Was invited to the Sony Walkman Z Series Launch held at Helipad yesterday. The first product to be launched under the new Walkman Z Series is the Sony Walkman Digital Media Players Z1050 (microsite).

For a music player, the Sony Walkman Z1050 packed some solid specifications:

• Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz (Dual Core)
• 512MB RAM
• 4.3″, TFT color display with white LED-backlight, WQVGA(800 x 480 Pixels)
• Built-in FM Tuner
• 16GB Storage Capacity
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi IEEE 802.11b/g/n
• GPS/Accelerometer/Magnetometer
• HDMI Micro/3.5mm Audio Jack/Proprietary Connector (WM-Port)
• Android Version 2.3 (Gingerbread) Operating System
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 70.9 x 134.4 x 11.1 (mm)
• Weight: 156g
• Battery Life (Music): 20 Hours
• Battery Life (Video): 5 Hours

It can be considered an Android Phone without the phone and camera functionality. Yeap, you read it right, there is no camera in the Sony Walkman Z1050 which is perfect for National Service (NS) people as well as military related organisations.

Despite it comes with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), it will be upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) later this year.

The main selling point of the Sony Walkman Z1050 is of course the audio quality. First up is the new S-Master MX digital amplifier which is a unique technology by Sony that reduces noise levels and distortion to enhance your music. There are another 3 audio technologies (Clear Bass, Clear Stereo and Digital Sound Enchantment Engine (DSEE)) that improves the audio quality. With the Sony Walkman Z1050, you also get a pair of EX headphones (Engadget’s comment mentioned it might be the EX300).

The xLOUD speaker system within the device produces pretty clear and loud sound when playing audio files, but when it comes to video, the audio from the video playback was very soft.

The Sony Walkman Z1050 supports Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), you can simply stream your music, videos and photos to any DLNA-compatible TVs, PCs or home audio system.

There are 2 downsides of the Sony Walkman Z1050. The first is the price, it will be retailing for SGD$429 which is incredibly steep. Apple iPod Touch (32GB) (current generation) is only retailing for SGD$428.

I seriously have no idea how Sony is going to market this. The only selling point to justify the steep price is the sound quality. I am not an audiophile person, but my fellow tech bloggers told me that the audio quality is pretty good, definitely better than Apple iPod Touch.

The second downside is the use of proprietary connector for syncing and charging? Seriously? The proprietary port is also known as the Walkman Port (WM-Port). It is a USB 2.0 compliant 22-pin connector which is used for syncing and charging the device. The package does include a USB to WM-Port cable (duh), but I just don’t understand why can’t they use Micro USB.

Sony Walkman Z1050

Sony Walkman Z1050 – Micro HDMI, Dedicated Music Button, Volume Buttons

Sony Walkman Z1050 – 3.5mm Audio Jack, Proprietary Connector (WM-Port)

Sony Walkman Z1050 – xLOUD

Sony Walkman Z1050 – Cover Art

Sony Walkman Z1050 – Visualizer

Sony Walkman Z1050 – Equalizer

CableKeeps was the 4th Kickstarter project that I backed. I backed it last year on the 11th August 2011 and the project got funded on the 9th September 2011. They raised a total of USD$37,498 out of the initial goal of USD$35,000.

My pledge was USD$28 and an additional USD$10 for shipping (total USD$38) for a choice of any two units (Nibbles, Goldie, or Gulp). I chose Goldie and Gulp.

After almost 8 months in the making, I finally got my CableKeeps yesterday, 14th May 2011!

So what is CableKeeps? As you all might know, all the MacBook chargers do come with a built-in cable winder but the same feature is missing from iPod/iPad/iPhone chargers. So basically CableKeeps add this missing feature to your existing iPod/iPad/iPhone chargers.

The Gulp will fit the any iPad chargers and any iPhone chargers with international adaptor plug. The Goldie will only fit US’s iphone chargers. I have no idea why at that time I chose the Goldie instead of Nibbles since I do not have a US’s iphone charger with me (should have gotten one when I am in the US).

Do ignore the damaged boxes in the pictures below, this got to be my worst shipment I had from the USA via USPS.

CableKeeps – Gulp (Box Front)

CableKeeps – Gulp

CableKeeps – Gulp (With Cable)

CableKeeps – Goldie (Box Front)

CableKeeps – Goldie

The Logitech Touch Mouse M600 was announced back in February 2012 and I have been looking forward to play with it. It is finally available in Singapore and is retailing for SGD$89.

Here are the key features from the press release:

• Responsive Touch Surface: The touch surface responds directly to your fingers – whether you’re surfing the Web or reading your emails and it doesn’t matter which hand you use to mouse. Left-handers can easily reassign the right- and left-click buttons with Logitech SetPoint software.
• Scroll and Swipe Where You Like: The touch surface makes scrolling direct, continuous and free-flowing. And you can scroll and swipe immediately – wherever your fingertips rest on the mouse. Logitech Flow Scroll software gives you scrolling that is fluid -vmuch like scrolling on your favorite touchscreen smartphone.
• Comfortable, Stylish Design: With a modern design, smooth edges and an attractive profile, your mouse feels good in your hand and looks good too.

Logitech Touch Mouse M600

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In case you are unaware, Samsung announced Samsung Galaxy SIII which is the successor to the Galaxy SII and their flagship mobile phone at Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012 yesterday in London.

Samsung provided a live stream to the event but apparently the NDA for the Samsung Galaxy SIII of those major tech sites was lifted right before the event. So it is weird to see so much details of the phone even before the person went up on stage to officially announced it.

I am pretty disappointed with the design of the phone, is just doesn’t look nice (I think even my Samsung Galaxy Nexus looks better), but of couse the HTC One X is still the better looking one. Two colors will be available and they are Pebble Blue and Marble White.

The screen is huge at 4.8″ with HD Super AMOLE providing a resolution of 1280×720 which gives you about 306ppi (iPhone 4/4S is about 326ppi, iPad 3 is about 264ppi). Some other notable features include the use of microSIM as well as microSD expansion slot for up to 64GB of external space.

Similar to the HTC One Series, Samsung has partnered with Dropbox to provide extra 50GB worth of Dropbox storage for 2 years (worth USD$198) for the owners of the Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Samsung have a clone of Apple’s Siri but they called it the S Voice, and it even allows you to use your voice to pick up an incoming call. Samsung Galaxy SIII also includes a facial recognition feature to zoom and track a person’s face using the camera.

According to the press release, the Samsung Galaxy SIII will be available in Singapore from Q2 2012. I am guessing it will be available around End May 2012.

Highlights

• Features a 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display for a vivid viewing experience and an 8MP camera and 1.9MP front camera which offer a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure all moments are captured easily and instantly
• Powered by Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich to greatly enhance usability and practicality to make life easier
• Features ‘Smart stay’ which recognizes how the phone is being used i.e. the front camera identifies the eyes by maintaining a bright display for continued viewing pleasure
• Features ‘S Voice’, the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to words, allowing information search and basic device-user communication through voice commands
• The ‘Buddy photo share’ function and the new ‘S Beam’ allow for instant and easy sharing of photos and videos among friends and family
• Features the ‘Pop up play’, which boost performance and the overall user experience by allowing users to play a video anywhere on the screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web.

Specifications

• Network: 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz3G (HSPA+ 21Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
• Processor: Samsung Exynos 4 Quad (1.4GHz quad-core processor)
• RAM: 1GB
• Display: 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED (1280×720) display
• OS: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• Camera (Rear): 8 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag, BSI
• Camera (Front): 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag, BSI
• Video Codec: MPEG4, H.264, H.263, DivX, DivX3.11, VC-1, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark Recording & Playback: Full HD (1080p)
• Audio Codec: MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AC-3, apt-X
• Additional Features:
  • S Beam, Buddy photo share, Share shot
  • AllShare Play, AllShare Cast
  • Smart stay, Social tag, Group tag, Face zoom, Face slide show
  • Direct call, Smart alert, Tap to top, Camera quick access
  • Pop up play
  • S Voice
  • Burst shot & Best photo, Recording snapshot, HDR
• Connectivity: WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40, GPS/GLONASS, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0(LE)
• Sensor: Accelerometer, RGB light, Digital compass, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer
• Memory: 16/32/64GB internal storage options + microSD slot (up to 64GB)
• Dimension: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm
• Weight: 133g
• Battery: 2,100 mAh

Official Site (Singapore): Samsung Galaxy SIII

Samsung Galaxy SIII – Marble White

Samsung Galaxy SIII – Marble White (Back)

Samsung Galaxy S3 – Pebble Blue

Samsung Galaxy S3 – Pebble Blue (Back)

Nokia Lumia 610 will be available in Singapore from Saturday, 5th May 2012. It will be retailing for SGD$379 (including taxes & without contract) at all 3 operators (SingTel, M1, StarHub) in Singapore.

3 colors will be available on launch date, white, black and magenta. For the cyan, it will be available from Saturday, 12th May 2012 onwards.

Nokia Lumia 610

Check out my Nokia Lumia 610 post when I was in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2012!

Official Site: Nokia Lumia 610