Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro‎

Sony Ericsson Vivaz - The Sony Ericsson Vivaz had the potential to be one of the very best smartphones on the market, with a great specification and an eye-catching design. It disappoints when it comes to usability, however, so we’re hoping that the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro will fix the main shortcomings. How to they stack up in a head to head, however? Read on to find out…

We had high hopes for the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, not least because of the stunning design. With a large 3.2-inch screen that dominates the front of the handset, coupled with a slimline form factor, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is both attractive and practical. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro retains the 3.2-inch screen, and looks equally eye catching.

The main benefit of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro over its sibling is the inclusion of a proper hardware keypad. It slides out from underneath the display, making it much easier to enter text. Considering text entry was the major issue we had with the original Sony Ericsson Vivaz – with a particularly unresponsive touchscreen keypad – the Vivaz Pro could go a long way to restoring our faith in the Vivaz name.

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Does it come at a cost, however? Unusually, the Vivaz Pro isn’t a great deal thicker than the Vivaz. Previous full QWERTY smartphones that we’ve seen – such as the HTC Touch Pro 2 – have been a lot bulkier than their non-touchscreen siblings – such as the HTC Touch Diamond 2. In this case, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro is just a couple of millimetres thicker than the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, and should retain most of its portability and sleek design.

There is one perceived downside, however, which is the loss of the 8-Megapixel camera found on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. On the Vivaz Pro, this has been lowered to 5-Megapixels. This doesn’t necessarily mean that image quality will be reduced – we’ve seen plenty of fantastic 5-Megapixel camera phones, such as the Nokia N97 Mini – but it’s something worth considering. That said, The Vivaz Pro still retains the ability to shoot HD video, so it’s looking good for the Pro.

Read our Sony Ericsson Vivaz Review

Other than the camera, all the other major specs stay the same for both the Sony Ericsson Vivaz and the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro. With only the touchscreen keypad letting the Vivaz down in our review, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro looks like a great device, offering the usability that should have been available from the start with the Vivaz. In this case, there can only be one winner.

Our Obsession with Gadgets

Nexian She NX-G788 - So what is it with us and our gadgets? We seem to be growing more passionate about them, whether it’s that shiny new petite digital camera with 12 megapixels, face recognition and optical image stabilization, or that Blu-ray Disc Player exhilarating us with all 2 million pixels delivered in our newly installed home theater system with a receiver that can blast lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD master audio. Or maybe it’s that recently purchased Blackberry Storm that most of us have a love/hate relationship with and that is on the verge of becoming obsolete by Storm2 within months (with hopefully a better touch screen, usable software and WiFi). And even though we were almost scared to buy anything in the first few months of the year, we have now come back with a vengeance, scooping up all the latest and greatest gadgets we’ve always aspired to own to make our digital lives more productive and enjoyable.

Nexian She - Retrevo is releasing its monthly Pulse Report for May. Surprise, surprise... what do we see? Electronics shoppers are back in the market buying electronics but not just any electronics. We’re buying gadgets that are new and shiny, and we’re willing to pay higher prices for these innovative products that deliver the latest and greatest features. The most notable categories picking up momentum are Digital Cameras and Optical Disc Players (some of us are used to calling this category DVD Players but the introduction of Blu-ray changes the definition so it will take some getting used to).

Here are the specifics:

1. Optical Disc Players: more than a third of Optical Disc Players shipping now are Blu-ray. These Blu-ray players comprised less than 10% last holiday season. This transition to newer, hi-def technology has created an uplift in ASPs of > 20% post-holiday season. And in mid-April, demand started picking up for Optical Disc Players. So people are not only buying Optical Disc Players, they are spending more money than ever before to acquire the latest and greatest in hi-def.

2. Digital Cameras: more than 50% of shipping digital cameras now have optical image stabilization and face recognition making it easy to click and organize those precious memories. DSLR is also finding its way downstream with a more consumer friendly interface and form factors. Aided by general knowledge, consumers are buying these higher feature products and paying higher prices (10% higher than last holiday season). Digital Camera demand had been flat from Feb through April but it has picked up in May. So again, people are not only buying Digital Cameras but they are willing to pay higher prices to acquire the latest and greatest than ever before.

Now don't take me the wrong way. The fact that people are spending more money doesn't mean consumers aren't value conscious. In fact, a recent Retrevo Gadgetology analysis revealed that 76% of Consumer Electronics shoppers selected products based on good value (34%), Trusted sites and experts raving about a product/brand (25%) and other users raving about a product/brand (10%). The consumers are absolutely value conscious for the technology they wish to purchase, they just are not interested in buying cheapest products around without regard to the innovation.

So did we see any disappointment in Retrevo's Pulse Report? Absolutely. HDTVs and Home Theater Systems continue to disappoint consumers. Here is our analysis of these two categories:

1. Home Theater Systems: these were hot during the last holiday season but demand plummeted post-holiday season along with everything else. Prices after being stable for better part of this year started falling in mid-Apr (now down > 10%). Yet the demand has continued to fall. Why is this so when Optical Disc Players are picking up? Guess how many Home Theater Systems ship with a Blu-ray player? Less than 5%. Yes, while consumers can buy HDTVs and Blu-ray players to their heart's content, they can't find Home Theater Systems with a Blu-ray player. Yikes! Lesson learned? Don't assume consumers will keep buying stale products with no major innovation in sight for more than 6 months. And we are not talking about new innovation, HTS manufacturers just need to keep up with the market, follow the lead from HDTV and Blu-ray players and get more Blu out. There is pent-up demand. Amen to that!

2. HDTVs: this category is near and dear to my heart. High momentum in the first half and excess inventory in the second half of 2008 depressed prices to unrealistic levels last holiday season. Negative margins forced brands and retailers to raise prices post-holiday season as excess inventory cleared from the channel (ASPs up more than 30% from January to mid-April). Even though the category has gone through a refresh cycle in last few months (more than 50% of currently selling HDTVs were introduced this year) but demand hasn't picked up even after a technology refresh cycle. What is the innovation in HDTVs lately? Transition from 720p to 1080p? Yawn! Consumers are not biting. Let's work on the basics. Get the best out-of-the-box experience without worrying about ISF specs, calibration etc, get HDTVs to network and "simply" download content from your computer and from the Internet, and we will have a shot at making people spend more for the newer technology rather than simply gravitating to value brands for a seemingly commoditized technology.

What's the takeaway? overall demand is soft (Retrevo's Demand Index shows a 15% decline year-over-year), lower demand doesn't translate into people buying cheap (and commoditized) technology. Consumers care about innovation, latest and greatest (in a meaningful way, not from marketing speak). Consumers are spending 20% more time researching and yes, they will want the best value and good quality products but at the same time, they will spend more for the innovation. So let's not slow down the pace of innovation. Let's push the envelope, think about ways to make our daily lives more connected, more productive and more enjoyable and we the consumers, will spend more money because it will be worth it. This is what I call Obsession for a Purpose!

Hp Nokia Terbaru

Harga Hp Nokia Terbaru yang sekarang ini cukup heboh juga, Nokia C5 salah satu produk Nokia yang cukup cantik serta canggih juga, dijual dengan pasaran di bawah dua juta rupiah. Harga itu bisa termasuk murah untuk ukuran Hp sekelas C5 yang sangat menarik itu.

Hp Nokia C5 merilis ponsel terbarunya seri C5, yang merupakan anggota pertama keluarga ponsel C series, menyusul seri N, X, dan E. Pihak Nokia mengklaim C5 akan keluar pada kuarter ke-2 tahun 2010.

Ponsel candybar yang minimalis ini menggunakan seri Symbian S60 3rd dalam tampilan baru. Dan sepertinya seri C5 ini sangat memahami 'rasa' social networking usernya, terbukti dengan disediakannya dukungan Facebook dan MySpace. Koneksi 3G serta koneksi data HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) memudahkan user Nokia C5 saling berbagi status di situs jejaring sosial.

Tak hanya Facebook, C5 juga bisa diandalkan untuk instant messaging atau chatting via GTalk atau Windows Live Messenger. Untuk mengecek e-mail, telah tersedia pula fitur e-mail seperti GMail, Ovi Mail, Windows Hot Mail yang telah preinstalled di dalam C5 ini.

Selain itu ponsel seri C pertama ini juga memberi kemudahan untuk navigasi melalu fitur GPS-nya yang didukung Ovi Maps 3.0 untuk memberikan panduan navigasi gratis seumur hidup. Namun sayang, fitur koneksi Wi-Fi tidak ditemukan pada ponsel ini.

Fitur lain yang disematkan pada C5 adalah kamera 3.2 megapiksel lengkap dengan flash-nya. Media penyimpanan eksternal dapat ditambah memorinya hingga 16GB melalui slot MicroSD.

Menurut informasi yang diperoleh CyberNews dari Nokia, C5 akan menyasar user di kelas menengah, dan direncanakan dipasarkan terlebih dulu di Eropa, Asia dan Timur Tengah.

Nokia C5 dibanderol dengan harga sekita Euro135 atau sekitar Rp 1.8 juta.

Berharap Segera Dapat Jodoh

Primbon Jodoh - PADA kesempatan Tahun Baru Imlek yang bertepatan dengan Hari Valentin, banyak pria dan wanita Taiwan memohon kepada dewa jodoh agar mereka bisa mendapatkan pasangan idaman hati.

Primbon - Data pemerintah menunjukkan penurunan tajam perkawinan di pulau tadi belakangan ini. Pertumbuhan ekonomi selama beberapa dekade terakhir menyebabkan kian banyak orang muda Taiwan menunda perkawinan karena memilih gaya hidup tak dibebani tugas keluarga. Fakta itu mencerminkan perbedaan kontras dengan tradisi kawin muda di kalangan masyarakat China.

Menurut angka pemerintah, hanya 14,4 persen dari orang Taiwan usia antara 20 hingga 29 tahun kawin dalam 2008, turun dari 23 persen dalam 2000. Begitupun, masih terdapat orang-orang yang mendambakan perkawinan, tapi mereka mengalami kesulitan untuk menemukan orang yang tepat.

Di tengah suasana perayaan Tahun Harimau dalam 2010 ini, pengunjung ke berbagai vihara di Taiwan selain memohon kedamaian dan kemakmuran juga meminta agar bisa segera mendapatkan jodoh.

Calon

Di antara mereka memohon pada dewa jodoh legendaris yang dikenal sebagai “Pria Tua di Bawah Bulan” agar mereka bisa menemukan calon pasangan hidup secepatnya. Setelah mengucapkan kata-kata permohonan, Kent Chen mengatakan dia terlalu sibuk dengan pekerjaan sehingga tak tidak tahu seni mencari kekasih.

“Saya telah membujang sejak lama karena itu saya datang untuk memohon bisa bertemu dengan seorang wanita baik-baik dan perkawinan yang baik pula,” ujar pria berusia 32 tahun tadi.

Banyak wanita disertai para ibu mereka yang tampak kurang bahagia. Mereka dibimbing petugas vihara dalam menyampaikan permohonan kepada dewa. Menurut legenda China, Pria Tua di Bawah Bulan memegang “Buku Nasib” dan mengikatkan suatu untaian merah ke kaki seorang pria dan wanita yang ditakdirkan nasib nantinya akan mengikat tali perkawinan.

Kuo Mei-lan, 26, jebolan perguruan tinggi, mengaku dia berdoa kepada dewa agar dia bisa mendapatkan seorang pria yang menghormati karirnya dan berbagi pekerjaan rumah jika mereka berumahtangga.

Menjauh

“Banyak pria menjauh setelah mengetahui saya akan segera mendapat gelar doktor matematika,” ucap cewek tadi. “Kebanyakan pria yang takut pada wanita lebih pintar dan berpendidikan lebih tinggi akan sangat enggan untuk dekat.”

Berbagai survei publik dalam tahun-tahun terakhir secara konsisten menunjukkan bahwa pria-pria Taiwan terus membujang karena takut tidak bisa membiayai keluarga, sementara wanita lebih suka tidak terikat berbagai tugas keluarga kecuali jika mereka bertemu pria idaman.

Gaya hidup individualistis dan makin tingginya taraf hidup juga menyebabkan terjadinya penundaan perkawinan, seiring dengan urbanisasi. Di ibukota Taipei, rata-rata wanita kawin pada usia 30,5 tahun dan pria pada umur 33,2 tahun. Rata-rata angka nasional adalah 28 tahun bagi wanita dan 30,5 tahun bagi pria.

Recent large earthquakes in first two months of 2010 indicate trend

Chile Earthquake 2010 - Related searches: Chile earthquake, Haiti earthquake, Argentina earthquake, Venezuela earthquake, Japan earthquake, Bay Area earthquake.

Recent large earthquakes in the first two months of 2010 and in Haiti, Argentina, Venezuela, Eureka, California, north of Chicago, Japan, and Chile, would seem to indicate a trend, and not a good one.

2010 Chile Earthquake - First, the rate comes to about one major earthquake every two weeks. Second, the US Geological Survey reports that earthquakes of over 7 on the Richter Scale are still constant in number, not increasing or decreasing.

The USGS also claims that we should expect to learn of 17 major quakes in one year and one great earthquake in any one year.

Chile was the great earthquake at 8.8 on the Richter Scale,

But while the USGS claims the earthquake frequency is not off the norm compared with years 2000 through 2009, no one has made a comparison of time frames.

In other words, was there a moment in World history where we had so many large earthquakes within such a short period of time? As of this writing, there's no documentation of such a frequency of quakes as the one the World has seen this year, with so many large quakes in a two month period.