Rough Cuts Ltd Blog

The Samsung wave is the first phone we've seen from them with their new "Bada" operating system. First impressions are that whilst the handset is responsive and tactile, quick and efficient (Boot up time is very quick) on the surface, it seems to be another Jet/Tocco incarnation. Not that thats a bad thing as both the tocco and jet are both fine phones, in their sector. The screen looks fantastic, clear colours and crisp sharpness, but the fisher price clicking and plopping noises when skipping from screen to screen and menu to menu are the first things any 'savvy' user will disable. Which is easy enough. Like the Tocco and Jet, the UI only appears to have THREE initial customisable home screens (more about this in a mo'). Widgets can be added to these, but (conveniently) the handset warns you that installation of these widgets may incur data charges from your network. With Data not being an automatically enabled feature on all tariff's this is a thoughtf...

For many months I've been using (or rather not using) Co-Pilot's relatively cheap Sat Nav software. It's slow and unresponsive, hard work and not particularly user friendly. Last night I downloaded NDrive, which is on special offer at the mo for only £4.99 from iTunes. Dead simple, really easy to use and for a fiver, you'd be mad not to try it. Download it from here (link to itunes store). http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ndrive-uk-ireland/id331883926?mt=8

Steam are offering their great mind bending First person non shooter game Portal for free. All you need to do to qualify is to install their Steam software, which is a little clunky, but you need it anyway in order to play the game. Only until the 24th of May. http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/ Pc AND Mac!

I have high hopes. After the let down of the Vivaz, I'm still optimistic. The X10 proudly boasts the Android logo on the back of its box. Android is only as good as the developers that tweak it. HTC have made it their own and done a fantastic job with the slick OS. Time to see what Sony have done with it. First thing I notice, it weighs a ton. I reckon this thing will be sliding out of your hand before you know it! Upon boot up, I need to slide the arrow on a lovely arc to unlock the unit (nice). Then I see a semi familiar looking Android welcome screen, with icon shortcusts for Timescape (WTF?) Mediascape (Uh?) messaging and Dialler. swiping up from the bottom rids me of these wonders and shows me the standard Android main apps menu. I try and grab the scroll bar, but it is just for show. Its an iphone like swipe thats needed to browse the icons. To settings I go,  up the brightness, launch wifi and hook up to the store wifi, no problems. Looks rosy so far. Boot up the browser an...

You can't say Sony don't try. For the past few years, prior to the iPhone launch, Sony pretty much dominated, in terms of handset functionality, attractiveness and reliability. There then came a flurry of software issues which they never really recovered from. Sony clearly hope the Experia and Vivaz will change all of that. The vivaz is from any angle an attractively built handset. The unit feels good in your hand and the buttons are well placed. Its only when you turn the thing on that things start to go wrong. Intuitive, it most certainly ain't. If you've owned a Sony in the past, it won't matter, all and sundry are going to have to consult the user manual. On initial boot up I am poking around and seeing what things do, without any success at all. I have this odd feeling that I may be missing something, so I consult the user manual. The main menu is accessed by pressing the single middle button in the bottom. This displays a drab grey looking 12 icon driven menu ...

Upon opening the box, I find that the first part of the experience is open up the flimsy battery cover. No sign of your solid metal sliding back cover here, its a bendy 'snap on' affair. The like I have seen easily damaged by the ham fisted. Sliding (and indeed scraping) the sim in to the sim card holder. I have to confess, my initial feelings are not optimistic. After a hunt in the box for the battery, moving the standard bluetooth headphones out of the way (I would have no use for them) I locate it and power the unit up. The obligatory pixel count of the camera shows it sports a 5mp unit, whilst it also comes with the upper class Carl Zeiss lens. The boot up screen shows me its the same old Nokia Font, which now evokes many instances of disappointment. I find our location, although the UK seems like an unnecessary trawl through a million other countries. The screen seems nice and responsive, but I tap the text entry and don't get a keyboard? Then its the AM PM debacle, se...