Let It Snow! (A HeatTrak Mat review)

"I love shoveling snow!". Said no one ever. It's a chore, a job, a task. For safety, or just practicality, clearing your driveway or walkway is a reality for people that live in areas with snow. But shoveling (or using a snow blower) isn't the only way to clear a path through the frozen landscape that is now your front or back yard.

Wouldn't it be nice if your smarthome could clear your walkway for you? I was hoping someone had come up with a Roomba version of the snow shovel. But alas, other than a few novelty robotic experiments, nothing that could really handle a heavy winter. Then I stumbled onto Heattrak LLC who makes these amazing snow melting mats that, like the name says, melt snow out of your walkway.

Now, that in itself isn't new. Heated walkways and driveways have been around for a while. But they are extremely expensive and require a lot more planning and construction. The advantage of Heattrak is that they can be laid out over almost any existing walkway. So apartment/condo/townhome owners can benefit from them as well.

Each mat uses about 2.5 Amps, and a separate power supply is needed to power up to 5 mats in series. Paired with a Smart Plug for automatic snow detection via IFTTT and Weather Underground and you've got yourself a smart walkway that 'shovels' itself and stays clear throughout the winter!

Feathering The Nest. (A Nest 2nd Gen Review)

Ok, this is more about the Nest in general than the unit itself. Replacing an old, and poorly installed, Honeywell thermostat, I decided on the 2nd generation Nest unit over the current 3rd gen one. Why? Cost and features. Our furnace isn't the latest and greatest unit, and wouldn't really warrant any additional benefits from the 3rd gen Nest. Using a Nest display as a wall clock is also not appealing. The extra $50 didn't seem worth it for no real added benefit. (That $50 could go into a Nest Protect or Nest Cam)

For those still worried about compatibility and installation, you can take a photo of the current wiring of your thermostat, email it to Nest for evaluation before purchasing.

After ComEd's electricity rebate of $100, and Northshore Gas' $20 rebate... the $200 2nd Gen Nest totals only $80. So it was an easy choice.

Installation is extremely easy. As long as your current thermostat is wired properly, it takes about 15-20 min. with the only tool needed being the included screwdriver. Although a powered screwdriver will make things go faster.

So how is it living with the Nest? Quite good. One tip, is to create a new Gmail (or agree on a common Gmail) for your Nest account. This way, every household member that you'd like to have control can install and monitor the Nest from their phone. This also makes the Auto Away (the feature that tells the Nest that you're not home) work much more reliably since it's tied into your Google+ location as well.

For the first 3 weeks, the Nest was playing around with the furnace. By this, I mean that it would turn it on as needed but shut down after a few minutes. Then start up again. This made me initially think that the furnace or Nest was broken. But as the days went by, it learned how our furnace worked and how long it took to heat the house, and when to start heating up.

Granted it has been a mild winter this year, there have only been a couple of times when I've had to adjust the heat up and only for a few minutes.

The Auto Away feature is quite useful. You never have to worry about leaving your heat on, and even if you do, a quick check on the app allows you to switch off your heat in case it hadn't detected you weren't home. It gets it right about 85% of the time so far.

Savings? YMMV. If you keep your heat at 85ºF (30ºC) in the winter all the time, then you probably won't notice much savings. So far, we've been quite happy with a 68ºF (20ºC) setting for early am and early pm settings and 65ºF(18ºC) for most of the day. The weekly report shows our furnace on for about 2-3 hours a day total. Probably savings of a few minutes every day. It may not seem like much but the remote feature and learning function are worth it.

All in all, it's worth it. If $250 is too much for the current model, get the 2nd gen model. The smaller screen isn't that inconvenient and is $50 cheaper. Rebates bring the total cost of ownership under $100. It looks good, works well, and is the easiest connected thermostat to learn.

Time on Hand with The Moto 360

There have already been several 'first look' reviews on the Moto 360. I've had mine for several months now and have gone through several apps and updates. I think it's time for me to give a very in-depth real-world review on owning the Moto 360.

I had gotten my Moto 360 as a surprise advanced Christmas present from my wife last October. (I had been checking out the other Android Wear watches at the time and still preferred the 360 because of its design) Although this isn't my first SmartWatch, it is my favorite. I've had both Sony's SmartWatches in the past and both were excellent for my purposes. I had gotten rid of the first one, I still have the SW2. How different is the Moto 360? Quite a jump as it is running Android Wear, vs Sony's own OS.

If you're one of those that expect to cram your entire phablet's functions on your wrist, you have missed the whole point of smartwear. Skip ALL these products and just get an armband case for your phone.

My favorite part about the Moto 360 is the over-all sleekness of the watch. It's simple, clean, and classic. No fake diver bezel, no 'luxury' aspirations (let's be honest, no smartwatch at the moment will EVER replace a Rolex). It's a great watch that I can wear with almost anything (as long as you change the strap) without it looking out of place.

Battery life with the latest firmware (5.0.1) is 'ok'. It improved over the original one, but only by a few hours. However, this is also due to the increased usage. I have gotten as much as 2 days with minimal use. Prior to the update, my watch barely lasted 24 hours. But playing with your watch a lot will kill your battery in about 12 hours, regardless of firmware version. Hehehe.

There are a few things I would like to emphasize to potential smartwatch buyers. This will NOT replace your phone, nor will it duplicate all its functions. Try and minimize the use of any smartwatch to urgent notifications only. Not because it can't handle it, but this defeats its purpose completely if you're glancing at your watch every 5 mins.

I've had 3 generations of smartwatches, and 4 months with the Moto 360, and I fully appreciate how a smartwatch can augment (not replace) your phone.

The following features are common to Android Wear and can be downloaded to any Android Wear watch. These are not exclusive to the Moto 360, but these reflect how I use my Moto 360 on a daily basis.

First: Calls/SMS. This is probably the most important thing your watch can do. Notify you of a call, and the ability to reject it. This allows very discreet call screening without looking like a hunchback fiddling with your phone at all times. This holds true for SMS as well, some messages aren't worth replying to, and some aren't worth whipping out your phone for. I'll get to my favorite SMS app for Android Wear in a future article.

Second: Email. Aside from Gmails filters, my phone also has notification filters that read out incoming email so I'll know if its important enough to open right away. My Moto 360 even filters that out further by allowing me to delete email as they come in.

Third: Reminders. Some things aren't 'calendar' important. Android Wear syncs with Google Keep for little reminders. Very handy for grocery lists, weekly reminders, or location reminders (location reminders on Google Keep are already quite useful, made even better on Android Wear)

Fourth: Health tracking. Great side benefit. Works even when not connected to the phone, then syncs when in range. Takes heart rate samples throughout the day and charts your overall health profile. Google Fit works quite well, and even tracks your steps without the watch (it functions on both phone and watch together or independently)

Fifth: Device locating. Although not an über-fancy feature, it is probably one of the more practical functions of having a smartwatch. Being able to buzz your phone without having to have someone call it, or have your watch buzz you if you forget your phone, is one of the handiest apps you can have on your smartwatch.

All in all, the Moto 360 is a great smartwatch. Google Now's voice functions work really well with it, and makes setting timers, simple searching, and texting quite convenient. I do, however, have a several 'wishlist' items:

One, glove mode. So far, no smartwatch has the capability to function with winter gloves on. Sony's current Xperia line has a glove-mode that allows use of the phone without having to remove gloves, or buy 'touch capable' gloves.

Two, much better battery life. I don't mean 2-3 days, I mean 1 solid week. 2-3 days can probably be done with current tech and updated firmware, but 1 week would mean different screen (transreflective or more efficient LED backlighting) or better battery tech. Hoping that this will be possible within the next 2 generations. Another alternative is a solar panel built into the touchscreen, or a mechanical generator similar to Seiko's Kinetic.

Three, better environmental protection. IP67/68 ratings may be good enough for smartphones, but wristwatches are exposed to greater environmental conditions. The Moto 360 is IP67 rated, but it can only handle temperatures down to -10ºC/14ºF and no shock/mechanical IP rating. Considering that smartwatches are not 'formalwear', they should have basic 1m drop protection and operating temperature down to -20ºC/-4ºF. I've had to leave mine at home several times this past winter because I didn't want to risk damaging the screen in the cold.

Four, a speaker or some kind of audio feedback. Even a beep or chirp capability would be quite helpful if a full range speaker wouldn't be possible without taxing the battery or increasing the size of the watch. I don't really want to be able to take calls on my wrist, but alarms and notifications would be nice to hear.

I'm really happy with the Moto 360. Although Android Wear (and wearable tech in general) is still in its infancy, I feel it's steadily improving over time. Motorola has been quite good at maintaining the firmware and the abundance of great apps has made the 360 exceed my initial expectations for a current generation Smartwatch.

If The Glove Doesn't Fit... (Ralph Lauren Touch Glove Review)

Touchscreens are the standard for smartphones now. They're fun and easy to use... except during cold weather.

I recently came from Chicago where the temp hit -1ºC. Nothing extreme but enough to warrant the use of gloves. My Xperia ray was suddenly such a burden to use... so I began to search for decent looking touch gloves.

Unlike the older resistive screens, which work on pressure, the new crop of capacitive touchscreen need to sense your body electricity to function. Wearing gloves inhibits this conductivity thus eliminates your phone's responsiveness to your touch. A new market for capacitive touch gloves emerged much like the capacitive stylus.

So I stumbled upon Ralph Lauren's Touch Gloves at a mall and tried them on. And sadly, they don't work well at all. The screen responds to a tap, but can't seem to recognize a full swipe all the time. It will work sometimes, but the frustration just makes you want to take off your gloves all together... or just cut the tips off. Final verdict... forget these gloves all together. Absolutely useless.

There are other gloves that work much better at 1/5 the cost (The Ralph's run for US$60-70 pair) but don't look at nice. So for now, I'm still looking...

Kindle Touch : Hands (and Fingers) On.

Although the Kindle Fire is Amazon.com's flagship model, it doesn't quite excite me as much as it is just a stripped down Android tablet. Granted it has most of the features of an Android tablet, it no longer has the great features that made the Kindle one of the best e-book readers on the market.

Enter, the Kindle Touch. With all the best qualities of the original, the new Kindle Touch has added a touch screen, reduced overall dimensions, and improved screen contrast. It is, in my opinion, Amazon's BEST e-book reader to date.

No longer sporting a hardware keyboard, the Kindle Touch still has the 6" screen of the original, is now 1.5" shorter and a bit lighter.

Just as a disclaimer, I am NOT a book worm. I don't really like reading books. I'm an Android/iPad kind of guy. But I do see the advantages of the Kindle over a ful-blown tablet. Battery life being the main one. The Kindle battery life is far more impressive than the 5 hours on any current tablet. Sure they can make one that can probably hit 7-8... or even 12 hours. But 3 weeks is normal for a Kindle. The Touch is even more impressive with a 2 month battery life! (Wireless off) It is also more rugged and can take more everyday abuse than a  tablet.

Design-wise, I like the new Touch. It feels more polished and solid than the previous generations. That's saying a lot since the previous generations were built really well. Shape is smoother and feels better in the hand.

If you're in the market for an e-reader, I highly recommend the Kindle Touch.

It comes in 2 versions:

$139 is the regular model

$99 is ad-supported (so you get $40 off the regular price)

Head on over to Amazon.com now!

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray - Accidental Camera Tip

Ok, my movie playback review is long over due (that's still coming up)... but I've been playing with the camera of the ray in more situations and this may interest some readers.

I've found that when a bright light source is hitting the ray from the side (effect is more pronounced if the light source is coming from the left - where the lens is closer to the edge) there's very slight ghosting visible in the photo.  You can simply change the angle you shoot at, cup your hand over the lens, or make a very small/short lens hood.  The X10 Mini Pro didn't have this problem as the lens was recessed further into the body.

I made a crude one out of electrical tape, just to see if it would work.  The cleanest way I've found is to get a cone shape slope as close to the lens as possible (reverse of a regular lens hood) to minimize the visual change in the phone.

Slight ghosting visible on the upper left

With the lens hood, slight improvement

My initial idea was to blacken out the silver ring

Electrical tape

Cut a hole slightly smaller then the silver ring

Tweezers make the job a lot easier

The tape slopes and floats a little above the lens

Extending the lens hood to about 1-2mm improves the effect, I'm guessing a small rubber O-ring would do the trick as well.

Over-all I decided to remove my lens hood despite the effect simply because I felt is was only in certain lighting conditions that it had an effect.  YMMV, so you may choose to improve on this concept or ignore it all together.  Just wanted to share my discovery.

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Review: Part 4 - TimeScape, Facebook and UX

Continued from Part 3

A while back, when I first got my X10 Mini Pro, I commented on the promise, and limitations of Sony Ericsson's TimeScape interface, cool looking but not ready for public use just yet.  Two Android generations later, and Sony Ericsson has learned quite a bit from their past mistakes.

TimeScape w/ Infinity button

TimeScape used to be heavily integrated into their version of Android.  This, in theory, was supposed to make it better, but instead made the interface slow and very difficult to update.  This in turn slowed the development of the X10 family and despite the positive feedback on the phones, the quickly outdated software became a huge ball and chain.  Today, I'm happy to report that TimeScape is more like an app, rather than a core system.  This means that it doesn't bog down the system nor does it hamper software updates.

Running on Android Gingerbread, the new TimeScape looks gorgeous, and allows much better plug-ins like RSS, other Social Networking sites, and email integration via 3rd party plugins available in the Marketplace.  The new widget is also live, unlike the older TimeScape which only showed the newest message, the current one allows you to scroll through messages without having to launch the app.

It now also integrates the Infinity button for messages received from contacts, pressing it will bring up a separate 3D stream of messages from that particular contact.  No need to look through your call history or email history to see your correspondence with someone.

Graphics are a lot smoother, thanks in part to a faster CPU, but mostly to much more efficient coding.  Gingerbread is supposed to have a 400% increase over Eclair, and TimeScape itself has been cleaned up... all these things combined really has improved the over-all user experience (or as Sony Ericsson wants to call it, UX) and enjoyment of using the app.

Facebook integration

Facebook Inside Xperia is another neat (or annoying, depending on your view of Facebook in general) feature.  I'm a heavy Facebook user, so this level of integration is great for me.  What once took 3-4 apps on my X10 Mini Pro, now is all built-in the UX of the Xperia ray.  Contact photos, numbers, status updates, and other important info are all automatically synced and updated.  Your phonebook cards can now contain all the info on that particular person's Facebook page.  Twitter is also integrated, just sign in with TimeScape.

Some people aren't fond of social integration, you don't have to use them.  Just don't log into your Facebook or Twitter accounts.  One caveat is if you're on Google+, unlike Facebook and Twitter, you need to log into your Google account to use your Android phone, Google+ integration is AUTOMATIC, and must be disabled if you don't want your phone to automatically update your status and upload photos.  Or you can just not download the Google+ app.

A few issues: This integration overlaps with Facebook's own app sync... so you will have 2 Facebook apps using up your data connection.  The other is purely aesthetic, the app seems to try to sync even when  mobile data is off, so you always get this annoying red triangle saying "Facebook Sync Failed" when you're data connection is lost, even when the app is set to manual sync.

SonyEricsson has been really slow the past few years... fumbling about for a unique fingerprint to put on Android.  I think they've found it with TimeScape and Facebook Inside Xperia.  Let's hope that future software updates and upgrades won't exclude previous generations so quickly.  For now, good job on the big improvement!  It makes looking through status updates actually fun!  Hahahaha!

Up next - Movie Time!  Video formats, playback, and the built-in gallery

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Review: Part 3 - Smile! You're On Exmor R Camera!

Continued from Part 2

Since the introduction of the celfone cam, people have documented every single moment of their lives (both drunken and sober) and has caused a boom in digital photography.

The latest generation of mobile phone cams boast specs that exceed most professional cams a few years ago... but do specs tell the whole truth?  Numbers are quite easy to fudge, and test parameters can easily be biased to favor one manufacturer over another.  I've found that most of today's mid-to-high end devices are all comparable to each other.  This review is to give a real-world comparison and evaluation compared to point-and-shoot cameras.

Most phone cam lenses are fixed at around 28mm (in full-frame DSLR equivalent) this gives the most practical field of view for group shots, parties, and roughly 95% of the events people use their phones to take pictures of.

The Xperia ray sports an 8 megapixel Exmor R sensor which is supposed to be excellent in low-light situations.  I'm not fond of using a flash, on any of my cameras... so this was something that caught my attention.  Along with the claimed f2.4, this should make the ray perfect for capturing events at concerts, clubs, parties, candle-lit dinners and other things that happen in the dark...

But does it really work well?  How does it fare against the previous generation X10 Mini Pro?  Against a decent point & shoot camera?

The following marco are shots taken in automatic mode.  Photos were not processed, but resized using Adobe Lightroom, minimal jpeg artifacts were added so that isn't really going to affect over-all photo quality.  **edit: my apologies, I forgot to mention, these are zoomed crops to show both the detail, and flaws of the camera.  Original uncropped photos can be viewed here.**

Panasonic Lumix ZS3

The first shot was taken using my Panasonic Lumix ZS3.  This is one of the better all-around point and shoots on the market with a focal range of 28-300mm and a Leica lens.  It shoots in 720p HD so this will also be the baseline for the video comparison.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro

This was taken using my X10 Mini Pro.  As you can see, colors are a bit washed out compared to the Lumix, but general detail is preserved.  A noteworthy observation is that the grill on the car looks more 'detailed' with the X10MP, but it's just heavier post processing on the phone's part.

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray

And finally, the shot taken using the Xperia ray.  Bokeh is slightly nicer on the ray... not by much, but if you look at the car in the background, the rims have stronger lens blur.  Color accuracy on the ray is also closer to the Lumix which is a plus.  I initially thought that the X10MP was sharper, but it turned out to just be stronger sharpening post processing.

With the absence of a dedicated camera button however, it is harder to take a shot with the ray.  Touch focus doesn't always work and can sometimes give a completely blurry shot.  Auto focus gives decent results most of the time, but limits compositional freedom.  Over-all the ray has a better camera, but without a dedicated camera button, it takes longer to take a shot.

Forget the front camera... it's sad.  Washed out and very soft focused.  Flashback to an 80's webcam.  It's there.  But don't expect iPod Touch/iPhone 4 quality video calls.  But there is hope for self-portrait fans.  Sony Ericsson's "Smile Detection" allows you to use the rear camera, then the phone automatically takes the shot when you smile.  Although this doesn't guarantee it's framed properly.

Now onto the video.  The Xperia ray records in 720p HD.  Movies are in the standard MP4 format and trimming recorded clips is possible on the phone itself.  I did find it nice that the phone records in stereo.  Utilizing the back mic for the left channel, and the phone mic for the right channel.  The odd position of the mics does create an issue for users that are unaware that both mics are on.  If you're holding the bottom part of the phone, you may be blocking the "right" mic and thus audio may sound weak.  Because the mics are farther apart than on most point and shoot cameras (like the Lumix ZS3), stereo separation does sound more prominent on the ray.

The following video was taken at night using only automatic settings.  This is how most people will be using the camera on this phone so I decided to make a direct comparison with the ZS3's HD capabilities as well.  Audio on the left channel is from the ray, audio on the right channel is from the ZS3.

As you can see, the Exmor R sensor does an excellent job of low light recording.  Not much noise is added, and detail is quite good.  Focusing is ok, but not great.  Clarity is still better on the ZS3 of course, but I would have more practical use for the ray's shots than the ZS3.  And a little post processing on the Xperia to improve black levels and the shots taken would actually look better than the ZS3.  Audio is decent for a device of it's size.  I didn't notice any weak audio, I suspect that early reports either had different firmware, or were accidentally covering the right channel mic with their hand.

Video verdict?  The Xperia ray is a very capable video recorder.  The Exmor R sensor does work and can be used in very difficult lighting situations.  Make sure you have a lot of storage though because HD video does chew up quite a bit of space.  I can now leave my ZS3 to the dedicated task of just scuba videos.  The Xperia ray will now be my everyday video device.

In the next entry -  The Interface : Timescape, Infinity Button, and Facebook Inside Xperia ... are they all that Sony Ericsson markets them to be?

**A usability tip: There are different camera shortcuts that you can add to your homepage for easy access.  I added the Camera and Video Camera shortcut.  It may not be a dedicated button, but it's a lot easier than scrolling through a menu!**

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Review: Part 2 - Pump Up The Volume!

After seeing how great the Xperia ray's screen in my Part 1 review was, naturally I wanted to check how good its media capturing capabilities are.  Does the Exmor R camera really deliver?  How's the audio during video recordings?  What about music and movie playback?  Or are they all just marketing stickers on the box?

First up, audio/music playback.  Test was conducted using the ff:

• Included Sony Ericsson headset
• AKG K324P In-ear Isolation earbuds
• AKG K240DF Studio headphones w/ Meier Corda 2 Move Headphone amp
• X-Mini 2 (to compare against the built in speaker)

I decided to compare it against my X10 Mini Pro as a reference playback unit.  I used a 256kbps mp3 of Dave Brubeck's famous Take 5.  The results from switching from one playback system to another are:

• Included headsets aren't great.  Better than Apple's stock earbuds, but not by much.  So I won't bother giving a detailed review of these.  But these choke the sound quality of the ray to about 40% of their capabilities.
• The Xperia ray's volume is about ¾ of the X10 Mini Pro.  This makes it quite weak, even with efficient headsets.  Although volume levels are loud, some people may feel it isn't loud enough.  Personally I find it's well within the safe db levels of listening even at maximum volume.  I would however, recommend using a headphone amp.
• Xperia ray has an annoying clicking while NOT playing any media, this can only be heard through my reference K240DFs, not the K324P or the included headphones.
• The Xperia ray has much cleaner bass frequency response than the X10 Mini Pro, bass notes are fuller at lower frequencies without being muddy or overpowering.  Treble on the ray seems more balanced than on the X10MP, which may make the MP seem 'clearer'.
• xLoud feature on the Xperia ray only affects the built-in speaker, and not headphone playback (good call!)
• The X10 Mini Pro built-in speaker is much louder and much fuller than the Xperia ray.
• Both the Xperia ray and Mini Pro built-in speakers sound 'clearer' than the X-Mini 2, albeit a lot weaker.
• xLoud feature on the Xperia ray makes ringtones sound just as loud as the X10 Mini Pro.
• Xperia ray built-in speaker sounds best 1 notch below maximum volume, at maximum volume, you get a resonant buzz from the casing of the phone itself... this resonant buzz is not present on the X10MP, I'm assuming this wasn't by design, but just basic acoustics.  The sheer volume of the X10MP gives the built-in speaker a larger 'cabinet' to work with thus making it sound fuller and louder.
• EQ has a few presets, I'm not an EQ kind of guy, but they work better than the ones on the iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4 which to me introduce way too much distortion.  The ray's EQ is acceptable... although I would still recommend leaving it flat for the best audio quality.

Over-all, I'd say the Xperia ray has average music playback capabilities.  Nothing bad, nothing great.  I find it cleaner and clearer than the older X10 Mini Pro, but the lack of volume output makes using a headphone amp almost necessary, which negates the convenience of a small phone.  Although using it in the car is quite nice and I prefer the output going into my car headunit.

It won't win any audiophile awards, but then again, neither will any mobile phone... will you be happy with the music playback capabilities?  I would say yes.  Unless you like listening to your music at ear-bleeding volumes, it's quite decent for most users.  It sounds better than the 2nd gen iPod Shuffle, but not as good as the iPod Touch 4.

Final verdict: Average music playback.  Decent frequency response and respectable bass extension.  Low volume output, not a deal-breaker, but some may find it a bit too soft.  The included earbuds aren't isolation buds so they do let in a lot of ambient sound, which drowns out the already weak volume of the ray.  So unless your unit came with the LiveSound headset, I'd seriously recommend getting a better pair of cans.

Next up - Say Cheese!  It's picture time!  The big deal behind Sony's Exmor sensor.

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Supplemental Entry - My Weather App Widget

Ok, I've been getting quite a few inquiries on which weather app I use on my home screen...  Of all the things, I wasn't expecting my photo of my weather widget to get that much attention... but it is a beautiful app...I highly recommend it, and even purchasing it if you prefer the other skins only available in the Pro version! :)

It's called Fancy Widgets

Then I download the free MIUI weather skin,

and the free Fancy Digital Clock skin.

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***

Slim Is In: A Sony Ericsson xperia ray Initial Review

xperia ray

Are you tired of lugging around a huge phone?  I am.  I've been using touchscreen phones since 2003, (Sony Ericsson P800, P910i, and P1i) and they've just gotten bigger and bulkier over the years.  I've always found it inconvenient to always have to remove my phone from my back pocket when sitting down.  Bulky phones aren't quite nice to have in a shirt pocket either, as they do tend to tug on your shirt.  Which is why I was so happy when Sony Ericsson came out with the X10 Mini Pro last year.  It was, at the time, one of the smallest Android phones on the market (the smaller one being the X10 Mini w/o the keyboard) It suited my needs at the time, and I was willing to sacrifice screen size and performance for weight and portability.

It's been a little over a year since I've had my X10 Mini Pro and having been spoiled by the diminutive size, it's quite difficult to go back to the bulk of iPhone-sized (or larger) phones.  Since then, I've been waiting for a worthy replacement for my little Android.

Enter the xperia ray (yes, it's NOT capitalized).  Sony Ericsson's latest entry into the "Design and Style" smartphones.  I have to say I'm very impressed.

Beautiful aluminum frame

The Design - Not only do they break away from all the iPhone-esque styled smartphones, but they've actually gone back to the Scandinavian stylings of Ericsson which I've always loved!  The aluminum frame really makes a difference.  Much like the classic Ericsson models that used magnesium, the new xperia ray feels like a premium piece of equipment.  And although this is a purely aesthetic feature, this does make the ray look and feel more elegant than almost any plastic smartphone out on the market today.

No more labels! Yay!

Thankfully Adam-West-Batman-Style labels for features and buttons are no longer present, and external buttons are kept to an absolute minimum!  (Yes, I do know that's the camera, I don't need a permanent label to tell me it's 8.1 megapixels.  Nor do I need a label to tell me that it's a volume switch.  I also know that's the charging port, I don't need a label to tell me that either!)

Volume-wise it's 55.3 cm³ while the xperia mini is 73.2 cm³ which means it's actually SMALLER than the mini, even though sporting a much better screen (more than double the resolution).

iPod Touch 4 vs. xperia ray

It's quite thin, at 9.4mm, it's almost as thin as the iPhone4 (9.3mm), it's bigger brother the arc (8.7 mm) and the Galaxy S2 (8.5mm).  But because it's a lot slimmer than the usual smartphones, it's also a lot lighter.  At only 100g, it's 16g lighter than the Galaxy S2 and xperia arc (that's a tbsp of sugar lighter... quite a diet), despite being able to keep the same screen resolution as the bigger Android phones.

Jet black Bravia Screen

The Screen - The beautiful screen is jet black, and contrast is great.  It makes the phone look incredibly sleek.  Although the Bravia Engine only works with photos and video, the screen is excellent and does any media justice even with the Bravia turned off.  Viewing under sunlight is not a problem, and is comparable to the better screens out there.

8.1 - f2.4 - HD

The Camera - Quite decent.  It's 8.1 megapixels with an f/2.4 which makes macro shots quite nice, with decent bokeh.  But it has a tendency to over-expose shots.  The Exmor sensor does quite a decent job of low-light shots, albeit at the expense of noise... but it does keep the shutter speed down so you can take bloggable shots at your next drunken party without much blur.  This is not going to replace a DSLR or high-end point and shoot, but it can match a similarly sized PS camera.  The Exmor sensor will do much better than most PS cameras out there without a flash (I personally hate using a flash, so this is a big deal for me).  Video is in HD, and does a decent job for videos and audio.  Front camera is not as good as the front cam of the iPod Touch or iPhone 4 though.

The Audio - The external speaker is decently loud.  There's a function called xLoud that equalizes any audio played to sound louder, so this works well with ringtones and alerts.  It sounds clearer, but not as full, as the XMini2 speaker.  The included headset is nothing to blog about, it's included... that's about it.  Although it sounds better than the Apple earbuds that comes with all the iPods.  But with a decent pair of cans, the ray sounds great... no hiss, noise, or buzz. 

Gingerbread vs Skinned Ecla

The Interface - I'm quite happy with the stock interface.  I'd rather use native apps if possible.  And Sony Ericsson has done a good job of cleaning up their act.  TimeScape had a lot of promise with my X10 Mini Pro, but it bogged the already slow Android 2.1 that it was just fun to look at, but not fun to use.  I'm happy to report that TimeScape is now just an app, and no longer a burden to the phone when not in use.  It works smoothly and can actually be practical to use for either social networking, or RSS feeds.

The Preliminary Verdict - Sony Ericsson has made an excellent piece of lifestyle hardware with the xperia ray.  For those that want a great performing smartphone, that looks elegant and classy, and doesn't burn your wallet, it's an excellent all-around performer!  Stay tuned for the next few days to get an in-depth review of each feature!

In the next entry:  The Screen - A comparison against the X10 Mini Pro and Apple's Retina Display.