Road test
Great trip with Sony Ericsson Xperia neo
When I was offered a new smartphone on the Sony Ericsson Xperia neo line of the test, I was just going to take a small car trip around Ukraine, and took the novelty without thinking: travel is stress for technology, which means the best way to find out what she is capable of in practice.
')
Therefore, today's review will differ from the standard articles on new gadgets: this will be a story about the trip - and how the phone behaved in it. In addition to the Xperia neo, with me as a reference model was another new model of this year - the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc.
But I'll start with a small presentation of both phones. What kind of beast is such an Xperia arc to readers of this blog, no need to explain, and that to be modest, there were no less than a dozen posts about it or with its participation on Habré.
If arc is the flagship model, then Xperia neo is a potential sales leader: technically identical to the arch, neo is smaller and more accessible - it is expected that it will cost 30 percent less, about 18 thousand rubles (the average price on the Market is 17,700 ). Neo has a clever brother Xperia pro, characterized by the presence of a sliding keyboard - its review on the queue.
A reader who knows a bit about the Sony Ericsson model range may have noticed that the model names were borrowed from the hits of last year - the compact X10 mini and X10 mini pro smartphones. Just a couple of weeks ago, the company announced a new generation of these babies - they, as usual, grew up a bit and “lost” the X10 designation in the name. However, this is another story.
The Xperia neo screen with a diagonal of 3.7 ”has the same resolution as the“ big brother ”arc, so that it will fit all the same, only the size will be slightly smaller (the“ arch ”has a half-inch more - 4.2 "). In Angry birds on neo play will be more difficult.
Due to the smaller screen size, the Xperia neo is noticeably smaller than the arc. Due to this, the phone rightfully claims unisex - Xperia arc in the female palm still looks slightly alien. The body, it can be said, is tricolor: the black panel is traditionally black on the front, silver “mirror” plastic on the sides, and the back is a blue gradient.
An important feature - all connectors: microUSB, HDMI and, most importantly, audio output - are located on the top of the phone from the top, so even with headphones turned on in your pocket, it takes up very little space.
The symmetry defined by the central location of the headphone jack was developed on the back cover: all the “technology holes” —camera, microphone, speaker — are located strictly in the center:
All the main buttons - power, volume rocker and photo - on the right sidewall:
At this cursory review and familiarity can be considered complete - check the device is on the way!
The trip plan was this: I fly to Kharkov on an airplane from Moscow, and from there, by car, we are going on a trip to Ukraine. We did not have a clearly defined plan, only one goal - to get to Kiev, and then, depending on the circumstances, try to see as much as possible and return to Moscow by car.
Vnukovo was waiting for me a small twin-engine AN-24 airline Utair . At the sight of a small battered airplane, it only remained to be glad that this is not the AN-2 . On board it smelled something, the child was screaming further in two rows, and the landing system was like in a movie theater: a friendly flight attendant suggested that I sit down at any free space, which I used when I sat by the window.
Similar impressions of Utair y days Anton Nosik described in his blog - presumably, this sweetie and “sit on the empty seats” are not the creative standard of a single crew, but a corporate standard.
Sitting in a cramped chair, I thought that it was time to test the capabilities of my neo's video camera. Pre-flight briefing performed by the same flight attendant:
(youtube video can be viewed in 720p format)
After listening twice in English and in Ukrainian, a warning about switching off electronic devices, I honestly switched the phone to flight mode and got ready to take off.
Farewell look at Vnukovo:
Look at Yandex. Photos
We take off (the same irrepressible child shouts against the background):
(youtube video can be viewed in 720p format)
The moment of separation from the ground - at 4:10, after which the panoramas of the Vnukovo environs are about half a minute before we went into the clouds.
Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the passengers were given a candy, a strong appetite which I didn’t cause:
Look at Yandex. Photos
An hour and a half later we sat down in Kharkov. The local terminal is clean, modern and very deserted.
Look at Yandex. Photos
At the exit, there were a couple of police officers with weapons - they reacted to the idea of ​​photographing them as well as all their colleagues throughout the entire space of the former USSR - cultural codes are stronger than legal borders.
The first test of the strength of my Xperia neo occurred even earlier than I expected and in a rather tough scenario: in the parking lot of the first supermarket in Kharkov, I inadvertently pulled the phone by the wire from the headphones, and it fell into the puddle on the asphalt - and every self-respecting sandwich, butter, I mean, the screen down. The misfortune was that this copy, which had already been before on the test of fellow journalists, returned from it without a protective film, which is put on all of Xperia this year during assembly. Therefore, the shock properties of the screen had a chance to check the Hamburg score. The phone checked it with dignity - not a single scratch. Shaking off, I put it in my pocket, but the surprises were still to come.
After a couple of hours neo just stopped turning on. The only sign of life that he gave was a burning light of the LED when charging, but the screen did not react to anything. Disassembling the phone and blow-drying did not help. It turned out that the screen does not work: the phone was turned on, remained on the network and received calls — at least the beeps went. At the same time, he himself remained silent and immovable, and it was absolutely impossible to answer the call (as well as to find out in general what he was going).
However, all is well that ends well. In Kharkov, we spent two days - all this time as a guinea pig, I had an arc, and neo at the end of the second day in the city suddenly came to life (in the sense, the screen turned on) and started working as if nothing had happened - without any glitches and crickets in the future.
My main concern upon arrival in Kharkov was to acquire local communication. The best offer for calls in Ukraine and to Russia was the tariff of the local operator Life :) (yes, its name is written) with a gigabyte traffic package for 100 hryvnia (350 rubles in our way). He had some kind of action, so I already got 3 gigabytes of traffic — a huge amount, as it turned out. For the entire trip I did not spend a tenth of this stock. In general, the prices in Ukraine are a holiday of some kind.We used to go to the first supermarket on the way, look at the price tags and cry. Just kidding, in fact, we were laughing. Bitter such a cynical Moscow laugh. Only gasoline in Ukraine is more expensive. But not as much as the country should have had without its own oil reserves compared to the “energy superpower”.
First of all, having activated a new SIM card, I launched Yandex.Maps and found the nearest hairdresser-beauty salon in this nice Kharkov courtyard:
Look at Yandex. Photos
In Kharkov, I first encountered the cute features of Ukrainian life.
First, the Ukrainian press:
Look at Yandex. Photos
- LQ magazine, in appearance - creatively rethought GQ magazine format, but not from the Conde Nast publishing house, but from a Kiev advertising agency.
Secondly, Ukrainian bus:
Look at Yandex. Photos
- in Ukraine it is customary to build minibuses with a high ceiling, the roof is changed on all minibuses - from “Gazelles” to “Mercedes”.
For less than two days, Kharkov was studied along and across. It turned out to be a very nice, cozy and beautiful town.
Look at Yandex. Photos
And on Sunday we moved to Kiev.
The roads on Ukran leave much to be desired:
Look at Yandex. Photos
500 km along the roads of central Ukraine are remembered by two things: the terrible quality of the coating (endless shaking and exhausting hum of the wheels) and the complete absence of normal lighting and marking. Road to nowhere:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Already at the entrance to Kiev, we caught up with a small tuple: past-generation Toyota Land Cruiser, a new Lexus LX and a closing tuple Lexus GS. We walked a few kilometers closely, even wedged a couple of times into their order of battle, cutting off the lock sedan from the jeeps. After a while, we got tired of it, and we easily went around the tuple:
Look at Yandex. Photos
But after a few kilometers, zamekalis at a fork, we again missed them forward. It was already on the territory of a settlement, so it was no longer possible to arrange a race. In the meantime, a small castling took place in the tuple: the first Kruzak, who had gone first, was rearranged, and the Lexus went into the lead. While we were wondering what had happened, we drove through the turn at Borispol airport and suddenly found out that Toyota was still looming in front of us, and the rest of the motorcade was gone. A couple of crossroads later Land Cruiser also left the horizon. It was only then that I realized that this was a real covering operation: the kukuruzer specially distracted us, allowing the boss (who most likely was driving in the second jeep) to quietly move out, most likely, to the airport. And he led us for some time, until he was convinced that we did not represent a threat. Well, in principle, it is clear how it should have looked from their side: at first they were thwarted in their way, they overtook and missed again. Who knows what these geeks started with Moscow numbers? So the guards worked clearly, not undermining. Famously lit. It’s only interesting how they would behave, is this story taking place not on a bright day at the approach to Kiev, but, for example, the night before on a deserted highway?
Neat lawns and billboards at the entrance to Kiev caused a feeling of deja vu - as if you were entering Nerezinovaya again.
Look at Yandex. Photos
We entered the city on May 9, so the program for the evening was obvious: a walking tour of Kreschatik and Maidan Nezalezhnosti, which became on that day exclusively a pedestrian zone.
To be honest, I liked the center of the capital of Ukraine much more than the center of Moscow - in many respects the same Stalinist building, but a lot of trees are somehow more interesting - something that has not been found on Tverskaya for a long time.
Look at Yandex. Photos
On a holiday, Khreshchatyk reminds Arbat: the same huge amount of any street performers entertaining idle people. For example, a mime that stands absolutely motionless, like a papier-mâché doll:
Look at Yandex. Photos
But it is necessary to throw a few hryvnas into his box, as he “turns on” and begins to juggle to the joy of local children.
Look at Yandex. Photos
I also tried a couple of times to throw hryvnia to him, but it turned out not to be fast enough: the local kids were much quicker and almost did not move away from him, plentifully sponsoring him with parental money.
A little further was the rocker get-together: Tsoi was playing, as expected. It would not be worth it to pay attention if the local analogue of the musical personality were not hanging out there - a cheerful gopnik, funny jerking to the guitar:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Across the street from the street loudspeakers came the bravura songs of the war, and a little further, on the Maidan, there was a big festive concert. Until it reached, it was already dark. Well, great - this is not a reason to test the Xperia neo camera with its Exmor R matrix, which promises the best shooting quality at dusk.
Concert on the main square of the country:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Veterans are watching the concert:
Look at Yandex. Photos
And only Sberbank of Russia, even in Ukraine, remains Sberbank:
Look at Yandex. Photos
"ATM does not work"
By the way, the cameras Xperia arc and Xperia neo are identical - 8 megapixels, Exmor R backlight matrix, digital zoom, search for faces and smiles and autofocus. The zoom worked only in the resolution mode of 2 MP, in the mode of 6 MP (frame format 16x9) and 8 MP (4x3) the picture approximation is impossible. I took pictures on both cameras in turn, but the difference in the quality of photos is hardly at all possible to see.
Rate this video Xperia neo, and at the same time get a rough idea of ​​the scale of the festivities, you can on this video:
(youtube video can be viewed in 720p format)
Of course, the resolution of 720p does not mean an automatic picture guarantee like Michael Bay - it would be naive to expect this. The quality of shooting at the level of an amateur camcorder, color reproduction is good - well, in my unprofessional opinion. With sudden movements and shaking hands, the picture is a little blurred.
In contrast to the joyous and cool city center, the outskirts of Kiev made a depressing impression: 10 minutes away from the center, in residential areas, dark as in the promozone somewhere in Perovo. In general, the impression was that saving on street lighting is a normal practice for Ukraine. Our cities will be somehow lighter.
Goodbye, Kiev!
Look at Yandex. Photos
No longer lingering in Kiev, we moved north to Chernigov, 120 km from us. On the way out of the city, for the first time local traffic cops braked us - DAI or, in a simple way, diners - this option reveals the essence of this organization more fully than some kind of abbreviation there. The reflexes they do not differ from the skills of our guards of roads - they stand on holidays at the entrances and exits and catch drunk. To us, however, attracted the attention of Russian numbers. The first meeting ended quietly - limited to the verification of documents. But after half an hour they braked again - speeding in a populated area. The fact that there was a settlement was supposed to be testified by a sign that we had not seen, and of the people of Dyne themselves, who asked for gifts. If you describe the impressions of the meeting with the Ukrainian law enforcement officers as briefly and correctly as possible, then it will sound like this: an impudent divorce at the headstock .
What is characteristic, the driver’s solidarity is completely unfamiliar to the Ukrainians — never once has anyone warned us about any of the DAI counter posts (this time and in the future).
That Chernihiv outside the city is clear from afar:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Chernihiv is one of the most ancient cities of Russia, the first mention of which dates back to 907.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Chernihiv grows all around its historical roots. Here is a small park not far from the city center, surrounded by five-story residential buildings - an almost ordinary city courtyard, just a bigger one and instead of a rocket and a merry-go-round in the center there is an architectural monument of the XII century - the Pyatnitskaya Church .
Look at Yandex. Photos
But at the entrance to Chernigov we had a chance to spend the night in the worst hotel for the whole trip, the interior resembling a roadside brothel. True, it turned out to be the only place where passports were not asked for. Money paid - and OK. "Your car in our parking lot is the best guarantee."
I especially liked the girl’s bartender’s philosophy, part-time hostess, which she shared with my curiosity about such indifference to our owners: “We are just an institution. Even if you kill someone here, it will not be our problems. ”
Being a guest is good, but being at home is better. 300 kilometers to the border overcame in the same breath, especially since the road home - the E-101 highway - turned out to be just great. True, on the way we were twice braked by the dices.
Um, how would you better demonstrate the principles of the work of the Ukrainian traffic police ... Do you know the anecdote? At the traffic cop gave birth to a wife, he comes to the head and says: well, they say, and so, gave birth. “Well, well,” says the boss, “you can leave early.” "No, well, I have the firstborn!" "Okay, okay - take a day off." “No, you do not understand: my son was born!” “Well, well,” the boss sighs, “take the 40 sign and place where you want.”
But it was not necessary to exchange the hryvnia for rubles when they entered Russia - there was not a penny left.
There were almost no cars on the border at night, so it took less than an hour to reach both borders.
Type of Ukrainian customs:
Look at Yandex. Photos
I don’t know the rules of photographing at the border, if they are there, therefore, clicking the border, I immediately posted a photo on Twitter just in case.
And so that no one was hurt, he photographed our part:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Do not go, children, to go for a walk to Africa - in the sense, do not even think of going through the Eagle from the border - I did not see any worse road. Excellent mobile Internet from Life :) ended right behind the cordon, and the SIM card returned to its place for a long time refused to love Motherland and connect to the network. While I was fiddling with the settings, we had already made the wrong choice at the Bryansk-Oryol fork and went home eventually not through Bryansk and Kaluga, but through Orel and Tula.
Look at Yandex. Photos
The fact that we are in Russia, it became clear in the first roadside hotel (which, by the way, there was not a single one for almost 100 km from Zhelznogorsk) - a double room in the doss house for truckers cost 1,400 rubles - 400 hryvnias, that is. In Ukraine, overnight in a very decent "hotel" cost 300-350 hryvnia (about 1000 rubles). And the number in the most decent hotel of Zheleznogorsk is already 1000 hryvnas (for comparison, the number in a pretentious “art-hotel” in Kiev cost as much). Russia, in general, is a generous soul.
And it was in the Oryol region that the first Xperia neo was plugged in by Yandex.Maps , stubbornly convincing me that we were driving - first - across the field, and then wade across the river. The route of the federal highway along which we drove, and the bridge, to Yandex, obviously, were simply unknown.
In total, in 5 days we traveled almost 1,500 km along the route Moscow-Kharkov-Poltava-Kiev-Chernigov-Zheleznogorsk-Orel-Tula-Moscow. Sony Ericsson Xperia neo was a full participant in the journey - not only did he have to go through an unpleasant story from the very beginning, he acted as a navigator all the way - and coped with it with a bang. The map of Ukraine that was purchased in advance was never useful.
Here we are at home.
The quality of the second important function - photo and video recording of the chronology of the trip - you can judge by the pictures and videos in this post. And thirdly, the last three days of the trip came in the after-holiday days, so neo had to turn into a mobile office: mail, ICQ, Skype and, in fact, a telephone.
The only thing in this mode of use is the battery sits pretty quickly. According to subjective feelings, neo lasts a little longer than the arc - perhaps the difference in the screens affects. But to charge one or the other phone all the way was necessarily connected. To remain without communication on the road is the last thing, and USB charging from the cigarette lighter is an absolutely necessary accessory.
It was using Xperia neo that I discovered a pleasant feature of the Android Market, which I didn’t know about before - all applications I’ve ever bought there are available for download from any other phone. Therefore, without further ado, I downloaded all the games and utilities that I had ever paid for at once on neo.
Here are some of the applications that came in handy on my trip:
But what remained dissatisfied - this is the standard mail client and the Gmail mobile application. Using mail via a browser is much more convenient - the functionality is available without restrictions, and the screen resolution allows you to not experience any inconvenience. I also installed the application utility Docs, the announcement of which I read on Habré - for working with Google docks, respectively. On the full tool does not pull, in my opinion. Let's see how Google will develop these applications further.
With so many applications, many of which are necessary and often used, the organization of the “workspace” is a very topical issue. Very quickly, I came to the conclusion that there is no point in bringing application icons to one of the five desktops - because they are just a click away from the menu button.
Desktops should be used to display widgets or organize folders. There are no complaints about the widgets that are called “graphic fragments” in the Sony Ericsson menu - only some are missing, for example, a radio.
Creating folders, you can choose the type of folder, its name, and then simply drag and drop to drop application icons and shortcuts there. When you click on a folder, the icons are displayed in the frame, but in order to go to the next folder, you need to do two clicks: at the first - the contents of the current one close, and only from the second - the next one opens. In principle, it was possible to manage with one click.
There is still not enough auto-rotate when the screen is horizontal - for example, when switching between games. By the way, as it turned out, not everyone knows that switching between running applications in Gingerbread is implemented, and quite simple: you just need to hold down the Home button.
The kind of box traditional for the latest Sony Ericsson models is a flat cube with a sliding box:
Inside, the phone itself is in the cradle, and in the lid of the box is a headset and paper compartment ( as in Xperia PLAY ).
The Russian phone package consists of: the smartphone itself, a wired headset, an 8 GB memory card, an HDMI adapter and a USB cable along with a plug.
The phone is assembled with high quality, nothing creaks or backlash - despite all the falls, puddles and caring hands of journalists who have already met him on the way.
Xperia neo is made on the same platform as the "older" models of Xperia arc and Xperia PLAY, and provides all the same entertainment and business opportunities, but at the same time it is smaller, more accessible and more versatile: it suits both boys and girls - actually , .
Camera:
And the main characteristic - he withstood the test on the roads.
When I was offered a new smartphone on the Sony Ericsson Xperia neo line of the test, I was just going to take a small car trip around Ukraine, and took the novelty without thinking: travel is stress for technology, which means the best way to find out what she is capable of in practice.
')
Therefore, today's review will differ from the standard articles on new gadgets: this will be a story about the trip - and how the phone behaved in it. In addition to the Xperia neo, with me as a reference model was another new model of this year - the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc.
But I'll start with a small presentation of both phones. What kind of beast is such an Xperia arc to readers of this blog, no need to explain, and that to be modest, there were no less than a dozen posts about it or with its participation on Habré.
If arc is the flagship model, then Xperia neo is a potential sales leader: technically identical to the arch, neo is smaller and more accessible - it is expected that it will cost 30 percent less, about 18 thousand rubles (the average price on the Market is 17,700 ). Neo has a clever brother Xperia pro, characterized by the presence of a sliding keyboard - its review on the queue.
A reader who knows a bit about the Sony Ericsson model range may have noticed that the model names were borrowed from the hits of last year - the compact X10 mini and X10 mini pro smartphones. Just a couple of weeks ago, the company announced a new generation of these babies - they, as usual, grew up a bit and “lost” the X10 designation in the name. However, this is another story.
Appearance
The Xperia neo screen with a diagonal of 3.7 ”has the same resolution as the“ big brother ”arc, so that it will fit all the same, only the size will be slightly smaller (the“ arch ”has a half-inch more - 4.2 "). In Angry birds on neo play will be more difficult.
Due to the smaller screen size, the Xperia neo is noticeably smaller than the arc. Due to this, the phone rightfully claims unisex - Xperia arc in the female palm still looks slightly alien. The body, it can be said, is tricolor: the black panel is traditionally black on the front, silver “mirror” plastic on the sides, and the back is a blue gradient.
An important feature - all connectors: microUSB, HDMI and, most importantly, audio output - are located on the top of the phone from the top, so even with headphones turned on in your pocket, it takes up very little space.
The symmetry defined by the central location of the headphone jack was developed on the back cover: all the “technology holes” —camera, microphone, speaker — are located strictly in the center:
All the main buttons - power, volume rocker and photo - on the right sidewall:
At this cursory review and familiarity can be considered complete - check the device is on the way!
The journey begins
The trip plan was this: I fly to Kharkov on an airplane from Moscow, and from there, by car, we are going on a trip to Ukraine. We did not have a clearly defined plan, only one goal - to get to Kiev, and then, depending on the circumstances, try to see as much as possible and return to Moscow by car.
Departure
Vnukovo was waiting for me a small twin-engine AN-24 airline Utair . At the sight of a small battered airplane, it only remained to be glad that this is not the AN-2 . On board it smelled something, the child was screaming further in two rows, and the landing system was like in a movie theater: a friendly flight attendant suggested that I sit down at any free space, which I used when I sat by the window.
Similar impressions of Utair y days Anton Nosik described in his blog - presumably, this sweetie and “sit on the empty seats” are not the creative standard of a single crew, but a corporate standard.
Sitting in a cramped chair, I thought that it was time to test the capabilities of my neo's video camera. Pre-flight briefing performed by the same flight attendant:
(youtube video can be viewed in 720p format)
After listening twice in English and in Ukrainian, a warning about switching off electronic devices, I honestly switched the phone to flight mode and got ready to take off.
Farewell look at Vnukovo:
Look at Yandex. Photos
We take off (the same irrepressible child shouts against the background):
(youtube video can be viewed in 720p format)
The moment of separation from the ground - at 4:10, after which the panoramas of the Vnukovo environs are about half a minute before we went into the clouds.
Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the passengers were given a candy, a strong appetite which I didn’t cause:
Look at Yandex. Photos
An hour and a half later we sat down in Kharkov. The local terminal is clean, modern and very deserted.
Look at Yandex. Photos
At the exit, there were a couple of police officers with weapons - they reacted to the idea of ​​photographing them as well as all their colleagues throughout the entire space of the former USSR - cultural codes are stronger than legal borders.
Vicissitudes
The first test of the strength of my Xperia neo occurred even earlier than I expected and in a rather tough scenario: in the parking lot of the first supermarket in Kharkov, I inadvertently pulled the phone by the wire from the headphones, and it fell into the puddle on the asphalt - and every self-respecting sandwich, butter, I mean, the screen down. The misfortune was that this copy, which had already been before on the test of fellow journalists, returned from it without a protective film, which is put on all of Xperia this year during assembly. Therefore, the shock properties of the screen had a chance to check the Hamburg score. The phone checked it with dignity - not a single scratch. Shaking off, I put it in my pocket, but the surprises were still to come.
After a couple of hours neo just stopped turning on. The only sign of life that he gave was a burning light of the LED when charging, but the screen did not react to anything. Disassembling the phone and blow-drying did not help. It turned out that the screen does not work: the phone was turned on, remained on the network and received calls — at least the beeps went. At the same time, he himself remained silent and immovable, and it was absolutely impossible to answer the call (as well as to find out in general what he was going).
However, all is well that ends well. In Kharkov, we spent two days - all this time as a guinea pig, I had an arc, and neo at the end of the second day in the city suddenly came to life (in the sense, the screen turned on) and started working as if nothing had happened - without any glitches and crickets in the future.
My main concern upon arrival in Kharkov was to acquire local communication. The best offer for calls in Ukraine and to Russia was the tariff of the local operator Life :) (yes, its name is written) with a gigabyte traffic package for 100 hryvnia (350 rubles in our way). He had some kind of action, so I already got 3 gigabytes of traffic — a huge amount, as it turned out. For the entire trip I did not spend a tenth of this stock. In general, the prices in Ukraine are a holiday of some kind.
First of all, having activated a new SIM card, I launched Yandex.Maps and found the nearest hairdresser-beauty salon in this nice Kharkov courtyard:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Fun
In Kharkov, I first encountered the cute features of Ukrainian life.
First, the Ukrainian press:
Look at Yandex. Photos
- LQ magazine, in appearance - creatively rethought GQ magazine format, but not from the Conde Nast publishing house, but from a Kiev advertising agency.
Secondly, Ukrainian bus:
Look at Yandex. Photos
- in Ukraine it is customary to build minibuses with a high ceiling, the roof is changed on all minibuses - from “Gazelles” to “Mercedes”.
For less than two days, Kharkov was studied along and across. It turned out to be a very nice, cozy and beautiful town.
Look at Yandex. Photos
And on Sunday we moved to Kiev.
Roads
The roads on Ukran leave much to be desired:
Look at Yandex. Photos
500 km along the roads of central Ukraine are remembered by two things: the terrible quality of the coating (endless shaking and exhausting hum of the wheels) and the complete absence of normal lighting and marking. Road to nowhere:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Incident on the road
Already at the entrance to Kiev, we caught up with a small tuple: past-generation Toyota Land Cruiser, a new Lexus LX and a closing tuple Lexus GS. We walked a few kilometers closely, even wedged a couple of times into their order of battle, cutting off the lock sedan from the jeeps. After a while, we got tired of it, and we easily went around the tuple:
Look at Yandex. Photos
But after a few kilometers, zamekalis at a fork, we again missed them forward. It was already on the territory of a settlement, so it was no longer possible to arrange a race. In the meantime, a small castling took place in the tuple: the first Kruzak, who had gone first, was rearranged, and the Lexus went into the lead. While we were wondering what had happened, we drove through the turn at Borispol airport and suddenly found out that Toyota was still looming in front of us, and the rest of the motorcade was gone. A couple of crossroads later Land Cruiser also left the horizon. It was only then that I realized that this was a real covering operation: the kukuruzer specially distracted us, allowing the boss (who most likely was driving in the second jeep) to quietly move out, most likely, to the airport. And he led us for some time, until he was convinced that we did not represent a threat. Well, in principle, it is clear how it should have looked from their side: at first they were thwarted in their way, they overtook and missed again. Who knows what these geeks started with Moscow numbers? So the guards worked clearly, not undermining. Famously lit. It’s only interesting how they would behave, is this story taking place not on a bright day at the approach to Kiev, but, for example, the night before on a deserted highway?
Kiev
Neat lawns and billboards at the entrance to Kiev caused a feeling of deja vu - as if you were entering Nerezinovaya again.
Look at Yandex. Photos
We entered the city on May 9, so the program for the evening was obvious: a walking tour of Kreschatik and Maidan Nezalezhnosti, which became on that day exclusively a pedestrian zone.
To be honest, I liked the center of the capital of Ukraine much more than the center of Moscow - in many respects the same Stalinist building, but a lot of trees are somehow more interesting - something that has not been found on Tverskaya for a long time.
Look at Yandex. Photos
On a holiday, Khreshchatyk reminds Arbat: the same huge amount of any street performers entertaining idle people. For example, a mime that stands absolutely motionless, like a papier-mâché doll:
Look at Yandex. Photos
But it is necessary to throw a few hryvnas into his box, as he “turns on” and begins to juggle to the joy of local children.
Look at Yandex. Photos
I also tried a couple of times to throw hryvnia to him, but it turned out not to be fast enough: the local kids were much quicker and almost did not move away from him, plentifully sponsoring him with parental money.
A little further was the rocker get-together: Tsoi was playing, as expected. It would not be worth it to pay attention if the local analogue of the musical personality were not hanging out there - a cheerful gopnik, funny jerking to the guitar:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Across the street from the street loudspeakers came the bravura songs of the war, and a little further, on the Maidan, there was a big festive concert. Until it reached, it was already dark. Well, great - this is not a reason to test the Xperia neo camera with its Exmor R matrix, which promises the best shooting quality at dusk.
Concert on the main square of the country:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Veterans are watching the concert:
Look at Yandex. Photos
And only Sberbank of Russia, even in Ukraine, remains Sberbank:
Look at Yandex. Photos
"ATM does not work"
Camera
By the way, the cameras Xperia arc and Xperia neo are identical - 8 megapixels, Exmor R backlight matrix, digital zoom, search for faces and smiles and autofocus. The zoom worked only in the resolution mode of 2 MP, in the mode of 6 MP (frame format 16x9) and 8 MP (4x3) the picture approximation is impossible. I took pictures on both cameras in turn, but the difference in the quality of photos is hardly at all possible to see.
Rate this video Xperia neo, and at the same time get a rough idea of ​​the scale of the festivities, you can on this video:
(youtube video can be viewed in 720p format)
Of course, the resolution of 720p does not mean an automatic picture guarantee like Michael Bay - it would be naive to expect this. The quality of shooting at the level of an amateur camcorder, color reproduction is good - well, in my unprofessional opinion. With sudden movements and shaking hands, the picture is a little blurred.
In contrast to the joyous and cool city center, the outskirts of Kiev made a depressing impression: 10 minutes away from the center, in residential areas, dark as in the promozone somewhere in Perovo. In general, the impression was that saving on street lighting is a normal practice for Ukraine. Our cities will be somehow lighter.
Goodbye, Kiev!
Look at Yandex. Photos
Daytsy
No longer lingering in Kiev, we moved north to Chernigov, 120 km from us. On the way out of the city, for the first time local traffic cops braked us - DAI or, in a simple way, diners - this option reveals the essence of this organization more fully than some kind of abbreviation there. The reflexes they do not differ from the skills of our guards of roads - they stand on holidays at the entrances and exits and catch drunk. To us, however, attracted the attention of Russian numbers. The first meeting ended quietly - limited to the verification of documents. But after half an hour they braked again - speeding in a populated area. The fact that there was a settlement was supposed to be testified by a sign that we had not seen, and of the people of Dyne themselves, who asked for gifts. If you describe the impressions of the meeting with the Ukrainian law enforcement officers as briefly and correctly as possible, then it will sound like this: an impudent divorce at the headstock .
What is characteristic, the driver’s solidarity is completely unfamiliar to the Ukrainians — never once has anyone warned us about any of the DAI counter posts (this time and in the future).
Chernigov
That Chernihiv outside the city is clear from afar:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Chernihiv is one of the most ancient cities of Russia, the first mention of which dates back to 907.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Chernihiv grows all around its historical roots. Here is a small park not far from the city center, surrounded by five-story residential buildings - an almost ordinary city courtyard, just a bigger one and instead of a rocket and a merry-go-round in the center there is an architectural monument of the XII century - the Pyatnitskaya Church .
Look at Yandex. Photos
But at the entrance to Chernigov we had a chance to spend the night in the worst hotel for the whole trip, the interior resembling a roadside brothel. True, it turned out to be the only place where passports were not asked for. Money paid - and OK. "Your car in our parking lot is the best guarantee."
I especially liked the girl’s bartender’s philosophy, part-time hostess, which she shared with my curiosity about such indifference to our owners: “We are just an institution. Even if you kill someone here, it will not be our problems. ”
Dice again
Being a guest is good, but being at home is better. 300 kilometers to the border overcame in the same breath, especially since the road home - the E-101 highway - turned out to be just great. True, on the way we were twice braked by the dices.
Um, how would you better demonstrate the principles of the work of the Ukrainian traffic police ... Do you know the anecdote? At the traffic cop gave birth to a wife, he comes to the head and says: well, they say, and so, gave birth. “Well, well,” says the boss, “you can leave early.” "No, well, I have the firstborn!" "Okay, okay - take a day off." “No, you do not understand: my son was born!” “Well, well,” the boss sighs, “take the 40 sign and place where you want.”
But it was not necessary to exchange the hryvnia for rubles when they entered Russia - there was not a penny left.
The border
There were almost no cars on the border at night, so it took less than an hour to reach both borders.
Type of Ukrainian customs:
Look at Yandex. Photos
I don’t know the rules of photographing at the border, if they are there, therefore, clicking the border, I immediately posted a photo on Twitter just in case.
And so that no one was hurt, he photographed our part:
Look at Yandex. Photos
Russia
Do not go, children, to go for a walk to Africa - in the sense, do not even think of going through the Eagle from the border - I did not see any worse road. Excellent mobile Internet from Life :) ended right behind the cordon, and the SIM card returned to its place for a long time refused to love Motherland and connect to the network. While I was fiddling with the settings, we had already made the wrong choice at the Bryansk-Oryol fork and went home eventually not through Bryansk and Kaluga, but through Orel and Tula.
Look at Yandex. Photos
The fact that we are in Russia, it became clear in the first roadside hotel (which, by the way, there was not a single one for almost 100 km from Zhelznogorsk) - a double room in the doss house for truckers cost 1,400 rubles - 400 hryvnias, that is. In Ukraine, overnight in a very decent "hotel" cost 300-350 hryvnia (about 1000 rubles). And the number in the most decent hotel of Zheleznogorsk is already 1000 hryvnas (for comparison, the number in a pretentious “art-hotel” in Kiev cost as much). Russia, in general, is a generous soul.
And it was in the Oryol region that the first Xperia neo was plugged in by Yandex.Maps , stubbornly convincing me that we were driving - first - across the field, and then wade across the river. The route of the federal highway along which we drove, and the bridge, to Yandex, obviously, were simply unknown.
Results
In total, in 5 days we traveled almost 1,500 km along the route Moscow-Kharkov-Poltava-Kiev-Chernigov-Zheleznogorsk-Orel-Tula-Moscow. Sony Ericsson Xperia neo was a full participant in the journey - not only did he have to go through an unpleasant story from the very beginning, he acted as a navigator all the way - and coped with it with a bang. The map of Ukraine that was purchased in advance was never useful.
Here we are at home.
The quality of the second important function - photo and video recording of the chronology of the trip - you can judge by the pictures and videos in this post. And thirdly, the last three days of the trip came in the after-holiday days, so neo had to turn into a mobile office: mail, ICQ, Skype and, in fact, a telephone.
The only thing in this mode of use is the battery sits pretty quickly. According to subjective feelings, neo lasts a little longer than the arc - perhaps the difference in the screens affects. But to charge one or the other phone all the way was necessarily connected. To remain without communication on the road is the last thing, and USB charging from the cigarette lighter is an absolutely necessary accessory.
Insides
It was using Xperia neo that I discovered a pleasant feature of the Android Market, which I didn’t know about before - all applications I’ve ever bought there are available for download from any other phone. Therefore, without further ado, I downloaded all the games and utilities that I had ever paid for at once on neo.
Here are some of the applications that came in handy on my trip:
- Yandex.Maps and Yandex.Money - thanks to Yandex for the exact maps of Ukraine.
- Yandex.Metro (including Kharkov and Kiev schemes)
- Alpha Bank (practically the sponsor of the trip - in the Ukrainian outback of his department are found almost more often than in Moscow, where hell can be found when you need him).
- NetCounter - accounting for gprs and wi-fi traffic
- Mail.Ru agent (and what to do, the client itself is poor ICQ, but QIP for mobile platforms is not) and Skype
- Video players mVideoPlay and RockPlayer Lite - along with the standard player, play almost all the necessary video formats. The opportunity to watch movies and TV shows on the road is a great blessing, especially when you are not driving, but the monotonous hours of the road through the forest-steppe are ahead. 3.7-inch screen makes it quite comfortable to watch even movies with subtitles - you will not need a magnifying glass. Very relevant, for example, if we are talking about a not very popular series like The Loop , a Russian dubbing to which does not exist in nature.
- QR Droid - not so much useful, how much cool pribluda for reading QR codes
- FBReader Reader
- RunKeeper - for those who like running in the morning and just counting the number of kilometers traveled
But what remained dissatisfied - this is the standard mail client and the Gmail mobile application. Using mail via a browser is much more convenient - the functionality is available without restrictions, and the screen resolution allows you to not experience any inconvenience. I also installed the application utility Docs, the announcement of which I read on Habré - for working with Google docks, respectively. On the full tool does not pull, in my opinion. Let's see how Google will develop these applications further.
Order on the table
With so many applications, many of which are necessary and often used, the organization of the “workspace” is a very topical issue. Very quickly, I came to the conclusion that there is no point in bringing application icons to one of the five desktops - because they are just a click away from the menu button.
Desktops should be used to display widgets or organize folders. There are no complaints about the widgets that are called “graphic fragments” in the Sony Ericsson menu - only some are missing, for example, a radio.
Creating folders, you can choose the type of folder, its name, and then simply drag and drop to drop application icons and shortcuts there. When you click on a folder, the icons are displayed in the frame, but in order to go to the next folder, you need to do two clicks: at the first - the contents of the current one close, and only from the second - the next one opens. In principle, it was possible to manage with one click.
There is still not enough auto-rotate when the screen is horizontal - for example, when switching between games. By the way, as it turned out, not everyone knows that switching between running applications in Gingerbread is implemented, and quite simple: you just need to hold down the Home button.
Packing and packaging
The kind of box traditional for the latest Sony Ericsson models is a flat cube with a sliding box:
Inside, the phone itself is in the cradle, and in the lid of the box is a headset and paper compartment ( as in Xperia PLAY ).
The Russian phone package consists of: the smartphone itself, a wired headset, an 8 GB memory card, an HDMI adapter and a USB cable along with a plug.
Summary
The phone is assembled with high quality, nothing creaks or backlash - despite all the falls, puddles and caring hands of journalists who have already met him on the way.
Xperia neo is made on the same platform as the "older" models of Xperia arc and Xperia PLAY, and provides all the same entertainment and business opportunities, but at the same time it is smaller, more accessible and more versatile: it suits both boys and girls - actually , .
Specifications
Camera:
- 8 megapixels
- Front Camera (VGA)
- Digital zoom - Intelligent zoom up to 2.46x
- HD video recording (720p) + Video light
- Flash / Light Type - Flash
- Sony's Exmor R for mobile
- 854x480 pixels / 3.7 "capacitive multi-touch touchscreen
- 16,777,216 TFT colors
- 3.7 "capacitive multi-touch touchscreen
- Mobile BRAVIA Engine, jointly developed with SONY
- On-screen QWERTY keyboard
- 126 g
- 57 x 116 x 13 mm
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread
- MicroSD support (up to 32 GB)
- HDMI (type D), aGPS, Bluetooth stereo (A2DP), WLAN, Google Maps, NeoReader barcode scanner, USB 2.0, Androidplatform, 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Up to 7 hours (depending on network conditions and configuration)
And the main characteristic - he withstood the test on the roads.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/119674/
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