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Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE (Verizon)

Dan H. — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:32:01 +0000

We reviewed the Motorola Xoom back in March, and it was the first device to run a tablet-optimized version of Android, known as Android 3.0 “Honeycomb”. At the time of the writing, it was a 3G-only tablet, with the 4G LTE hardware upgrade “coming soon”.

Fast forward four months, and the Xoom still doesn’t have the LTE upgrade (it’s coming in a few weeks!), but there’s a new kid on the block: the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and yes, it’s running on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. We have been using one for the last few weeks, so keep reading for the full review!

Hardware

While the LTE version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is new, the Wi-Fi verison of the same tablet has been available for a while. Yes, it’s still rocking the insanely thin profile at 8.6mm, with the same 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution display.

The hardware buttons have changed a bit in the LTE verison, and it’s definitely an improvement. The left side now houses the power and volume buttons, along a pair of speakers – one on the left side, and one on the right.

On the top, you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, along with a slot for the LTE SIM card. On the bottom, Samsung decided to use their proprietary port for charging/sync.

In terms of cameras, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is fitted out with two – a 2MP front-facing camera for video chat, and a 3MP shooter on the back, for the times you decide it’s a good idea to take a picture with your tablet.

On the front, there’s a 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution display. While it’s not a Super AMOLED Plus display, colors looked fantastic, viewing angles worked out nicely. Above the display, there’s the previously mentioned front-facing camera.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1’s hardware is nothing short of amazing. The display is great, the dual-core Tegra 2 processor paired with 1GB of RAM makes for fast and speedy performance, and seriously – we’d say this is the finest piece of hardware to ever come out of Samsung’s labs. At 8.6mm thin and 1.24 pounds, it’s incredibly thin and light, and we didn’t encounter any fatigue when using the tablet for extended periods of time. Again, Samsung – great job with the hardware.

Software

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 ships with Android 3.1 “Honeycomb”. As of right now, Samsung hasn’t added many customizations to the device – they added a custom keyboard, and a tweaked Camera app. However, Samsung just pushed out an update to the Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab 10.1s, and the update is packing some TouchWiz UX elements. We haven’t been able to test it out ourselves yet, but we’ve heard it’s actually pretty nice. That said, our 4G LTE Galaxy Tab 10.1 hasn’t alerted us of any updates, so we’re still waiting on that end.

One of improvements made in 3.1 is the ability to resize widgets on your homescreen. We saw this in Motorola’s custom UI, and we’re glad to see it on Honeycomb. It definitely makes using some of the widgets a much better experience.

4G LTE

We reviewed Verizon’s blazing fast 4G LTE network earlier this year, and we came away impressed with the incredible speeds. Fast forward six months, and the speeds haven’t slowed down. We were able to get 11Mbps down, and around 6Mbps up in our testing.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 suffers from random signal drops of LTE and 3G. We’d be using the device on LTE for a while, and while sitting in the exact same spot, it’d drop to 3G, and then we’d lose signal all together. It happened quite often, and a reboot always fixed the issue.

Battery Life

Battery life on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been pretty fantastic. Even while connected to LTE, we were able to get through a day with medium usage (some browsing, emails, Twitter, a few videos) without too many issues.

Conclusion

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE is quite remarkable. The hardware sets the new standard for Android tablets, and if you’re a fan of Honeycomb, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 delivers on that as well. Bottom line, if you’re looking for solid Android tablet running on one of the fastest’s mobile networks around, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE won’t disappoint.

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Review: Motorola Droid 3

CR H. — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:17:05 +0000

A few weeks ago, Motorola and Verizon launched the third Droid branded full QWERTY slider. Dubbed the Droid 3 (surprising, we know), this latest addition to the Droid family looks a good bit like its older siblings, but also packs some worthwhile upgrades. We’ve spent the last two weeks with one, so read on for our thoughts!

Hardware

The Droid 3 looks a good bit like its two older siblings at first glance, but is actually a good bit different hardware wise. Motorola has packed in a 4” qHD display which is quite good looking. While we wouldn’t say Moto has yet reached iPhone 4 screen clarity, the qHD display is a very nice upgrade over the previous Droid displays. Because of the larger display, the Droid 3 is relatively wide and tall. It’s a bit awkward to hold in hand because of that, but we think it’s a reasonable trade off for the larger display.

Of course the Droid 3 wouldn’t be a Droid without the full QWERTY slide out keyboard beneath the display. The first two Droids packed disastrously bad keyboards, and thankfully the Droid 3’s is a huge improvement. The keys are clicky, have pretty good spacing, and are generally nice to type on. Unfortunately we still found ourselves making an obscene number of mistakes while typing with the full size keyboard. We’ll be sticking with Moto’s quite good software keyboard.

Performance

Just like the Droid X2, the Droid 3 packs a dual core Tegra processor. Unsurprisingly, general performance is quite good. Apps load quickly, web pages render quickly, the device boots quite fast, etc. We had no issues with slowdowns on the Droid 3 like we did with the Droid X2. It seems like Moto has worked out whatever issues they were having with the X2’s shipping OS, which is a good thing.

Software

The Droid 3 ships with Gingerbread 2.3.4. We have to applaud Moto and Verizon for finally shipping an entirely up to date Android device. Unfortunately, Moto is still sticking with their Motoblur UI overlay on the Droid 3. Thankfully, there is no MotoBlur sign in requirement on the device, so Blur is definitely more of a UI overlay than a system wide social/syncing service.

Verizon includes a good bit of crapware on the device, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Nor should it be surprising that the ability to uninstall the preloaded apps has been disabled. It doesn’t appear that any of the preloaded crap hurts battery life, which is excellent.

Overall, the shipping OS build on the Droid 3 is quite good. If you’re a fan of Android, you’ll have no issues doing what you enjoy doing. If you’re not a fan of Android, well, the Droid 3 isn’t going to change your perspective.

Battery Life

Battery life on the Droid 3 seems quite good. Standby discharge is as close to nothing as we’ve seen in any smartphone. We can’t imagine anyone will have an issue getting through a day with the Droid 3 using it moderately.

Call Quality / Signal / etc.

Unfortunately call quality and signal strength really suffered for us with the Droid 3, much like the Droid X2. Calls were not at all clear, often to the point that we decided to just hang up. Signal strength was equally disappointing. We hardly ever saw the Droid 3 budge off of one (of four) bars, even though other Verizon devices reported much higher signal strength in the same areas. It appears that Moto may have had a misstep with the Droid 3’s antenna placement/design.

With that said, Verizon was still rock solid as always. No calls dropped despite the low signal and poor quality, and data speeds were completely adequate.

Conclusion

The Droid 3 is a reasonably nice Android device, but it by no means will be a runaway success. The entire experience is rather ‘meh’, being good enough to get by without any negative remarks. So if you’re looking to upgrade your trust Droid or lackluster Droid 2, the Droid 3 wouldn’t be a bad choice. At this point you’ve probably gotten used to a mediocre physical keyboard. But otherwise, we suggest you take a look elsewhere in Verizon’s lineup, unless you’re looking for a no frills Android device on Big Red.

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Review: HTC EVO 3D (Sprint)

Dan H. — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:04:54 +0000

The HTC EVO 3D. It’s the new flagship from Sprint. It’s packing a serious punch, with a dual-core processor, a qHD display with glasses-free 3D, two 5MP cameras capable of 3D capture, and Sense 3.0. We’ve been using one for a solid week or so, and we’re here with the full review!

Hardware

At first glance, you’ll notice that the EVO 3D retains a lot of the styling cues from the original EVO 4G. On the front, you’ll find the 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) display that’s capable of displaying 3D content, four touch sensitive controls with the familiar EVO-style silver circles around them, and a front-facing camera for self-portrait and video chat.

On the left, there’s a microUSB port for charging and sync. On the opposite side, there’s a large volume rocker, a large camera button, and a 2D/3D switch for the camera. While we really appreciate the humongous camera button, it sticks out from the rest of the phone, making the phone slightly awkward to hold at times. The aforementioned camera button also seemed rather loose which allowed it to rattle around a bit.

On the top, you’ve got the power button and the 3.5mm headphone jack, and the opposite side houses the slot for opening the battery door. The battery door is pretty flimsy, and bends far more than were comfortable with when being yanked off of the device. With that said, the battery door has a nice texture and design to it, which makes for a high class device.

On the back, there’s two 5MP cameras, and dual flashes, along with HTC and 3D branding.

At 5 inches tall, 2.6 inches wide, and 0.47 inches thick, the EVO 3D isn’t the thinnest phone around. It’s definitely not a deal-breaker, considering it’s packing a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM, but it’s something to think about.

Overall, we found the EVO 3D’s hardware to be pretty fantastic. The qHD screen is fantastic, the dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM makes this thing fly, and the build quality is solid.

Software

The HTC EVO 3D runs Android 2.3.3 “Gingerbread” with Sense 3.0, which is feat in and of itself given other phones are still launching with Android 2.2 Froyo builds.

Sense 3.0 is HTC’s custom UI that runs on top of “Gingerbread”. This new version of Sense adds a lot of eye candy (seriously, it’s everywhere), and some cool tweaks that improve usability.

The lockscreen on Sense 3.0 is gorgeous and functional. HTC lets you customize the lockscreen completely — you can add four of your favorite apps to launch directly from the lockscreen, and you can choose between a few other HTC built widgets to display: Photo album, Friend Stream, Weather, Stocks, and Clock.

While eye candy is fantastic most of the time, we’re not fans of what HTC did to the homescreen on Sense 3.0. Scrolling between the homescreens now has a 3D “cube” effect, and when you scroll quickly, it starts hyper-scrolling with a carousel UI. Again – it looks pretty, but there’s absolutely no functionality here. We found ourselves watching the homescreen scroll and scroll super fast in circles quite often, simply because we swiped across the screen too fast.

While for the most part our time with the EVO 3D was without bugs, we would be lying if we said the latest version of Sense was an entirely smooth and polished experience. Thankfully we didn’t run into any deal breaking level issues, but there were plenty of small annoyances with Sense 3.0. We randomly saw HTC’s SMS app mark messages as unread after they had been viewed, HTC widgets (and Google widgets) randomly would not load, and the app drawer loved to continue showing icons of deleted apps.

With that said, we do think Sense 3.0 is a huge improvement from previous generations of Sense. While the eye candy can definitely be over the top at times, HTC still adds enough useful features to Android that we won’t knock them for continuing to use Sense.

The EVO 3D is fitted with two 5MP cameras – capable of shooting 3D pictures and 3D HD video – and a qHD display capable of displaying 3D content. We’ll admit it – we approached the EVO 3D skeptically. We’re not huge believers of 3D, but we were definitely interested in seeing how HTC implemented it.

Let’s start with the cameras – as we mentioned, they’re two 5MP units, and they’re capable of shooting 3D images, 3D videos at 720p HD, 2D images, and 2D videos at 1080p HD. Need to switch between 2D and 3D? Simple. Just flip the switch next to the camera button, and you’re ready to go!

Pictures taken in 3D were okay, but not great. While the 3D pictures and video produced were of a high enough quality so as not to create eyestrain or headaches, there was still a very noticeable grain and blur to the images/videos.

The great part of the EVO 3D? You’re able to view your 3D content directly on the phone. The display stays in 2D for the most part, until you select a 3D picture, video, or movie. There’s a two second delay in switching, but that’s not a problem. Viewing 3D was…interesting. There’s a certain angle that you need to find when viewing 3D, and finding it can be difficult at times. A big problem with 3D (in general, not EVO 3D-specific) is fatigue and strain on the eyes. We were able to watch an hour and a half of “The Green Hornet” in 3D without noticeable strain on eyes before the battery completely died on us.

After spending some time with the 3D capabilities of the EVO 3D, we’re not sure 3D is really that important yet. It still feels like a gimmick. A really nicely implemented gimmick, if we had compliment it.

Battery Life

The HTC EVO 3D ships with a massive 1750mAH battery. Using the 3D capabilities of the EVO 3D definitely drains the battery – with the EVO charged at 90%, we were able to watch one hour and thirty minutes of “The Green Hornet” in 3D before the battery died. Fortunately, without heavy usage of 3D, we were able to pull through a day of medium-heavy usage without any issues.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt – the EVO 3D is a fantastic device. The 1.2Ghz dual-core processor is blazing fast, the hardware is exceptional, and while Sense 3.0 is a little over the top, it’s definitely usable. The thing is, we’re not sure how important 3D is right now. It definitely feels like a gimmick, but if you’re into 3D, and you’re sure you’ll appreciate viewing your media in 3D, then the HTC EVO 3D is definitely worth your money. Thankfully, HTC doesn’t shove the EVO 3D’s third dimensional capabilities in your face. Combine that with the EVO 3D’s specs, and you’re looking at yet another fantastic Android device on Sprint.

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Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY (Verizon)

Dan H. — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:54:07 +0000

The PlayStation Phone is probably one of the worst-kept secrets in the mobile industry — there were whispers and talks everywhere, and blogs even managed to get hands-on with prototypes. Those days are now over, and PlayStation Phone — better known as the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY – is now here.

Hardware

Although it’s not immediately noticeable, the Xperia PLAY is quite different from your standard Android device. On the front, Sony has packed a spacious 4-inch display, featuring a 480 x 854 resolution, along with a front-facing camera, an earpiece, and four hardware buttons — Back, Home, Menu, Search. While it’s nice to have physical hardware buttons, they’re definitely on the small side, and they don’t provide great tactile feedback.

On the left side, there is a microUSB port for charging and sync, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the opposite side, you’ll find the left and right shoulder buttons (for gaming), and the volume rocker in between. And on the top, there’s a power button that has a LED notification light built-in to it — which looks amazing.

On the back, you’ll find a 5MP camera + flash, along with the Xperia and Verizon branding.

And sliding the phone open reveals the gaming pad. If you have used a PS3 controllers, you’ll immediately recognize the PlayStation buttons. You’ve got a hardware d-pad on the left, four action buttons on the right, and a pair of optical trackpads in the middle. There’s also another menu button, along with select and start buttons. The gaming pad is quite amazing. It’s solid, the buttons feel fantastic, and the trackpads work great.

The hardware on the Xperia PLAY is pretty fantastic. We love the display, and the gaming pad is excellent. We wish that Sony would use more materials other than glass and plastic though. [weird ending?]

Software

The Xperia PLAY runs a stock version of Gingerbread, more specifically, Android 2.3.2. We love Google’s stock UI, and Sony Ericsson made the right choice by not adding a custom skin. However, we wish that Sony/Verizon would roll out an update with 2.3.4, which includes Google Talk Video Chat. Besides the Xperia PLAY app and a few Verizon specific apps, it’s stock Gingerbread.

Gaming

If you’re reading this review, you’re probably looking to game on your phone. The Xperia PLAY is powered by a 1GHz CPU, and graphics are handled by the Adreno 205 graphics processor. After quite a bit of gaming, we’re happy to report that the graphics on the Xperia PLAY are fantastic. As we stated in the hardware section of this review, we’re pretty big fans of the gamepad. It didn’t feel cramped, and we didn’t run into any issues using the gamepad.

On the software side, the Xperia PLAY comes pre-loaded with a couple of games that are Xperia PLAY-ready: Asphalt 6, Bruce Lee, Crash Bandicoot, Madden NFL ‘11, Star Battalion, and The Sims 3. Using the Xperia PLAY app, you can also access the PlayStation Store, and purchase more games, like Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus HD, and N.O.V.A. 2 HD.

Battery Life

The Xperia PLAY is equipped with a 1500mAh battery. Battery life on the Xperia PLAY is fantastic. We were able to chug through an entire day with heavy usage (web browsing, tweeting, playing music, watching videos, gaming) with juice left at the end of the day.

Conclusion

The Xperia PLAY is certainly a unique device. It’s definitely not for everyone though. If you’re into gaming, and you’re looking for a portable gaming solution without having to carry another device, the Xperia PLAY is definitely the way to go. If you’re just looking to get a great Android device on Verizon, we’d also take a look at the HTC Thunderbolt or the Samsung DROID Charge in addition to the Xperia PLAY.

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Review: Samsung DROID Charge (Verizon)

Dan H. — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:51:04 +0000

Loosely based on the company’s Galaxy S II series, the DROID Charge by Samsung is Verizon’s second 4G LTE device. It had a rocky start — with a LTE outage the day before the planned release, it was delayed for a bit, and now it’s finally here. We’ve been playing with one for a few weeks, so keep reading for our full impressions!

Hardware

Like the rest of Verizon’s LTE smartphone lineup, the DROID Charge is equipped with a 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 display. What really sets the DROID Charge apart is Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus technology. The display is incredible, and it’s probably one of the best displays we’ve ever seen on a mobile device. Colors pop, blacks look fantastic on the display, and we really enjoyed using it.

Once you stop staring at the display, you’ll notice the four physical Android buttons — Menu, Home, Back, and Search. The buttons are actually buttons that click for a change, and they’ll perfectly clicky, and provide great feedback. You’ll also find an earpiece, along with a 1.3MP front-facing camera for self-portraits, and video chat.

On the left side, there’s a volume rocker, along with a microUSB port for charging and sync.

On the right, you’ll find the power button, and the HDMI port, which is covered by an extremely difficult to open plastic cover.

On the top, you’ll find the 3.5mm headphone jack.

On the back, you’ll find the 8MP shooter + flash, along with the speaker. There’s a strange hump on the back, towards the bottom of the Charge. It’s a little strange, but it’s something you’ll get used to.

At 5.11-inches tall, 2.66-inches wide, and 0.46-inches thin, the DROID Charge is a big phone. We don’t mind the larger form factor — but it’s something to keep in mind. However, like most Samsung phones, the DROID Charge is basically all plastic. For $300 (on-contract), we really wished Samsung would have used higher quality materials on the phone.

Software

The DROID Charge runs Android 2.2.1 with Samsung’s custom TouchWiz UI on top. Again — we mentioned this in our LG Revolution review, and we’re saying it again: why aren’t companies shipping their devices with Android 2.3, Gingerbread? Gingerbread has been out for quite a while, and seriously guys — it’s time to start shipping devices with Gingerbread.

We’ve covered TouchWiz many times throughout different reviews, so we’re not going to go in-depth with it. In short, it’s gotten a lot better. The first few versions of TouchWiz were completely unusable — they were buggy, slow, and a painful experience. Samsung really did a great job with the newer versions though — it’s colorful (really shows off the Super AMOLED Plus display), much less buggy, and a usable experience. With that said, we still prefer stock Android devices.

Camera

The DROID Charge is equipped with a 8MP camera + flash. Pictures looked fantastic. Colors looked fantastic (especially on the , shots snapped quickly, and we were pretty impressed. Videos looked great in 720p also.

4G LTE

The Charge runs on Verizon’s 4G LTE network (full review here). Verizon claims that customers should expect download speeds of 5-12Mbps down. We’re happy to report that we were able to achieve download speeds of 7Mbps and 6Mbps up consistently.

The DROID Charge’s 4G connection can also be used as a hotspot for 10 devices. In our testing, the hotspot function is completely useless on the Charge. When we connected our laptop, we saw dropped connections (at least four times per hour), slow speeds, and sometimes, it just flat-out stopped working. It could be a problem with our unit, but we’ve seen the same problem on the ThunderBolt and the Revolution.

Battery Life

The DROID Charge is powered by a 1600mAH battery. We were barely able to pull through a full day of usage, so you may want to purchase a spare battery, or be prepared to carry your charger around.

Pricing

The DROID Charge is one expensive smartphone. It’s available for $300 with a new two-year contract from Verizon.

Conclusion

The DROID Charge is an excellent device. We absolutely love the Super AMOLED Plus display, and while we still prefer stock Android, TouchWiz isn’t too bad. It will leave a huge dent on your wallet though — at $300, it ain’t cheap. If you’ve got the money, and you’re just craving for some LTE action, we highly recommend the DROID Charge.

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Review: LG Revolution (Verizon)

Dan H. — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 02:03:40 +0000

LG may not be known for high-end smartphones in the US, but they’ve certainly tried hard to impress with the LTE packing Revolution on Verizon. We’ve been playing around with one for a week, keep reading for our thoughts!

Hardware

The LG Revolution is the last of the three launch 4G LTE devices. It’s pretty similar to the other two 4G LTE smartphones — the ThunderBolt and the DROID Charge.

On the front of the device, you have a 4.3-inch TFT display, with a 800 x 480 resolution, along with four touch-sensitive Android controls — Menu, Home, Back, and Search. There’s a 1.3MP front-facing camera, along with a speaker and an LED notification light.

On the left side of the device, there’s a microUSB port (for charge and sync) hidden under a cheap, plastic cover.

On the right side, there’s a micro-HDMI port (also hidden), along with the volume rocker.

On the top, you’ll find the power button and the 3.5mm headphone jack.

On the back, you’ll find a 5MP + flash, along with a speaker.

The Revolution’s hardware is good, but we weren’t particularly impressed. The chrome on the side and back make the device look cheesy, and the TFT display is disappointing. At 0.52”, it’s also the thickest of the three 4G LTE smartphones. The hardware isn’t our main complaint though…

Software

The LG Revolution ships with Android 2.2.2, with LG’s custom UI running on top. When Gingerbread has been available for months, we really don’t understand why companies still aren’t shipping devices with Gingerbread 2.3.

LG’s custom UI is…interesting. There are seven home screens, each customizable to your liking, whether it be with LG’s widgets, and widgets you download from the Android Market. We really like LG’s media widget – it’s different, and really awesome.

The app drawer on the Revolution is a mess. Apps are organized into categories, and you can create/edit/delete categories. Unfortunately, it’s extremely buggy, and it doesn’t work that well. For example, we tried to move the Music application into the Media category, and it ended up moving the Android Market application into Media, and it moved out the Gallery app into Tools. Music didn’t move from it’s original category at all. It’s completely unusable.

The LG Revolution ships with Bing. We’re fine with Bing, but we’d still prefer Google. The Revolution also ships with a bunch of bloatware. Bitbop, Rock Band, Lets Gold 2, Rhapsody, TuneWiki, etc. On the flip side, the Revolution ships with Netflix for Android. With Verizon’s 4G LTE network behind it, we were able to stream movies without any glitches at all.

We’re not a fan of the software on the Revolution. LG’s custom UI is buggy and extremely frustrating to use. The bloatware on the Revolution is annoying, and you can’t remove it either.

Camera

The Revolution is packing a 5MP shooter + flash. In low-light conditions, the Revolution performed rather well, but in normal light conditions, the pictures looked a little washed out. It’d work for quick shots, but don’t expect too much from it.

The Revolution shoots video at 720p. Videos looked much better than the pictures, but audio quality wasn’t fantastic.

4G LTE

The Revolution runs of Verizon’s 4G LTE network (full review here). Verizon claims that customers should expect download speeds of 5-12Mbps down. We’re pleased to report that we were able to achieve download speeds of 7Mbps down and 6Mbps up consistently.

The Revolution’s 4G connection can also be used as a hotspot for 8 devices. In our testing, the hotspot function is completely useless on the Revolution. When we connected our laptop, we saw dropped connections (at least four times per hour), slow speeds, and sometimes, it just flat-out stopped working. It could be a problem with our unit, but we’ve seen the same problem on the ThunderBolt and the DROID Charge.

Battery Life

The Revolution ships with a 1500mAH battery. With medium to light usage, it won’t be difficult to pull through a day without charging, but if you’re streaming video or music, and using the hotspot, you’ll definitely need to bring around a charger.

One thing we really like about the Revolution is the ability to turn off the LTE radio. Sometimes when you’re running out of battery but you don’t have an outlet nearby, you can jump into Settings and turn off the LTE radio. It does require a reboot though – that’s something to keep in mind.

Pricing

The LG Revolution is available from Verizon for $249.99 with a new two-year contract.

Conclusion

We really liked the HTC Thunderbolt and the Samsung DROID Charge, but we can’t say the same about the Revolution. The hardware is good, but we didn’t like the TFT display, or the general overall design of the Revolution. LG’s custom UI is absolutely horrible, and it’s still running a version of Android from 2010. We really wanted to like the Revolution, as we were impressed by the company’s G2X, but we walked away from the Revolution very disappointed.

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Review: Nexus S 4G (Sprint)

Dan H. — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 03:07:33 +0000

When Google launched the Nexus One last year, it was a huge deal, considering it was the first “pure Google experience” device. Unfortunately, the CDMA version of the Nexus One never launched. Along came the Samsung Nexus S, the successor to the Nexus One. It’s the first device to run Android 2.3, Gingerbread, and it’s also a “pure Google experience” device. However, this time around, Google granted Sprint users a gift, the Nexus S 4G. We have been using one as our daily driver for the last couple of days, so keep reading for our full review!

Hardware

If you’ve used the Nexus S, you’ll feel right at home with the Nexus S 4G. Minus the .12mm difference in thickness, they’re identical.

Along the left side of the device, a slim but responsive volume rocker is present, along with a power button on the right side.

On the bottom, you’ll find a microUSB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The top is clean, with only a slot to open the battery door.

Flipping around the back of the Nexus S 4G, there’s a 5MP camera + flash, paired with a speaker. On the underside of the battery door, you’ll see the NFC chip built right into the rear cover.

On the front of the Nexus S 4G, there’s a 4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 x 800, along with four touch-sensitive Android buttons: Back, Menu, Search, and Home. Above the display, you’ll find an earpiece and a front-facing camera for video chat. Like the original Nexus S, the Nexus S 4G also features the “Contour Display.” While the glass on the display is curved towards the top and the bottom, it’s very subtle and it actually enhances the usability of the device.

There’s a lot to like about the Nexus S 4G’s hardware. The 4-inch display strikes the perfect balance (for us, anyway) between a large, readable screen and portability, and thanks to Super AMOLED, colors and text look fantastic on the display. We love the design and styling of the Nexus S 4G; we found the all-black exterior to be strangely attractive. With that said, we do have a few complaints. First, where’s the microSD card slot? Just like its older brother, the Nexus S 4G lacks a microSD slot. The phone does ship with 16GB of memory onboard, but with microSD cards getting bigger and bigger, we’re disappointed that Samsung left out the opportunity to expand the device’s storage. Second, while the Nexus S 4G looks awesome, we weren’t particularly excited about Samsung’s choice of materials on the device. Excluding the display, the Nexus S 4G is basically all plastic. While it makes the device really light, build quality isn’t the greatest.

Software

The Nexus S 4G runs a stock version of Android 2.3.4 “Gingerbread”, which is, in fact, the latest version of Android. Since the Nexus S 4G is a “Nexus” device, Google promises it’ll deliver the latest version of Android much faster than any other phones receive it. Gingerbread has been out for quite a while on the original Nexus S, so we won’t cover everything here. We’ll touch on some of the key highlights of Gingerbread.

Gingerbread introduced a bunch of minor UI tweaks. The black status bar, new greyscale notification icons, new applications icons, spurts of orange when you scroll to the top/bottom of lists, to name a few. We really dig the new, sleek look of Gingerbread, and we think it’s a huge step up from Android 2.2, Froyo.

Google introduced Google Talk video chat in Android 2.3.4, and it works flawlessly. Whether we were chatting with someone on a laptop, or on an Android 3.0 tablet, we were able to connect over 3G, 4G, or WiFi without issue. Video chatters on the other end did mention that we looked grainy — but that’s probably due to the low-resolution front-facing camera on the Nexus S 4G.

In short, we love our stock Android phones, and we think all Android phones should be kept that way. If you’re looking to get a device that will always be updated to the latest and greatest software, the Nexus S 4G won’t disappoint.

Camera

The Nexus S 4G is equipped with a 5MP camera + flash. Pictures from the 5MP sensor aren’t great. Colors are washed out and autofocus had quite a bit of issues focusing on objects. You’ll be able to grab quick shots to tweet out or email, but you definitely won’t be replacing a point-and-shoot with this.

That’s not the worst of it though. The Nexus S 4G doesn’t shoot 720p video. We scratched our heads for a bit about this one — every single high-end smartphone shoots in at least 720p, with some devices (like the Galaxy S II) that shoot 1080p. It’s something we’re a little confused about, and it’s definitely a drawback.

Performance

The Nexus S 4G is powered by a single-core 1Ghz processor. The current trend is definitely dual-core processors, but the Nexus S 4G doesn’t need it — at this point, anyway. Google did some serious optimizing here — Gingerbread feels super snappy, and graphics are silky smooth. Jumping between apps doesn’t lag, the app drawer animations are super smooth, and of course — the scrolling home screens aren’t a problem for the processor at all.

3G/4G/Network/etc.

The biggest differentiator between the original Nexus S and Sprint’s variant is the 4G WiMAX radio. Unfortunately, Sprint’s 4G is nothing compared to Verizon’s LTE network. But that’s not necessarily a horrible thing, unless you’re someone who needs to use the built-in WiFi hotspot functionality as your only Internet connection.

WiMAX speeds were a bit disappointing on the Nexus S 4G, especially when compared with a standalone Clear Spot (Clear is Sprint’s 4G partner). We averaged around 3-4Mb down, with uploads capped at 1Mb. This is significantly slower than those on our Clear Spot, which averages around 10Mb down – close to the maximum speed WiMAX can push currently. Latency was generally well under 100ms, which is fantastic for WiMAX.

If you don’t live in an area with WiMAX coverage, the Nexus S 4G sports a standard EVDO Rev. A radio as well, as with all of Sprint’s 4G phones. Speeds were about what we expected from Sprint, with downlink speeds averaging 600Kb-1Mb down, and around 600Kb up. Certainly not great, but not too bad either.

Unfortunately, the Nexus S 4G suffers from some of the worst lack of reception we’ve seen on any recent phone. While a Sprint Bold 9650 had a solid bars both on and off calls, our Nexus only had one bar (of four). The Nexus also consistently reported extremely low dBs for signal. This is an issue we’ve seen echoed in many other Nexus S 4G reviews, especially those on sites like Amazon and Best Buy. These issues cover both the EVDO 3G radio, and the WiMAX 4G radio unfortunately. We really hope Sprint and Samsung can come up with a quick firmware update, but if not, we suggest they start bundling Airaves with the Nexus.

Google Voice Integration

Sprint and Google have worked together to bake in native Google Voice integration with every Sprint phone, and it’s wonderful. You have the choice of having your existing Google Voice number essentially become your phone’s number, or having your Sprint phone number become your Google Voice number. Why is this so awesome? Because you’re able to use the native phone and messaging apps without anyone knowing you’re going through Google Voice. We think this is really awesome and definitely something which sets Sprint apart from the other US carriers.

Battery Life

The Nexus S 4G is powered by a 1500mAH battery, which is pretty decently sized. Getting through a day on Sprint’s 3G network isn’t a problem at all. We would unplug the phone at 8AM, and come home at 8PM with 30% or so remaining. Thinking about using 4G while you’re out and about? We suggest you only use it when absolutely needed, and quickly turn it back off when you’re finished. We were only able to squeeze about a half day out of the phone with 4G enabled and connected (with one (of three) bars of signal). Unfortunately, 4G, whether it be in the form of WiMAX or LTE, is not a mature enough technology to use as your phone’s main data connection yet.

Conclusion

We really like the Nexus S 4G. Not really a surprise, since we really liked the GSM Nexus S too. The 4-inch Super AMOLED display is fantastic, and we absolutely love that it runs stock Gingerbread. That’s how it should be done — no custom skins, updates straight from Google. There’s a few things that Samsung/Google chose to do that make us absolutely confused — where’s the microSD slot? No 720p video recording? Really, really bad reception? That being said, we still think the Nexus S 4G is a solid offering from Samsung and Sprint. If you’re looking to get a powerful device that runs stock Android, the Nexus S 4G is an excellent choice.

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Review: Motorola Droid X2

CR H. — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:10:13 +0000

Launched almost exactly a year ago, the original Droid X has been quite a popular device on Verizon. Motorola and Verizon decided it was time for an update, and here we are with the Droid X2 – sporting a higher resolution display, a dual-core Tegra CPU, and an updated Blur skinning. But with no LTE, is the Droid X2 still a worthy device in Verizon’s Android lineup? Read on to hear our thoughts!

Hardware / Design

The Droid X2 sports exactly the same design as the original Droid X, which is to say a very solid, obviously Motorola built device. The overall design is pretty unique, with the entire device being quite slim, except for the camera bulge at the very top. This can cause some awkward times when holding the device, as it’s obviously top heavy. But otherwise we quite like everything about the physical device.

The four physical Android buttons are an interesting change from most phones these days. While we don’t mind physical buttons in theory, the Droid X2 sports some rather hard to press buttons. This can be quite annoying at times, but certainly not a dealbreaker.

One physical change between the original X and the X2 is the lack of a camera button. While this wasn’t a bother to us, we’ve heard from a few original X owners that think Motorola made a terrible decision by dumping the camera button.

The Droid X2 sports the usual array of buttons and ports, with the power button situation right in the middle of the top of the device, next to the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. A volume rocker sits on the right side, with a micro USB port and micro HDMI port at the bottom right of the device. Unfortunately the Droid X2 won’t be usable with the Atrix’s awesome laptop dock, as the positioning of the USB and HDMI ports are different between the devices.

Overall we absolutely love the design of the Droid X2. It’s an easy to hold device with extremely solid construction, and is unique compared to the standard slab of screen you see on almost every other device.

Display

Another change between the original Droid X and the X2 is the inclusion of a gorgeous qHD screen with an awesome 960×540 resolution. The display is just awesome. Colors are generally represented well, brightness can go to insane levels, and viewing angles were quite good. We’re ecstatic to see Motorola embracing qHD displays, and equally as happy to see one on the Droid X2.

Software / Performance

The Droid X2 ships with the final build of Froyo, 2.2.2. This is, once again, disappointing now that Gingerbread has been out for so long. Obviously the X2 will be receiving the update to Gingerbread since the original X has already received the update, but we’re still quite disappointed that Motorola couldn’t ship a brand new device with the latest version of Android available. This seems like a largely negative trend with Android OEMs.

The Droid X2 sports an updated Blur skin, which is the same as will be used on Gingerbread. We generally find Motorola’s skin to be quite good looking, and often helpful. Unfortunately, we don’t find it to be very functional however. While the custom Messaging app is quite nice when using multiple email accounts and numerous social networks, it’s not all that fast – an experience mirrored in almost everything we did with the phone. Blur’s included widgets are quite nice, but from what we can tell, they significantly slow down the homescreens. Scrolling between them becomes slow and stuttery when more than one is placed on a page. For context, Motorola ships the phone with at least three widgets on almost every homescreen.

One of our biggest issues with the overall OS came in the Settings app. If we happened to change something from the default setting and not like the outcome, there was no way we could change the setting back. While we could uncheck the box of the setting (for example the no service tone), it will continue operating as if the box for it were checked. We reproduced this with numerous different options, all of which remained stuck on even after turning them back off. We only fixed this after wiping the phone and starting from scratch, which obviously isn’t a viable workaround.

Overall perceived performance (as in, not going by the numbers of benchmark apps) was, as with the rest of the OS experience, entirely disappointing. As mentioned earlier, scrolling between homescreens was very slow and stuttery. Pandora could not play in the background without dropping or freezing, and audio playback in general seemed to be a struggle for the device. This is all especially disappointing after running Quadrant and receiving a score of well over 2000. We think the cause of the poor performance is directly related to Blur. The Droid X2 only has 512MB of RAM, not all of which is available to the OS and apps. After booting the phone and letting it sit for a bit, there was only 50MB of RAM available, which quickly dropped to under 40MB once we actually used the phone. With Blur taking up that much RAM on its own, apps have hardly anything for themselves. We seriously hope Motorola looks at making Blur lightweight, or if they can’t, pulling it entirely.

Battery Life

Surprise, surprise – battery life on the Droid X2 is… not so great. As a general test, we take new phones with us to work and let them sit on our desk all day without using them to see what idle battery drain is like. After sitting for the eight or so hours we were at work, the Droid X2 had dropped to 40% (from 100). That’s a loss of 60% with no use whatsoever – no email accounts were configured, Google Voice was left unconfigured, and no Twitter apps were installed. For comparison, the Infuse “4G” only dropped 9% in the same test – from 100% to 91%.

We barely made it through a day of extremely light use with the Droid X2, often answering emails and tweets from our trusty iPhone 4 instead of wasting even more battery turning the X2’s screen on. If you’re going to use an X2 as your daily driver, we highly suggest you invest in an extra battery, or a high capacity one.

Call quality, reception, etc.

Call quality on the Droid X2 is quite good. The speaker was loud and clear, and we never had issues making or receiving calls. Data speeds on Verizon’s EVDO network were reasonable, and often hit 1Mb down and almost the same going back up, which is really quite good for EVDO.

Reception is a different story… There seems to be a rather large bug in the way Motorola translates raw signal, shown as dBm’s in the Settings app, into signal strength bars in the status bar. Going by the status bar signal strength alone, one would think the Droid X2 can barely manage to maintain one bar of signal no matter where you were. This is, in fact, absolutely false. The X2 seems to get quite excellent signal strength, which is something we absolutely expect from a Motorola device. While the X2 would be receiving -65dBm signal, it would still show as only one (out of four) bars.

Pricing

The Droid X2 is available for the standard $199.99 on a two-year contract with Verizon. Unfortunately, that seems like far too much for the mess of an OS that’s currently being shipped on the device.

Conclusion

We had very high hopes for the Droid X2 when we first received it. In fact, we were so impressed initially with the screen, the hardware, and the overall look of Blur (but not function), that we wanted to purchase a Droid X2 ourselves. But after using the device for a bit and seeing just how buggy the currently OS build is, and just how taxing Blur is on the device (especially RAM-wise), we just can’t recommend it, and instead came away extremely frustrated.

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Review: Samsung Infuse “4G”

CR H. — Mon, 30 May 2011 21:26:06 +0000

Remember when the first 4.3” phones started to roll out (think EVO and Droid X)? Remember how everyone started saying phones couldn’t get any bigger and still be usable? Well, the Infuse “4G” from Samsung looks to be the first 4.5” Android phone. But is 4.5” usable for a phone? Is the Infuse any better than all the other Android phones out there? Read on to hear what we think!

(...) Read the rest of Review: Samsung Infuse “4G” (1,116 words)

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Review: MUGEN POWER 1800mAh Extended Battery for Dell Streak

PPCApache — Sun, 29 May 2011 11:41:10 +0000

For most of us we are always worry about our battery use for our smartphones, it’s one of the main faults bought to us at the Service Centre. Especially those going from a standard handset like a Nokia 2730 to an android phone like the HTC Legend or Desire HD, huge jump in ability and resources. "My Battery only last 6-12 hours, when it should last 2-3 days!?".

How can we combat the dreaded battery drain – for Noobs (new people) it can be just education as they may have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS on an not know it, or that they are syncing Facebook, Gmail and other applications every 15 mins. But for most power users the standard battery can range from 1300mAh to 1530mAh in capacity and it just wont meet our full needs.

For most power users we have a charger at home, a charger in the car (if you drive to work) and another one at work, it’s just a given we need to do this. With most new devices coming out with 1GHz processors (and some now with Tegra 1.2GHz processors, and talk there may be 1.5-1.8GHz coming out) and larger screens 4.3" or even 5" on my Dell Streak, these all put our standard batteries under a bit of pressure, then add normal use to that equation at most we will only get 6-8 hours before they need to charge our devices.

Another option is to look at Extended batteries, the standard battery that came with my Dell Streak is only 1530 mAh now with say an 1800 mAh battery that little bit extra juice can make a huge difference to your day.

Recently I spoke to a contact a Mugen Power Batteries one of the leading smartphone extended battery retailers in the world, who sent me out an 1800 mAh battery and also the MEGA 4800 mAh battery (which I will be reviewing later).

(...) Read the rest of Review: MUGEN POWER 1800mAh Extended Battery for Dell Streak (967 words)

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Review: Kyocera Echo

CR H. — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:00:55 +0000

The Kyocera Echo from Sprint is definitely one of the most unique Android handsets we’ve ever seen. It doesn’t even need an introduction — just knowing the fact that it’s packing two displays is all you need to know. We’ve been playing around with one for a while now, so keep reading for our full review!
(...) Read the rest of Review: Kyocera Echo (1,481 words)

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Motorola DROID X2 Hitting Verizon May 26th for $199.99

Matt P. — Wed, 18 May 2011 18:44:05 +0000

Rocking a DROID X and want the successor to it? Here it is, Motorola DROID X2. Verizon has announced it will start pre-orders on May 19th via the online site and will hit retail stores the 26th of May. It will run you $199.99 on a new two-year contract, or upgrade depending on your eligibility. The Motorola DROID X2 has a nearly identical case as the first DROID X and will feature a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, a dual-core 1GHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), an 8-megapixel camera with support for HD video capture, an HDMI-out port. Full press release after the break. (...) Read the rest of Motorola DROID X2 Hitting Verizon May 26th for $199.99 (309 words)

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Samsung Hercules a dual-core Infuse 4G for T-Mobile?

Matt P. — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:44:28 +0000

Thisismynext got word of another possible Android device that’s heading to T-Mobile, but not for a while, so don’t get too excited. According to them, the Samsung ‘Hercules’ is “not even entering the carrier’s test labs for another month and isn’t slated for acceptance until mid-August”. So the specs that follow are nowhere set in stone, nor confirmed by any means, but here’s the overview to what expect from Samsung.

4.5-inch 480 x 800 Super AMOLED Plus display
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
NFC support, though compatibility with the forthcoming ISIS mobile payment standard is “to be determined”
Category 24 HSDPA (42Mbps) and Category 6 HSUPA (5.76Mbps) for extremely fast HSPA+ support — faster than any HSPA+ phone currently sold in the US
AWS plus 850 / 1900MHz compatibility for support on AT&T’s “4G” network if the merger succeeds
Preliminary measurements place it at 5.16 x 2.76 x 0.37 inches — within a few hundredths of an inch of the Infuse
16GB internal ROM, 1GB internal RAM, external microSD up to 32GB
Here’s where it outdoes the Infuse: it’s quoted with a Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual-core APQ8060 application processor, which is extraordinarily unusual for a Samsung — particularly considering the availability of Samsung’s own multi-core Exynos line; it’s paired with an MDM8220 modem processor
8 megapixel primary camera with flash and 1080p video capture, secondary front-facing camera
Like the Galaxy S II, the Hercules won’t have a dedicated HDMI port — it’ll move high-def video over Micro USB using MHL

Source: Thisismynext

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Review: T-Mobile Sidekick 4G

CR H. — Sun, 08 May 2011 17:00:45 +0000

Less than a year ago, T-Mobile seemingly killed the iconic Sidekick brand when it announced that sales of all Sidekick devices would cease on July 2nd, 2010. But here we are in May 2011 with a new Sidekick review for you guys. There’s a lot of new with the Sidekick 4G, like the fact that it’s manufactured by Samsung and runs Android. But does the new Sidekick live up to its branding? Read on to hear our thoughts!
(...) Read the rest of Review: T-Mobile Sidekick 4G (1,159 words)

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Sprint unveils Motorola XPRT and Motorola Titanium

Matt P. — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:17:59 +0000

Thursday Sprint has announced two new Android phones they will be carrying in the upcoming month(s). First, The Motorola XPRT has a 1GHz processor, 3.1-inch touchscreen HVGA display, full QWERTY keyboard, and is running Android 2.2, Froyo. It is also dual-mode and will be able to roam on international GSM carriers. The XPRT will be available June 5th, for $129.99 on a a new two-year contract, or eligible upgrade. Second device Sprint has announced is the Motorola Titanium, successor to the i1 and is a military grade rugged smartphone. It is running Android 2.1, Eclair, 3.1-inch touchscreen display, 5-megapixel camera, full QWERTY keyboard, PTT support and dust, shock, vibration, low pressure, solor radiation, high and low temperature resistance. Pricing and availability will be available at a later date. Full press release after the break. (...) Read the rest of Sprint unveils Motorola XPRT and Motorola Titanium (1,063 words)

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