Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Review: Part 1 - The Screen

From my initial review of the Xperia ray, the next few entries will be a more in-depth review of each aspect of the phone.  This review will be about the Reality Display.

Since the death of my P1i, Android has been my mobile OS of choice.  The expandability and flexibility has met all my communication needs since Symbian's UIQ.  Now, it's been a little over a year since I got my Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro.  I've enjoyed having such a small phone, and all the new larger phones don't really appeal to me as much.  Which is what led me to the Xperia ray and it's 3.3" Reality Display.

With my new Xperia ray, the first feature you notice is the beautiful new screen, dubbed Reality Display.  With a pixel density of 297ppi, it's much higher than my X10 Mini Pro's 156ppi, and quite close to Apple's Retina Display of 326ppi.  (On a side note, PCs run at 72ppi, most Macs run at 96ppi and the Apple iPad runs at 132ppi.)  Which is just my way of saying, at this level...this IS nitpicking.)  This makes images and video look incredibly crisp and clear.  Combined with Sony Ericsson's Bravia Engine (which only works on video and photo playback), the Reality Display is the single most stunning feature of the ray.

The following are close-up shots of the ray's screen against the iPod Touch 4, and the X10 Mini Pro.

Xperia ray screen

iPod Touch 4 screen

X10 Mini Pro screen

iPod Touch 4 vs Xperia ray

Xperia ray vs X10 Mini Pro

The level of detail on the ray is quite high and comparable to Apple's Retina Display.  Although no one will ever really read text at these sizes, it does make pages and icons look sharper and more vivid.  It also has a tendency to have a warmer hue than both the Retina Display and the X10 Mini Pro.

The other great quality of the screen is the contrast.  Blacks are very nice and deep, thus making the other colors stand out very well.  If you look at the ray vs X10 Mini Pro, you'll see that the Mini Pro doesn't really show black, it's more of a dark gray.  Color rendition on the ray is quite excellent as well. Gradients are smooth and there isn't any noticeable banding.

Another great aspect of the screen is that Sony Ericsson has made it from Scratch Resistant Mineral Glass which keeps the display nice and new looking.  I wouldn't keep my phone in the same pocket as my keys, but I'm pretty sure it can handle daily wear and tear.  So no need for a screen protector.  Due to it's glossy nature, the ray's screen is a fingerprint magnet.  On that note, my X10 Mini Pro did have scratch resistant coating and it held up decently, but being a plastic screen, it does have micro scratches visible after only a year.

Now, some people are asking if the screen is too small.  It's not.  There are bigger screens out on the market, and there are smaller screens.  It all depends on what apps you intend to use often... if you use your mobile communicator as your primary entertainment device, then you will be better off with a larger screen... or even a small 7" tablet.  The 3.3" screen of the ray is more than adequate for surfing, email, SMS, and casual video playback .  Games are pretty decent to play... but the screen size does make finger accuracy an issue with Angry Birds... hahahaha...

In the next part of this Xperia ray review - Multimedia capabilities: Audio, Video, Photo...

**And for those of you asking... this is my weather widget***

Hub-a Hub-a, Apple's New Cinema Display

Since Apple's introduction of Thunderbolt, there has been a ton of hype... but no very few products on the market.  I feel this is wasted opportunity for so many manufacturers who could've cashed in on the initial excitement of Thunderbolt.

Apple was, of course, one of the first to update their Cinema Displays to the new Thunderbolt port w/ hub.  Why is this a big deal?

For Macbook Pro owners, attaching a regular LCD allows only ONE external monitor, along with the built-in LCD.

With Thunderbolt, the Macbook Pro 13" gains the ability to power 2 external TB displays, albeit disabling the internal LCD, while the 15" and 17" MBP with graphics cards can handle 2 TB displays aside from the built-in display!

Macbook Airs on the other hand are still out of luck, stuck with just one external display, regardless of whether it's a Thunderbolt or Mini Displayport LCD.

The new Apple Cinema Display also has a Thunderbolt port at the back to allow the daisy-chaining of the second Thunderbolt display, or other Thunderbolt accessories.
(Like Sonnet's new Thunderbolt to Expresscard adapters or hard drives)

Home Theater Computers (and an HDX 1000 review)

Hooking up a computer to a TV or big screen isn't a new concept, but it's not a very popular setup just yet.  I recently tried the HDX Media Jukebox and was less than impressed.  It got rave reviews and all.  But I think the implementation, specially with the torrent system is very clumsy.  My dad decided to get one because he didn't like watching videos on his computer monitor and he didn't like having a keyboard and mouse by the big screen LCD TV.  So he asked me to set it up in their house.

The HDX1000 is not a new product.  The idea is that the media jukebox is an external hard drive and can play all the media (video, music, photo) you have in it on an external display via HDMI or Component out.  Theoretically it's a nice idea.  But the network system and torrent capabilities are less than stellar.  It's not for the average person looking to replace their DVD/BluRay player for ease of use.  The menu is a bit slow and can get frustrating at times.  Image quality and HDMI audio pass thru work great.  Only if you're watching HD content.  But if you're watching just random AVI or MPEG downloads, image processing is just OK.

It's not all bad though... for techies that have a dedicated home theater room, it is a better solution for "viewing only" situations.  The remote is fairly straight forward and works like a regular DVD remote.  It offers more functionality than your average DVD/BluRay player and has way more playback capabilities.  It functions as network storage and a torrent client (but the torrent files must be downloaded using a computer then transferred to the HDX before it can start downloading the file for you) so you can leave it on the whole day to download for you instead of leaving your computer on.  Rear connectors are also standard so connecting to your LCD, plasma, projector display and your surround processor isn't a problem.  Full connections for composite, component, HDMI (w/ HDMI audio), digital coax, and regular RCA line-outs are all found at the back.

Would I personally use it?  No.  I prefer having a full blown computer.  Image processing is much better, response is faster, and it's just more functional over-all.  But you do need a mouse and keyboard to run a HTPC like this.  And hiding all the wires and adapters can become a challenge.  I ended up designing a prototype TV cabinet specific for my rig.  It houses my Mac Mini, 4TB HDD, iPod dock, iPad dock, hidden USB hubs, M-Audio Firewire interface, UPS, DSL modem, wifi router, power strips, AV receiver, center speaker, and LCD TV all in one neat cabinet.

As for my dad, I had to set everything up and write down a list of instructions on how to operate the thing depending on the video source he wants to play.  It's not quite as easy to use as the Apple TV, but it is way more flexible.  Quality playback for HD content is excellent, specially since it supports HDMI Audio so it's a one-cable setup.

What about you guys?  Do you have your computers hooked up to your LCD TVs?  Send me photos of your rig as well! :)

ReKindling a flame

When I first heard about e-ink, I thought it was an amazing piece of tech.  The idea of electronic paper is a remarkable concept, let alone seeing it as a finished commercial product in Amazon's Kindle.

This is NOT an LCD screen.  Technically, it's not a screen of any kind.  It's ink.  Electronic ink that changes color from black to white (or light gray) depending on the electrical charge applied to it.

How this differs from regular screen tech, is that e-ink only uses power to change the display.  Once the image or text is displayed, the display no longer needs power to hold the image.  Unlike traditional LCD tech, where power is required all the time, e-ink is a thousand times more power efficient.  This is also why the new Kindle can offer 1 month of battery life on a single charge, as opposed to the iPad's 10 hour charge.

How different do the screens really look?  Well Keith Peters, who runs the blog bit-101 placed both under a microscope (literally) and came up with some interesting results.  The original blog entry of Keith Peters and source of the magnified screen photos is here.

This is the iPad's screen magnified

(The red, green and blue lights you see are how a traditional LCD screen displays the color white)

This is the Kindle's screen magnified

This is how newspaper print looks magified

This is standard book printing magnified

Of course, no tech is perfect.  E-Ink can only display black and white images and text, and isn't made for quick refresh time so video (even B&W video) is out of the question.  But what E-Ink can do is display text and images without power.  Once an image has been "printed" it remains on the display indefinitely... until a new charge is applied to change the image displayed.  E-Ink displays are also more durable and readable in bright sunlight.

This tech is not just limited to e-book readers.  Any B&W LCD display can now be replaced with a more durable, lower power, thinner, eco-friendlier display.

Lexar is a company that did just that by incorporating e-ink into their memory key as a capacity gauge.  The gauge doesn't require power when unplugged, and only refreshes when the key is plugged into a USB port.

Thanks again to Keith Peters for granting permission  to use his images and reference his blog!

3D TV...

A whole new line of 3D TVs has been showing up in stores. Are they really worth it? As with anything at the cutting edge of consumer technology... it depends.

3D TVs look great... I've tried the ones from LG and Samsung, both employ different technologies to achieve the 3D effect. Both require the viewers to wear glasses.

Samsung's uses active (ie:battery operated) glasses... it looks the best, but the glasses are heavy, expensive (approx P5,000 - P7,000 per set), and need batteries.

LG's uses a passive system instead. This makes the glasses much lighter, and cheaper... but the screen itself is more expensive. I also noticed a bit more stutter on the LG set as compared to the Samsung. This may be the limitation of the screen, and not the polarization technology.

At approx P200k for the 46" screens, they're still on the high side for a feature that has very limited media to watch.

They can "fake" the 3D effect from regular programs, but it's not very fun to watch.