovers.

They're not far wrong with their description. Since getting mine yesterday, I've certainly put them through their paces with a selection from the great variety of albums I carry on my Arc:

• Hans Zimmer: Inception - Original Motion Picture Score
• Daft Punk: Tron: Legacy - Original Motion Picture Score
• The Answer: Revival

I can safely say these are awesome headphones. Firing up the latest album from The Answer, Revival, I was treated to punchy bass, and crunchy guitars. I keep the EQ on the Arc set to rock as I'm fan of heavy bass, high treble and scooped mids. Sound reproduction was fantastic and really stood up well to the high-octane musical extranvaganza unleashed from this album.

Firing up the End Titles from Daft Punk's stirring, atmospheric opus for Tron: Legacy, I heard shimmering strings and bass that was (saucy innuendo aside) perfectly balanced, deep, tight, smooth and liquid.

Taking the dog out for a 45 minute hike this morning I listened to the soundtrack from Inception and again, it was a fantastic experience. This is an enormous sounding score and the LiveSound really did it justice.

My one gripe with these headpones is the cable could've done with being maybe a foot longer. I keep my phone in my trouserpocket and tucking the cable under my t-shirt then trying to read a text, I did feel a little wrench on the cable. A minor niggle, especially if you keep your phone in your breast pocket.

At £69.99 RRP these are expensive earphones, twice the price of Apple's similar in-line remote/mic earphone, but they are worth it. Considering these come as standard with the Xperia Ray, currently retailing for £279.99 on play.com, if you're looking for new earphones and/or a new phone, either way this makes for essential purchase.

Highly recommended!

Everybody Loves Ray

The Xperia Ray has launched here in the UK, and while I am loathe to write a gushing review about something I've only played with for about half an hour...to hell with it; whole albums have been reviewed based on a opening single, I'm going to give it a whirl anyway!

 

I first saw the Ray back in July at a meeting with Sony Ericsson, and was immediately taken by the styling of the device. I've always been a fan of phones with a matt finish and a slight feeling of 'grip' - the finish on the X10i was a perfect example of this and somthing I feel should've been carried over to the 2011 range of phones, had the environmental concerns of GreenHeart and recycled plastics not prevailed.

 

The 3.3in screen is tiny (compared to say, the 4.2in Arc) but still retains a wonderful brightness and clarity that I wouldn't have expected from a screen of this size. Of course there could be a problem typing messages if you've got stubby sausages for fingers; you might need something like Swype to make things easier and this is where SE have played something of a trump card...as they've introduced their own version of the software, which should make swipe-typing messages an absolute doddle. This will be coming to all 2011 SE Android handsets with the 2.3.4 update in the next few weeks - although it has started rolling out across Europe as I type this!

 

What fascinates me with the Ray, like I've said in previous posts, is how much the technology onboard the phone has changed/improved in the last six months, really since the release of the Arc:

• The Ray has dropped the HDMI out and LED flash (replaced with a dirty photo light) in order to slim things down, but is still packing in the same 1GHz processor and 8MP camera (with 720p video recording) as the Arc/Neo, yet is almost half the surface area of the Arc, if not more.
• Comparing the Neo to the Ray, the Neo is slightly bigger than the Ray, (but smaller than the Arc) and has a chunkier body to compensate for the smaller frame, whereas the Ray has hit the gym and lost the flab! All in all it's an impressive leap in technology in just six months.

According to bits and pieces I've read about the phone and its release, SE are aiming this handset at female users; not a bad idea, considering it's such a dinky phone it would happily fit it the tiniest of clutch purses. I must admit, I wouldn't mind a Ray - I could grumble about the low amount of onboard memory or sacrificing the HDMI out and LED flash but...I won't! To have a 'slim and lite' version of these excellent phones embodied in the Ray is very cool indeed.

 

Add to this the Ray is launching, at least here in the UK (according to rumours and an unboxing vid at Xperiablog), with the fabled LiveSound Stereo Remote headphones which not only offer unprecedented sound reproduction but are also retailing for between £40 and £50, that's an even better deal!

Xperia and PSN (PlayStation Never)

A post on Xperia Blog today talks about the PlayStation Suite coming to Android. 

Sony Ericsson expects that the strategy for the PlayStation Suite will become clear very shortly. The Playstation Store plans for Android have not changed according to the company, with SE expecting a “big step forward” in terms of PSN contribution.


But...even a 'big step forward' renders this sort of announcement almost pointless; the bulk of this years' Xperia phones aren't really designed for playing games. However the Play - touted as the PlayStation-certified phone - has been out almost six months. PSN on the Xperia range has been mooted since January.

The fact simple fact of the matter is PSN support should've been on the phone from the start, not just as an afterthought - and was something questioned and ridiculed at the very first Test Lab meet. Why this wasn't incorporated on the Play, Lord only knows, but it's a bloody big item to fumble for a flagship phone.

Let's not forget, the big selling point of the Aino was the Remote Play capability built into the phone. That was two years ago, and nothing has progressed since. The Remote Play feature actually worked quite well, even over 3G networks and was an interesting app to demo on a phone rendered largely useless by a shockingly buggy operating system. A real pity.

Anyway, I digress; SE have already confirmed the Christmas ad drive is towards the Arc S and the Ray, so the Play has already been sidelined! Anybody wanting to really play games on the move AND have access to the PSN is going to buy the NGP/Vita. Or, if you're really canny, use the WiFi link on the current Xperia range and hook up to the PSP.

Er, wonders continue...?

Despite my post last week about about 'wonders never ceasing' it seems Sony Ericsson had another ace up their sleeve this week; the Xperia Arc S.

Sporting a 1.4Ghz single-core processor and the 2.3.4 software updates also mentioned last week, it's being touted as an improvement to the already impressive - and award winning - LT15i model released just 5 months ago. SE have taken the old 'if it ain't broke' adage and tinkered with it a bit to deliver the 'ultimate entertainment phone'.

From the Arc S press release:

Taking the award-winning sleek design from Xperia arc,the latest addition to the Xperia family has a processor upgraded to 1.4Ghz, Sony 3D sweep panorama technology and access to the Sony Entertainment Network services – “Music Unlimited” and “Video Unlimited”. Xperia arc S features 25% faster camera start up and media conversion , along with 20% faster web page rendering compared to Xperia arc:

• Super fast 1.4 GHz processor
• 3D and 2D sweep panorama photography
• 8.1 MP camera with Exmor R™ for mobile image sensor
• 4.2“ Reality display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
• Latest Android™ platform Gingerbread 2.3

Whether the Arc S can live up to this moniker is another matter - reading the white sheet here the battery delivers the same power as before - 1500mAh. 

So let's not forget what goes up, must come down and a 20% performance increase has to be compensated for somehow, so for those out there using the Arc and having to recharge it every 24 hours (based on the performance I get from the existing Arc, as an example, running at 1GHz and with a 1500mAh battery), no amount of software-related performance updates are going to compensate for a 20% increase in power consumption so you're probably going to have to charge it every 15-20 hours and have a charger (or spare battery) with you at all times.  

The other element to this phone is why 1.4GHz single core? The market for dual core has picked up considerably in the last months. HTC have delivered a belter of a handset in the Sensation and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the iPhone 5 came with dual core. So again, why single core? Why 1.4GHz single core? Yes, it's fast, but it can still only do one thing at a time, just a little quicker! 

Looks like another missed opportunity to me, especially when you consider the ongoing third-party development with the Arc that lets those who've unlocked their bootloader install a new kernel...and overclock the handset to 1.78GHz. The Arc can be overclocked to over 2GHz, however the boot.img that I have been using is restricted to 1.78 GHz as anything over that can potentially be a little risky to use in terms of processors overheating and exploding next to someone's head etc..!

IDespite my intial gripes, the 3D Panorama app seems to expand on the 2D version beta tested to X10 (and some more daring Arc/Neo owners) back in June which I raved about. To have this app on the earlier-released 2011 phones, without having to root and fart about in framework/permissions, is something I'm very much looking forward to as it delivers some cracking pictures.

Wonders Never Cease!

A pleasant surprise today from Sony Ericsson with an official announcement regarding the release of Android 2.3.4, coming out in October for the 2011 Xperia series.

For the X10 owners? I wouldn't get your hopes up in any way, shape of form for an update to 2.3.3 - you've had your lot from SE with regards this handset.

Back to the upgrade, which comes with the following enhancements:

• Xperia smartphones to be upgraded to the 2.3.4 version of the Gingerbread platform with new features including Google Talk with Video Chat for smartphones with front-facing cameras
• Updated Facebook inside Xperia functionality for enhanced like, share and discover abilities
• Xperia smartphones introducing world’s first 3D sweep panorama functionality powered by Sony. The latest camera enhancements from Sony introduce 3D sweep panorama technology so that images can be captured and then viewed in 3D by connecting the phone to a 3D TV using the HDMI output.
• The software upgrade enables consumers to turn their Xperia smartphone into a mini-mobile PC by connecting USB peripherals (mouse, keyboard or game controller) to Sony Ericsson LiveDock™ multimedia station. Connect the smartphone to a TV via HDMI to get a big screen experience. 
• Swipe text input - text input by swiping the finger from one letter to the next 
• Screen capture - allows the user to share a screen grab from anywhere in the phone

This update follows hot on the heels of the 4.0.A.2.368 update, which has its problems but this latest seems particularly thrilling, with Nikolaus Scheurer, Head of Product Marketing at Sony Ericsson, promising:

“ With this software upgrade, we are bringing a wealth of new and really entertaining experiences to all our 2011 Xperia smartphones, including those already in consumers’ hands today, Our users will get to enjoy new features from Google, an even richer Facebook integration, and enhanced camera functionality from Sony.”


As if that weren’t enough, SE are also releasing another phone – the Sony Ericsson Neo V, which will come pre-loaded with the latest enhancements. I’m particularly excited about this handset, as I currently use a Neo and despite recent intermittent problems with the newer FW (now rectified with a generic UK 2.3.2 install/repair and SEUS upgrade) I wrote a glowing review about the handset and continue to say nice things about to all and sundry. Will be keeping track of this for sure.

Top marks to SE for really making a song and dance about this – I’ve long-complained about the lack of a changelog and this is just the ticket! Thumbs up!

Path of Neo...A Bump in the Road

Much was said by me back in early July, extolling the virtues of the wonderful Xperia Neo handset. Sadly, it appears the latest 'update' from Sony Ericsson, 4.0.A.2.368, has brought not only some improvements but some significant glitches as well, some of which I blogged about a fortnight ago, although I have uncovered more problems since using the official UK firmware...

* The phone is unusable when on a mains charge; the screen is over/under responsive. Typing with any keyboard input is useless as the phone literally makes it up as it goes along. It's fine when charging from the PC, but this is a BIG problem if the phone is largely unuseable when charging.

* The wifi/mobile data glitch is still present and seems to be worse on this software release. When switching from wifi to mobile data, I generally have to turn data off and back on, or even reboot the phone, just to kick start the data connection again. Also wifi detection is a big problem too, it was just about fine with a SAGEM router but I've had to switch to an old DG834 router and the phone just doesn't seem to be interested at all.

* The messaging app hangs from time to time, despite having read all my texts, a little '1' is superimposed over the graphic. I have to wait for a new text to come in or text myself, just to get rid of.

* The Gmail app seems to take two refreshes before it will properly populate the inbox.

* Facebook notifications aren't appearing on the lockscreen.

Being lucky enough to own both the Neo and the Arc, I've checked some of these glitches on both handsets and am not able to replicate them on the Arc, so the problem I feel lies with the Neo update itself, as everything was working fine on the phone beforehand - including using the phone while charging!

Issues with the new update...

* The end call button on the new update is no longer a highlighted box - if you're not looking for it, it simply appears to blend into the background. If you are looking for it, it's a considerable annoyance!

* Lockscreen controls for the Music app still haven't appeared

* Facebook Inside Xperia still has a mind of it's own. I told the standard Facebook app to sync last night, apparently that meant FiX could do its thing as well. The sooner this intrusive cack becomes optional, the happier I will be.

* Get apps and Get games should've been combined into one app.

* The Fun & Downloads widget likes to run in the background, even if the widget itself isn't actually in use. Waste of battery life.

* Media server has changed it's name to Connected Devices. A pointless change in my opinion, and equally pointless is the way the app continually runs in the background, seemingly perenially poised to stream info. Waste of battery life, it should be the users choice whether or not they stream.

* Data monitor isn't included as a standard app on the HK firmware, while a third-party unofficial Messenger app is. It's absolute tosh, by the way, but can deleted from the phone simply by 'managing applications.'

* Landscape mode on the homescreen doesn't appear to work on Neo or the Arc, but I am going to repair both upgrades so should have an update on that in the not too distant future.

* PlayNow is STILL on the handset - I thought this was being replaced by Qriocity?

* Touchnote is still pointless

* While the addition of zoom to the camera is very welcome, zoom hasn't been applied to video.

The more things change: Neo + 4.0.A.2.368

Late last night I learned the same software update for the Arc had also been released in Hong Kong for the Neo. I'm installing this overseas firmware, as the 'official' UK updates are nowhere to be seen, and even worse, there's no communication from SE when this might even be released properly over here. Yet again it's the standard cloak-and-dagger procedure from SE that's really getting very tiring, particularly when people are aware this update works very well on the Arc and are anxiously awaiting a wider release. Bad form.

So, I acquired the necessary FTF files and set about installing this wondrous new update to the Neo...And have had nothing but problems since that point. In fact, so many problems, that I’ve had to take my Arc handset (working perfectly well on the HK FW) to work with me just in case I throw the Neo out the window!

Late last night I blogged I was having problems with Swype and the touch screen, so much so I removed Swype from the handset. This morning the phone seemed to be running fine, and was very fast, in fact using the stock browser this morning the phone was incredibly fast, when it works; in addition to the screen and Swype issues, I've had massive problems with WiFi and mobile data connectivity; Blogger won’t refresh, Facebook is pretty much unresponsive and I’ve not even bothered syncing Gmail just in the case the phone explodes in my hand.

Unless these services are genuinely playing up and/or I’m plagued with a terrible case of bad timing, then there is a genuine issue with connectivity as well as the screen –thereby rendering the entire handset useless and almost a peril to itself to use.

My initial suspicion with the performance of the handset is that it's NOT the official update for the Neo; it's the update for the Arc that's been customised quite poorly for the Neo. (Although the other possibility could relate to the questionable ‘3G’ coverage where I work; it’s notorious for saying the handset has 3G or HSDPA when in fact the network is down or only functioning at 80%. No communication from the carrier to suggest there’s a problem, apart from a hastily printed note sellotaped to the shop window and that’s only if you go out of your way to find it. Rubbish) Research at lunchtime shows the developer of this FTF was asking questions only a month ago on how to root the phone, so I think he may have bitten off more than he can chew with this FW.

Still, Wotan Server confirm the Nordic and Taiwan version of the Neo software are on the loose, so I can't imagine it'll be too long before the official update hits the UK, but tonight I will possibly redo the upgrade - it's fairly simple. My Neo handset was running a rooted 2.3.3 so there potentially be a problem with the leftover bits of the root interfering with the new software; I’ll downgrade the handset to 2.3.2, do a full wipe to clean the phone, and then flash 4.0.A.2.368.

Fingers crossed this will work, otherwise it’s back to the rooted 2.3.3 until such time as SE deem to let us in on their little secret.

UPDATE 05/08/11 - 19.35

In the absence of suitable firmware for the Neo, it's been flashed back to 2.3.2, rooted and the 2.3.3 OTA update applied to retain the root. Hopefully in the next couple days (years/months) the official software update will filter out. Possibly OTA, but I'm not fussed either way.

In other news, the Arc is running wonderfully on 4.0.A.2.368, and I've even managed to root it as well this evening. My work is never finished!

Touch/Swype issues

Installing the new Hong Kong firmware for the Neo, it's apparent there's some sort of issue with touch response. And given that I've noticed it within an hour of installing the update, there <i>must </i>be something wrong.</p>
<p>In three separate tests, I could only get the home screen to recognise 20% of the long presses to open the widget menu. And I tried 30 times.</p>
<p>In Swype, the input is basically scrambled.&#160;</p>
<p>It could be Swype isn't yet optimised for the new update, but you have to ask; what has changed with this software to render Swype nigh-on unusable?</p>
</div>

The Circle is complete...

Late on the evening of Sunday 31st July 2011 in Lisbon's Parque de Belavista, America's finest hard rock quintet - Bon Jovi - finished the last show of The Circle Tour and it's extension, the Bon Jovi Live Tour, bringing the curtain down on 135 shows, played through the last 17 months and playing to over 3 MILLION people. Not bad going really when you consider the album that started it all, 2009's The Circle, was something of an accident, and a poorly reviewed one at that.

Writing for the album was originally meant to be just a handful of new tracks for a Greatest Hits release, but with the state the world was in the band suddenly had a lot to say and thus The Circle was written, recorded and released within a few short months. Like most Bon Jovi fans I was of course ecstatic the band were releasing a new album so quickly, especially after the album/tour cycle for the phenomenally successful 'experiment' that was 2007's Lost Highway; the subsequent tour for this album played 99 shows to just over 2 MILLION people.

Anyway, back to the point. The Circle was the bands worst reviewed album ever, bar 7800 Fahrenheit. Research for this article shows a few positive reviews: there are lots of people raving about it on Amazon, for example, but they don't really count as professional reviews. I even wrote a review of the album on Amazon.co.uk and gave it a bit of a kicking.

It's a glossy, slick, impeccable and no doubt incredibly expensive production, but the whole album came across like a Snow Patrol or U2 album; layer upon layer of sound (bordering on over-produced), shimmery/jangly guitars. It wasn't good to hear Bon Jovi trying to ape their peers - it almost felt desperate - Superman Tonight bears such a similarity to Snow Patrol's Signal Fire, it may as well have been sung by Snow Patrol!

My main dislike of the album largely centred around one particular track on the album, a track called Live Before You Die. It doesn't take a genius to figure out from the title, what this song might be about, but despite the message it attempts to get across it's a track so desperately maudlin that it borders on morbid. Even worse, it's horribly saccharine and is so bad it actually undoes all the good work before it and drags the rest of the album down. When importing the album on to iTunes I made sure I left this one out. Listening to the album with the offending track removed actually makes for a far more enjoyable listening experience. Indeed after of listening to the album and

But almost two years since the release of the album, almost two years since that first scathing review, after attending 3 shows in 17 months and hearing a large portion of the tracks in a live setting, I have grown to appreciate the album a lot more, which wasn't difficult as considering the way I felt about it initially - the only way was up! The album has been a mainstay on my iPod for nearly 2 years now! Yes, it's still glossy (and always will be) but the feeling of desperation has faded to be replaced by one of...evolution and experimentation.

Just like the Nashville country scene heavily influenced Lost Highway, this album is an experiment - a dalliance - with shiny-shiny, over-produced corporate rock the likes of Goo Goo Dolls and U2 are so good at. It's Bon Jovi's attempt to join the mainstream, even though they already are (and always have been) mainstream, maybe they just tried a little too hard to sound like someone else with this effort?

It's still got the fist-pumping anthems and catchy hooks, and there's a definite Springsteen-esque, blue-collar defiance in the air, but it doesn't rock quite as hard as we were promised, pre-release, by Richie Sambora; it's always on the edge of being amazing but never quite makes it, which is a shame as every track I've heard live in concert from this album totally cooks, thanks largely to the masterful, face-melting guitar work of the legendary Richie Sambora.

Love's The Only Rule, for example, has a pop-synth intro, which alarmed me at first, but I grew to love the song thanks to the great guitar work and uplifting mood of the track. But, like I said above, the live version of this does go the extra mile - Sambora takes this song and runs with it, layering on some beefy riffing and other fancy tricks to really draw the best out of it. It helps that Richie Sambora is a man unleashed on stage. He does the most fantastic work on the studio albums, but it's in the live milieu that he really does his best work and completely earns his status as my favourite guitarist...ever.

So, in summary, while it's not quite as good as Crush, Lost Highway or Have A Nice Day, it's not far off. The Circle isn't all that bad and is well worth a download. The Circle is complete, but the evolution of Bon Jovi continues...and as a band that can afford to experiment, I'm looking forward to the next incarnation...

The Joshua (Money) Tree

The last couple years have seen re-releases of the earlier albums from U2's impressive back catalogue. Each album, Boy, October, War, The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree has been repackaged, remastered and the 2-disc version bundled with a bonus CD of rare b-sides and live tracks, with extensive sleeve notes as well. The releases for Boy, October and War were very well done…

Done so well in fact, that someone somewhere decided to up the ante a little and release a plusher version of Joshua Tree. Well, it is one of the biggest selling albums of all time, after all so perhaps a little extra effort was required? The deluxe version was offered in addition to the standard and 2-disc releases. The same pattern was repeated with The Unforgettable Fire, oddly released after Joshua Tree. Available as:

• A standard remaster, 
• 2-disc remaster 
• A deluxe version
• There was also a new Super Deluxe Version thrown into the mix as well. 

The choices were endless, and getting expensive. For the release of the U2-360 Blu-ray, yet again multiple versions were offered:

• Standard DVD 
• 2-disc DVD Blu-ray 
• Deluxe boxset

All these were reasonably priced at £15-£20 except for,you guessed it - the deluxe boxset, which featured all manner of tour related crap and was apparently worth £120+.

And so we come to the point of this post, the 20th anniversary release of my favourite U2 album, Achtung Baby. Promotional drive has started already, in preparation for an October 31 st release. The Achtung Baby archives have unearthed some previously unreleased songs from the recording sessions, alongside a raft of unreleased material; video, remixes, b-sides and documentary footage has been discovered, while a full album of demo and early versions of the final 1991 tracklisting has also been revealed. Along with digital options, no less than five physical editions including vinyl, CD, DVD will be made available (and here’s where reality really comes off the rails):

• The Standard CD is the original album. £13 
• The Deluxe Edition is a 2xCD set containing the reissue of the original album plus B-sides and rarities. £16 
• The Vinyl Box Set is a limited release containing 4 LPs, two of which are pressed on translucent blue vinyl containing remixes and B-sides. The box includes a 16-page booklet. No price yet. 
• The Super Deluxe Edition will contain 6CDs and 4 DVDs, in addition to a 92 page hardback book and 16 art prints in a wallet, taken from the original album sleeve. £105.99

And finally, the limited, numbered Uber Deluxe Edition is a magnetic puzzle tiled box, which will contain:

• 6 CDs including the original Achtung Baby album (as in the Super Deluxe), 
• The follow-up album, Zooropa, 
• B-sides and re-workings of previously unheard material recorded during the Achtung Baby sessions. 
• 4 DVDs (as in the Super Deluxe) including 'From The Sky Down', 'Zoo TV:Live From Sydney', 
• all the videos from Achtung Baby plus bonus material. 
• There will also be 5 clear 7" vinyl singles in their original sleeves, 
• 16 art prints taken from the original album sleeve, 
• An 84-page hardback book, 
• A copy of Propaganda magazine, 
• 4 badges, 
• A sticker sheet, 
• And a pair of Bono’s trademark 'The Fly' sunglasses.

Yours for just...I don't even what to say it! £385.99...I’m not kidding. The pre-order links are available through the link above.

Now, I love U2. I’ve been a fan for years, been to 3 gigs and my favourite period of U2’s history starts with Achtung Baby and continues through to Pop, excluding Passengers. In that relatively short period of time, just 7 years, and since those days, the prices of their albums, tickets, merchandise have gotten progressively (excessively) dearer. Not content with:

• Charging fans £120 for a blu-ray in a big box for U2 360 tour concert, 
• Charging £60-odd quid for an extra DVD for The Unforgettable Fire, or 
• Charging fans £55+ for cheap seats to their live tours,

The band and their record company have the unbridled belief someone, somewhere will be happy to fork out almost four HUNDRED pounds for a few discs of plastic and some copied sunnies – the album is 20 years old! Even The Beatles Remasters - the whole frigging lot –12 albums, is less than £160. The sad thing is that there are MegaFans out there right now who've read the blurb for this new release and are working out how to remove their own kidney to pay for it!

In today’s current climate, with pockets getting deeper and finances dwindling, I think charging these prices for this item is just complete madness.

Firmware LT15i 4.0.A.2.368 Generic Global (not 2.3.4)

Creeping out a couple nights ago on Orange here in the UK and in a couple other global markets is a software update for the Arc handset with the some significant improvements. However, in the absence of a changelog (yet again) I've managed to find the following information from a post on the SE forums:

• xLoud™ – boosts your music when played through the speaker, 
• Camera - Digital zoom
• Stereo recording - shoot video with high-quality stereo sound,
• Digital home enjoy entertainment content stored in your phone on DLNA certified media devices 
• New Homescreen - uninstall apps direct from the app tray
• Themes 
• Layout change in gallery, Music stock player and many more.
• Minor adjustments to notifications - number of unread texts is now displayed in the dock. Also applies to calls
• Timescape widget has had some minor design alterations. 
• Weather widget. 
• Transition animations.
• The screen timeout has a CRT animation.

I've had a tinker with most of these adjustments and they are all top notch - in the wake of the Facebook Inside Xperia 'improvement' which I largely found a waste of time, this is a software update package with a whole slew of useful bits and pieces.

Some of these I saw at a Test Lab and they were excellent then, despite only seeing about half of what's in the above list. This is excellent stuff from Sony Ericsson and will keep everyone happy until 2.3.4. 

Not quite sure why it's currently only on Orange, but hopefully it will make it's way to generic Arc and Neo handsets in the next few days. If you can't wait, the Global Generic update is doing the rounds; ironically the best post I've found for this is on SE's own forums! http://talk.sonyericsson.com/message/92179

Update:
I find it a little strange SE have released this software update before the release of the Ray/Active etc; with this new software on board, who's now going to want to buy a Ray/Active when potentially the software could be onboard their existing Xperia handset several days (or even weeks) before the Autumn range of phones comes out? Hmmmm......?

UPDATE 05/08/11 - 19.35

The Arc is still running wonderfully on 4.0.A.2.368, and I've even managed to root it as well this evening. My work is never finished! Links here for the more experimental among you.

The Empire Strikes Back

Much has been said about the BBC’s coverage of the Formula 1, nearly all of it praiseworthy, and rightly so. As far as sports programming goes, it’s in a league of it’s own and the BBC have every right to be proud of it. Mind you, it didn’t take a great deal of effort to improve the ITV coverage, but kudos to the BBC for going several extra miles and making their F1 weekend the highlight of a televisual fortnight in countless homes across the land.

Race weekends in my house start with P1-3 on Fridays (if we’re home), continue with qualifying on Saturdays and culminate with a ‘grand screening' of the race on Sundays. I cook a big roast, the phone is unplugged, the doorbell turned off. The FreeviewHD box is fired up and routed through the home cinema to impressive levels. In short, Mrs The Hurf and I make a fuss and turn into an event as we both enjoy the sport. My home is one of those “countless homes across the land”.

It’s a real pity then that Formula 1 and Bernie Ecclestone, despite saying 3 months ago:
"...Sky have been trying to buy the TV rights from us for a long time, but we won’t (sell) because they are not free-to-air broadcasters. With their viewing figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal...” 
...opting instead to take whatever Sky were offering and screw over a large portion of the BBC viewing audience by reneging on the final year of the contract with the BBC, awarding broadcasting rights to Sky from 2012 –2018. They will now show every race with ‘unprecedented live coverage.’

It’s not all a total loss, (at least as far as the BBC are concerned) as they get to show half the races through the year. In fact Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, is “…absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC. The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences…and the BBC has always stated it’s commitment to big national sporting moments…with this deal not only have we delivered significant savings, but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights all the coverage yada yada…”

In the wake of all this, the BBC have posted a lengthy article here attempting to explain themselves. It's done nothing but unleash a spectacular amount of vitriol, spawning comment after comment, accusing the BBC and Formula 1 of selling themselves out. I'd post links here, but there are so many it just would'n't be feasible.

What a funny old world it is in Telly Land, where you can win awards for superlative coverage of a sport and universal praise from audiences across the land for the coverage of F1…and apparently be happy with the leftovers from the Sky plate and convinced that a 50% reduction in the number of races shown live on the BBC each year will somehow still provide “…all the coverage…”

This is the biggest and most disappointing load of bollocks I’ve heard in quite some time.

How is it possible to show all the coverage when you’ve signed away HALF the season and will now show extended highlights? Highlights aren’t the real deal and if only the witless bean counters at the BBC had sense enough to see this. It’s a great shame and a real pity on so many levels:

• That F1 has sold its soul to the BSkyB and the Murdoch Empire, particular in the wake of weeks and weeks of damning scandal...and saying they wouldn't sell out at all.
• That the BBC have been bent over the bargaining table...and walked away from the deal thinking losing 50% of coverage is great idea. 
• That the fans of F1 who don’t want to line somebody else’s pockets just to see their favourite sport (particularly in the current economic climate), now have to make a choice. 

The BBC coverage was bought and paid for until 2013, so who's palm has been greased to renege on next years coverage? Let's not forget, the Concorde Agreement also states F1 coverage should be free-to-air as it could have a significant impact not just on sponsorship agreements for teams and drivers, but on F1 itself:

• Coverage on the BBC attracts 6 million viewers, each every race. 
• Viewership of F1 is at a 10-year high, 
• Moving F1 to can (and will) alienate a large portion of this audience. The The cheapest way to get Sky and the Sports channels is £31.75. That's not including HD coverage, nor is it taking into account coverage may well end up on Sky Sports 2. The whole package could end up costing £50 a month and I'm not paying it!
• Depending who currently has Sky but not sports, how many of the 10 million Sky customers are going to fork out another £12.25 a month - over a year it equates to paying the TV Licence twice - to watch something that has ALWAYS (according to F1's own rules) been free?

Shame on you, Ecclestone, and shame on the BBC too – if you hadn't spent £900 million moving operations to Manchester, you'd have had more cash in the pot. I suspect there's a massive bill for the Olympics coverage too. But, iIf Eastenders is able to go five nights a week following the ‘savings’ made in the wake of this deal, or Doctor Who suddenly plays 52 weeks a year there’ll be ructions, I tell thee. Boo hiss boo!

Memory

I've been watching the memory on the phone the last few weeks, mainly since 2.3.3 was implemented and since a colleague in Test Lab commented on excessive memory bleed. Today my phone had been up for 40 hours and it was slllllllllooooowwwww. Accessing Auto Memory Manager showed I had around 92MB left in the memory. Killing a couple background apps freed up a little more.

Before I continue with the results of my experiment I'd like to note (and I'm sure many of you have noticed something similar) there are certain apps on the phone which can't be killed by conventional methods or otherwise. If anyone at Sony Ericsson could explain to me why my phone apparently needs to run THREE widgets for the clock I'd be grateful:

• The blue digital clock widget - which I use on my homescreen
• The black digital clock widget - which I don't use
• The analogue clock widget.

Furthermore I'd be thrilled to know why the following services need to be running on my handset? The Sony Ericsson Facebook service which, despite being killed in sync etc (as I hate Facebook Inside Xperia), still manages to run in the background, along with

• the stock Music app,
• HDMI control,
• Maps,
• BBC iPlayer,
• BBC News and
• Skype.

Quite why Skype runs in the background when it's not even logged in is bewildering. Why the HDMI controller is running, perpetually poised to spring to life, despite the absence of an HDMI lead, is equally perplexing, bordering on plain stupid.

Anyway, back to the memory issue. There's definitely a problem somewhere as I did a quick reboot and the phone was back up to 169MB. However within 5 minutes of this power up, 5 MB has mysteriously disappeared into the ether. 10 minutes after this point the phone has dropped below 140MB and sure enough, Skype is lurking in the background, along with Maps and HDMI control. I'm sure by the time I check the phone at bedtime despite clearing caches and killing unused apps it will have bled out a few more MB.

One of the many joys of Symbian was the ability to leave the phone on for DAYS and it still run at the same speed. My k800i, switched off but used as an alarm, lasted a MONTH before the alarm failed to activate. The big problem with smartphones is no-one's looking past the end of the working day. 


Most manufacturers aren't interested in TWO working days use from the phone. The assumption is users will rag their phone until the battery is exhausted, usually in one day, and the handset will power down. The subsequent overnight recharge rejuvenates the phone and you carry on as normal. This is generally where Mugen Power et al pick up the slack.

What happens though, when you don't turn the phone off? I use my phone as my alarm clock, and one of the limitations of the Android system is the phone MUST be on for the alarm to work - it doesn't have the internal counter like Symbian handsets have. So if your phone never goes off, it never gets the chance to rest, regroup and press on again. In short, it chokes on it's own crap.

Now there are apps on the market like the aforementioned AutoMemoryManager, that help Android manage it's memory but I feel this is something Android should be able to do itself. Cleaning the app cache can sometimes free up 10-20% of the available memory, but why is it left to be done manually? The OS should be smart enough to keep itself ticking over efficiently (or more efficiently than it currently is), rather than getting bogged down under the weight of self-generated crap.

Fantastic Voyage - Xperia 2011

Following the progress of the 2011 Xperia range certainly makes for interesting viewing.
When I got the X10HD in January I was suitably impressed with the handset, however a big step was taken with the Arc, moving from plain old black to the glossy purple, shiny-shiny veneer of the Arc, which quite obviously trumps the X10HD in terms of style and grace.

However, what's more fascinating to me is charting the evolution of the handsets and the technology contained therein, from the Arc through to the Ray. The Arc was quite a large handset, purposefully designed to be sleek and slim but to cram as much tech onboard as possible. The Neo was supposed to be out at the same time as the Arc but was delayed due to production issues following the tsunami in Japan in March.

Released at the end of June. It has the same features as the Arc, albeit a slightly smaller screen, throws in a front-facing camera, but still manages to be smaller than it's predecessor. Sure it's a bit chunkier overall, but it does more than the Arc could do (Skype video calling is brilliant!) and does it very well.

In fact if I’m going to be honest and totally biased, it’s a blinder of a handset, probably in joint first place with the amazing k800i. Considering 6 months ago Sony Ericsson were top of my shitlist, for the Neo to come along and go straight to the top of the list, that’s saying something as:

1. I’m not very forgiving
2. I still love the k800i handset!

Moving on, the Xperia Ray, due out late August/early September has very similar specs to the Neo but has managed to squeeze the same features into an even smaller chassis probably a teensy bit bigger than a 5 th generation of iPod Nano.

First up for the Ray, software improvements. Those of you who read my blog would know I complained bitterly back in April about the lack of digital zoom on the Arc handset, when it had been in place on the X10HD. Why release a phone with Exmor-R capabilities and BRAVIA picture improvements and then take a step backwards by removing zoom capabilities? Madness!

So, at a recent Test Lab meeting I thrilled to be able to play with the Ray for a bit and discovered improvements to the camera software. Yes, digital zoom is back! Hurrah!

Coming back to the physical aspects of the Ray, there have been some necessary sacrifices to accommodate the reduction in size; we lose LED flash (replaced with a horrific photo-light, similar to the travesty that blighted the X10HD) and an HDMI port.

These sacrifices may mean a lot to some (dirty photo-light), but when you consider the phone retains the front-facing camera, the 8.1 MP rear camera (still with 720p HD video) the 1GHz Snapdragon processor and throws in some subtle but welcome software improvements, that's impressive.

And for the handsets to go from the size of an iPod Classic to just about iPod Nano 5G size (and I mean ‘just!’) in a mere 6 months (Arc –Neo –Ray) that’s very impressive indeed.

The end of all things Potter?

So, after 7 novels, 7 movies and 10 years of waiting, the end is nigh for Potter.  I'm not going to explain the story or deliver a plot breakdown as I'm fairly sure most (if not all) of you reading this will be fully aware of the story...suffice to it's THE most hyped film of the year, nay the decade, but is it any good?

To start off, anyone expecting a stunning show-stoppping showdown, with all-out carnage hinted at in the stunning trailer, may well be slightly underwhelmed. I can't comment on the 3D presentation as I avoid the format like the plague.

Don't get me wrong, it's spectacular, thrilling stuff but it just feels like at times there's something missing from proceedings. Spells are cast, debris, blood and bodies fill the screen but it all somehow seems a little rushed. Sure, old cast members make cameo appearances (Horace Slughorn, Sybill Trelawney) and the current cast are all present and correct, but....I don't know. Considering the average running time for the previous 7 films is about 150 minutes, this film, clocking in at 130 minutes including credits, is about half an hour off the mark. And it shows.

Compare it to the other big film of the summer, Transformers 3; Dark of the Moon spends just over an hour building up to a stunning 75-minute denouement - as I said a previous post:

"...Bay carefully sets everything up for a fabulous payoff...an orgy of building-demolition porn and robot snuff...It's Transformers meets Spielbergs' War of the Worlds meets Black Hawk Down and it's pure awesomeness..." 

Although let's be totally clear Dark of the Moon doesn't offer anything remotely comparable in emotional terms, I was expecting more from Potter in terms of "...pure awesomeness..." Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 spends an hour and a half building up to a defining showdown between Good and Evil - then throws it all away in about half an hour.

That said, the acting is as good as ever, though particular attention must be paid to Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon and Ralph Fiennes, who all put in stellar performances. A crucial scene with Rickman as Severus Snape offers the series' most powerful and emotive scenes and should draw a tear or two (or at least itchy eyes) from even the most hardened of souls. Gambon is as deliriously cryptic as ever in his scene(s) as Dumbledore and Fiennes is clearly having an absolute ball being gleefully, maniacally evil as He Who Must Not Be Named.

If only the same fevour for the task at hand could've been shown by Radcliffe; here he seems to dial in his performance from miles away, never quite raising his game to match the enormous scale of this film. Perhaps it was a little too much pressure on such young shoulders, but some attempt to match his peers would've been appreciated.

The final scene, an epilogue set two decades after the climatic battle at Hogwarts, may well draw an illicit snigger or two from the audience with some questionable old age make-up. Harry looks fairly convincing as thirty-something, though it appears the make up team forgot to work on Ginny's face and simply made her hair bigger and her clothes frumpier. Ron and Hermione also appear: Ron is noticeably paunchier though again, Hermione's clothes look older than her make-up does. Malfoy drew the biggest laugh from me, as he bears a resemblance to a paler version of That Yellow Bastard from Sin City. The photo below doesn't really do justice to the comedy of it all;



Dodgy makeup aside, eternal credit must be given to David Yates (and his team) for his unwavering vision and guidance through the last 4 movies; Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and two parts of Deathly Hallows. The production design remains fantastic and the visual effects are mind-blowingly superb, really top notch.

Watching back parts of The Philosophers Stone again tonight, it's wonderful to see how the cast have grown through the years, though doubtful whether the series could've continued with the success it's had, had they remained the cutesy, kiddie-friendly vehicles they were for Philosophers Stone and Chamber of Secrets. I for one am still thrilled with the change of direction the series took from Azkaban onwards. In fact, my personal favourite of the Potter films is Azkaban, closely followed by Half-Blood Prince. My favourite novel, curiously, is The Goblet of Fire, a film which doesn't rate that highly with me.

Anyhoo, back to the subject at hand! All eight(!) of these films do the British film-industry immeasurable justice and we should be proud to call them own.

LiveView

Having heard multiple stories about the LiveView, both good and bad, I decided to acquire a unit for myself. Receiving the package in the post at 11.30 today (Friday) I plugged the unit straight into the computer and repaired the software, making sure I was running a clean unit. Everything fine and dandy.

Installed a couple plugins - Gmail and FB - all worked fine. Went out @ 13.30 for the afternoon to see Harry Potter (more on than later). By 14.30 I had received notifications for messages, Facebook, Gmail and a couple phone calls. Was feeling very pleased with my purchase, until the unit slipped out of it's housing as I was reaching for my phone and bounced on the floor from waist height.

Now, the phone will charge but will do very little else. It will turn on and off, but won't show notifications retained on the device or even do the really cool 'Find My Phone' routine. It will also tell the time, but won't connect to SEUS to repair itself.

The curious thing is, the 'select' button is registering somewhere in the unit, as when the screen dims and I hold the button in, the screen comes back to life. So I'm wondering whether the little knock has scrambled the unit - I refuse to believe it's so weak it can't surface one drop.

Unless I can repair the unit, and I fear my skills as a precision engineer may have left me, the LiveView is a watch that essentially doubles as a buggy, near-useless wireless controller for your Android phone, And that's being generous.

Xperia Duo

The rumour mill kicked into overdrive this afternoon with the publication of an article from International Business Times, detailing the much-rumoured Xperia Duo. It's picking up enough buzz to have made the news on Techradar, who claim the specs are a little outlandish. I don't think so, at all:

• A 4.5 screen is a pinch bigger than the HTC Sensation. So, it probably can be done.
• A 1.4 GHz DC processor? The best (HTC Sensation/Samsung Galaxy S2) are running at 1.2 but the natural evolution of technology means it can be done.
• LED Flash? Done
• 1080p video recording on a mobile? Done – HTC Sensation setting the benchmark again.
• 1.5GB of RAM? Not done, probably possible but given SE don't like to give too much RAM, I'd say this is at least 500MB over the top.
• 2500mAh battery? Mugen Power offer significant battery upgrades but these come at a cost of an increase size to the handset, which SE won't want to compromise on.
• Rumours abound of 8GB or 16GB memory cards with the phones. Personally I hope it's the latter as 12MP stills and full-HD videos are going to eat space like there's no tomorrow.

It's all interesting stuff, the vast majority of which may be bullshit. Bearing this is mind, even though the story only broke today, it's generating significant enough buzz to have warranted a full story on Techradar this very afternoon. And a post here on my blog. And probably a load more stories (one here) as well before the week is out.

I really hope this phone turns out to be more than just a rumour. Consumer reports indicate the Play hasn't sold very well at all which, seeing as though SE appear to have pinned their hopes on the Play more than say, the Arc or Neo, isn't really the success story they're hoping for. 

With the release of the HTC Sensation, the Motorola Atrix and LG Optimus 2X having occurred from March – June, the time is right for SE to bring out a handset to quite thoroughly trounce the aforementioned handsets – and wrestle the iPhone 5 for the position of the best and most desirable handset of the year. SE - it's over to you.

Data Monitor

At the Test Lab meet last week we were shown some new phones; the Ray and the two new Minis. Inspecting the software for these I found a couple new apps in the app drawer. One that caught my attention is Data Monitor.

It basically does exactly what it says on the tin, monitors the mobile data going to and from your phone. You can set alarms and things to notify you when you go over your allowance. For those on small data plans this is a very useful tool.

There are other apps out there that can do the same thing, but I think it's interesting SE have developed this app and I get the feeling this is the first in a line of in-house apps that I think are going to compete with other third-party apps on the Market.