HTC Sensation vs. Xperia Arc (Charming vs. Sleek)

I should have included HTC Sensation when I recently compared LG Optimus 2X and Samsung Galaxy SII because like these two, Sensation packs a dual core CPU, and that too with a hefty clock speed of 1.2GHz (tops in the market). But when talking about looks, LG Optimus X2 and Samsung Galaxy SII are no match against these most attractive phones we are about to compare. (videos at the bottom)

HTC Sensation

I personally prefer Arc for its sleek futuristic design, the same thing that captures your heart in concept cars.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

Lets compare their features now

	HTC Sensation	Sony Ericson Xperia Arc
Display	S-LCD Capacitative Gorilla Glass Gyro Sensor Multi-touch Input	Sony Mobile Bravia Engine Scratch Resistant Multi-touch Input
Size & Weight	126x65x11mm 148g	125x63x9mm 117g
CPU	1.2GHz Adeno 220 GPU	1GHz Adeno 205 GPU
RAM	768MB	512MB
Internal Storage	1GB	320MB
OS	Android v2.3 (Gingerbread)	Android v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Camera	8MP Auto Focus Dual LED Flash Image Stabilization Face Detection HD Video Recording	8MP Auto Focus LED Flash Image Stabilization Face & Smile Detection HD Video Recording
Connectivity	Wifi + USB + AGPS Bluetooth v3.0	Wifi + USB + AGPS Bluetooth v2.1
Misc Features	Stereo FM Radio TV Out	Stereo FM Radio HDMI Port
Price (approximate)	600EUR	430EUR

Xperia Arc's performance is overshadowed by Sensation's Dual Core CPU and bigger RAM but even with the available power, Arc promises not to disappoint your expectations because of its sleek outlook, a Giga CPU, latest Android OS and a relatively lower price tag.

HTC Sensation on the other hand is quite expensive, even more than Samsung Galaxy SII. To compensate the price it should have boarded at least 1+GB of RAM like SII and Optimus 2X. But that charming curvy shape forces you to ignore all this.

Update: note some important issues with HTC Sensation. The charming handset is not so perfect after all. There have been a notable number of reports of its touch screen going numb in just a matter of days after purchase. Android Police has uploaded a video proof of "not so responsive touch screen any more". Up till now, HTC has not offered any help in this regard. This comes along with the dreaded WIFI Death Grip issue and several reports of firmware malfunctioning like getting restarted when browsing gallery after taking a picture from camera. It appears as if HTC has wrecked this charming phone in the wake of gigahertz competition.

When talking about the looks, I would like to point out how Samsung has been using a very standard design for most of its phones lately. Not just all the Galaxy products (S, SII, Ace) but even low end phones like Star and Wave look like clones of each other. In fact, I actually felt that even this design is not their's originally. Apple confirmed this by filing a lawsuit against Samsung for copying their design of iPhone, but then Apple is suing everyone these days.

Funny Animation

Sequels that wont disappoint for sure

You (most certainly) have seen a movie without knowing that it stars Angelina Jolie as lead actress and Jack Black as lead actor. Just to spice it up, theres Dustin Hoffman and Jakie Chan in it too.

It scored a rare 7.7 out of 10 stars on IMDB and a 88% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

meet PO

Still cant figure it out? Do you even live on this earth?

Some of you might be smart enough to say you knew about the cast even before the opening of this movie in 2008. Some would even say; how hard is it to judge the voicing actor. But do pardon me as I lack that blessing.

In some cases, cast naturally gets ignored because they are just voicing over for the charismatic animated characters strutting their own colors, expressions and body language on the screen. At least for me, It become more enjoyable and intriguing to watch the animated character knowing who's voicing it. Try for example, David Schwimmer (of FRIENDS) voicing Melman (the giraffe) in Madagascar.

Sometime, I even find animated character's personality closely matching that of the voice over actor or actress. Jack Black and Eddie Murphy are good examples :) but I didn't expect Master Shifu turning out to be Dustin Hoffman.

Ok lets not spoil it anymore. Lets watch the trailer of Kung Fu Panda 2 soon to be released.

I was inspired to see as great work as Kung Fu Panda coming from a team other than PIXAR.

Oh and who wouldn't remember Lightening McQueen from CARS. I hear Cars 2 is coming out this July. Waoh, I can certainly smell back to back blockbusters coming our way.

Nokia X7 (and we wonder, who runs NOKIA)

Nokia has recently announced that they'll launch Nokia X7 (Entertainment Made Bigger) in June 2011.

I am really disappointed by the features donned by Nokia X7 which Nokia thinks will pursue their dominance in the market. In these deterministic times I wish Nokia had at least compared the current cell phones in the market.

	Nokia X7	Samsung Galaxy SII	LG Optimus 2X
Size & Weight	120x63x12mm 146g	125x66x8mm 116g	124x63x11mm 139g
Display	4” AMOLED Capacitative Multitouch Gorilla Glass	4.3” Super AMOLED Capacitative Multitouch Gorilla Glass Gyro Sensor	4” IPS LCD Capacitative Multitouch Gorilla Glass Gyro Sensor
CPU	680MHz Broadcom GPU	1.2GHz Dual Core Mali MP400 GPU	1GHz Dual Core Nvidia GPU
RAM	256MB	1GM	512MB
Storage	350MB	16/32GB	8GB
OS	Symbian Anna	Android v2.3	Android
Camera	8MP Fixed Focus Dual LED Flash HD Video Rec	8MP Auto Focus LED Flash HD Video Rec 2MP Secondary	8MP Auto Focus LED Flash HD Video Rec 1.3MP Secondary
Connectivity	Wifi + USB + AGPS BlueTooth v3.0 Stereo FM Radio	Wifi + USB + AGPS BlueTooth v3.0 Stereo FM Radio	Wifi + USB + AGPS BlueTooth v2.1 Stereo FM Radio
Price Range (Expected)	370 EUR	550 EUR	350 EUR

Prominent shortcomings of X7 are as follows

• No Gyro Sensor
• Just 680 MHz SINGLE core CPU
• Just 256MB RAM
• Just 350MB internal storage
• No smile detection, touch focus or image stabilization
• No Secondary front facing camera and so no 3G video calling

Lets do some reality check here. Nokia has decided to launch a phone in the coming month with none of the modern features while newbies like Samsung, LG and HTC (they're not new but they were nothing against NOKIA just 5 Years back) are busy smashing the limits of cellular phones and making the term "Dual Core Cellphone" part of history [LG Scooping World's First Dual Core Mobile title in Guiness Book of world records].

Is it just me or have others heard about ANDROID too. Because Nokia certainly hasn't. I just want them to take a look at this:

Smart Phones OS Market Share by 2010-Q4.
Data sourced from http://www.canalys.com

According to a fresh report by Gartner, Nokia's market share has dropped to just 25% by the first quarter of 2011. Its a big upset if you consider Nokia's share was about 40% just a few years back. My gut feeling told me a long time ago that Google (with their Android OS) could have saved Nokia but they have instead taken the fast lane to destruction, by joining hands with Microsoft (for their Windows Phone 7 OS). Would you believe, I am yet to meet a person, even a stranger in the street who carries a WP7 mobile.

For heavens sake, stop neglecting and hiding from paradigm shifts like pigeons would just close their eyes to think they are safe from a raging cat. Look how Android is inspiring ordinary people to do awesome stuff

Galaxy S II vs Optimus 2X

Samsung Galaxy S II is definitely the next big thing in the cell phones market. Samsung hardly had to work hard for the top spot as the previous model (Galaxy S) had already earned this place with its topnotch features.

In Galaxy S II, we get everything that we can wish for. Who needs a desktop or even laptop now. This is personal computing of the modern age. Android OS, Super AMOLED Gorilla Glass display, Dual Core 1.2GHz CPU, dedicated GPU, 8MP camera for HD video recording, Gyro sensor, Wifi, Bluetooth 3 and the list goes on. What else do we need for our digital entertainment now.

I wonder why they have missed the FM transmitter. But hey, who would have spare time to worry about that against its exhaustive list of features.

Very close rival to Galaxy SII is LG's Optimus 2X which has even earned a place in Guinness Book of world record for being the first Dual Core Consumer phone in the world.

But while LG rushed to launch world's first dual core cell phone in the market, it allowed Samsung to learn and adapt from mistakes or maybe just the market reception. Galaxy SII has overshadowed the Optimus 2X by packing a faster CPU, bigger RAM and Internal Storage and a larger Screen. 8 Mega Pixel Camera's on both are almost similar with auto focus and led flash. It is worth mentioning here that Samsung in a way deceived LG as it announced earlier that Galaxy SII will pack a 1GHz dual core CPU but revved it up to 1.2GHz later on. Major differences in these two are as follows


Samsung Galaxy SII's vs. LG Optimus 2X

• CPU: 1.2GHz vs. 1GHz
• Display: 4.3" Super AMOLED vs. 4" IPS LCD
• RAM: 1GB vs. 512MB
• Storage: 16/32GB vs. 8GB
• Bluetooth: 3.0 vs. 2.1
• Secondary Camera: 2MP vs. 1.3MP

On the other hand, LG's shortcoming are duly compensated by the pricing. It is around 200Euros cheaper than Galaxy SII.

A detailed comparison of both monsters of a phone, is hosted by GSMArena.com here: Samsung Galaxy S II vs LG Optimus 2X: Head to head - GSMArena.com.

Need for Speed

Back in 1997, I bought Need For Speed II for my very first, brand new PC Intel MMX. Worn out tons of CD Players playing that one and every next installment since then. Its always thrilling to watch the trailer of The Next One.

Need for Speed - The Run (2011)

Check out the trailers of previous titles below, to see how this franchise has modernized over time

Need for Speed - Shift 2 Unleashed (2011)

Need for Speed - Hot Pursuit (2010)

Need for Speed - Shift (2009)

Need for Speed - Undercover (2008)

Need for Speed - Carbon (2006)

Need for Speed - Most Wanted (2005)

Need for Speed - Underground 2 (2004)

Need for Speed - Underground (2003)

Getting to the top

it has been told that 

Getting to the top is no difficult as compared to staying there.

Nokia N950 (a hope or still a nope)

They were smashed by the iPhone and before they could even come out of that shock, they were hit by android. What did they do to survive this? 

• Sleep over it
• For a loooooong time. 
• DINT WORK!
• Fire thousands of employees
• People that work.... not the ones making (destructive) decisions and big money. 
• DINT WORK for SURE!
• Innovate (FINALLY)
• Create their first (profound) touch screen phone. Nokia 5800! to challenge iPhone? what a shame.
• A lot of near misses in between.
• Create a 12 mega pixel camera phone? (N8) while ignoring the core ideas that allowed their rivals to succeed. 
• DINT IMPRESS TOO MANY PEOPLE!
• Re-Innovate
• Create replicas of N8 just like they did for 5800 (5230, 5233), their first (profound) touch screen. And Now comes N950. Yes they have slightly changed the design, but why do they keep on missing the core disease eating away their market share. The OS. [Well, at least they dint use WP7]
• (my guess is... this too) WONT CHANGE A THING!

Incredible Time-Lapse Video