Review – Living With the HTC 8X

Windows Phone 8 has been having a hard time cracking the stranglehold that iOS and Android have on customers at the moment. The Nokia Lumia phones have caught the eye with their bright colours and pretty, big icons, but the fact that they weigh the same as a VW Beetle probably hasn’t aided their adoption. HTC though have a much slimmer offering for those who fancy their digital bread buttered Windows side up.

The 8X is the champion set to battle it out among the Finnish heavyweights and from the outset you can see that the design ethos is very different. Whereas the Lumias feel sturdy and fat in the hand, the 8X is light, very thin, and far more of an elegant approach. It isn’t all smiles though as the flush buttons can be tricky to find and holding the unit in your hands sometimes feels a little uncomfortable due to the subtly sharp edges of the slight design.

The software itself is probably the area that will decide whether you like the phone or not. Windows 8 Phone is very pretty, and the fonts used in the apps are beautiful, but after a while the novelty wears off and you realise that it just seem to take more user selections to get things done than feels necessary. Many of the built in apps are fine for light use and the range is slowly growing to include more mainstream favourites, but when compared to Android or iOS the functionality seems restricted by the absence of high quality applications. The phone does integrate well with other Microsoft software, and the Skydrive app is as useful as ever for storing and sharing files online. A continuing area of concern though is Microsoft’s inability to get developers interested in its mobile platform. In these days of app centric customers this could be damaging in the long run to the success of the OS. One advantage that Windows 8 phone offers is that all the handsets I’ve used that run it are fast and smooth due to the singular implementation of the software – something that isn’t generally true on Android. At the moment Windows Phone 8 does feel like the poor cousin of the other main mobile platforms, but Microsoft is an immense company and has far too much artillery to be counted out easily.

Otherwise the 8X offers a reasonable camera, all day battery life, and a rather fetching purple livery. Performance is snappy and the 8X does catch the occasional eye when you’re out and about due to its unique appearance. With Windows Phone 8 not yet drawing the crowds it also means that you can pick one of these up rather cheaply (we’ve seen them go for £150 barely used through online retailers like http://www.smartfonestore.com).  As long as you’re happy with the currently limited nature of the platform, then the HTC 8X is a smartphone that’s dependable, cool, and will run Facebook, Twitter, while gathering your emails without fuss. Pretty much what most people need, without the big bills to match.

Review – Living with the Samsung Galaxy Camera

There was a time when any budding, amateur photographer was required to drag around a copious amount of weighty kit in order to capture that one moment of magic.

But advances in smartphone technology have had a quite dramatic effect on how most of us take photographs. As the old adage goes, the best camera is the one you have with you, and such is the symbiotic relationship we have with our mobile devices that we’re now never more than an arms length away from our phones at any time.  Plus the cameras on the higher end models are about as good as most people will ever need, so does this spell the end for compact cameras?

Well, Samsung doesn’t think so.

The Galaxy Camera is a curious beast that they’ve brought to the table, with features that make it more akin to our precious phones than a classic camera. On the front you’ll find a nice big lens that can zoom out to 21x magnification (try that on your iPhone), there are also traditional controls for the zoom, a shutter button, and even a neat pop-up flash for those darker moments.  Flipping the unit around shows where the phone influence comes in. A 4.8″ touchscreen covers the entire back, and switching the camera on reveals a fully functional version on Android 4.1 running inside. This means that you can use the camera as you would a smartphone (albeit without making calls). Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, and all the other normal candidates can be installed, all controlled via the large touchscreen which is clear and responsive. So now, in theory, you can take photos with your snazzy big camera and still post them up on Instagram or back them up to Dropbox, without the need for plugging the device into your computer. Truly these are the days of wonder.

Well, they would be if the camera in question was really good. But sadly the Samsung Galaxy camera is only around average in the photo stakes. This is disappointing as I like the idea. Having a bigger lens, wider frame of view, and that all important zoom offers up plenty of opportunities for more impressive compositions than the standard smartphone fare. Indeed, after only a few minutes with the Galaxy Camera you realise how useful a superzoom is for capturing more candid, natural shots of people rather than the posed efforts phones often produce. The connectivity is also a fantastic feature as you can shoot away, upload your images, and then be clear to carry on for more without the hassle of clearing SD cards.

The problem is that there are quite a few compromises to carrying a device like this, and the results need to make them acceptable. First off it’s a bit heavy and certainly won’t be slipping into the pocket of your jeans anytime soon. The unit’s bulky design also makes using the screen for anything other than a quick selection of modes somewhat cumbersome. Moving between the apps themselves can also be frustratingly slow, which is something you never really think of with a camera where you just want to pick up and shoot. No viewfinder is a shame, especially when shooting outside in bright sunlight, although it must be said that the screen is still quite viewable so Samsung have done well there.  In the end though the images captured with the Galaxy just didn’t make all the disadvantages worth contending with. Subjects were often soft or noisy, the light balance could be a little off at times, and colours weren’t always accurate. Don’t get me wrong, the camera is decent, and there is a full manual mode with which you could take greater control of these issues, but it doesn’t feel much better than my iPhone 4S, or even my trusty old Sony W5 digital compact.

Here’s a few examples shots from the Galaxy Camera –

 

As you can see the Galaxy Camera is a good device that can capture some interesting images, but when you factor in the price of around £400 then it becomes hard to recommend. At the moment is feels very much like a first generation device. The concept I’m a big fan of, and given time and some hardware upgrades this type of camera could well become an incredibly attractive proposition. It’s early days though and the folks at Samsung have got a lot of work to do. I hope they’re up for it.