The vilification of Ye Shiwen by the British media

I don't normally write about sports, but this has been irritating me since yesterday that I just had to put it down in writing. It's about the shocking treatment laid against 16 year old Chinese swimming sensation Ye Shiwen by the British media. Ye broke her personal best record at 400m medley event, winning gold as a result. She did it in such a way that American and British media started to raise an eyebrow or two - not quite the same reaction they gave to Michael Phelps when he first caught the eyes of mainstream sports journos, age 15.

Instead of congratulating her and recognising her talents, without thinking, insinuations started to appear in the media (both on air and in print) which appears to infer that Ye was doping, starting with BBC's Clare Balding and then sour grape of the year John Leonard, as if that was the only explanation to her incredible performance. Questions were asked and fingers were pointed at China's past doping offenses. Never mind that some British and American athletes has an illustrious history of getting caught doping as well, or that the rule of innocent before proven guilty should be adhered.

She's a female and she's Chinese, so she definitely must be guilty of something. How dare she swim faster than an American male! Not that she did, she just happened to be faster on the last leg than one man - of which four other men were quicker than her - something the British media failed to point out in their desire to cherry pick evidence against her. UK papers can't wait to queue up articles about how China 'manufacturer' their athletes. The whole thing reeks of rancid and the British media's treatment towards Ye is tantamount to bullying, almost on a xenophobic level.

This morning the chief of British Olympic Association has come out to defend Ye Shiwen, confirming that she has been tested and that she is clean. And yet nearly an hour after the news broke, the BBC has a massive picture of Ye Shiwen next to another equally massive headline "We will catch Games cheat", implying that sooner or later Ye would be caught cheating - this after confirmation that tests has cleared Ye!

As a BBC TV license payer, I expected their journalistic level to be slightly above tabloid-grade but alas during events like the Olympics, it is near impossible to get unbiased coverage. Nationalistic feelings always rise during world events like this and it is almost the single reason why my (already average) enthusiasm for the Olympics drops as the games progress. Now, instead of celebrating what a great athlete she is, the media is still attempting to undermine her win with more jingoism nonsense.

Ruta Meilutyte, age 15, who Clare Balding describes as her favourite none-British story of the games, improved her personal best by 4% in the past year and nobody called her a cheat - and rightly so. Rebecca Adlington herself swam the final 50m of a freestyle race clocking in 28.91 seconds, faster than Ryan Lochte did at this Olympics, and again nobody called her a cheat, again rightly so.

Michael Phelps and Michael Johnson broke records and were considered super humans. Not once did we doubt them and there were no reason to as long as they pass their drug tests. Ye passed hers, countless of times. We recognise athletes like Phelps and Johnson for their brilliance and talent, and we should do the same for Ye Shiwen.

Ye sounds like an incredible talented swimmer and I wish her all the best. If there is a single Olympic event I would like to attend it would be the 200m medley event where I can cheer her on amongst the droning British media (sadly this won't happen as the chances of getting a ticket is fuck-all - thanks for nothing Seb Coe). I hope she breaks more records and wins more gold medals at this and future Olympics.

Shoulda Got a Snapdragon

Just seen old Snapdragon ad today, and it's pretty awesome. In fact the song will likely get stuck in my head throughout the afternoon today. Perhaps I should point at everyone's phone and bust out a poor rap imitation of this song at them.

Qualcomm's Krait based Snapdragon S4 has been well received by the tech community. Core for core, the S4 has been proven to be a beast often besting its Cortex A9 rivals by a huge margin. In fact its performance advantage is so huge, it makes sense that most flagship smartphones would run on it.

Alas we haven't seen many devices released over here running on the Snapdragon. Manufacturers likes numbers and so quad core processors made by rival chipmakers has become the de facto choice even when they are running on outdated ARM architecture. The only device that has it I can think off the top of my head that has seen mainstream release is the HTC One S.

On the other hand, almost every other smartphone in North America has a dual core Snapdragon S4 + LTE SoC, so all is not lost. I blame OFCOM for the lack of Snapdragon + LTE beasts in this country. Still with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 on the horizon and a quad core Snapdragon on the way, we can only hope that one day we too will see some of that Snapdragon action on our flagship phones.

Perhaps then we too can mock our iPhone toting friends, Parker and the Numberman style.

Sony Mobile Xperia P review

Released just two months ago, the Xperia P is Sony's third 'NXT' Xperia smartphones to be released since Sony Ericsson folded as an entity. It is positioned as a mid-range device aimed at smartphone newcomers and upgraders alike. Despite having it for almost a month now, I have held back my review because I wanted to wait for Sony to release an ICS update. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened and it is doubtful that it will happen in the very near future.

STE U8500 NovaThor SoC with dual core 1GHz processor
Mali-400MP GPU
1GB RAM
16GB Flash Storage
4 inch LCD 'Reality Display' with 540x960 resolution
8MP camera with autofocus, 1080p30 video recording
Quad band GSM
Dual band/Tri band 3G (depending on model) HSDPA 14.4Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, NFC, USB On-the-Go
Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Sony TimeScape UI

Sharing a common design language to the flagship Xperia S and entry level Xperia U, the Xperia P sits awkwardly in the middle. With a specification far closer to the Xperia U but in a far more premium body, the Xperia P reminds me of the HTC Legend - where style and form wins over pure specifications. The Xperia P is by far the best iteration of the NXT design language thanks to the use of metallic unibody cover, one that even the more expensive Xperia S can't claim to have.

Sony Xperia P camera review

As a major player in the top end digital imaging industry for many years, Sony has always done well with adapting their technology downwards. Remember when Exmor back-illuminated sensors were exclusive to their high end Cybershot prosumer cameras? Now almost every smartphone on the planet has a Sony Exmor-R sensor, from the Galaxy S III to the iPhone 4S, and, of course, Sony's own Xperia S and P smartphones.

The phone I have in my hands currently is the Xperia P, which I will be reviewing here shortly (update: it's up!). Sony has been coy about the exact nature of the camera used by the Xperia P. All we know is that the sensor used here is a Exmor-R CMOS back-illuminated variety, which helps with low light photography. But we know nothing of its equivalent focal length or lens speed. It supports autofocus, 1080p30 video recording, face and smile detection, macro (close-up) photography and sweep panorama.

In addition to sweep panorama, the camera is also capable of capturing images in 3D format, including panorama 3D. Unfortunately I do not own a 3D TV or display so I have no way of testing this feature. The two-step camera shutter button is a little small and fiddly, but it does fire up the camera app from sleep in a couple of seconds. There is really no discernible difference to the autofocus performance between using the hardware button to the on-screen on. Speaking of autofocus, I found it to be rather temperamental, often having issues focusing on close ups.

The camera performs particularly well in areas with plenty of natural light, though it does struggle with dynamic range and colour. Despite looking great on the Xperia P's display, images generally sport the typical Xperia-look, with dull colours and average contrast dominating giving images a 'wash-out' look. While the camera was able to capture a good amount of detail, noise are evident even in shots taken in daylight. The lack of built-in HDR mode is disappointing, as it would solve the issue concerning dynamic range and contrast. Overall I thought the images produced by the Xperia P was slightly worse than the Xperia Arc and HTC One X, but still good enough for an everyday camera.

On the plus side, unlike Sony's (and Sony Ericsson's) previous Xperia smartphones, the Xperia P's camera is positioned away from the edge, so there is less chance to ruin your shot by accidentally blocking the camera lens. In any case, enjoy these image samples, thankfully, with no fingers in the way.

SoundWave SW50 Bluetooth speaker review

Here's an interesting product that the good folks at Mobilefun has sent to me to test out. The SoundWave SW50 Bluetooth speaker might not sound terribly exciting, but after two days with it, all I can say is I was surprised by how good it was. More so whenever it moonlights as a hands free speaker phone.

The SoundWave won't win any awards when it comes to design. Built quality seems solid, but I am not too quite sure about the exposed mono speaker on the top and the thin plastic grill that protects it. The white glossy finish shows off dirt easily, but it doesn't seem to attract much fingerprints. Three rubber feet sits on the bottom to prevent it from sliding, but a gel mat is also included for those slippery surfaces.

With a single on/off dial and a dial button, pairing the speaker to my Lumia 800 and Xperia P couldn't be simpler. Once the speaker was paired with my phone, it is ready to accept any form of music streaming. The sound quality is more than acceptable for such a small speaker and I found it better and louder than most speakers you would find on a mobile phone and laptop. Despite increasing the volume, the speaker was able to handle the increased loudness without any crackle. Colour me impressed.

As a speaker phone, the SW50 surpassed my expectatons. When a phone call comes through simply press the dial button on the front of the speaker and it would connect automatically. I had my doubts about the SoundWave due to how close the microphone is to the speaker phone, but any doubts were put to rest once I made my first call. Because it supports the standard Bluetooth A2DP protocol, voice dialing is also possible, provided your phone supports this feature. You could theoretically use it as a vehicle hands free speaker phone, but you would need a flat grippy dashboard or place it in a cup holder.

Powering the speaker is a built in 400mAh battery. A mini USB port and cable will allow you to charge the speaker from a PC (unfortunately you can't playback via USB from a PC). The advertised talk time for the speaker is 12 hours, which I can't confirm (I hardly ever make 12 hours of phone call on my mobile phone a year!) - but it was able to play music for a good couple of hours a day for two days before it gave up.

With a price tag of £20, it is easy to dismiss the SW50 as a poor person's Jawbone Jambox, but don't let the cheap price fool you. It's still a rather impressive product. Sure the sound quality won't wow anybody, but it is more than adequate for the price and perfect for voice calls.

The Android'isation of the Windows Phone 8 start screen

Now that the dusts has settled and I have had a chance to study closely the screenshots of the new Windows Phone 8, it has finally come to my attention how much Microsoft has compromised with Windows Phone 8 in their chase for bigger marketshare.

I present to you the new start screen that will soon grace your Windows Phone devices:

Cluttered. Generic. Ugly

That's some ugly mess up there, don't you agree?

The move towards a symmetrical design and introduction of tiny live tiles has resulted in Windows Phone 8 now looking like a cluttered mess resembling the typical grid layout employed by many bog standard mobile OSes, just with live tiles instead of icons. Where is the neutral space? It actually looks like a poor imitation, a third party launcher made by a third party developer who was attempting to mimic the original Windows Phone 7 homescreen, but has somehow forgotten the core Metro principal that made Windows Phone 7 so aesthetically pleasing, elegant and classy to see and use.

I appreciate the ability to resize tiles (it's an option after all, one that I would choose not to use). But to those who weren't planning on resizing tiles (like me), well the new symmetrical home screen will actually shows less medium size tiles compared to Windows Phone 7 (six versus eight). Think about that. The whole point about the original Windows Phone homescreen and live tiles was about information at a glance. Now tell me how you can glance at that cluttered mess up there with all those stupid tiny tiles? It is amazing how, with one fell swoop, Microsoft has managed to turn Windows Phone from a beautiful OS to an ugly one. I know small tiles will be optional, but it won't be for us who wanted eight medium tiles to show at any one time.

Information at a glance

As someone who has long championed the unique interface of Windows Phone 7, I am more disappointed than angry with the decision makers at Microsoft Windows Phone division, who has caved in and allowed one of the most beautiful asset and aspect of Windows Phone Metro user interface to be lobotomised and ravaged. Have the designers at Microsoft's Windows Phone division not have the will to follow through what they once believed in?

You know, I can deal with old devices being left behind. It is the violation of Metro UI that I can't stand. Microsoft has made a big deal about core aesthetic values of Metro UI, and and how important the whole 'less is more' concept is. It seems that with Windows Phone 8, Microsoft developers and designers are stamping on that very belief and philosophy. In fact, the one thing that scares me more about the future of Windows Phone, is that if something as sacred as the Windows Phone 7 start screen is considered expendable by their creators, so are the rest of Metro! I can already see the reintroduction of scroll bars and even Apple'esque skins (oh, the horrors!) in future iterations.

I hope the people who has whinged about the start screen on Windows Phone 7 are happy. You have just made Windows Phone 8 look like yet another generic, ugly and cluttered mobile OS. Urgh. I live in hope that the final version of Windows Phone 8 will have options to revert to the old style asymmetrical off-center start screen - I really want that negative space back dammit!

When will you stop breaking my heart, Microsoft?

Windows Phone 8 announced

Microsoft today detailed the next version of Windows Phone Apollo, Windows Phone 8. No doubt the information passed down by Redmond today will have to be digested first, but it seems to have gone down well by my Twitter followers.

First up, the new Windows Phone 8 will run on the same shared Windows NT kernel and C and C++ libraries that will power Windows 8 and Windows RT. How exciting is that? Microsoft has effectively announced the first single platform running from desktop, tablets, laptops and smartphones. This means developers can easily reuse code to deploy their apps on all Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platform. It also means better display support (Windows Phone 8 will support 480x800, 720x1280 and 768x1280 resolution) as well as multi-core processor support.

As Windows Phone 8 will have support for native DirectX 11 code, game devs can now release the same games on Windows 8 desktop, tablets and Windows Phone 8 smartphones. Windows Phone 7 runs better on a single core processor than an Android device with quad core processor, so it is certainly exciting to see multi-core processors supported with Windows Phone 8. Other changes includes the much requested expansion storage support, NFC payment and customisation. Yes, Windows Phone 8 will include a new homescreen with resizeable live tiles. I am not entirely too convinced by this as Windows Phone 7 has always been about offering UI consistency. Still, it is entirely optional and will at least appease those who has complained that live tiles are 'too large'.

Microsoft will also be deploying Nokia's mapping technology - effectively giving Nokia another cash flow in terms of licensing fees. A win-win for Nokia and Microsoft. In addition to that, Microsoft has also demo'ed the new Internet Explorer 10 with improved JavaScript and HTML5 performance. Skype and other third party VoIP will also be integrated into Windows Phone 8. Windows Phone 7 apps will also be recompiled by Microsoft to ensure they work on Windows Phone 8. Microsoft has also detailed background tasks and introduced 'real multitasking'. Finally, OTA updates will be delivered to the devices with updates promised for at least 18 months.

Now some bad news for current Windows Phone 7 owners, there will be no upgrade path for us lot. Current devices like the Nokia Lumia 800 will receive Windows Phone 7.8 update, bringing UI enhancement but you won't be getting anything like the new Windows NT kernel. It is certainly disappointing to see older devices get the cull, but it is probably necessary due to technology limitations. Other than that, Microsoft has reassured that Windows Phone 7.8 will feel and look just like Windows Phone 8.

Microsoft has slapped Google down this week, first with Surface and now Windows Phone 8. It is an exciting time to be a mobile technology fan, after years of putting up with sub-par UI. Don't get me wrong - Android is sleek, but the UI in both ICS and Honeycomb, are just a bloody mess. If executed properly, Microsoft will not only bring a mobile OS with brilliant UI and UX, but also the power and feature parity that mobile geeks craved. If this will give Google a kick in the arse to pay attention to the actual user interface of their Android platform, then better still. At the end of the day, us consumers will win.

Update: It appears that Microsoft has caved in and screwed up with the design of Windows Phone 8.

Microsoft announced Windows 8 Surface tablet, shows OEM partners how it is done

Microsoft today announced a range of Surface tablets running on the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. No doubt some of you have read about it as it has been covered by every news site and blogs (sorry). There will be two version of Microsoft Surface tablets, one that runs on ARM processor and Windows 8 RT (Runtime), and the other an Intel-powered Windows 8 Pro tablet.

The Windows 8 RT Surface tablet will be powered by an NVIDIA Tegra-based ARM chipset. It will be available with either 32 or 64GB capacity and comes with a 10.6" HD touch panel. Microsoft has not announced pricing or availability other than it will be priced similarly to other comparable Windows 8 RT tablets at launch, sometime in September or October of this year.

The more exciting of the two Surface tablets is the (likely to be more) expensive Windows 8 Pro tablet. Again, no pricing has been announced but it is fair to say that it will be priced similarly to an Ultrabook/Macbook Air laptop. Considering it is essentially an Ultrabook convertible tablet, I expect it to be so. Unlike the Surface RT, the Surface Pro will be powered by an all dancing, all singing Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor, with capacities ranging from 64 to 128GB.

It will weigh 903 grams, hefty compared to ARM-based tablets like the iPad and Windows 8 RT Surface, but also light when you compare to Ultrabooks or other x86 tablets like the ThinkPad X220. The 10.6" display is full HD, meaning it has a resolution of 1080p, and will be protected by GorillaGlass 2. It will be available three months after Windows 8 is launched, so expect it around January or February of 2013. Both devices will come with built-in stand. A detachable cover with built in multi-touch keyboard will also be made available.

With the specs and facts out of the way, it is time for some wild speculations. I am going assume that the Surface RT tablet will be powered by either a Tegra 3 4-PLUS-1 SoC or newer next generation Cortex A15-based Tegra. I certainly hope it would be the latter or will be slightly disappointed that Microsoft has not gone for the more modern Qualcomm's Krait-powered Snapdragon S4 rather than the now architecturally outdated Tegra 3.

Price wise, I expect the Windows 8 RT tablet to start from £399 and the Windows 8 Pro slate to start from £699. This is effectively what I would be willing to pay personally for the base model of a tablet with similar specs, and is in line with my expectations on how each should be priced - depending on the built quality of course. Incidentally, a Macbook Air 11 with an Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor and 64GB storage costs £849.

I suspect Microsoft has decided not to release a detailed spec sheet as well as pricing information as Autumn 2012 is still a long way away and anything can happen between now and then (it's an eternity in tech). I still live in hope that Microsoft will change the aspect ratio from 16:9 to 16:10 or even better, 4:3. It seems that only Apple and HP gets that 4:3 is the perfect aspect ratio for tablets. Still this is likely to be wishful thinking.

As for accusations that Microsoft has essentially sidelined their OEM partners, well tough luck. Hardware partners haven't been exactly doing their bit what with undesirable Windows Phone 7 smarpthones (bar the Nokia Lumia 800 and certain HTC devices) and Windows 7 notebooks. Hopefully this will inspire OEMs to develop something a bit more compelling than the me-too products they have been dumping on the Android market. I am still waiting for Lenovo to announce a Windows 8 ThinkPad tablet product, and if this will spur them to make a better product then so be it.

I am personally very optimistic and excited by Windows 8. Microsoft's foray into dedicated tablet hardware is well overdue. With a design that not only looks original and exciting, all I can say is finally some exciting alternatives to some pretty mediocre Android tablets. It is about time a manufacturer steps up and be willing to offer a decent alternative to the mighty iPad.

As the poster boys for Windows 8, I hope Microsoft doesn't deliberately cheapen the Surface tablets in order to get them on the market for cheap. They are OEMs whose business model revolves around just that. Microsoft would do well to set an example to OEMs via premium quality tablets aimed at promoting Redmond's swinging new OS to first adopters. Bring on Fall 2012!