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Tuesday Toys

Life

15 January 2013

 

Huawei Ascend G330

Despite the fact that you might struggle with the pronunciation (a reasonable effort is Who-wah-way), the name Huawei is probably more familiar than you might think.

Having been a major supplier of 3G modems for mobile broadband for the Irish market, the Chinese communications technology giant is now supplying its own smart phones.

The Ascend G330 is a mid-range Android handset running version 4. It boasts a 102mm screen with a resolution of 800×400 pixels, 4Gb of storage, including 512Mb of system RAM, a dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A5, an SD card slot, 5MP camera and 15oo mAh battery, which is not bad at all.

Its design is clean and unfussy and it weighs in at a slight 130g. With Ice Cream Sandwich on board, it is fairly up to date and the overlay treatment is light but distinctive enough to make stand out.

Following the approach of HTC, Huawei seems to be going for a solid reputation for usable competitive devices before going into the full push for brand acceptance with high end devices. As a manufacturer, it has a massive range of technology available to it, from carrier grade networking to home digital entertainments packages, and its smart phones can be used interactively with them. In a road show last year, a streamed movie on a smart phone could be ‘flicked’ to a home set top box for continued viewing from the last watched point.

While the G330 is a very solid, attractive and competitive device at the price point, the likelihood is that it is a starting point for this market to develop for further high end devices and greater integration with other lifestyle products.

With the light overlay in particular, Huawei should be able to get updates to Android processed and rolled out to users quicker than other manufacturers such as Sony Mobile, who feel the need for heavier treatments. As it is, the G330 is a solid performer.

Using the Quadrant benchmark, our test unit scored in the 2,370 region which put it ahead of the reference HTC Desire HD and within a whisker of the Galaxy Nexus.

Price: From free (bill pay) to €149 on prepay

 

Panasonic HC-X920

Panasonic’s new HC-X920 camcorder comes equipped with the new 3MOS System PRO, a BSI (back side illumination) sensor to enhance the three MOS sensors for excellent shooting performance even in dim lighting situations and Wi-Fi.

Users can remotely check audio recording, zoom in/out and shutter on/off, while viewing the live image on a smartphone or tablet by using the dedicated Panasonic Image App. Highlight Playback of recorded images is also possible with a smartphone or tablet. Favourite scenes can be shared on SNS with simple drag-and-drop operation.

The wide shooting range expands the breadth of photographic expression, extending from 29.8mm wide angle to Intelligent 25x zooming.

A manual ring is provided to meet the needs of prosumers not satisfied with the auto shooting function and want to have full control of the camcorder operation, offering intuitive operation of zoom, focus, iris, shutter speed and white balance.

Price: €1,159.99

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