fiestaturbo.com

[andymac]

In case anyone is thinking of purchasing from them; particularly from their Kingston-upon-Thames branch, please read on.

This afternoon I picked up a Nikon D7000 kit from my local (Sheffield) branch which had been ordered in from their counterpart KuT store as some Nikon equipment is in constraint owing to flooding in Thailand.

When I got the camera kit home and unboxed I found that the camera body and battery were used (and had fingerprints on it) and the battery charger itself was missing. I immediately called my local branch to complain about being sent an ex-demo unit and waited for a call back. I received a call back later in the afternoon - apparently the charger was being sent up and the unit had "just been unboxed, we're really sorry, it should never have happened".

However, I'm a suspicious bugger and promptly took a photo with the camera then downloaded it to my PC.

Not a lot of people know this, but Nikon and Pentax cameras store the shutter activation count in their extended EXIF information. As you can see, this camera has done a lot more than been "just unboxed" !

I've just fired off an email to the store for the manager to pick up in the morning (if they turn in) and I'm going into store tomorrow to get the charger and hopefully a partial refund; I'm happy to keep the camera as they're like rocking horse s**t at the moment and because my insurance company is involved (and they're not best pleased about this turn of events either) I have to purchase through Jacobs using their poxy gift vouchers.

However, be warned. If you're buying from that chain, check for dust, fingerprints, broken seals and battery contacts that have wear marks on them.

[- Danny Boy -]

Interesting! Such a shame to see it was a used one, lets hope there isn't another fault with it which could be why it had been returned!

[andymac]

Actually, a satisfactory resolution all round; I've been offered a decent discount on the kit if I want to keep it or a full refund. Since I'd be hard pressed to get another before this weekend, the shutter life is 150,000 cycles (so it's done about 2-3% of it's lifespan) and I'll still have a two year Nikon warranty I'm taking option A and keeping the kit.

The Sheffield store manager has been extremely apologetic and when he spoke to me earlier this morning, sounded incredibly pissed off - I think I would be too if someone else was making my store look like a complete twunt.

@Danny I honestly think it's only been handled in-store - it's not dirty (they clean them regularly in store) just used and mine had fingerprints on the screen and wear marks on the copper contacts on the battery. There's no marks on the lens ring so the lens has probably only been fitted once and both exterior elements were in tip-top condition (and is now behind a UV filter so no chance of that ever happening).

Having owned Canon cameras for going on ten years, I'm really very very impressed with this thing for the money - I would have been tempted by a 7D but I was mainly after weathersealing and a mag-alloy chassis so that it'd survive lifes knocks and trudging around the country / world. I also don't think Canon offers something equivalent to the Nikkor 18-200DX lens in terms of quality - a mate had the EF-S 18-200 and it really didn't impress me, unlike the Nikon lens. I'm quite impressed with the 18-105DX that's on it at the moment. Long term, I'll get myself the 18-200, a good quality 70-300 (or similar) and a 35mm prime. Oh, and possibly a 3100 for the missus.

[filtra]

Thats sounds like a bit of pain. Sounds like you've been more than reasonable and fair with them, more so that I would have been!

As you know I'm from Kingston and I've always been impressed with their staff and knowledge, so it's a shame to hear this. I bought my d3100 in Australia due to better pricing and the fact I could claim GST back.

It seems the prices you pay in store for these things are so much! I've bought AF-S lenses, it does 'conquering device' the numbers up due to the framing being different but for some reason I get better photos than the proper DX lenses for the camera. For specific shooting I've also gone off using 'zoom' lenses even the normal 18-55 you get a bit of distortion, I much prefer prime lenses, obviously only if you know what you plan on shooting!

Interesting that you've gone from a Cannon to an Nikon, you barely see people with Nikons these days. I must admit I find the Cannons much more comfortable ergonomically, but my friend is a pro photographer and lets me use his lenses hence going for the Nikon!

Anyway, glad you got it sorted with a deal in tow!

[andymac]

TBH AF-S onto a DX sensor is easy to do in your head since it's 1.5x crop factor. An AF-S lens onto a DX sensor will also typically give you a better image simply because you're using the "sweet spot" in the middle of the lens - handy.

[MotorcyclesFish]

my iphones camera is good

[andymac]

Yes, they are very good for a phone cam. SGS3 is rumoured to be a backlit 12mp jobbie - find out at end of next month I guess.

[~nomad~]

When is the S3 out? My upgrade is due next month....

[andymac]

MWC is at end of this month, all the announcements will be made then I guess.

SGS3 (if announced then) will probably become available in April/may time. I've owned my S2 since it first came into the country. O2 seem to always get a good stock of Samsung handsets as they arrive in the country.

[~nomad~]

yeah love my S2, had it since oct/nov last year. If the s3 is a step up i will get one i think

[andymac]

Should be, they've had a year to work on it and the Galaxy Nexus is essentially the same thing with a better screen. I'm running a leaked beta of ICS on my S2 and I'm really still very happy with it - get around two days of battery life out of it now (with gmail, fb and twitter sync on).

[~nomad~]

yeah my mate is running ics, looks good. Nexas looks nice but the screen is too small for me

[andymac]

It's bigger than the S2 though and I doubt an S3 will have a bigger or even different screen.

I really, REALLY like the look of the Xperia S though, will be interesting to see where sony go with their handsets.

[~nomad~]

I thought the Nexas had a smaller screen? I am confused, thought it was a smaller phone

[andymac]

You're thinking "Nexus S", that was based on original Galaxy S. "Galaxy Nexus" is based on SGS2, but with a bigger (4.65" I think) screen.

[sjoyce666]

MWC is at end of this month, all the announcements will be made then I guess.

SGS3 (if announced then) will probably become available in April/may time. I've owned my S2 since it first came into the country. O2 seem to always get a good stock of Samsung handsets as they arrive in the country.

I dont think the S3 will be at MWC

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/samsung-cancels-mwc-press-conference--1061892

Shame as I am due a new phone in July and after using my wifes S2 I was hoping the S3 would be out by then

[andymac]

Good spot, cheers dude.

You might like to take a peek at the Xperia S - it has a lot going for it.

[Capri]

Good spot, cheers dude.

You might like to take a peek at the Xperia S - it has a lot going for it.

Ohai!

I've just got an Xperia S and it's OK, but not quite as slick as some other Android handsets. It misses some really neat functions that I'd have taken for granted (such as auto brightness, a standard feature on my previous £80 Orange San Francisco, so why not here?!) and battery use is not great (though in fairness I've only had it 3 days so it might improve with time). It also feels quite light and a bit shiny and cheap compared with phones from HTC, Samsung and Apple, IMO. However the screen is pretty good - large and sharp, and good with blacks, though it doesn't beat a Retina display for ultimate resolution, and the camera is excellent.

[andymac]

Al, I know it sounds silly, but have you checked in Settings -> Display ? Every ICS phone I've seen so far has auto-brightness turned off as factory default. Re the battery use, yeah, I've given up there and ordered a high capacity battery for my S2 (I'll never part with this one, it'll just become my working phone if something really awesome comes out). Cat has an Arc now and the battery is terrible, does around a day. I get going on two from the standard S2 battery running CM9.

Also, if you get time, could you post up some photos from the phone where they won't be compressed like hell. A decent camera on a mobile is a godsend imo, I've gotten so many good to great shots from my S2 I don't think I could go back to the mediocre stuff some manufacturers put in their handsets.

[Capri]

First thing I did I'm afraid, Andy, but as the attached screenshot shows there simply isn't the option to do it.

I'll try and get some pics to upload, though I don't know where I can put them that won't compress :S any ideas? If you have a high-capacity email inbox I could email them over from my work account.

Yeah the battery on my Arc S gets about a day at the moment. Mind you, saying that, today it seems to be doing better - came off charge at 7:20am and it's down to 69% by now. I don't think you could get two full days out of it but it's better than it was two days ago.

[~nomad~]

went in t mobile today and carphone warehouse today. Looked at the Nexas but thought it was very nasty to look at and hold, not a fan of the rounded edges and its fat as f**k! I am able to upgrade on 3rd march, but not seeing much I want tbh. I may just get a new S2 and sell my current one

[andymac]

Why sell it at all mate, I mean, really ?

Big battery kit to extend the life by an extra day or so and you're laughing with the old one. only £20-£30 from amazon too (legit samsung).

Al, that sucks so much 'conquering device'. You've put the off the phone with just that one thing - I use mine outdoors quite extensively so the idea of the backlight not kicking up in sunshine is ludicrous. I'd be tempted to use my cooling off period to sling the bugger back in favour of something else, were it me. BTW it's dead easy to unlock the orange SF if you want to use it on another network or pass it on, I'll email you links and details if you're interested.

[~nomad~]

Because i wouldnt need 2 of them? Went in t Mobile shop today and I can get a better contract than i am on now with a free S2, so may as well take it and sell the current one

[andymac]

Oh fair enough. S2s are still attracting premium prices a year on too

[Capri]

I know, it's pretty crap. I'm really stunned because this thing got great TechRadar reviews but lacks so much stuff I'd take for granted on a high-end Android - front-facing camera is another 'WTF is that not here?!' item, I'd say. The 'Timescape' thing as part of the SE overlay is pretty s**t and utterly pointless - the standalone FB and Twitter apps are far more useful - and even with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned off I still can't get decent battery life. It's fine if it's on standby all the time, but the minute you start using it it just drops like a stone; I had 51% battery when I sat down to watch TV lastnight, but with some Facebook and Twitter use, plus playing games for half an hour and then listening to some music on the speaker, that went to 15% by the time I went to bed (around a 2-3hr gap). I guess it's the massive screen which saps so much life out of the battery. My other complaint is that it judders sometimes if it's been on standby for a while; it's fine after you've been using it for a while, but it seems to need to 'spool up' for about 20 seconds after you unlock the screen, which can make actually unlocking the screen itself a pain when it doesn't recognise your touch. The screen does funny things with touch elsewhere, too, sometimes failing to respond to the first touch. Funnily enough I fired up the Legend lastnight to check it still worked for you and found myself thinking that despite the comparitively tiny screen, the little thing felt much slicker to use, much weightier and better-built in the hand, and much easier to control than the vast Arc S. I can't work out how TechRadar rate the phone so highly when it seems to be so second-rate compared to other high-end Androids - surely the S2 and Sensations are better than this?!

</rant>

Oh, re. the Orange SF - I sold that on a couple of months ago as I'd bought an iPhone 4S (yes yes, I went to the dark side) which I'm now selling as I need the cash more than I need the phone. The Sony is the 4S's replacement, but it's a bit of a disappointment when the iPhone was so unexpectedly slick and did everything I asked of it very well.

[andymac]

I think then, in all honesty, you should punt the Xperia. You could install a replacement shell (you may find you've got two lots of sync running for fb and twitter, which may explain your battery life, there again, maybe not) but I don't know if, in all honesty, you can be arsed. If you want to try it, you can install nova launcher or trebuchet, both of which are based on the basic ICS launcher. I personally use trebuchet as I find it simple and fast.

Wake up lag is usually related to kernel issues; the old SGS used to suffer terribly with this and it got fixed in subsequent firmware updates.

I have nothing against iPhones at all (aside the cost of the contract) but I can't get on with the interface personally and I miss my widgets However battery life IS important to you (hence I'm looking at a D-Quad XL when they start shipping and prices drop [and yes, I'm aware of what D-quad sounds like when you say it quickly]) so probably the Sony isn't the phone for you.

FWIW I've ordered a repair kit for the legend from hong-kong; apparently the mic is a common failure point and a result of moisture ingress though the mic and usb port. It's a ten minute fix and about £5 for the parts. Thinking about it, I should order a spare kit...