This is Not A Review but a record of anticipation...

For a camera that has been seeing good discussion even before it is out in the market. Better yet, it has even won an award even before any production began.

Yes the x100 from Fujifilm is the camera to beat and something of a Leica that is not a Leica.

One thing about a good car is that it should transport you from point A to B with 100% safety and in comfort. The issue is that most cars out there will and do provide such assurances while we drive.

So it is the same with cameras. All can take photos but somehow, certain things like controls, color rendition and the ability to do things quickly will allow a photographer to get the shot it wants. There are also subtle stuff such as the psychological effect on one's belief if the tool being used is deemed to be of great value and quality and that's why people have brands.

If I were to put a Lumix and a Leica together where essentially some models are the same, somehow the Leica would garner more positive vibes. Still, I am pretty sure that Leica has done something that the Lumix has not done well. So even if the model/product is the same, the innards has changed....or was it the brand effect?

Anyways, now that Fujifilm has come out with something that Leica has failed to produced after so many years of digital photography that can appeal to the middle class masses. Of course, one won't expect a Lamborghini to produce a Honda Jazz type of car but at least something that the masses can hope to get. If Leica has no such ambitions, it won't have to come out with the LuX-5 or the X-1 for that matter.

In any case, Leica has missed it. As all good photographer would know, a viewfinder is not a luxury but actually a necessity, more so when a digital camera sensor is not really sensitive to light and thus will create image shake. Leica, and so do the other brands has failed to provide a credible view finder (even if it is a hole in a camera) for its mass appeal cameras.

Mass appeal cameras need not be a point and shoot camera but it should be offer something that helps a noobie and one who wants nothing to do with photography, to adopt a good photography habits. Hence I would say now that the LCD on the camera's back is the greatest impediment to good photography since people use the LCD to frame their shots, introducing camera shake for the stupidest of reasons. Therefore, a potential winner such as the Olympus PEN has missed it amongst those who know how to shoot a camera.

I would also argue it this way: just before the mass introduction to digital photography, does camera shake feature badly in point and shoot film cameras? I guess it should be much lower than modern digital cameras. All because of one thing: view finder.

Put it this way. Forcing a user to use the viewfinder will ensure that one would not need IS, and it ensures that ISO need not to be so high and perhaps a lens that do not need F2 to get good photography at night. All the above will make a camera cheaper and easier to make.

So...the no. 1 reason why x100 will get cult status is because it has a viewfinder, and a very good one at that.

Secondly, the use of prime lens at F2 maximum is also letting light into the camera much easier than those super zooms. So what if one cannot change to 18-50mm lens? It is just an x3 lens that can be easily solved with some steps forward or back to frame the picture. Zoom just make people lazy for no reason.

Thirdly, the use of a big sensor from a DSLR = Bigger area for light capture = higher incidences of light capture = higher shutter speed.

So all the three above just makes it a photographer's idea of heaven.

And of course, getting rid of all those superfluous buttons and knobs and auto modes and focusing on the three main stuff Aperture, shutter and EV just makes us focus on what to change to take what we want.

IS fujifilm perfect? Not yet.

Judging from Ricoh GRDIII, the F2 lens can be even faster at F1.8 and the other glaring mistake, the inability to change ISO quickly through a knob on its own just isn't that forgiveable, especially when ISO settings is one of the de facto Manual photography settings we need to take note of.

I guess it is better for me to write then to do a video. My voice over microphone is alway so 'girlie' (yucks). And I would really want to put in some effort to edit this thing but I am trying to explain why certain should be looked into. So 1 min on things that needed to be improved? A lot but is not a bad phone.

So here it goes...

x10 hangs in the middle of the night...

The X10 hangs in the middle of the night. So if I do have a call coming in, nothing will go through.

Another thing about wireless. Was at Vivocity Mall last evening and somehow the x10 just couldn't connect even though the connection was strong. Sensing that there is some app is not functioning well, I decided to reboot the phone. That does the trick.

Right now, I have force restart the x10 more than the Hero.

Android 2.2 to support flash.

http://top10.com/mobilephones/news/2010/04/flash_integrated_into_android_2_2/

I know the x10 is going to get the 2.1 and so does the HTC Hero both of which I have in my possession. Honestly between waiting for the 2.1 and getting a flash 2.2, which is better?

Undeniably the 2.2. Why? Because of flash support. Maybe not so much for the Hero as the screen is small but the 4"screen of the x10 would do great with some flash support.

Perhaps SE has to go back to the drawing board and, God forbid, push back the June date release for the upgrade?

I know it would be a great boost for SE in terms of marketing if it can pull off a 2.2 upgrade instead of the 2.0 or 2.1....Flash support is not a small issue.

Today supposed to be the birth of HTC Hero 2.1

Guess what?

Now HTC is pushing back the ROM upgrade of the Hero to 2.1. Next time I would know not to buy a handset that promise to have OS upgrade in the future.

I just hope that SE don't go down the same way with the SEx10 1.6 as it has seriously damage the reputation and reliability of HTC

My Complaint to DBS

Saw the advertisement for mBanking app.

One very very telling mistake: What has happened to Android Phones support?

On the list are Windows Mobile, Symbian Phones (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG) and of course iPhones. But there are users who are using Android based phones too (Nexus One, HTC Hero/Magic/Milestone/Dext).

The number for Android may be small now but the trend for Android phones is something one shouldn't dismiss so easily.

Here are some articles to prove my point

http://phandroid.com/2010/03/10/android-growing-ridiculously-faster-than-all-other-mobile-platforms-in-the-us/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10440857-266.html

Consider also who are the android users, the very people who are willing to try new stuff, who are vocal and who knows stuff inside out. In marketing research, these are the influencers, the very people who will help new products to be adopted fastest (Apple iPhones benefitted from such people too).

I guess DBS really don't treat Android users as customers? So why Android phones are not supported? Why such a half hearted launch of a new product?

My Feel About MW600

I got the MW600 last thursday and a week later, i guess it would be alright to have another accessment of the product

Pros
- Clarity of sound
- Good BT reach from phone to receiver. I say can go about 4m before breaking up
- Attached ear phones has good bass. Attribute to the type of ear phones being used (in-ear). Much better than the ones that comes with x10.
- Setting it up was good and allows multiple connections

Cons
- Allows multiple connections but unable to use two devices hooked to the MW600 concurrently (there are such BT devices around already)

- No holes for me to use a lanyard with. I have to find something to clip on too.

- totally dislike using the volume slide bar as volume control and also choosing items in the menu. It is seriously counter productive as I struggle to choose from one device to another. Reason? The thumb is on thevolume bar and the play button is accessed using the index finger. In the end I have to use TWO hands to change the item which I think a one hand operation should be the norm.

- The manual? Gosh, talk about scant information
- An experiment. Wear the earphones, plug it into the BT Device and let it dangle. Now pick it up using the right hand (I assume more than 90% of the world's population uses the right hand) so that you can read the device at the quickest time. Now try to read the words.

It is upside down.

Ergonomics just went for a holiday.