Sony Alpha SLT-A65

Summary

The Sony Alpha A65 offers very good features such as a blazing fast 10 frames-per-second burst rate, OLED electronic viewfinder, excellent video quality, variety of filters to play around with, hell even a GPS chip. Its image quality is really good and we did not see any issues with noise till ISO 3200. At an MRP of Rs. 59,990 we feel it makes for a good value for money proposition provided its MOP is around the Rs. 55,000 region. We would suggest you invest in a better lens to get the best out of this camera as the stock lens does not do justice to the camera. It does face some competition from Canon 60D and Nikon D5100, but none of them offer the kind of burst rate offered by the A65.

Sony has added another camera to its single-lens translucent (SLT) mirror technology cameras – the Alpha A65. On first glance it is quite reminiscent of the older Sony A55.

The A65 incorporates an electronic viewfinder (EVF) in place of the optical viewfinder and the mirror in front of its sensor is fixed and translucent allowing light to pass through – thereby differing from the DSLRs which employ a pentaprism and where the mirror flips to expose the sensor when the shutter is released. The Sony A65 was launched in India along with the flagship A77 (read our review).

Build & Ergonomics
The black body is all plastic with a neat rubberised finger grip in the front. There is an ergonomic depression in the finger grip which fits the fingers like a glove on the camera body. This is neatly complemented by the thumb grip on the rear side.

On the right hand side on the top, you have the shutter button surrounded by the power notch. In the front you have the adjustment dial. Coming behind the shutter button there is the exposure compensation button and the ISO button. Location of the finder/LCD button is very weird as you will need a really long index finger to access it. The mode dial is placed on the left hand side sporting two Auto modes, the P/A/S/M modes alongwith SCN, Panorama, and 10fps burst mode, among others.

Coming to the rear side, you have the 3-inch 921k Xtrafine LCD with TruBlack technology which ensures a screen with great contrast and black levels. The visibility in sunlight is not an issue. But the only irritating aspect is that the screen is hinged at the bottom, so shooting from the hip is decent, but when you align the screen perpendicular to the camera – such that the screen is tilted to the right hand side – then your hand grips makes it difficult to view the screen. It can get especially tricky when you mount the camera on tripod. We would have preferred a screen hinged to the side.

Buttons are located on the right hand side of the screen. Just beside the viewfinder you have the dedicated movie record button, followed by the AEL button and finally the smart teleconverter button from right to left. The smart teleconverter can zoom up to 1.4x and 2x and it can also be used to get an accurate focus. In the image-preview mode, the AEL button and smart teleconverter buttons can be used for zooming in and out.

In the lower half you have the four-way D-pad which activated functions such as Display on the top, White balance on the right, picture effect mode at the bottom and drive mode on the left hand side.The central button pulls up the AF point selection mode, the AF area can either be selected using the adjustment dial in the front as well as using the four way dpad – once the AF area selection mode is activated, the four way keys become mere navigational buttons. The function button Fn is located just above the four-way D-pad. Pressing the Fn button will overlay your LCD screen or the EVF with as many as 14 functions, seven each placed on each side of the screen. Then using the four-ways keys you can navigate between them.

On the right hand edge, you have the SD card slot whereas on the left hand edge there is a lot of flaps. There is a GPS chip housed there along with ports for remote triggering, an HDMI-out port, a mic port, and finally a DC port.

Features 
The Sony A65 houses a 24MP CMOS sensor with a maximum resolution going unto 6000x4000 pixels. It comes with the standard 18-55mm SAM kit lens (f/3.5 to f/5.6). The A65 comes with 15-point phase-detection AF system with 3 cross-type focus points. The AF area types is divided into Wide, Zone, Spot and Local. The local area provides a better control over selecting the focus area. The zone AF area divides the screen into three groups of focus points. There is no array-like arrangement of the focus points.

ISO goes all the way from 100 to 16000 whereas the exposure compensation goes from +/-3 with 1/3 stops. Dynamic Range (DR) and Auto HDR functions offer various levels of shooting; DR range goes from level 1 to 6 whereas Auto HDR goes from exposure difference of 1EV to 6EV, thereby helping you better balance out the light in high contrast regions – getting more detail in shadows and highlights. Under Creative Style filters, you can further adjust contrast, saturation and sharpness; thereby giving the photographer more options to fine tune their images before post processing. The colour effects can be seen on the EVF as well. There is also a variety in terms of the drive modes – offering bracketing options for exposure as well as WB. You also have an option to activate wireless flash mechanism.

Performance
The burst shooting mode offers a whopping 10 fps which is the highest burst rate seen among this class of DSLRs/SLTs. But whether you are in RAW or JPEG mode, after the burst rate, you have to wait for quite a while for the processor to finish writing the images on the card. We were using the 4GB Sony SDHC card with a transfer rate of 15MB/s which wasn't enough thanks to huge image sizes.

The AF on the camera is quite fast, although not as fast as the EP3. We have yet to come across a camera apart from the Olympus OM-D E-M5 that has equalled or beaten the Olympus EP3s blazing fast AF. Having said that, there were very few situations barring extremely low lights where we found the camera hunting for focus.

Burst Rate

Base ISO performance was quite good with clean images. Around ISO 800 you just start to notice very, very minute artefacts which become legible at ISO 1600, especially at the edges. The image is still usable at ISO 3200 though as you notice the noise only at 100 per cent crops. But ISO 6400 onwards, the image quality starts degrading and noise is easily visible.

ISO Crops

ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400	ISO 800	ISO 1600
ISO 3200	ISO 6400	ISO 12800	ISO 16000	Base Image

Sharpness at the edges is a bit of a concern as we noticed some loss in detail around the edges in our sample shots. Centre sharpness is excellent.

Sharpness

Picture Effects offer a range of filters which are great to play around with. Presented below are sample shots with some of those filters activated.

Picture Effects

Normal shot	High Contrast BW	HDR Painting
Toy Camera	Pop Color	Retro
Toy Camera Warm	Partial Colour (Green)	Rich tone monochrome

We have always been impressed with the video quality offered by Sony cameras and the Alpha A65 is lives up to that. Thankfully, Sony offers the option of recording the video in the popular MP4 format as opposed to just the MTS format, but the disadvantage is that with MTS you get a lot more options such as 25p/50p/50i whereas the MP4 has only two settings 1440x1080 (12M) and VGA (3M). While shooting outdoors, there were no issues. Colour reproduction was good and panning was also very smooth. The microphone is not as good as we would have liked it. Indoor shooting is comparatively challenging with noise becoming very prominent. 

Verdict
The Sony Alpha A65 offers very good features such as a blazing fast 10 frames-per-second burst rate, OLED electronic viewfinder, excellent video quality, variety of filters to play around with, hell even a GPS chip. Its image quality is really good and we did not see any issues with noise till ISO 3200. At an MRP of Rs. 59,990 we feel it makes for a good value for money proposition provided its MOP is around the Rs. 55,000 region. We would suggest you invest in a better lens to get the best out of this camera as the stock lens does not do justice to the camera. It does face some competition from Canon 60D and Nikon D5100, but none of them offer the kind of burst rate offered by the A65. 

The Dark Knight Rises

Summary

The Dark Knight has risen and set Hollywood box office records. But if you are expecting the same level of excitement from the gaming avatar of Christopher Nolan's blockbuster film, be ready for a slight letdown. The Dark Knight Rises is more of a brawler, albeit a good-looking one, and comes with a stiff price tag!

Hollywood and the mobile games inspired by it have had a relationship that is about as rocky as something from Gibraltar. Most mobile games based on films, no matter how successful, have been watered down affairs that seem to be more focused on delivering some element of the silver screen on users’ handsets without trying to be too innovative. There have been some notable exceptions, of course - we did not mind the Amazing Spiderman game one bit - but by and large, if the game runs on a mobile device and is based on a film, you should steel yourself for a spot of disappointment.

We must confess that we had hoped that The Dark Knight Rises would buck this trend, if only because the previous major mobile title featuring the Caped Crusader, Arkham City Lockdown had been one of the best games we had played on a mobile device. Of course, it took us some time to find out if this were true - first, because the game itself takes a while to download (close to 1GB on iOS, and well over it on Android), and secondly because we kept playing the game in the hope of something great turning up. Yes, you got the unwritten lines right - nothing really did.

For, at its very heart The Dark Knight Rises is a brawler. You play Batman, yes, and you participate in some of the key scenes from the film - relax, we are not giving anything away except to say that many of the main characters of the film do appear in the game. But in the end, it all boils down to a lot of fistfights. The developers have attempted to throw in an element of stealth in some places but these are too few and too often, one cannot choose between sneaking up to a person and simply clobbering the crap out of them. You pretty much know who you can sneak up on and whom you can sock, which kind of takes the novelty out of things.

In terms of appearance and presentation, The Dark Knight Rises is outstanding.

Not helping matters is a control system that totally revolves around onscreen buttons. Call us spoilt but after the arrival of games like Virtua Tennis, we actually were hoping for some gesture-based action here. I mean, nothing beats landing a big right on a baddie’s jaw by swiping your finger across, does it? Alas, the developers have stuck to the more tried and tested formula of having a button to punch, another to leap and another to defend. Familiar territory and for that very reason, a tad boring as every battle becomes a button mashing exercise. Even movement is via an onscreen button, although it appears whenever you touch the left part of the display. Round that off with the fact that this expensive a game comes with in-app purchases (for that extra edge in battle and quicker progress) and you really start to wonder if followers of the The Dark Knight deserved this.

Gotham City is a jungle, and you will find yourself fighting time and again. With some very clunky controls.

What, however, saves the game from being totally garage bin friendly is its presentation. We will kid you not - The Dark Knight Rises looked awesome on both our iPad and Motorola Xoom. Gotham City looks magnificent with finely detailed buildings, notwithstanding the fact that you see them at night. And then there is the Batman himself - the man looks formidable and when he swings from building to building using the grapple gun (yes, you can do it) or descends on an unsuspecting thug from above, cape rippling, you would need to be made of stone (or to have never read a DC Comics, which is about the same thing) to not feel a thrill run up your spine. And while you do have clearly mapped missions, you can also explore the city as you wish, which can be a lot of fun. The voice acting is excellent as well as is the music and the sound effects. Yep, if presentation was all that counted, The Dark Knight Rise would have been a game that would have thumped loudly on the door of gaming greatness.

We must confess we were disappointed by the presence of in-app purchases in game that costs a pretty penny. Holy dollars, Batman!

Unfortunately, all this eye and ear candy is undone by gameplay that is neither fluid nor innovative. Those who love the Batman and want nothing more than a good round of fisticuffs will love The Dark Knight Rises. But we are not sure we would recommend spending $6.99/ Rs. 387 on it. Wait for December and we are sure it will get knocked down to 99 cents, which is just about what it’s worth.

Available from: iTunes App Store, Google Play store
Price: $6.99 (iOS), Rs 387.56 (Android)

Apple's iPhone 5 rumoured to run on Samsung's Exynos 4 processor

The Internet is abuzz with rumours that Apple's next flagship smartphone, dubbed as the iPhone 5, will be powered by a new A6 quad-core processor, based on Samsung's Exynos 4 architecture.

Citing unnamed industry sources, DigiTimes in its report says competition for quad-core smartphones will intensify in Q4 2012 with the upcoming iPhone and other models launching with quad-core chips. So far, only  HTC and Samsung have released their quad-core smartphones, with LG soon to join the list with the Optimus 4X HD. 

With leading chipmaker Qualcomm expected to start volume production of its quad-core integrated platform solutions in second half of the year, vendors will be encouraged to come up with more competitive quad-core models by next year.

It may be recalled that Apple's iPhone 4S, which launched this year, received a major chip upgrade in the form of Apple A5, which was a dual-core 800MHz processor. The processor is said to have boosted the device's power for graphics, photo and video processing.

The recent iPad third generation (read our review) also saw an upgraded chip in the form of dual-core A5X, which brought significant improvements for the Retina Display and its high-resolution graphics, which were futher powered by a quad-core GPU. Interestingly, both the processors are based on Samsung's ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU design.

Moving to quad-core is definitely going to be a huge leap for Apple, but by the time it launches the device, other quad-core phones such the Samsung Galaxy S III (Exynos-based) and HTC One X (Tegra 3-based) will already have enjoyed a fair amount of time in the market. And then it might have to face stiff competition from the Qualcomm processor-based devices. Rumours are the One X will also get a new Qualcomm processor.

There've been multiple rumours about the next iPhone in the recent past, but most of them focussed on the exterior of the smartphone. The previous round of rumours had said the coming iPhone will have an increased size of the touchscreen display, roughly around 4-inches.

First Impressions: Dell Inspiron 14R Special Edition

Dell has recently updated its Inspiron range of laptops, and if you had been following our website closely, you would surely have read the event coverage.

We are happy to report that the Inspiron 14R Special Edition has arrived in our test centre. This is the smaller 14-inch display size sibling of theInspiron 15R SE, which features a 15.6-inch display.

The Specs
Let us run you through the power package of the Inspiron 14R Special Edition. The review unit sent to us is powered by an Intel Core-i7 - 3612QM processor, clocking in at 2.1GHz. Needless to mention, but this is the third gen Core series processor, lovingly known as Ivy Bridge series. The 14R SE features 6GB of RAM, along with Nvidia GT640M (2GB) and Intel HD 4000 graphics, news that will surely warm the hearts of the gamers out there. The goodness doesn’t end there, with a 1TB HDD as well. Dell preloads the machine with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), along with a bunch of Dell branded apps as well as some third party trials.

The Build
Fish it out of the box, and what immediately catches your eye is the anodized aluminum finish. More so, because it looks very similar to the very classy carbon fibre finish we saw on the XPS 13 ultrabook (read our review). The black does have a slightly shiny element to it, but is in no way glossy or potentially maintenance hungry. This finish carries through on the lid as well as the area around the keypad, including the palmrest.

The visual accents don’t end there. On the lid, a silver band frames the black anodized aluminum, and is thicker towards where the lid is supposed to open from - kind of a visual guide, if you may. Mostly because when closed, the Inspiron 14R SE does not give any hints about where the front or the back is. Probably because the display hinges are nicely covered up.

The Dell Inspiron 14R SE carries a very premium build quality throughout. It seems put together quite well, and we didn’t see any rough edges or loose ends anywhere. No matter how hard you type on the keyboard, it just doesn’t dip. No matter how hard you try to flex the lid, it won’t bend more than the most solidly built laptops.

Port Placement
On the right side are the optical drive and a couple of USB 3.0 ports, as well as the Ethernet port. On the left is another USB 3.0 port along with one USB 2.0 port as well. HDMI out sits between the USBs and a pretty large cooling vent. On the front are a bunch of LEDs and the memory card slot. There are no ports on the backside, which is great, as we aren’t fans of poking the backside of our laptops to connect a USB device!

Keyboard
The keyboard does not have a dedicated number pad, acceptable considering this is a 14-inch display, and doesn’t have the space luxury of a 15.6-inch one. Resolution is 1366 x 768 pixels. While it does seem to have the brightness punch and decent colour reproduction, the only niggle is with the reflective nature of the screen. Turn the brightness down, and visibility will be affected a certain bit. Turn up the brightness, and that may just make using it a bit stressful in the long run.

Weighty Matters
The weight scales tip at 2.38kg, which technically isn’t very heavy. But the 14R Special Edition feels heavier than this, probably because the thickness is quite profound – probably to pack in the powerful configuration. Rest assured however, that the 14R SE remains very much portable without any issues. However, the thickness could have been slimmed a bit to make it look less bulky than what it does at the moment.

Price
The specification we have received is listed on Dell’s website at Rs. 61,275. At this price with this configuration, we expect this to go to the top of our laptop score-sheet without a shadow of a doubt.

We will be lining up a review of the Dell Inspiron 14R Special Edition very soon. Do stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can enjoy the photo-gallery of the laptop.

Unfortunately, the display is quite reflective, taking some sheen away from an otherwise excellent panel.

The evident thickness, but as we said, with the weight, it doesn’t hamper portability.

With not many shortcut keys, the look is quite clean

The dash of silver around the sides teams well with the black elsewhere.

Generous cooling vents. Certainly needed, considering the power that is packed inside.

Just three shortcut keys above the keyboard.

Prominent Inspiron branding!

There are lots of USB 3.0 ports on the 14R SE.

More ports on the 14R SE.

With not many shortcut keys, the look is quite clean

Aluminum that looks like carbon fibre!

Extremely elegant poise of the Inspiron 14R Special Edition.

Nokia Lumia 800 The Dark Knight Rises Limited Edition launched in India

It has been a busy day today, with Nokia announcing the launch of two phones in India. Along with the Nokia Lumia 610, the Lumia 800 The Dark Knight Rises Limited Edition phone has also been launched, and should be available in markets from tomorrow.

The Lumia 800 The Dark Knight Rises phone will truly be limited edition, with Nokia announcing that only 200 units will be available. So, we suggest that if you want one, hurry and grab one now!

This edition of the phone will carry forward the same unibody build as seen on Lumia 800 (read our review) phones, but the black colour will be accompanied by a laser etched Batman logo on the back, to make it stand out in a crowd.

“A truly global initiative, the Nokia Lumia Dark Knight Rises campaign is an exciting new initiative for our Lumia customers, that will recreate the movie’s unique experience, right on the consumer’s devices”, said Vipul Mehrotra, Director – Smart Devices, Nokia India.

Buyers will get access to a whole host of exclusive stuff. First off, the phone will be loaded with the Dark Knight Rises app, with exclusive trailers, photo galleries, integration with Maps to list where the movie theaters premiering the movie are, as well as a game that has been introduced in a tie up with Foursquare.

Buyers will also get exclusive collectibles like bags, caps and projector pens, all bearing the DKR branding with the phone, along with the chance to win a movie theater screening for your friends.

Nokia have slapped a Best Buy price of Rs. 24,999 on this phone. Interestingly, Nokia has also said that the Lumia 900 will be arriving in India in Q3, 2012. No price info as yet, but do stay updated for the sam

 

Nokia Lumia 610 arrives in India, along with special edition Lumia 800

Nokia has announced the addition of a third phone to the Windows Phone series – the Lumia 610. This is the third Lumia phone to be launched in India as well, with Nokia saying that they are targeting the “youthful audience” with this device.

The Lumia 610 is powered by an 800MHz Snapdragon processor along an Adreno 200 GPU and 256MB of RAM. It also bears a 3.7-inch 800x480 pixel display, apart from a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, and 8GB built-in storage. The phone will come with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango out of the box, and will get the 7.8 update will be arriving on this phone soon.

Other specifications of the Nokia Lumia 610 include a weight of 131.5 grams, a thickness of 12mm, as well as such connectivity options as 3G (HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR, stereo FM radio with RDS, GPS with A-GPS support, and microUSB v2.0. It bears a 1,300 mAh battery, rated to deliver up to 10.5 hours of talktime, 670 hours of standby time, and 35 hours of continuous music playback. Surprisingly, it only supportsMicro SIM cards.

“The Lumia 610 will introduce Windows Phone to a new generation of smartphone users, offering something very different to the monochromatic smartphones filling shelves today. It is designed to appeal to a more youthful audience purchasing their first smartphone and motivated by the opportunity to keep in touch with friends, family and all the latest information.”, says Vipul Mehrotra, Director – Smart Devices, Nokia India.

The Lumia 610 comes with a best buy price of Rs. 12,990, and will be available in stores from July 7, 2012. It will also feature the regular Nokia value-added services, such as Nokia Music,Nokia Mix Radio, and Nokia Location Services.

Fans of the Dark Knight franchise will be excited to hear that Nokia is also bringing the Lumia 800 The Dark Knight Rises limited edition to India. This one will have a black finish, with the laser etched Batman logo and some exclusive apps, content and goodies. This has been given a best buy price of Rs. 24,999. This phone will be limited to 200 units only. The Lumia 900 is also expected to be launched in India, sometime in Q3 2012.

First Impressions: Nokia Lumia 610

So, it is finally here! A Windows Phone 7.5 device that is aimed at the same demographic that would otherwise be looking at the likes of the HTC Explorer, Samsung Galaxy Ace and the LG Optimus Hub.

However, while your choices until now were restricted to Android, Symbian and Blackberry in this price bracket, the arrival of the Nokia Lumia 610 does change things quite a bit – introducing alow-cost Windows Phone offering.

We had a chance to play around with the Lumia 610 at the launch event, and this is what we came up with.

1. The build quality of the Lumia 610 is just brilliant. It does not feel like a Rs. 13,000 phone, like most others in this price category do. This can easily be explained with the comparison with its elder, and considerably more expensive sibling - the Lumia 710 (read our review). The Lumia 710 felt plastic-like and cheap, and you knew it was a phone on a budget. With the Lumia 610, there is a classiness found on phones that are considerably more expensive.
2. The 3.7-inch display with a 480x800 pixel resolution is absolutely brilliant. As expected, Nokia has also given this the ClearBlack goodness, but the real kicker is that this is a natively bright display and very good text crispness. While reading a mail on this, you will surely not crave a phone with a bigger display. On the flipside though, the colours are not very vivid, and even look washed out at times.
3. The 800MHz processor will hold out well, but just 256MB of RAM is literally unforgivable, if you will be using it with multiple apps at the same time. The Lumia 610 can only be loaded with so much for the power package to handle, and that is a limitation you should be well aware of, before splashing the cash.
4. As expected, the Lumia 610 will come with the navigation apps – Drive, Maps and Transport.
5. The camera has been given some additional features – Panorama mode, self-timer, action detection shot and a burst mode for the best group photo. You can also edit the photographs on the device itself, before sharing. Neat features, but most of these capabilities have been on cameraphones for quite a while now. It also makes us wonder why these aren’t a part of the Nokia 808 PureView’s camera!
6. Nokia is also introducing the Mix Radio app – the music streaming service that works offline as well. Some really neat features allowing for customization your own radio stations and an offline mode as well. But how well it works for you will depend on what connection you use – Wi-Fi, Edge or 3G.

At this price (Rs. 12,990), we feel the Lumia 610 will do well. Mostly because it feels like it is built more expensively that it actually is, and more and more consumers may want to try out a new OS.

We will have a detailed review of the Lumia 610 soon. In the meantime, you check out some product shots:

Camera interface

Relatively similar looks to the Lumia 710, but feels a lot better.

The 3.5mm and the micro USB port on the top - just be careful about scratching the chrome.

The 3.7-inch display is natively quite bright.

The Dark Knight Rises exclusive content on the phone.

The phone does fit very well in the hand.

The rubberized feel on the back is classy, and we like the conventional position of the camera - will not get in the way at all.

The rubberized finish to the rear, with a chrome frame running around the phone.

Three touch sensitive keys below the display, and the chrome strip running below them acts as a visual guide.

Zync launches another ICS-based budget tablet, Z-990 Plus

Zync has added another ICS-based budget tablet to its portfolio – Z-990 Plus – an improved version of the Zync Z-990 that launched earlier this year. The new Zync Z-990 Plus is powered by a 1.5GHz processor and equipped by a MALI 400 GPU.

The company is promoting its new tablet as an entertainment device as it comes bundled with 1-month free subscription for BigFlix via a dedicated app. Users are given a wide collection of over 1,000 movies from all sorts of categories, such as action, comedy, romance, drama, etc.

Zync has also entered into partnership with online gaming firm, Ibibo which is offering a wide range of online games spanning 40 categories on the tablet. With a dedicated Ibibo app, users can play wide range of Android-based social and multiplayer games for free. The app features popular games such as Teen Patti, Rummy, Can You Draw, Speed Wordz and Word War.

Speaking of specifications, Zync Z-990 Plus runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. It has a seven-inch display with 800x480 pixel resolution. Other specifications of the device include 0.3 MP frontal camera, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of built-in storage and expandable memory up to 32GB via a microSD card slot. For connectivity, the Zync Z-990 Plus supports i-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, 3G via USB dongle, microUSB, HDMI and a 3.5mm jack.

The Zync Z-990 Plus has been officially priced at Rs. 6,490 and it will be available at various retail outlets across 22 states in India. The device is also available online via shopping sites such as Snapdeal, HomeShop18, seventymm, Indiatimes, FutureBazaar and Naaptol.

Zync's Z-990 Plus is another addition to the already flooded budget tablet market in India. The device will be facing competition from the likes of Micromax Funbook and WishTel Era. For more, you can check out our Top 10 Budget Tablet list.

What do you think of the new Zync Z-990 Plus tablet? Let us know in the comments section below: