Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Best Android phone - which I want to own?

1.Samsung Galaxy Note




Samsung took screen size to a ridiculous new level with the Galaxy Note, offering us a huge 5.3" display that's by far the largest of any smartphone out there today.

You also get a stylus, which is pressure sensitive and comes with great handwriting recognition tools, plus dual cameras (8MP and 2MP) along with an LED flash around the back and rather decent image results.

As with all of Samsung's newest Android models the Note is a solid performer, running Android 2.3 impeccably, with the same TouchWiz interface we've seen on the likes of the Galaxy S II.

With the show running at a super-high 1280x800 resolution, it's a sharp-looking, smooth-running phone for those who don't want their style cramping.

2.Samsung Galaxy Nexus




Google and Samsung's 2011 flagship is currently the only official way to get the all-new Android 4.0 experience on a mobile, and for that reason alone it's a must-have for any Android user.

As a smartphone itself, it's a good all-round performer, too, although the omission of an SD card slot is a slightly odd decision.

The large 4.65" screen is glassy, smooth and responsive, running at an immense 720 x 1280 HD resolution. It's bright, plus the 1.2GHz dual-core processor keeps everything running well, while the curved chassis is just about stylish enough to give the phone an edge over some of the more boring black slabs out there.

The 5megapixel camera appears a little weak on the tech spec list, but image results and HD videos emerge sharp and clear - plus it has a cool timelapse feature, too.

3.Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray





Something for the more modest smartphone buyer, this one. Coming with a 3.3" display squeezed into a slim and angular case, the Ray's Reality Display screen is the star here.

The screen runs at 480x854 resolution, which, when packed into a relatively small space, means a super-sharp and clear display that's as clear and bright as the best of them.

The 8megapixel camera does a great job of capturing both stills and 720p video, while Sony Ericsson's latest Android 2.3 update includes some nice touches like a gesture-based, line-drawing keyboard, plus 2D and 3D panoramic photo capture. It's a very finely tuned and sweet little phone.

4.Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S




Sony Ericsson's glamorous take on Android is an absolute pleasure to use, with its curved body feeling great in the hand and the 2.3 version of Google's OS now powered by an updated 1.4GHz processor.

It's not dual-core, but it all moves very well indeed, with Sony Ericsson's user interface additions giving the Arc a stylish feel in use, too. The 4.2" BRAVIA Engine "Reality Display" is bright and colourful, with text sharp and well defined thanks to the high 854x480 resolution.

The 8 MP camera produces great stills, with 720p video looking good despite the occasional glitch when recording. The Arc S is simply a lovely, well designed thing to have and enjoy, that shows both Android and Sony Ericsson's phone-making skills in a great light.

5.Samsung Galaxy S2



You won't believe how thin and light it is. Then you won't believe how fast it is. The Galaxy S II offers a genuinely exciting experience, managing to eclipse all other Android phones in every field.

Apps install ridiculously quickly, while browsing web pages is so fast it's hard to believe you're looking at a telephone screen. The large display is robust and, despite the slim and lightweight case, build quality manages to impress.

You get the latest Android 2.3.3 onboard, while many of Samsung's Touchwiz widgets are resizable, making it a phone that's fun to customise and spend time playing with. This is Android made fast and thrilling.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

10.8 ‘Mountain Lion’ - The Next Generation Mac OS X to Developers

Seven short months following the release of Mac OS X 10.7 ‘Lion,’ Apple is today unveiling the next generation Mac OS X to developers -10.8 ‘Mountain Lion.’


I’ve only had a brief look at the early release but I can tell you that there’s a lot of cool stuff in it, and a lot of the best features are ones that have been ported over from iOS 5:

Name change
Apple has confirmed that from 10.8 onwards the ‘Mac’ name will be dropped and the OS will be called ‘OS X’. Also, according to Apple, the preferred name for the release is ‘OS X Mountain Lion’

Messages
Basically replaced iChat, brings with it iMessage integration into the OS. Support for attachments up to 100MB, as well as iChat supported services such as AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, and Jabber.

There’s a public beta version of messages available for Lion users over on the Apple website.

iCloud
Full iCloud integration, including support for Finder so you can find files stored in the cloud.

Reminders
iOS 5 users will recognize this new feature. Share reminders between your Mac and iOS devices. Also share them via email or Message with others.



Notes
Another iOS 5 feature that makes it into Mac. Again, full sync support and the ability to share via email or Message.

Notification Center
Again, bringing cool features from iOS into Mac OS X. Push notifications remind you of emails, appointments and reminders.

Twitter
Get to Twitter without needing to install an app.

Game Center
Finally Apple acknowledges gaming and integrates the iOS Game Center into the Mac OS so you can keep track of your scores (and those of your friends) when you play a Game Center enabled App Store game.

Gatekeeper
Antivirus technology comes to Mac OS X in the form of Gatekeeper. Not much information of this right now, other than it seems to involve Mac App Store devs signing code and users having granular control over what’s installed. It’s certainly a step in the right direction.



First impressions - Mountain Lion is to Lion what Snow Leopard was to Leopard. It’s an evolutionary step forward, rather than a revolutionary leap. However, it seems that Apple is learning a lot from iOS and has been busy integrating these features into OS X.

This makes it a value-add for those who own both iOS and OS X hardware because the data on your iPhone or iPad is no longer confined to your mobile device. This is Apple’s insurance policy against the Mac becoming a victim of the post-PC world that iOS devices help to create.

News from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/apple-unveils-os-x-108-mountain-lion-to-developers/18197

For Lion 10.7 users, Doremisoft has updated SWF Video Converter Mac, which specially developed to satisfy the require above which enables Lion users to download and convert SWF files to all kinds of SD videos on Mac, convert swf to MOV, convert swf to MP4, AVI, FlV, WMV, M4V, 3GP etc, all Mac common video formats. So you can easily replay SWF Flash on iTunes, QuckTime, edit SWF on iMovie, FCP, FCE and Sync SWF to iPhone, iPad and iPod, Other SmartPhones and Tablets. Besides, crop the unwanted black edges of original SWF files and add unique watermark are supported.