Tag: Price

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Mostly Everything

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Review in the Philippines

UPDATE 3: I have a review up of the new Nokia N97 — following the successful touch screen experience of the 5800.

UPDATE 2: More hands on with me playing with the phone. I talk about the touch screen in particular.

UPDATE: From Nikka Abes of Nokia Philippines:

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone is selling at a preorder price of P20,000.00. To place a preorder please sign up at the Nokia Philippines website. This goes to the first 58 sign ups.

The price of the 5800 XpressMusic is pegged at about P18,000 without tax so we can estimate this to be at the early P20,000 mark when it comes out officially (nota bene: this is only speculation, btu it gives you a rough estimate how much of your Christmas money to save).

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NOKIA 5800 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A bit of history: the XpressMusic line is Nokia’s flagship brand for anything and everything music. If the Nseries concentrates on multimedia (video mostly), the E series on corporate use, the XpressMusic line is distinct because it has two things – a separate high quality audio hardware (loud and crisp speakers) and a 3.5mm speaker jack. This is consistent throughout all the Nokia phones branded as XpressMusic.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone is Nokia’s first Nseries touch screen device as well. Nokia has had two other semi popular touch screen phones in the past – the Nokia 6708 and the Nokia 7710, released back in 2006. Here is a walk through of the various features. My first impressions were very positive as the touch screen integrates well into the device. Unlike the iPhone which is an SMS composing nightmare, the 5800 slightly vibrates each time you press a button. There are three text input modes available – full QWERTY keyboard, mini QWERTY keyboard and the traditional numerical keypad.

Photos and full feature after the jump.

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Mostly Everything

Nikon D90 DSLR does Video Recording with D-Movie

The new Nikon D90 is a REMARKABLE product

Why? Because even without the new HD video recording capability, it is still a fantastic camera. The new Nikon D90 hails from the D300’s family of revolutionary low light shooting modes. This means that even at ISO 3200 (HI 6400) you still get low noise photo exhibit quality printable images!

Nikon is throwing in a bonus. The new D90 can now do video. Nikon calls this the D-Movie feature that takes the live view on a DSLR a step further: allowing you to take HD quality videos. Don’t believe me? Here are some samples!

A new idea for D-SLRs, the D90 offers a movie function, allowing you to shoot movies in three different motion JPEG formats: 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels and 1,280 x 720 pixels. Now you can capture life’s moving moments with added drama by using many of Nikon’s NIKKOR lenses, including the AF DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED and the Micro-NIKKOR lenses. The shallow depth of field can give your movies a more creative and emotional impact. An additional benefit is the D90 image sensor, which is much larger than a typical camcorder for higher image quality and exceptional high ISO performance during low-light shooting.

So all in all you’re getting (1) the most affordable high end camera of Nikon, (2) Live View with D-Movie recording (note: HD720), (3) an HDMI terminal for viewing movies on HD television, and many more. The 12MP Nikon D90 costs $999.00 from Amazon without the kit lens (AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G). See, very cheap!

The quality of D-Movie technology is stunning and brilliant. I’m not sure how movie makers will react to this – I’m sure it’s still a far shot from the pros – but what a scary thought! The sample movies presented allow for a lot of creative expression by simply playing with the manual focus and high aperture settings. It also adds a new brand of depth to buying lenses because even the worn out ones from moss or grime can still contribute some artistic interpretation of your subjects. Chase Jarvis had this to say:


Trust me, I played with this feature at length…all of us on location did, for that matter. It’s going to be a powerful tool. You can control your own depth of field so beautifully using the manual focus ring, the audio capture is solid, the high ISO capabilities in video?! Way cool… Long lenses, fisheyes, zoom lenses…versatility. I’m a BIG fan of the D-Movie.

I haven’t read through the fine print, but I’m assuming that D-Movie, although it doesn’t do autofocus, will accept legacy lenses. And hey, thanks to Rico for the tip!

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Mostly Everything

The Hype

I’ve owned two Macintosh portables. The first I bought back in 2004. It was second hand. But it didn’t matter. It was, in most ways better than the other laptop offerings at that time. It didn’t have viruses, I never needed to turn it off, and it opened native Windows office files pretty well.

The second Mac I bought in 2007. I stuck to the brand because this time, I could record audio and video podcasts on the fly. It didn’t just run native Windows files, it ran Windows. And it retained all the neat things I loved about the previous Mac, but lighter, and in sexy black.

When I bought these two computers I never recalled a clause that said I had to be tied with a specific wireless Internet provider for WiFi. I also never recalled having to go to a Macintosh reseller just to perform a System Update or activate my operating system. And yeah, I remember also paying a fair price for it.

I want to recall those memories when Apple was all about being remarkable and different from the status quo.

I want to recall those memories when an Apple product meant so much more than the hype.

Thus ends an age, I guess.