Review and technology

Money's Worth
Xperia X10 Mini Pro

SonyEricsson's first few Xperia mobile handset models were, for lack of another word, middling. Even the Xperia X10, launched with much fanfare and featuring a glorious screen, came up short simply because it did not support multi-touch and used the older 1.6 (Donut) build of Google's Android operating system.

Surprisingly, SonyEricsson has retained the operating system in the new X10 Mini Pro (and its sibling, the X10 Mini, which is similar minus a keyboard). But, thanks to its small size as well as the slide-out keyboard, the X10 Mini Pro does win on the style front.

The screen is tiny, at 2.55 inches diagonally, and using the touch screen other than for basic scrolling is difficult. In fact, the tiny screen does cripple some applications from the Android marketplace. The size also means a small battery. But the phone is nice to hold, looks cute and the keyboard is rather easy to use.

• Pros: Small size easily fits in to your pocket, looks cute, slide-out keyboard makes it easy to use
• Cons: Small size means a smaller screen and battery. Runs old version of Google Android.
• Price: Rs 17,995

Packing a Punch
Samsung NX10

The Samsung NX10 is a new type of camera altogether because it does away with the mirror system of DSLR cameras while continuing to use the same APS-C sensor as in consumer-grade DSLRs. By removing the mirror system, Samsung has made the body of the camera incredibly thin and similar to cameras using the 'Four-Thirds' sensor system such as the Panasonic Lumix G1.

There are a huge number of settings and features that you can play with on the camera. And, if you even shoot in full-auto mode, the device takes great images. The lack of a mirror system means that you cannot see the image you are shooting on the viewfinder, but Samsung overcomes that with a live view straight from the sensor. This is the best Samsung camera in the market today. Only Canon and Nikon make cheaper consumer-grade DSLR cameras.

• Pros: Very small body, great picture quality, several photo modes, 720p video recording
• Cons: Expensive, small choice of lenses
• Price: Rs 42,990 (with 18-55mm lens)

Web Site
Blogging made blissfully easy

Tumblr is a cross between a full-blown blog and a micro-blog. While Twitter and other social networking sites limit posts to 140 characters or less, Tumblr gives you the flexibility to post updates of any length. It has built-in formats for a variety of content types, which gives it an edge over other blogging and micro-blogging platforms.

There are templates for text, photos, videos, audio, quotes, links and chat transcripts. The Tumblr application programming interface allows a host of third-party apps to connect with the site. About a dozen iPhone apps and as many Web services can be used with Tumblr. What's more, you can set up Tumblr to automatically post on your Twitter or Facebook account as well.