Sneak Peek Review of Sony Ericsson Walkman Mix

Here's a quick video review of the upcoming Sony Ericsson Walkman Mix handset that I had a play with recently.

Apple iOS5 for iPhone and iPad - Deja Vu?

OK, I realise I'm a little behind on this one, but it's still worth a weigh-in.

I've been reading through the list of things that iOS5 will be including for it's iPhone and iPad (and yes, iPod too) software update this autumn - and it looks like Apple might have stopped innovating, and just started pilfering instead.

Take, for example, the "Notification Center" - an area at the top of the screen that you can drag down to see your new text messages, emails, and anything else that an app wants to let you know. Looks a lot like the notification bar that Android has had for years, no?

And what about integrated Twitter? Android has had that for ages, and Microsoft already announced that for Windows Phone in the Mango update coming this autumn too. It looks like Apple are trying to steal Microsoft's stuff too, with the revamped Camera app - apparently you can now load it from the lock screen (sounds familiar...) and take a photo with the hardware button on the side. Of course, Apple previously dismissed the idea of using the volume-up button as "confusing" for the user, but now they've gone back on that and introduced it.

Wireless Sync is another feature that has come straight from the pages of the Microsoft book - every Windows Phone 7 ever made can do wireless Wi-Fi syncing straight out of the box. Not to mention the "automatic uploading of photos you take to the cloud" - which is basically a rip-off of the Windows Live Skydrive service that does that already.

There are, of course, a couple of things that iOS5 brings like Airplay display mirroring for iPad 2 and Apple TV 2 when combined, and the whole iCloud thing, which sound roughly innovative, but for me at least, it sounds like Apple is desperately trying to tread water to stop the early adopters of iPhone leaving the platform forever.