Archive for September 2014
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 is here, the unboxing video too
We are getting BlackBerry handsets in numbers around the office lately.
We got our feet wet with the Bold 9700 review last week (a nice phone indeed) and we’re continued with the Curve 8520 (not as impressive, review expected soon).
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 at ours
So it’s time for the last man standing – the latest BlackBerry Storm2 and its revolutionary piezzo-electric touchscreen. Now that we already have it in the office, we can share our first impressions with you. There is also a quick unboxing video for you after the break.
A nice change is that the clickable Piezzo-electric touchscreen of the BlackBerry Storm2 9520 requires less effort for a click than the giant button screen of its predecessor. Unfortunately, it’s still more tiring to your fingers more than a regular touchscreen handset. The effort feels just right for typing but it’s a bit too much for common navigation or at least so are our first impressions. We wonder if the Storm3 will have selectively clickable screen – for instance, it can work only when you input text. But I digress.
Here comes the BlackBerry Storm2 9520 unboxing video for you to enjoy:
We got our feet wet with the Bold 9700 review last week (a nice phone indeed) and we’re continued with the Curve 8520 (not as impressive, review expected soon).
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 at ours
So it’s time for the last man standing – the latest BlackBerry Storm2 and its revolutionary piezzo-electric touchscreen. Now that we already have it in the office, we can share our first impressions with you. There is also a quick unboxing video for you after the break.
A nice change is that the clickable Piezzo-electric touchscreen of the BlackBerry Storm2 9520 requires less effort for a click than the giant button screen of its predecessor. Unfortunately, it’s still more tiring to your fingers more than a regular touchscreen handset. The effort feels just right for typing but it’s a bit too much for common navigation or at least so are our first impressions. We wonder if the Storm3 will have selectively clickable screen – for instance, it can work only when you input text. But I digress.
Here comes the BlackBerry Storm2 9520 unboxing video for you to enjoy:
Viewsonic VNB102 Viewbook or how I broke two of my top buying rules
I broke two of my own rules today when I got myself a new
ultra cheap netbook. It’s a viewbook actually or at least that’s what
Viewsonic is calling their VNB102. But whatever Marketing is naming it,
it’s a plain netbook that’s hardly exciting enough to write home about.
Yet I’m writing about it here as it made me break my two top buying
rules.
My first rule is that when buying new tech stuff, I take the care to research the item carefully – to get as much user input on it. Well, in the case of the Viewsonic VNB102 I went straight ahead and bought it without even checking the full specs. Cause it was so damn cheap.
My second buying rule is that I should always try and buy stuff from brands that have a wider user base as it’s always easier to find help online when you have a problem later on. And with a wider user base there are always a bunch of tutorials flying around about how you can mod your device to make it better. Anyways, I totally neglected that when I went for the VNB102 as that’s Viewsonic’s first netbook. Why I did that? Cause it was so damn cheap.
My point is that sometimes things are so cheap that you don’t need to research them and you don’t even need to read what they are all about as long as the specs suit you. That’s also the main reason why we don’t review cheaper phones over at commobitrick.blogspot.com. Budget devices are usually quite popular, they sell in millions and nobody reads about them online. That’s the hard truth. But I digress.
Since Viewsonic announced their VNB102 only two days ago, there are hardly any live photos of the device online, so I decided I’ll go ahead and post some along with my first impressions. Not that I believe anyone will research the thing seriously, but it’s a nice netbook in its own right and it deserves a proper presence on the net.
Viewsonic VNB102
Viewsonic VNB102 is not Viewsonic’s first netbook. The European division of Viewsonic also lists two other models – the VNB100 and the VNB101. But the VNB102 is obviously the latest one.
Viewsonic VNB102
Viewsonic VNB102
The only thing missing in it are the available battery options. The Viewsonic VNB102 will ship in either 3-cell (2200 mAh) or 6-cell (4200 mAh) Li-Ion battery. The 3-cell battery is supposed to give you 2-3 hours of uptime, while the heavier 6-cell battery should double that. Update 20 Jan: As it turns out battery performance is quite poor on that one. I can barely get 2 hours out of it with Windows 7 set to Power Saver power plan, screen brightness set to minimum and Wi-Fi turned off. Now that sucks. But I guess I should have anticipated it. And the real bummer is that I can’t even buy a 6-cell battery as an accessory here in Europe although it’s supposed to come as stock on the US version of VNB102.
The Viewsonic VNB102 packs a 10.1-inch LCD display with the common resolution of 1024×600 pixels. A thing you won’t find the manual is that the screen is actually glossy. I prefer glossy screens actually, so it came as a bonus for me. Update 20 Jan: Now that I’ve had enough time to tinker with the VNB102 I noticed the minimal level of screen brightness is quite high. I guess that takes its toll on the battery life, not to mention it can be quite straining on the eyes if you use the netbook in a pitch dark room. Another bugger is that when you plug the power cord the screen brightness always goes two levels up no matter what level you are at in the moment.
The other thing I dislike about it is that the hinge of the display doesn’t open fully and stops at say, 140-150 degrees thus making it hard to see the screen properly when you use the netbook in your lap where you need it opened almost as far as 180 degrees.
The hard drive on the VNB102 is a typical 160GB one. The particular one in my netbook is Western Digital’s WD1600BEVT. It’s a 5400RPM 2.5-inch SATA II drive with 8MB cache from the Scorpio Blue lineup made with battery-powered portables in mind. Since there’s a hidden recovery partition on it, the actual available user storage is around 140GB separated in two partitions by default.
Interestingly, the drive flaunts the WD’s ShockGuard technology, which obviously protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks. WD’s SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface for hopefully improved long term reliability and improved non-operational shock tolerance.
Update 20 Jan:The keyboard is quite disappointing – its whole base wobbles in the center when you press a key. Not to mention that the keys seem quite small and I get a lot of unusual typos due to the crammed layout.
But there’s a recovery partition on the hard drive that you can hopefully use to restore the OS to its sparkling new state if you mess things up.
Strangely, the manual says that the RAM (1GB by default) is not user upgradeable as it’s soldered directly to the motherboard. Well, as you’ll see, it’s not soldered to anything. You can upgrade your Viewsonic VNB102 to up to 2GB and it won’t void your warranty. It’s just that you have to throw away your old SO-DIMM (that’s the RAM stick) as there’s only one slot available.
What hides under the Viewsonic VNB102 plastic covers on the bottom
And secondly, you can’t adjust the amount of RAM allocated to the VGA in the BIOS. Now that’s a bummer cause I’d sure like to claim some back for my office applications and web browser.
My first rule is that when buying new tech stuff, I take the care to research the item carefully – to get as much user input on it. Well, in the case of the Viewsonic VNB102 I went straight ahead and bought it without even checking the full specs. Cause it was so damn cheap.
My second buying rule is that I should always try and buy stuff from brands that have a wider user base as it’s always easier to find help online when you have a problem later on. And with a wider user base there are always a bunch of tutorials flying around about how you can mod your device to make it better. Anyways, I totally neglected that when I went for the VNB102 as that’s Viewsonic’s first netbook. Why I did that? Cause it was so damn cheap.
My point is that sometimes things are so cheap that you don’t need to research them and you don’t even need to read what they are all about as long as the specs suit you. That’s also the main reason why we don’t review cheaper phones over at commobitrick.blogspot.com. Budget devices are usually quite popular, they sell in millions and nobody reads about them online. That’s the hard truth. But I digress.
Since Viewsonic announced their VNB102 only two days ago, there are hardly any live photos of the device online, so I decided I’ll go ahead and post some along with my first impressions. Not that I believe anyone will research the thing seriously, but it’s a nice netbook in its own right and it deserves a proper presence on the net.
Viewsonic VNB102
Viewsonic VNB102 is not Viewsonic’s first netbook. The European division of Viewsonic also lists two other models – the VNB100 and the VNB101. But the VNB102 is obviously the latest one.
Viewsonic VNB102
Taking a look at the Viewsonic VNB102 specs
I’ve prepared a small Viewsonic VNB102 specs sheet for you to check out.Viewsonic VNB102
The only thing missing in it are the available battery options. The Viewsonic VNB102 will ship in either 3-cell (2200 mAh) or 6-cell (4200 mAh) Li-Ion battery. The 3-cell battery is supposed to give you 2-3 hours of uptime, while the heavier 6-cell battery should double that. Update 20 Jan: As it turns out battery performance is quite poor on that one. I can barely get 2 hours out of it with Windows 7 set to Power Saver power plan, screen brightness set to minimum and Wi-Fi turned off. Now that sucks. But I guess I should have anticipated it. And the real bummer is that I can’t even buy a 6-cell battery as an accessory here in Europe although it’s supposed to come as stock on the US version of VNB102.
The Viewsonic VNB102 packs a 10.1-inch LCD display with the common resolution of 1024×600 pixels. A thing you won’t find the manual is that the screen is actually glossy. I prefer glossy screens actually, so it came as a bonus for me. Update 20 Jan: Now that I’ve had enough time to tinker with the VNB102 I noticed the minimal level of screen brightness is quite high. I guess that takes its toll on the battery life, not to mention it can be quite straining on the eyes if you use the netbook in a pitch dark room. Another bugger is that when you plug the power cord the screen brightness always goes two levels up no matter what level you are at in the moment.
The other thing I dislike about it is that the hinge of the display doesn’t open fully and stops at say, 140-150 degrees thus making it hard to see the screen properly when you use the netbook in your lap where you need it opened almost as far as 180 degrees.
The hard drive on the VNB102 is a typical 160GB one. The particular one in my netbook is Western Digital’s WD1600BEVT. It’s a 5400RPM 2.5-inch SATA II drive with 8MB cache from the Scorpio Blue lineup made with battery-powered portables in mind. Since there’s a hidden recovery partition on it, the actual available user storage is around 140GB separated in two partitions by default.
Interestingly, the drive flaunts the WD’s ShockGuard technology, which obviously protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks. WD’s SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface for hopefully improved long term reliability and improved non-operational shock tolerance.
Update 20 Jan:The keyboard is quite disappointing – its whole base wobbles in the center when you press a key. Not to mention that the keys seem quite small and I get a lot of unusual typos due to the crammed layout.
Several interesting points
The retail contents are quite modest – there’s no carrying pouch, no disc with drivers (you don’t need any under Win7) or a recovery disc. Those two discs were mentioned on the retail package, but there were none inside even though the security seal was untouched. I guess they’ve never been put inside.But there’s a recovery partition on the hard drive that you can hopefully use to restore the OS to its sparkling new state if you mess things up.
Strangely, the manual says that the RAM (1GB by default) is not user upgradeable as it’s soldered directly to the motherboard. Well, as you’ll see, it’s not soldered to anything. You can upgrade your Viewsonic VNB102 to up to 2GB and it won’t void your warranty. It’s just that you have to throw away your old SO-DIMM (that’s the RAM stick) as there’s only one slot available.
What hides under the Viewsonic VNB102 plastic covers on the bottom
VNB102 has its drawbacks too
A downer that you won’t notice at first sight is that the touchpad doesn’t have any gesture support – no two-finger scrolling, pinching, swiping or whatever. I guess I’ll find a way to add that via some modded drivers (if it’s a Synaptics trackpad), but it’s not there by default – at least not under the genuine Windows 7 Starter edition it came with. There’s simply no trackpad management software preinstalled and the trackpad uses the default Windows driver. Update 17 Dec: Viewsonic have just posted the VNB102 drivers several hours ago. It turns out that the trackpad is made by Alps. So far multi-touch is a no-go on the VNB102.And secondly, you can’t adjust the amount of RAM allocated to the VGA in the BIOS. Now that’s a bummer cause I’d sure like to claim some back for my office applications and web browser.
And finally…
Well, that’s about it. Enjoy the shots of the Viewsonic VNB102 and let me know in the comments if you have any questions about it.ITG xpPhone boots up on video, looks pretty darn big
Yes, it’s a phone. No, it’s not, it runs XP. Yes, IT IS! No it’s not, it’s as big as a brick. Yes, it is a phone – that’s the ITG xpPhone.
Now that we’ve got that cleared let’s get a little bit more serious. The ITG xpPhone monster of a mobile phone has been sitting in the spotlight since day one so naturally when its first video demo pops up we just can’t miss sharing it with you. What becomes evident though is the huge size of the device.
We are hoping this is the 7″ display version of the xpPhone because if this is as small as this phone gets, you won’t see me carrying one in my jeans. Hell, this thing is not even getting closer to my rucksack. Exciting as they may sound for a mobile phone, the ITG xpPhone specs are more suited for the MID category than anything else. But lets not waste and more of your time with our guessing and just give you the video.
Now that we’ve got that cleared let’s get a little bit more serious. The ITG xpPhone monster of a mobile phone has been sitting in the spotlight since day one so naturally when its first video demo pops up we just can’t miss sharing it with you. What becomes evident though is the huge size of the device.
We are hoping this is the 7″ display version of the xpPhone because if this is as small as this phone gets, you won’t see me carrying one in my jeans. Hell, this thing is not even getting closer to my rucksack. Exciting as they may sound for a mobile phone, the ITG xpPhone specs are more suited for the MID category than anything else. But lets not waste and more of your time with our guessing and just give you the video.
Christmas Lights: Origins, an electrifying Christmas story
Everyone likes Christmas lights, but have you ever wondered
how they were invented? Well, someone at Gizmodo sure did. They have an
extensive post detailing how the world went from the first electric
light bulb to the first Christmas lights setup.
In the olden days, people used candles but that was before Thomas Edison came along. As one of the pioneers of electricity and light bulbs (plus a bit of talent for showmanship) he was the perfect guy to kickstart the whole Christmas light decoration thing.
Anyway, Gizmodo’s article traces the story of the little joy bringing lights from the dark ages, through the first ad for Christmas trees and finally arriving at the most popular types of lights available today.
And to finish things off, here’s a video that demonstrates what happens when you take a nice, simple concept and decide to turbo charge it.
Yep, it’s a giant house with eyes or maybe some guy really wanted to turn his house into a giant pinball machine.
Anyway, here’s the Gizmodo article. When you plug in the lights this Christmas, you’d be satisfied to know how they came about.
In the olden days, people used candles but that was before Thomas Edison came along. As one of the pioneers of electricity and light bulbs (plus a bit of talent for showmanship) he was the perfect guy to kickstart the whole Christmas light decoration thing.
Anyway, Gizmodo’s article traces the story of the little joy bringing lights from the dark ages, through the first ad for Christmas trees and finally arriving at the most popular types of lights available today.
And to finish things off, here’s a video that demonstrates what happens when you take a nice, simple concept and decide to turbo charge it.
Yep, it’s a giant house with eyes or maybe some guy really wanted to turn his house into a giant pinball machine.
Anyway, here’s the Gizmodo article. When you plug in the lights this Christmas, you’d be satisfied to know how they came about.
First leaked screenshots of Samsung Bada OS
Soon after the official Samsung Bada OS presentation
last week, the first screenshots made their way online. The new OS is a
definite looker and you can really tell it’s based on Samsung’s current
non-smartphone TouchWiz UI.
Now here’s a another set of screenshots…
I can’t stop seeing this as a colorful cocktail of TouchWiz, Android and a pinch of Symbian, but hey that’s just me.
It will be a lot of time before we see a working Bada smartphone, but Samsung will surely enter the fray with a nice set of wheels.
Now here’s a another set of screenshots…
I can’t stop seeing this as a colorful cocktail of TouchWiz, Android and a pinch of Symbian, but hey that’s just me.
It will be a lot of time before we see a working Bada smartphone, but Samsung will surely enter the fray with a nice set of wheels.
Movie posters rampage – Clash of the Titans, TRON and Iron Man 2
Three new official movie posters made my day – Iron Man 2, Clash of
the Titans and TRON, while The Sorcerer’s Apprentice received its first
theatrical trailer.
The new Iron Man 2 seems to show a villain this time, even if it looks more like someone form the Prince of Persia universe.
All the three movies will hit the white screens in 2010 and are scheduled for 7 May (Iron Man 2), 26 March (Clash of the Titans) and December (TRON).
Meantime Apple published the first trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The production is in the blockbuster hand of the duo Jon Turteltaub (director) and Jerry Bruckheimer (producer). Their previous combo – National Treasure and its sequel – did work out quite well, so I am expecting another good adventure film
The new Iron Man 2 seems to show a villain this time, even if it looks more like someone form the Prince of Persia universe.
All the three movies will hit the white screens in 2010 and are scheduled for 7 May (Iron Man 2), 26 March (Clash of the Titans) and December (TRON).
Meantime Apple published the first trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The production is in the blockbuster hand of the duo Jon Turteltaub (director) and Jerry Bruckheimer (producer). Their previous combo – National Treasure and its sequel – did work out quite well, so I am expecting another good adventure film
Google Chrome released in beta for Mac and Linux, along with extensions support
A few days ago Google released betas for both Mac and Linux
for public download. In addition, the extensions gallery is up and
running for Windows and Linux and you can check the available plug-ins
just now. Mac extensions are also on their way, but are still in early
state.
Google have been cooking Mac and Linux versions of their Chrome desktop browser for quite a while, and until recently they had only unstable alpha releases. Well, now you are welcome to download and try the new public beta version. And please enjoy the introduction of the Chrome for Mac from one of the chief engineers, who made all this possible.
The long awaited Chrome extensions support also entered the beta stage and can be used in the Windows and Linux versions of the Google’s own browsers. Obviously, the Mac support still needs more work before it’s ready for primetime.
Google have been cooking Mac and Linux versions of their Chrome desktop browser for quite a while, and until recently they had only unstable alpha releases. Well, now you are welcome to download and try the new public beta version. And please enjoy the introduction of the Chrome for Mac from one of the chief engineers, who made all this possible.
The long awaited Chrome extensions support also entered the beta stage and can be used in the Windows and Linux versions of the Google’s own browsers. Obviously, the Mac support still needs more work before it’s ready for primetime.
Bubble wrap calendar counts the days of 2010, reduces stress, me likes it
If you are looking for a stress-relieving calendar and you are already tired of all those pseudo motivational photos,
you might want to check this out. The 2010 Bubble calendar gives you a
poster-sized piece of bubble wrap, where you need to pop one balloon
each day to track the date.
Having a calendar like that one can be quite amusing. I just don’t know if any of the bubbles will survive the first day of month cause I’d have to buy myself a separate roll of bubble wrap just to keep my hands off that thing. At least it’s a good thing the roll of bubble wrap is cheap. And that is something I can’t say about this calendar.
Any takers, please, prepare 19.99 US dollars and proceed to the source link.
Having a calendar like that one can be quite amusing. I just don’t know if any of the bubbles will survive the first day of month cause I’d have to buy myself a separate roll of bubble wrap just to keep my hands off that thing. At least it’s a good thing the roll of bubble wrap is cheap. And that is something I can’t say about this calendar.
Any takers, please, prepare 19.99 US dollars and proceed to the source link.
Dell Vostro V13 laptop is only 16.5mm thick, costs a quarter of Dell Adamo XPS
If you’re suffering from Apple MacBook Air or Dell Adamo XPS cravings
this just might be your lucky day. Meet the Dell Vostro V13 – it’s a
16.5mm thick 13-incher that brings very much the same specs as the Dell
Adamo XPS, but at a netbook-scale price.
Okay, I’ll admit that the XPS 9.9mm thickness for a laptop sounds (and looks) amazing – it can even put most smartphones to shame. But the price is just too hard to swallow. The Dell Vostro V13 on the other hand is actually reasonably priced… though it’s only available in Singapore right now. Which isn’t a big deal, considering it’s not quite official yet (though it’s up on the Dell Sinagpore website, specs and all).
First off, things are not quite as rosy – 16.5mm is just the thinnest part of the of the Vostro V13, at its thickest it’s 19.7 mm. But that still is only a hair thicker than the MacBook Air. Anyway, let’s see what we get for our money. The Dell Vostro V13 is a 13.3″ laptop with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution (the MacBook Air has 1280 x 800).
For the CPU you have a choice between Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3MB L2 cache), Intel Core2 Solo SU3500 (1.4GHz, 3MB L2 cache), Intel Celeron 743 (1.2GHz, 1MB L2 cache), all of them of the ultra-low voltage variety (the Adamo XPS has Intel Core2 Duo 1.4GHz ULV CPU).
A better look at the Dell Vostro V13
So far so good. The Dell Vostro V13 also sports goodies like up to 4GB DDR3 RAM 1066MHz, 802.11n support, gesture-controlled touchpad, 2 USB ports, one of which is a USB/eSATA combo, 34mm ExpressCard, 5-in-1 card reader, 1.3MP webcam.
For the OS, the choice ranges from anything from Ubuntu Linux, through Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional. The graphics are a bit disappointing – Intel GMA 4500MHD. The same holds for the storage memory – there is no SSD option. Not that you can put “SSD” and “cheap” in the same sentance. And obviously you don’t get an aluminum body or the touch-enabled latch that opens the Dell Adamo XPS.
Still, the Dell Vostro V13 price is only 450 US dollars, so the non-aluminum body doesn’t seem like such a loss. That price will probably be valid only for the Intel Celeron Ubuntu OS version. Since the Vostro V13 is still not announced properly, the price situation is a little unclear.
Okay, I’ll admit that the XPS 9.9mm thickness for a laptop sounds (and looks) amazing – it can even put most smartphones to shame. But the price is just too hard to swallow. The Dell Vostro V13 on the other hand is actually reasonably priced… though it’s only available in Singapore right now. Which isn’t a big deal, considering it’s not quite official yet (though it’s up on the Dell Sinagpore website, specs and all).
First off, things are not quite as rosy – 16.5mm is just the thinnest part of the of the Vostro V13, at its thickest it’s 19.7 mm. But that still is only a hair thicker than the MacBook Air. Anyway, let’s see what we get for our money. The Dell Vostro V13 is a 13.3″ laptop with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution (the MacBook Air has 1280 x 800).
For the CPU you have a choice between Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3MB L2 cache), Intel Core2 Solo SU3500 (1.4GHz, 3MB L2 cache), Intel Celeron 743 (1.2GHz, 1MB L2 cache), all of them of the ultra-low voltage variety (the Adamo XPS has Intel Core2 Duo 1.4GHz ULV CPU).
A better look at the Dell Vostro V13
So far so good. The Dell Vostro V13 also sports goodies like up to 4GB DDR3 RAM 1066MHz, 802.11n support, gesture-controlled touchpad, 2 USB ports, one of which is a USB/eSATA combo, 34mm ExpressCard, 5-in-1 card reader, 1.3MP webcam.
For the OS, the choice ranges from anything from Ubuntu Linux, through Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional. The graphics are a bit disappointing – Intel GMA 4500MHD. The same holds for the storage memory – there is no SSD option. Not that you can put “SSD” and “cheap” in the same sentance. And obviously you don’t get an aluminum body or the touch-enabled latch that opens the Dell Adamo XPS.
Still, the Dell Vostro V13 price is only 450 US dollars, so the non-aluminum body doesn’t seem like such a loss. That price will probably be valid only for the Intel Celeron Ubuntu OS version. Since the Vostro V13 is still not announced properly, the price situation is a little unclear.
Getting around the HDTV mumbo-jumbo
Now do you go for LCD or plasma? For 720p or 1080p? For 60Hz
or 600Hz? And how do you know when more is not necessarily better? Oh,
and I’ve got an even more serious one for you – what’s the best
technology your money can buy right now – OLED, LED or LED-backlit TVs?
HDTV’s have been around for quite some time now – so much that they’ve successfully replaced the older CRT variety on floor stands quite successfully. Unfortunately, few of their ground-breaking features actually make sense to the general public. I myself have been involved in advising numerous HDTV buys so I know that personally. That’s the reason why a good primer on HDTV technologies and features such as the one below didn’t escape my attention.
I really suggest you check it out if you’re in for some HDTV shopping this holiday season.
Gizmodo’s Giz Explains: The Ultimate HDTV Cheat Sheet and Buying Guides
P.S. Oh, and the personal make-or-break feature from me – viewing angles. Check those viewing angles – especially from the top (if you’re putting the HDTV in your living room) and from the bottom (if it’s headed to your bedroom).
HDTV’s have been around for quite some time now – so much that they’ve successfully replaced the older CRT variety on floor stands quite successfully. Unfortunately, few of their ground-breaking features actually make sense to the general public. I myself have been involved in advising numerous HDTV buys so I know that personally. That’s the reason why a good primer on HDTV technologies and features such as the one below didn’t escape my attention.
I really suggest you check it out if you’re in for some HDTV shopping this holiday season.
Gizmodo’s Giz Explains: The Ultimate HDTV Cheat Sheet and Buying Guides
P.S. Oh, and the personal make-or-break feature from me – viewing angles. Check those viewing angles – especially from the top (if you’re putting the HDTV in your living room) and from the bottom (if it’s headed to your bedroom).
Google offers personalized search for everyone, creeps us a little
Just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get
you. Since yesterday not having a Google account is not going to stop
your browsing history and web search behavior from getting recorded. But
there’s hardly anything to worry about here, Google is only going to
use that data to provide more relevant search results (and advertising,
of course).
The last 180 days of your search are linked to an anonymous cookie and are taken into account when you make your next search. You can check out how much that improves the search engine accuracy by clicking the “View customizations” link on the top right of the search results page.
In case you are all too creeped about all that history recording, you can follow the instructions here to turn the personalized search off.
And check out the video demoing the positive sides of getting your search personalized:
The last 180 days of your search are linked to an anonymous cookie and are taken into account when you make your next search. You can check out how much that improves the search engine accuracy by clicking the “View customizations” link on the top right of the search results page.
In case you are all too creeped about all that history recording, you can follow the instructions here to turn the personalized search off.
And check out the video demoing the positive sides of getting your search personalized:
Canon patents touchscreen DSLR with sweep gestures, puzzles us
We have a feeling the photo community won’t be exactly thrilled about
this but here it goes. Canon has just filled a patent for a touchscreen
DSLR that would allow changing the aperture and the shutter speed by
finger sweeps across the screen.
There are many other features described in the patent that would also be touch controlled such as metering, exposure compensation etc. but there is no saying of the exact nature of the gestures that would be used.
Now we are pretty certain that the Sony touch-driven T-series ultra compact cameras go perfectly well with a touchscreen, but a DSLR? Hm, we somehow cannot see it as the future of DSLR photography. Then again it might be just us getting old.
How about you? Any takes of a touchscreen-enabled Canon EOS 1Ds Mark IV?
There are many other features described in the patent that would also be touch controlled such as metering, exposure compensation etc. but there is no saying of the exact nature of the gestures that would be used.
Now we are pretty certain that the Sony touch-driven T-series ultra compact cameras go perfectly well with a touchscreen, but a DSLR? Hm, we somehow cannot see it as the future of DSLR photography. Then again it might be just us getting old.
How about you? Any takes of a touchscreen-enabled Canon EOS 1Ds Mark IV?
Intel readies an AppStore for netbooks, netbooks could become even more popular
Netbooks are about to make a big step in their evolution by getting
their very own AppStore. It is developed by no other than Intel, which
is behind the most popular CPU used in netbooks, the Atom (you can
almost say it’s the netbook CPU).
The new AppStore will be targeting both Windows and Moblin (Intel’s own Linux-based OS designed specifically for netbooks) with more platforms on the way (Adobe’s AIR and Microsoft’s Silverlight for example). Intel has ensured themselves support from the major netbook manufacturers who will preinstall the AppStore client on every device they sell.
But make no mistake, this here AppStore is no imaginary thing, it’s already opened for app submission.
Of course, it’s going to be a while before it launches some time in 2010. The way the store is going to work follows Apple’s AppStore quite closely – applications need to pass through an approval process first, and then the developer splits the revenue with Intel 70/30.
This approach is proven to work so it’s a good choice, though I hope the approval process is more transparent. Time will tell I suppose. Word from Intel is that a lot of developers are joining in so the AppStore won’t suffer from the same problems other stores have been experiencing. Especially since many of the initial apps will probably be just regular apps that are already been used on netbooks right now.
A successful app store can be huge for netbooks. They are already eating into laptop sales, but a netbook packing 3G connectivity plus an AppStore could even eat away at some of the smartphone market.
Why, not – you can buy a decent netbook for 250-350 US dollars, but you won’t get an HTC Hero for that kind of cash. Some netbooks are subsidized just like mobile phones, if you’re thinking you can just get a phone for free on a contract.
You can join the Intel Developer Program today, if you feel up to a Developer Challenge
The Intel netbook AppStore will probably increase the number of netbooks sold with Linux too – many buyers can’t tell PCI from PS/2, so they stick with what they know and buy a Windows machine. Windows really has the advantage of familiarity – many people computer knowledge hardly extends beyond Internet Explorer and Word.
But with Linux things seem quite complicated to newcomers. For example, which IM client should I use – Kopete, Pidgin or maybe Empathy? To find out which is best, I’d have to go to each of the individual sites for the application and then check a forum or two to gauge users response to the app.
An AppStore keeps this simple – search for “chat”, read the reviews of the top three rated applications, pick one, install it and enjoy. I expect this simplicity will lead to the AppStore being used on quite a few laptops and even desktop computers, not just netbooks. And did I hear somebody say “Hello, Windows 8 AppStore!”
The new AppStore will be targeting both Windows and Moblin (Intel’s own Linux-based OS designed specifically for netbooks) with more platforms on the way (Adobe’s AIR and Microsoft’s Silverlight for example). Intel has ensured themselves support from the major netbook manufacturers who will preinstall the AppStore client on every device they sell.
But make no mistake, this here AppStore is no imaginary thing, it’s already opened for app submission.
Of course, it’s going to be a while before it launches some time in 2010. The way the store is going to work follows Apple’s AppStore quite closely – applications need to pass through an approval process first, and then the developer splits the revenue with Intel 70/30.
This approach is proven to work so it’s a good choice, though I hope the approval process is more transparent. Time will tell I suppose. Word from Intel is that a lot of developers are joining in so the AppStore won’t suffer from the same problems other stores have been experiencing. Especially since many of the initial apps will probably be just regular apps that are already been used on netbooks right now.
A successful app store can be huge for netbooks. They are already eating into laptop sales, but a netbook packing 3G connectivity plus an AppStore could even eat away at some of the smartphone market.
Why, not – you can buy a decent netbook for 250-350 US dollars, but you won’t get an HTC Hero for that kind of cash. Some netbooks are subsidized just like mobile phones, if you’re thinking you can just get a phone for free on a contract.
You can join the Intel Developer Program today, if you feel up to a Developer Challenge
The Intel netbook AppStore will probably increase the number of netbooks sold with Linux too – many buyers can’t tell PCI from PS/2, so they stick with what they know and buy a Windows machine. Windows really has the advantage of familiarity – many people computer knowledge hardly extends beyond Internet Explorer and Word.
But with Linux things seem quite complicated to newcomers. For example, which IM client should I use – Kopete, Pidgin or maybe Empathy? To find out which is best, I’d have to go to each of the individual sites for the application and then check a forum or two to gauge users response to the app.
An AppStore keeps this simple – search for “chat”, read the reviews of the top three rated applications, pick one, install it and enjoy. I expect this simplicity will lead to the AppStore being used on quite a few laptops and even desktop computers, not just netbooks. And did I hear somebody say “Hello, Windows 8 AppStore!”
Android 2.0.1 SDK released, updates as much as the version suggests
The Andoid dev team has released the SDK for the version 2.0.1
of the Google mobile OS. Just as the naming suggests Android 2.0.1 is a
pretty minor update to the 2.0 including several bugfixes and behavior
changes.
There is also an update to the Android 1.6 SDK component. Revision 2 includes fixes to the compatibility mode for applications that don’t support multiple screen sizes, as well as SDK fixes.
Here’s the link to the complete changelog.
Android 2.0.1 changelog
Android 1.6 changelog
There is also an update to the Android 1.6 SDK component. Revision 2 includes fixes to the compatibility mode for applications that don’t support multiple screen sizes, as well as SDK fixes.
Here’s the link to the complete changelog.
Android 2.0.1 changelog
Android 1.6 changelog
Google quietly launches Google Dictionary, continues Internet domination
Some of the most important things in a blog writer’s toolbox
are a good dictionary and a thesaurus. A good English to English helps
me make sure a word means what I think it means or I’m off to the
thesaurus to avoid nasty repetitions.
I always thought “drake” meant dragon
Personally, I’ve been using dictionary.com and thesaurus.com (editorial: www.onelook.com is a good suggestion, as well), but now Google launched their own dictionary and I think I might jump ship.
The design of the Google Dictionary is typical Google – minimalism all the way, and that’s a good thing. It also helps a lot that it’s ad-free. Working with it is quite simple – choose a dictionary (e.g. English dictionary or Thai <> English dictionary) and type in the word you’re looking for.
Don’t confuse this with Google Translate – the Dictionary is not meant to translate texts, just single words, but it’s more accurate. Still, if you type in a phrase, it will be translated using Google Translate.
The first section of the Google Dictionary defines a word or gives its translation. It also tells you what part of speech it is, gives you the plural, synonyms and other dictionary-like stuff.
Google Dictionary provides all the info you’d expect from a dictionary
Below that is a list of related phrases and related languages, which looks for the word in dictionaries for other languages (helpful for checking if a word is a false friend). The last section is the Web definitions, which shows the results for a define: query for that word – great if you’re looking up slang unlikely to have made its way to a proper dictionary.
Definition for “petrify”: Google Dictionary vs. Wiktionary vs. Dictionary.com vs. Thesaurus.com
You can also click to hear the word spelled out, which is a great feature, but for now works only on English words. The words are spoken by humans instead of using robotic text-to-speech. It’d be a lot more helpful when it can pronounce words in languages other than English.
It’s great if you’re learning a language too – if you’re signed in, you can star words for quick lookup later, and Google Dictionary automatically pulls up images for some (though not all) images, which sometimes works better than reading the definition.
Starred words are easy to find later • Google Dictionary shows photos too
Take Google Dictionary for a spin and see what you think. Would you make the switch from your current online dictionary of choice?
I always thought “drake” meant dragon
Personally, I’ve been using dictionary.com and thesaurus.com (editorial: www.onelook.com is a good suggestion, as well), but now Google launched their own dictionary and I think I might jump ship.
The design of the Google Dictionary is typical Google – minimalism all the way, and that’s a good thing. It also helps a lot that it’s ad-free. Working with it is quite simple – choose a dictionary (e.g. English dictionary or Thai <> English dictionary) and type in the word you’re looking for.
Don’t confuse this with Google Translate – the Dictionary is not meant to translate texts, just single words, but it’s more accurate. Still, if you type in a phrase, it will be translated using Google Translate.
The first section of the Google Dictionary defines a word or gives its translation. It also tells you what part of speech it is, gives you the plural, synonyms and other dictionary-like stuff.
Google Dictionary provides all the info you’d expect from a dictionary
Below that is a list of related phrases and related languages, which looks for the word in dictionaries for other languages (helpful for checking if a word is a false friend). The last section is the Web definitions, which shows the results for a define: query for that word – great if you’re looking up slang unlikely to have made its way to a proper dictionary.
Definition for “petrify”: Google Dictionary vs. Wiktionary vs. Dictionary.com vs. Thesaurus.com
You can also click to hear the word spelled out, which is a great feature, but for now works only on English words. The words are spoken by humans instead of using robotic text-to-speech. It’d be a lot more helpful when it can pronounce words in languages other than English.
It’s great if you’re learning a language too – if you’re signed in, you can star words for quick lookup later, and Google Dictionary automatically pulls up images for some (though not all) images, which sometimes works better than reading the definition.
Starred words are easy to find later • Google Dictionary shows photos too
Take Google Dictionary for a spin and see what you think. Would you make the switch from your current online dictionary of choice?
Is Acer Aspire 8942G-728G1280TWN what gamers dream of?
Acer are obviously prepping a new gaming laptop. The new monster will
come with an 1.6 GHz Intel i7 quad-core processor, 8GB DDR3 RAM and AMD
HD5850 video with 1GB GDDR5 – all that promises full DirectX 11
support.
The amazing specs list continues with an 18.4-inch LED 1080p Full HD display, two 640GB SATA HDDs and a BluRay drive.
There is no info about the pricing just yet, but Aspire 8942G-728G1280TWN (thank goodness for copy/paste) will be surely priced at least twice as cheap as a similar spec’d Alienware mobile rig. Still that insane hardware, along with an 8-cell Li-Ion battery will weight about 4.6 kg, so as it seems mobility and gaming are hardly a good match.
The Acer Aspire 8942G-728G1280TWN should be released in the beginning of the 2010.
The amazing specs list continues with an 18.4-inch LED 1080p Full HD display, two 640GB SATA HDDs and a BluRay drive.
There is no info about the pricing just yet, but Aspire 8942G-728G1280TWN (thank goodness for copy/paste) will be surely priced at least twice as cheap as a similar spec’d Alienware mobile rig. Still that insane hardware, along with an 8-cell Li-Ion battery will weight about 4.6 kg, so as it seems mobility and gaming are hardly a good match.
The Acer Aspire 8942G-728G1280TWN should be released in the beginning of the 2010.
The Snapdragon powered projector equipped LG GW820 eXpo smartphone caught on video
When we are talking a projector-equipped handset like the newly
revealed LG GW820 eXpo words are not quite enough to give you an exact
idea of its capabilities. Luckily, here comes the first hand-on video
demonstrating what the eXpo’s all about.
Before we get you to the video, let’s refresh your memory first. The LG GW820 eXpo was announced a couple of days back and is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and runs WinMo 6.5. The smartphone comes with a 3.2″ touchscreen of WVGA resolution and sports a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.
The eXpo features a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, inbuilt GPS receiver, microSD card slot and support for Wi-Fi, 3G, HSDPA and Bluetooth. Another goodie worth mentioning is the “Smart Sensor” fingerprint sensor which not only eliminates the need for password-protecting your device but is also used as a touch-sensitive trackpad.
However, the most interesting thing about the LG GW820 eXpo is it’s removable projector. It weighs good 51 grams but allows you to share your presentations, images, videos or whatsoever with the others. The maximum projection distance is 2.4 meters and based on the video below the result seems more than satisfying for a device of this caliber.
And here comes the video in question. It’s kinda short but shows what you could expect from the eXpo. Maybe the only two downsides of the projector equipped smartphone are its peculiar design and the fact that at the moment it’s is only available to AT&T’s business customers despite it’s enormous multimedia potential.
Before we get you to the video, let’s refresh your memory first. The LG GW820 eXpo was announced a couple of days back and is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and runs WinMo 6.5. The smartphone comes with a 3.2″ touchscreen of WVGA resolution and sports a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.
The eXpo features a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, inbuilt GPS receiver, microSD card slot and support for Wi-Fi, 3G, HSDPA and Bluetooth. Another goodie worth mentioning is the “Smart Sensor” fingerprint sensor which not only eliminates the need for password-protecting your device but is also used as a touch-sensitive trackpad.
However, the most interesting thing about the LG GW820 eXpo is it’s removable projector. It weighs good 51 grams but allows you to share your presentations, images, videos or whatsoever with the others. The maximum projection distance is 2.4 meters and based on the video below the result seems more than satisfying for a device of this caliber.
And here comes the video in question. It’s kinda short but shows what you could expect from the eXpo. Maybe the only two downsides of the projector equipped smartphone are its peculiar design and the fact that at the moment it’s is only available to AT&T’s business customers despite it’s enormous multimedia potential.
Canon EOS 7D review: Bridging a gap
In terms of feature set and technology innovation, the Canon
EOS 7D is definitely a ground breaking prosumer camera in the Canon DSLR
portfolio. And it’s got a new portfolio segment all to itself.
I was anxious to get it as soon as it became available and for the past couple of months I’ve been using it extensively for various photography tasks. And here’s a spoiler for you – I’m really pleased with it. To learn more, check out the full preview.
Canon EOS 7D official photos
It might seem that we are all about phones, but most of our team members moonlight as camera addicts following every step made by the industry leaders very closely. Canon EOS cameras have often been our weapon of choice and naturally a camera as exciting as 7D couldn’t escape me without a proper test.
The new Canon EOS 7D boosts the megapixels to a new height with its brand new 18 MP CMOS sensor with an APS-C format (1.6x crop factor). Among the other new features is the AF system, 8fps continuous shooting, video recording with up to 60 FPS, wireless flash control, new buttons (the camera combo button) and the rich customization options.
Live photos of Canon EOS 7D
I’ve used all those camera bodies for the purposes of my personal hobby. It’s mostly photographing wildlife – and especially birds. That’s just my thing.
Shot by me: Canon 1Ds Mk3, 500/4 • Canon 30D, 500/4
Shot by me: Canon 1D IIn, Sigma 300-800/5.6 • Canon 5D II, Sigma 300-800/5.6 • Canon 1D IIn, Sigma 300-800/5.6
The Canon 7D is an entirely new product by Canon and couldn’t escape my interest and natural curiosity. My first impressions proved right. The camera has great ergonomics and its handling feels like a series 1 EOS camera.
The rock solid build quality certainly adds to that pleasant feeling. Fully weather sealed (when used with proper lenses, of course), the 7D feels right at home in the hardest of shooting conditions.
The addition of new controls and the rearrangement of the old keys will certain make upgraders from 50D scratch their heads from time to time but I think the new layout definitely makes sense.
The Q menu key grants quick one-stop access to almost all the features and settings, stocked in the sub-menus structure.
The one-touch RAW/JPEG key allows setting up the RAW and JPEG resolution and quality.
Through the INFO button you can set the display to show camera settings, shooting conditions and the brand new dual accelerometer electronic level indicator, which is quite useful for video shooting.
Another first is the camera/video combo rotary switch with start/stop button. I find it quite convenient. However the switch itself is a bit too tighter that I would have liked.
The new display used for the 7D is simply gorgeous. It is probably one of the best displays I’ve seen in terms of viewing angles, sunlight legibility and image quality (and I’m not talking digital cameras only here). Canon removed the air-gap between the LCD’s protective cover and the display itself, which has helped improve its performance beyond that of Canon 50D and Canon 5D Mark II.
The Orientation linked AF points is one of the new features that I appreciate in the 7D. The camera allows you to select different AF type and AF points for both portrait and landscape modes and automatically alternates them as you turn it around.
While some other manufacturers have been integrating the wireless flash transmitter feature in their camera bodies from quite a while, Canon debuts this feature in the 7D. The Integrated Speedlite Transmitter allows you to wirelessly control up to three groups of four flashes with no additional equipment needed.
Another key feature, which is getting increasingly popular among the DSLR cameras is the video recording! Just like the Canon 5D Mark II, the Canon 7D has full manual control over shutter speed and aperture in video mode. The videos can be recorded in Full HD resolution (1080p) at 30 (NTSC), 25 (PAL) or 24 FPS or in 720p mode with 60 (NTSC) or 50 (PAL) FPS. Canon 7D has also a 3.5mm audio jack for plugging in an external microphone.
The amazing video quality is due to the huge sensor (by video recording standards) and the versatility granted by the vast variety of lenses available put the video camera manufacturers in a very unenviable position.
The 7D viewfinder has 100% coverage, which was retained so far for 1 series. Its magnification is 1.0 and so it is noticeably larger than that of the 50D. Needless to say that this is a real boost to the usability.
Canon APS-C cameras were never as close to Series 1 cameras in terms of features and functionality. The 7D pushes the envelope by bringing top functionality to a lower market segment. So obviously the potential of 7D is immense.
With the all-new autofocus system and auto focus modes, Canon 7D is definitely a ground breaking improvement in the Canon portfolio. It is now a highly efficient tool for getting the sharp photos you’ve been looking for. Auto focusing in scarce light is also tangibly improved and is even better in some cases compared to 1D Mark III.
The excellent AF speed and accuracy are due to the new algorithms and, of course thanks to the 19 high precision cross-type sensors. The center AF sensor is additionally sensitive with lenses boasting F/2.8 or larger.
Among the important features of the new autofocus are the Spot AF and Zone AF modes. The spot autofocus mode decreases the area on which the autofocus is measured by the sensor, which is vitally important for small object or with less “contrasty” subjects.
The Zone autofocus on the other hand is very convenient for sport and wildlife photography as it groups the points into 5 zones, allowing easier subject tracking.
The other major innovation is the running AF indication in the viewfinder when shooting in Servo mode, which combined with either Zone AF or 19-point AF works flawlessly.
I’ll not dive into bits how exactly the new AF system works, but the complete overhaul of the system has obviously produced a great result.
So far Canon cameras delivered as clean and untouched JPEG photos as possible. This hardly worries anyone who shoots RAW, but is a deal breaker for the common weekend photographer who doesn’t want to waste too much time in post-processing.
Here are several of my shots taken with Canon EOS 7D:
Sample Canon 7D photos taken in different light conditions
With 7D straight-from-the-camera JPEG files are ready for printing/publishing with well saturated and vivid colors and increased sharpening. Some noise reduction gets applied even when the option in the menu is set to off. The cleverly designed algorithm tackles the noise in out-of-focus areas quite hard, while the in-focus objects remain sharp and crisp with less noise reduction.
When it comes to dynamics and resolved detail, the EOS 7D is quite demanding on the choice of lenses. Actually, anything below the best in class will limit its output resolution. With lower quality lenses, you may not be able to notice the advantage of the higher megapixel count. But don’t get us wrong – you would get pretty decent results from cheaper lenses as well.
Besides that perk, the EOS 7D real-life performance is great despite its quite crammed 18 MP APS-C sensor. Just so you get a better idea, having that same pixel density on a full frame camera would result into the whopping 46 MP resolution – you can clearly see where this is all going. Stepping into the realm or medium format by using clever engineering and processing. We guess, that’s the challenge R&D departments are tackling right now.
The features that the cameras have in common are full manual or automatic exposures, three AF modes that can be activated before/during video capture, full-time working stabilization with stabilized lenses, built-in microphone and a 3.5mm audio jack slot for external microphones.
The major upgrades that the 7D brings are the added frame rate options and the camera/video rotary switch with stop/start button. The great bonus is the more commonly used framerate standard – it uses the unified standard of 29.97 fps rather than the 30 fps in 5D Mark II, which should allow easier synchronization with separately recorded audio in post-processing.
The new in-camera video trimming in 7D is a good idea but you can only do that in frame-by-frame increments. If you shoot at 60fps, you have to turn the Quick Control Dial 60 times just to trim a second off the video! We really would have appreciated having some varying increments.
Here’s a sample video that I took of a nice kingfisher (that’s the bird’s name):
The real-life results however are far from that and they are actually quite promising. The noise is well contained and has a more tolerable film-grain-like look – that’s way better than what most people expected from the most pixel-dense APS-C sensor on the market.
The high-megapixel sensor however turned quite taxing on the current lens designs and as far as resolved detail is concerned, you won’t be able to make full use of those 18 megapixels unless you have one of the handful lenses that can put up with the increased demand.
On the other hand, the excellent design, ergonomics, unmatched video recording, and lots of innovative features make the Canon EOS 7D a ground-breaking camera not only within the Canon portfolio but for the market in general.
Canon 7D is targeted for the prosumer photographers with high requirements that primarily use high-quality optics. It comes to fill the gap between Canon 50D and Canon 5D mark II and it’s priced accordingly (currently at about 1700 US dollars, 1000 bucks less than 5D2 and about 700 dollars more than the 50D).
I was anxious to get it as soon as it became available and for the past couple of months I’ve been using it extensively for various photography tasks. And here’s a spoiler for you – I’m really pleased with it. To learn more, check out the full preview.
Canon EOS 7D official photos
It might seem that we are all about phones, but most of our team members moonlight as camera addicts following every step made by the industry leaders very closely. Canon EOS cameras have often been our weapon of choice and naturally a camera as exciting as 7D couldn’t escape me without a proper test.
The new Canon EOS 7D boosts the megapixels to a new height with its brand new 18 MP CMOS sensor with an APS-C format (1.6x crop factor). Among the other new features is the AF system, 8fps continuous shooting, video recording with up to 60 FPS, wireless flash control, new buttons (the camera combo button) and the rich customization options.
Key features
- New 18MP (5184 x 3456 pixels) APS-C CMOS sensor developed by Canon
- 8 FPS (frames per second) continuous shooting
- Up to 126 JPG / 15 RAW images burst buffer
- Brand new 19-point AF system with cross-type sensors
- Dual DIGIC 4 processors, separate AF processor
- 1080p HD video recording with full manual controls; frame rates from 24 to 60 FPS
- New 3.0 inch Clear View II LCD (920,000 dots) with anti-reflection coating
- Wireless flash control with compatible flashes
- Environmental sealed body, improved ergonomics and handling
- 1.0x magnification and 100% coverage viewfinder
- Photo/Video switch with start/stop button
- New on/off switch, Q menu, RAW/JPEG keys
- Dual Axis Electronic Level indicator in viewfinder
- Orientation linked AF points
- New custom functions and menu
- MRaw and SRaw shooting modes
- Quick Live View autofocus, main AF key is now usable for Live View AF
Main disadvantages
- 18 MPs on APS-C sensor is quite demanding on lenses
- Camera dongle switch is very tight
- Buttons customization is limited to a several repeating features
- No mirror-lock indication
- Exposure mode dial still cannot be locked
- My Menu is still limited to only six entries
- Full video-related features can be accessed only in active video mode
Live photos of Canon EOS 7D
Hardware highlights
I have extensive experience with Canon DSLRs and I’ve practically owned almost all their DSLR camera bodies starting from the Canon 20D, 30D, 40D going through Canon 1Ds, 1Ds Mark III, 1D Mark II n and 1D Mark III and ending up with the more recent Canon 5D Mark II and 7D – the subject of this review.I’ve used all those camera bodies for the purposes of my personal hobby. It’s mostly photographing wildlife – and especially birds. That’s just my thing.
Shot by me: Canon 1Ds Mk3, 500/4 • Canon 30D, 500/4
Shot by me: Canon 1D IIn, Sigma 300-800/5.6 • Canon 5D II, Sigma 300-800/5.6 • Canon 1D IIn, Sigma 300-800/5.6
The Canon 7D is an entirely new product by Canon and couldn’t escape my interest and natural curiosity. My first impressions proved right. The camera has great ergonomics and its handling feels like a series 1 EOS camera.
The rock solid build quality certainly adds to that pleasant feeling. Fully weather sealed (when used with proper lenses, of course), the 7D feels right at home in the hardest of shooting conditions.
The addition of new controls and the rearrangement of the old keys will certain make upgraders from 50D scratch their heads from time to time but I think the new layout definitely makes sense.
The Q menu key grants quick one-stop access to almost all the features and settings, stocked in the sub-menus structure.
The one-touch RAW/JPEG key allows setting up the RAW and JPEG resolution and quality.
Through the INFO button you can set the display to show camera settings, shooting conditions and the brand new dual accelerometer electronic level indicator, which is quite useful for video shooting.
Another first is the camera/video combo rotary switch with start/stop button. I find it quite convenient. However the switch itself is a bit too tighter that I would have liked.
The new display used for the 7D is simply gorgeous. It is probably one of the best displays I’ve seen in terms of viewing angles, sunlight legibility and image quality (and I’m not talking digital cameras only here). Canon removed the air-gap between the LCD’s protective cover and the display itself, which has helped improve its performance beyond that of Canon 50D and Canon 5D Mark II.
The Orientation linked AF points is one of the new features that I appreciate in the 7D. The camera allows you to select different AF type and AF points for both portrait and landscape modes and automatically alternates them as you turn it around.
While some other manufacturers have been integrating the wireless flash transmitter feature in their camera bodies from quite a while, Canon debuts this feature in the 7D. The Integrated Speedlite Transmitter allows you to wirelessly control up to three groups of four flashes with no additional equipment needed.
Another key feature, which is getting increasingly popular among the DSLR cameras is the video recording! Just like the Canon 5D Mark II, the Canon 7D has full manual control over shutter speed and aperture in video mode. The videos can be recorded in Full HD resolution (1080p) at 30 (NTSC), 25 (PAL) or 24 FPS or in 720p mode with 60 (NTSC) or 50 (PAL) FPS. Canon 7D has also a 3.5mm audio jack for plugging in an external microphone.
The amazing video quality is due to the huge sensor (by video recording standards) and the versatility granted by the vast variety of lenses available put the video camera manufacturers in a very unenviable position.
The 7D viewfinder has 100% coverage, which was retained so far for 1 series. Its magnification is 1.0 and so it is noticeably larger than that of the 50D. Needless to say that this is a real boost to the usability.
Canon APS-C cameras were never as close to Series 1 cameras in terms of features and functionality. The 7D pushes the envelope by bringing top functionality to a lower market segment. So obviously the potential of 7D is immense.
Autofocus faster than your thoughts
Canon cameras autofocus speed has always been accused of being a little below par in broad daylight and even more off the pace at unfavorable lighting conditions. Even on my previous camera – the Canon 1D Mark III the focusing system had its quirks.With the all-new autofocus system and auto focus modes, Canon 7D is definitely a ground breaking improvement in the Canon portfolio. It is now a highly efficient tool for getting the sharp photos you’ve been looking for. Auto focusing in scarce light is also tangibly improved and is even better in some cases compared to 1D Mark III.
The excellent AF speed and accuracy are due to the new algorithms and, of course thanks to the 19 high precision cross-type sensors. The center AF sensor is additionally sensitive with lenses boasting F/2.8 or larger.
Among the important features of the new autofocus are the Spot AF and Zone AF modes. The spot autofocus mode decreases the area on which the autofocus is measured by the sensor, which is vitally important for small object or with less “contrasty” subjects.
The Zone autofocus on the other hand is very convenient for sport and wildlife photography as it groups the points into 5 zones, allowing easier subject tracking.
The other major innovation is the running AF indication in the viewfinder when shooting in Servo mode, which combined with either Zone AF or 19-point AF works flawlessly.
I’ll not dive into bits how exactly the new AF system works, but the complete overhaul of the system has obviously produced a great result.
Image quality
The Canon 7D sports a new home-baked 18 MP APS-C CMOS sensor. The all-new sensor has a new photodiode and gapless microlens design (an improved version of the one found in 50D). According to Canon those should help the 18 MP sensor delivers better signal to noise ratio.So far Canon cameras delivered as clean and untouched JPEG photos as possible. This hardly worries anyone who shoots RAW, but is a deal breaker for the common weekend photographer who doesn’t want to waste too much time in post-processing.
Here are several of my shots taken with Canon EOS 7D:
Sample Canon 7D photos taken in different light conditions
With 7D straight-from-the-camera JPEG files are ready for printing/publishing with well saturated and vivid colors and increased sharpening. Some noise reduction gets applied even when the option in the menu is set to off. The cleverly designed algorithm tackles the noise in out-of-focus areas quite hard, while the in-focus objects remain sharp and crisp with less noise reduction.
When it comes to dynamics and resolved detail, the EOS 7D is quite demanding on the choice of lenses. Actually, anything below the best in class will limit its output resolution. With lower quality lenses, you may not be able to notice the advantage of the higher megapixel count. But don’t get us wrong – you would get pretty decent results from cheaper lenses as well.
Besides that perk, the EOS 7D real-life performance is great despite its quite crammed 18 MP APS-C sensor. Just so you get a better idea, having that same pixel density on a full frame camera would result into the whopping 46 MP resolution – you can clearly see where this is all going. Stepping into the realm or medium format by using clever engineering and processing. We guess, that’s the challenge R&D departments are tackling right now.
Clapperboard and … action!
One of the most fascinating new features in 7D is its ability to shoot top-quality videos at up to 60 fps. Canon 7D has all the video stuff of the 5D Mark II plus some extras on top.The features that the cameras have in common are full manual or automatic exposures, three AF modes that can be activated before/during video capture, full-time working stabilization with stabilized lenses, built-in microphone and a 3.5mm audio jack slot for external microphones.
The major upgrades that the 7D brings are the added frame rate options and the camera/video rotary switch with stop/start button. The great bonus is the more commonly used framerate standard – it uses the unified standard of 29.97 fps rather than the 30 fps in 5D Mark II, which should allow easier synchronization with separately recorded audio in post-processing.
The new in-camera video trimming in 7D is a good idea but you can only do that in frame-by-frame increments. If you shoot at 60fps, you have to turn the Quick Control Dial 60 times just to trim a second off the video! We really would have appreciated having some varying increments.
Here’s a sample video that I took of a nice kingfisher (that’s the bird’s name):
Final words
There was a lot of commotion in the enthusiast community about the Canon 7D pixel-crammed sensor. The 15 megapixel EOS 50D was not among the Canon’s most successful products and the new 18 megapixel camera made photographers fear the worse – excessive noise without noticeable increase in resolved resolution.The real-life results however are far from that and they are actually quite promising. The noise is well contained and has a more tolerable film-grain-like look – that’s way better than what most people expected from the most pixel-dense APS-C sensor on the market.
The high-megapixel sensor however turned quite taxing on the current lens designs and as far as resolved detail is concerned, you won’t be able to make full use of those 18 megapixels unless you have one of the handful lenses that can put up with the increased demand.
On the other hand, the excellent design, ergonomics, unmatched video recording, and lots of innovative features make the Canon EOS 7D a ground-breaking camera not only within the Canon portfolio but for the market in general.
Canon 7D is targeted for the prosumer photographers with high requirements that primarily use high-quality optics. It comes to fill the gap between Canon 50D and Canon 5D mark II and it’s priced accordingly (currently at about 1700 US dollars, 1000 bucks less than 5D2 and about 700 dollars more than the 50D).
