Sony is renowned for its stylish compacts, and the DSC-WX1 is no exception. It not only looks smart, but contains some interesting technology too. At around £300, the DSC-WX1 is aimed at the top-end of the compact market, but do its features and performance justify the price?
Broaden your horizons with Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-WX1
The DSC-WX1 is one of the first Sony cameras to feature a new Exmor R CMOS chip, which is back illuminated to improve low-light performance and reduce noise – or so it says on the tin. The 1/2.4in sensor offers 10.2Mp (effective) performance. Other features include a 5x optical zoom in the shape of an f/2.4-5.9, 4.25-21.25mm Sony G lens. This equates to a 24-120mm lens on a 35mm Camera, so you can get a decent wide angle performance with this Camera.
The DSC-WX1 also offers an ISO range of 160-3200, shutter speed range 2-1/1600sec. HD movie recording is has a 1280 x 720 resolution and is captured at 30fps in the MPEG-4/H.264 AVC format. And there’s more, including a continuous shooting speed of 10fps in full resolution. That kind of performance would be impressive on a DSLR; on a compact, it’s simply mind blowing.
Twilight Hand-Held and Anti Motion Blur are shooting modes which fire off six frames and combine them to improve picture quality when shooting in low light without flash, and last but not least, there’s Sony’s Sweep Panorama system. We first saw this on the DSC-HX1, and it’s a neat way of taking panoramic shots. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Sony Ericsson tends to get the most publicity from its Cyber-shot cameraphones and Walkman music phones. Not unusual, that, but the company also has a large array of mid-range and lower end mobiles. A case in point: the S312. At £100 Sim-free or £69 from T-Mobile on pay-as-you-go, it fits right into that lower price bracket.
The S312 makes no pretensions to be a Cyber-shot. But despite being pitched as a bit of an all rounder, there is a greater emphasis on the Camera than you might expect from a low-cost voice-centric mobile.
To that end, it does steal a clever Camera idea from its higher end siblings. Hit the small round green button on the right side of the phone and you are into the Camera software. Obviously, that’s nothing new. But when you are in Camera mode the 3, 6, 9 and # keys double up as Camera and video shooting shortcuts, small icons to the far right of the key area reminding you of their functions. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Like the rest of the mobile big boys, Sony Ericsson has been upping its cameraphone firepower, with top-of-the-range, multi-megapixel sharpshooters like the 8.1Mp C905 and the forthcoming 12Mp Idou flying the flag for its photo-centric Cyber-shot line-up.
But as well as these flagship mobiles, Sony Ericsson has been taking care of business lower down the Cyber-shot phone ranks, by introducing the C510 as its most affordable Cyber-shot handset yet. The C510 doesn’t flex the big megapixel muscles of its more upmarket sibling – it packs a modest 3.2Mp Camera – but it does cram in a decent range of Camera gadgetry to go with it, including face detection and Smile Shutter software. Sony Ericsson has also loaded up this HSDPA 3G phone with a familiar roster of mid-range features and media applications. As well as standards like the YouTube viewer, Google Maps and picture-sharing apps, on its version of the C510, UK operator 3 has also added a Facebook application, Skype and Windows Live Messenger to the mix. Read the rest of this entry »
