Welcome to my Nokia 9 Pureview, a Photographer’s First Impressions.
The Key Features
The Nokia 9 Pureview features 5 rear cameras with Zeiss optics. Each of the five cameras automatically adopt the optimal settings for various parts of the scene and then fused into a single HDR photo with texture and detail from both the shadows and the highlights. All 5 cameras shoot simultaneously.
The five cameras create an incredibly accurate depth map of your image. This gives you ultimate focal control when editing the photo long after the shot is taken. Up to 1,200 layers of depth are captured.
So now sit back and enjoy the first impressions which include –
– Full Camera UI
– System UI
– Audio Test
– Camera Samples
– Current Pro & Cons Demonstrated
Video Review
Useful Links
Latest pricing on Nokia 9 and cases on Amazon UK – click HERE.
Welcome to my review of the iFi Audio micro iDSD Black Label DAC. The iFi Audio micro iDSD BL labels retails for £599.
Key Features
– Burr Brown chipset plays high resolution music files natively, including Octa-DSD512, PCM768, and Double DXD
– Up to 10V, 4000mW of power
– Built-in iEMatch for sensitive in-ear monitors and Bit Perfect sound
– Portable with up to 12 hours of playback
– 1.5A SmartPower USB to charge your smart device
– 3D+ and XBass+
– AMR Global Master Timing femto-precision clock system upgraded for ‘super low’ phase-noise and jitter
– MQA support
Video Review
Conclusion
The iFi Audio micro iDSD BL is one hell of a DAC and amp that is able to drive any headphone to decent levels. As a desktop device it works extremely well, yet it can be used as a portable device that lasts 12 hours on battery. Highly recommended.
For more info and the latest pricing on Amazon UK, click HERE.
Welcome to my review of the $2,999 Meze Empyrean Headphones.
Key Specifications & Features
– Drivers – Rinaro Isodynamic Hybrid Array
– Style – Open Circumaural
– Frequeny range – 4 – 110,000 Hz
– Impedance Ohms 31.6
– Nominal SPL 100 dB (1 mW/1kHz)
– Max SPL 130db
Some background behind the Meze Empyrean headphones and what makes them special. Meze Audio collaborated with Rinaro, and in doing so created lightest and most advanced planar magnetic drivers in the world.
The Empyrean Driver combines individual switchback and spiral-shaped voice coils. This unique shape allows sound to be targeted with more accuracy around the natural form of the ear. The frame is fiberglass infused ABS. The driver is a hybrid magnetic array, symmetrically placed on each side of the diaphragm, with neodymium magnets specifically arranged into a hybrid array to create efficient isodynamic magnetic field required for a uniform activation across the whole diaphragm surface.
The diaphragm is manufactured from a custom developed isotropic thermally stabilised polymer with a conductive layer. End result is an ultralight yet rigid diaphragm has been achieved. The switchback coil is more efficient at reproducing lower frequencies and is positioned in the upper part of the driver. The spiral coil is more efficient at reproducing middle-high frequencies and is positioned directly over the ear canal enabling more direct sound waves to enter the ear without any time delays. Total harmonic distortion (THD) measures under 0.1% in the whole frequency range. Upper-frequency limit of audio reproduction is a massive 110,000 Hz. They are also ultra efficient at 100db@1mw/1kHz , meaning you get the high performance without needing amplification.
They are also a patent pending isodynamic hybrid array driver, which is a world’s first in planar magnetic headphones.
The rest of the headphone comprises of anatomically designed ovate earcups and an anthropometric earpad design. The Isomagnetic ear cup attachment utilises the demagnetising field generated by the driver to hold the ear cup in place whilst also redirecting the magnetic field back into the driver and improving driver efficiency. Patented ferromagnetic plates channel the magnetic field back into the driver, increasing output.
The pressure distribution wings consist of a carbon fibre headband and leather headrest and is the most comfortable headphone I have ever worn. The main skeleton of the headphone is made from a single piece of sculpted aluminium, that takes 20 hours in a CNC machine. The entire headphone is hand assembled.
The testing process used amps from Audio GD, iFi Audio, Fiio BTR3 and a Honor View 20 smartphone. Tidal and tracks on my computer covering every genres were listened to. The main focus was with the following music –
– Orff Carmina Burana – Live from the Forbidden City – Shanghai Symphony Orchesta
– Diana Krall – Various
– Norah Jones – Varios
– Badflower – Ok I’n sick
– Bruce Springsteen – The Live Series
– Gary Clark – This Land
As mentioned before, the comfort of these headphones is off the charts. The most comfortable pair of headphones I have ever worn.
The sound experience. I am calling it an experience because that is exactly what the Meze Empyrean create. You sit back, forget you are wearing headphones and get absorbed into the music. Timing is phenomenal, fast, quick. The soundstage is large, precision placement of voices and instruments. Vocals sound inviting, dynamic and expressive. It didn’t matter what I chose, everything was a delight to hear. Mids and treble were delicate, not too forward either. There was no harshness in the treble. Bass was deep and dynamic and quick.
Opera is not a genre I listen to a lot, but the Carmina Burana was wondeful to listen to. In fact I had only planned to listen to the first track, but ended up listening to the entire album.
Another aspect of these headphones is just how easy they are to drive. Obviously, better amplification improves the overall performance, but with modest amps these still sounded excellent.
Video Review
Conclusion
The Meze Empyrean are in a class of their own. Not only are they one of the best headphones in the world, they are easy to drive, look magnificent, but they are so comfortable you could wear them for as long as you wanted. Verdict – just buy them!!
As a reviewer of smartphones and gadgets, I am privileged to use a significant number of phones across a number of different manufacturers.
The Honor View 20 is a phone that has surpassed all my expectations. Here’s why.
Main Review
Honor originally provided me with a Honor View 20 on loan for the purpose of this review. However, after the loan period, I had enjoyed the phone so much I bought my own View 20 in phantom blue. This is the 8gb ram 256gb storage option. Some of you would have been aware that I had had a Pixel 3 XL. I sold this and replaced it the Honor View 20. That’s how impressed I have been with this phone.
So below are the key aspects of the Honor View 20 that have stood out for me.
Battery – In real daily use the battery life whether on wifi or 4g is astonishing. Today, I am likely to end with around 9 hours screen on time from coming off charge at 6.00am this morning. I have watched a movie on it, streamed from Netflix, streamed Tidal MQA Master quality audio into a USB DAC ( iFi Audio xDSD ) , messaged, browsed, played games and so much more. The fact it comes with a super charger plug which gives 50% recharging in 30 mins is really the icing on the cake. Compared to my Pixel 3 XL, the Honor View 20 totally crushes it. The Pixel 3 XL would only manage 4 hours screen on time.
Signal strength – whether on wifi, cellular, GPS or bluetooth, the phone just has remarkable coverage. This is likely due to the 3 bands for wifi and the double GPS signal system. Bluetooth is the latest version 5, with LDAC Hi-Res Codec support. Wifi calling all works a treat.
Screen. It’s a big 6.4 inch IPS screen that nearly goes edge to edge. That’s is what is feel like when watching YouTube or movies that fill the entire screen with just a hole punch for the front camera. Face unlock works instantly as does the rear fingerprint sensor. It is worth noting that if you wear polarised sunglasses, the screen is visible in portrait but not landscape.
Cameras. These are amazing. The rear cameras consist of a 48mp and 3D Time of Flight Sensor. The front camera is 25mp. My dedicated camera review is below. I have been out several times and taken shots with my Pixel 3 XL and Honor View 20. I then did a blind viewing with several people and 75% of the time, the View 20 was the winner. I subsequently have done more tests and ended up preferring the Honor View 20 shots. Add to the fact the diversity of camera modes makes this one blockbuster of a phone for taking pictures. Even the video is good especially at 1080p with all the Video AI modes.
Audio. The Honor View 20 has a 3.5mm headphone jack and its really good. Here’s why and more on the audio aspects of the phone.
Other features – It is great for making actual phone calls. It has an infra red blaster, great for adjusting the volume on my TV.
Price. It costs £499 for the 128gb version and £579 for the 256gb version. Link at end to Amazon where you can currently order and get a free Honor Watch Magic smartwatch. The Honor Watch Magic is worth around £155. When you think that Apple charge £1,149 for their 256gb iPhone XS Max, that’s a huge difference.
Camera Samples
The above shot was taken using the Aperture mode which allows post photo to adjust the focus point and blur from f/0.95 to f/16.
The above traffic trails light painting mode is so easy to use. For this a tripod is needed or a firm surface. This mode is built in to the default camera app.
The above is a hand held night mode. No tripod needed. Check out the main video review after one month which has over 40 additional camera samples.
The Barbican in Plymouth was one of the few parts of the city that survived the second World War blitz. Most of the historic building in the city of Plymouth got destroyed. Two or three streets still retain some of the architecture of an historic fishing port. The Barbican has the largest concentration of cobbled streets in Britain, and contains 100 listed buildings.
The first shot above is actually a long exposure of 7 seconds. This was achieved by using the Silky Water Mode in the camera app of the Honor View 20. It is actually my favourite shot.
Next up is a simple auto shot at 12mp with AI left on. Equally as beautiful.
Now there is an option to use the full 48mp on the Honor View 20. So for the last shot, this was using the 48mp AI Clarity mode. This allows for some serious levels of detail and zooming in if required.
7am yesterday morning I was standing at Exeter St David’s station in Devon waiting for a train to London Paddington.
My Honor View 20 was at 100% battery and picking up a 4G signal on Three UK. This was going to be a true test of it’s battery life and performance as I was only going to be using cellular signal and data and no WiFi. If you connect the Honor View 20 to WiFi , the battery performance improves by 25% approximately.
The train line to London from Exeter is not the best for obtaining a signal. Other phones I’ve have used on the same line, often struggle for signal. The Honor View 20 seemed to have a signal for the entire train journey of nearly 3 hours. Not only that my dad decided to video call me, and twice. Both times the video call was held perfectly.
Whilst on the train, I used Amazon Prime and watched the latest episode of the Grand Tour using my wireless headphones. I was also getting lots of messages and was replying on and off for the entire journey. After watching the Grand Tour I was listening to Tidal music at master quality using my Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones for the rest of the train ride.
So eventually, I arrived at London Paddington, and I needed to take the Circle Line to South Kensington. Unfortunately, this line was closed at London Paddington due to engineering works, so I fired up Google Maps, and used this to give me turn by turn directions to Fulham Road. This ended up using Google Maps for one hour.
Of course, walking across London, there was no way I couldn’t stop and take loads of photos. So I did. See my previous post for photos I took of London Paddington and at Hyde Park, London. As a side point, the View 20 is a blast to use and it takes great photos without any effort.
During my walk across London, I received several phone calls, and another video call. The video call was on loudspeaker and despite the strong cross wind, I could hear my dad and he could hear me too. Phone calls were also really clear.
When I arrived at my destination, I ended up having to message various people on and off for the next 4 hours.
I then had to walk back to London Paddington station, again using Google Maps and taking a few more photos.
More messaging and emails occurred throughout the day.
On the train back to Exeter St David’s , I watched a film on Netflix. Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. 2 hours and 30 mins.
Remember all the time, I’m on 4G not WiFi.
Eventually, I got back home. A whole day out in London 6 hours screen on time. And still 15% left.
The Honor View 20 and its 4,000mAh battery is a true battery champ.
The Honor View 20 has a great auto mode, but it also has a wealth of other modes built into the camera app. One of which is Night mode. This allows for hand held 5 second exposures without a tripod. However, with a tripod, the phone detects it is securely clamped and allows for an even longer Night mode photo of up to 32 seconds.
The results are stunning.
The above shot is of the boats in the marina. And below is a photo of the restaurants.
The Honor View 20 has many camera modes in the in built app. Scroll back to see my full camera review to learn about them all with samples.
However, there are 2 night modes. There is a 5 sec long exposure night mode that is hand held without a tripod. This in itself is pretty cool.
However, there is another night mode that kicks in automatically when the phone detects the following. First it realises the phone is in a tripod and also the tripod isn’t moving, that is its completely still. Then it will automatically carry out a longer exposure of up to 30 seconds. This is different from using Pro mode for 30 seconds as its undertaking multi framing and only keeping the best parts of each different shot.
The result. Below is a night mode shot, on auto settings, with the phone on a tripod. The phone picked a 25 second exposure. Where I was standing was pitch black. The photo below is spectacular.
I also experimented with raw images but none of the raw images could compete with the above quality using this longer exposure night mode.
The Honor View 20 has a 4,000mAh battery, double that of an iPhone. It is also paired with the Kirin 980 processor which is a 7nm design which provides epic power and helps with battery life too.
The screen on time is impressive when you consider the battery still has 56% remaining.
Now for the second stat. The time since the last charge.
That’s right. I’m into my second day now. This phone is looking like a solid 2 day device.
Amazing!
Available from Amazon, currently with an offer for a free Honor Watch Magic worth £179. More info HERE.
Around 3pm on Thursday 31st January 2019, the snow arrived on Dartmoor National Park.
Armed with 3 cameras, I went out in the snow blizzard and captured the snow hammering down at 3pm on Thursday 31st January 2019.
Then at 8am the next day, I went out in near whiteout conditions to capture even more photos and video. At times I was battling snow that was waist deep.
Below is a highlight video covering the 2 days with video and photos. Enjoy.
I have a Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) phone that is my work phone. It is locked down from a security point of view, with 8 digit password that needs entering every time you need to do anything on the phone. Then each of the apps has its own 8 digit password which changes constantly.
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) receives regular security updates too. As this is a work phone, it is only used for emails, calls and the odd text. Over the course of ownership, the battery longevity has taken a hit.
So in reality this phone is not stressed heavily. Calls, emails, texts. And charging every other day. Except yesterday I charged the phone to 100% as usual overnight. Went to power on and was left with the Samsung boot logo flashing happily at me. Yes, I know my phone is made by Samsung, but surely Samsung didn’t need to remind me this way!
So what has happened is my Samsung Galaxy A5 is stuck in the boot loop. A quick Google search, and it became apparent this is a very well know problem. Only solution is to wipe the phone whilst connected to a PC using special commands. My actual remedy as recommended by Vodafone, its a known problem, you need a newer phone/replacement.
And that is what is happening. Who knew even Samsung phones suffered from boot loops!
Huawei, the global technology leader, has – for the first time ever – combined the power of AI and human expertise to compose the final two movements of Schubert’s famous Symphony No. 8. Commonly known as the ‘Unfinished Symphony.’ The ‘Unfinished Symphony’ has remained incomplete for 197 years and despite numerous attempts it remains one of the most intriguing pieces of unfinished symphonic music of all time. Below is a video teaser.
Huawei’s completed version of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 was created by running an Artificial Intelligence model benefitting directly from the processing power of the dual NPU (Neural Processing Unit) in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro smartphone – designed specifically with AI-based tasks in mind. Analysing the timbre, pitch and meter of the existing first and second movements of the symphony, the AI model then generated the melody for the final, missing third and fourth movements. Huawei then worked with Emmy award-winning composer, Lucas Cantor to arrange an orchestral score from the melody that stayed true to the style of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8.
“At Huawei, we are always searching for ways in which technology can make the world a better place. So we taught our Mate 20 Pro smartphone to analyse an unfinished, nearly 200 year old piece of music and to finish it in the style of the original composer,” commented Walter Ji, President CBG, Huawei Western Europe. “We used the power of AI, to extend the boundaries of what is humanly possible and see the positive role technology might have on modern culture. If our smartphone is intelligent enough to do this, what else could be possible?”
Lucas Cantor, Composer said: “My role was to draw out the AI’s good ideas and fill in the gaps to ensure the final output was ready to be played by a symphony orchestra. The result of this collaboration with AI proves that technology offers incredible possibilities and the significant and positive impact it can have on modern culture.”
The final, Huawei-completed piece will be brought to life with a live performance at the iconic Cadogan Hall in London on Monday 4th February.
Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor is considered to be the archetypal ‘Unfinished Symphony’. Musicologists are still in disagreement as to why Schubert failed to complete the piece, some cite his ill health, others claim that he was distracted by his follow up piece of work, but what is agreed upon is that he was charting new musical terrain with the piece.
Further information and the finished symphony can be found via:
