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Sony Xperia Z4 specs review

2015-04-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Sony Xperia Z4 has arrived! Or wait, isn’t this the Sony Xperia Z3? They seem to look practically the same.
You can’t argue that while there are some subtle differences, the Xperia Z4 is for the most part a look-alike, a copy of last year’s Z3. Then, the Z3 was a copy of the Sony Xperia Z2, which was a bolder, but still very gradual evolution over the original Xperia Z.

And if those of you who found it disappointing that HTC is not evolving the looks of its One series quick enough with a third consecutive phone retaining largely the same design, then you probably won’t be too inspired by this fourth consecutive Xperia flagship with unchanged design.

Under the hood, though, the Xperia Z4 is a brand new monster, packing the latest system chip and a nifty improvement to the cameras. It also runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop, skinned with Sony’s light custom user interface. With all this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the detailed specs.

Design: same old, but thinner and lighter

The design approach in the Xperia Z4 as a whole has not changed: the overall rectangular form of the phone with rounded edges remains, and so do the materials (glass on the back and front, sandwiched between a sturdy, metal frame). The dreamy rumors about a fingerprint scanner embedded in the side positioned lock screen have turned out to be nothing more than a false alarm.

THE XPERIA Z4 IS SLIMMER AND LIGHTER THAN THE Z3

Some slight improvements have been introduced, though: the Z4 is thinner and lighter. Sony has trimmed down the device to merely 6.9mm in thickness (on par with the iPhone 6, and 0.4mm less than the 7.3mm Xperia Z3), and weight is reduced to 5.08 oz (144 grams), down from 5.36 oz (152 grams) on the Z3. The new Xperia Z4 will be available in four colors: white, black, copper, and aqua green.

It’s also interesting to notice that the matte aluminum frame on the Xperia Z3 is replaced by a glossy-looking, much more reflective side on the Z4. Also, gone is the magnetic port used to dock the phone into stands, and the SIM card and microSD card slot are housed behind a single protective flap. All the rest remains the same, and we’re also happy to see the dedicated two-way camera shutter key on the Z4.

Good news is that this conservative approach to design means that the Xperia Z4 remains water-proof with IP68 certification. Given that Samsung has dropped the water protection in its Galaxy S6, the Z4 remains the only flagship phone with protection from the elements. While in earlier Xperia Z flagship phones, Sony has always used a flap to protect the microUSB port from water damage, in the Xperia Z4 the company has now moved to a fully protected port without a flap, which is a nice little touch.

Display: 5.2" with a 1080 x 1920-pixel resolution

We don't have a lot of details about the screen used in the Xperia Z4 except for the very basic ones: it will be a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. We've examined the difference between a Quad HD and 1080p panel in depth in a separate article, where we conclude that at regular viewing distances, that differences is practically impossible to notice, so we are not hugely disappointed by the fact that Sony has not adopted the trendy new Quad HD resolution.

What's more important is the actual color representation. The Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3 made some progress towards a better display (the Xperia Z3 even allows for control over the R/G/B channels, so that you can calibrate your screen), but none were perfect, so we hope that Sony made good use of that room for improvement in the Z4.

Under the hood: Snapdragon 810

What’s ticking under the hood of the Xperia Z4 is the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 system chip, an octa-core solution with four high-performance Cortex A57 cores running at up to 2GHz, and four Cortex A53 battery-savvy cores clocked at up to 1.5GHz.

This is effectively the same setup used on flagships like the HTC One M9, but we’re yet to see how Sony has managed to do with the excessive heat that the Snapdragon 810 system chip seems to radiate, especially given the thinner dimensions of the phone.

The RAM memory is 3GB, and good news is that we now have 32GB of internal storage in the base model, with an option to expand on that via microSD cards of up to 128GB.

In terms of connectivity, the handset features a Category 6 4G LTE modem with support for local, Japanese carriers, where it can reach a maximum of 225Mbps download speeds (using carrier aggregation).

Cameras: 20-megapixel main shooter, 5-megapixel selfie cam with optical stabilization

The main camera on the Xperia Z4 is a 20-megapixel Exmor RS one and the phone uses a large, 1/2.3” camera sensor, the biggest on Android phones so far.

What’s particularly interesting is that there’s also a 5-megapixel selfie cam that features optical image stabilization (OIS). This should allow for sharper photos in low light. Additionally, the 25mm wide-angle lens on top of the sensor allows for more people to fit in one frame, which is nice when there’s a whole group of you trying to take a selfie (usie?).

Battery life

Going for a slimmer design, Sony was obviously forced to use a lower-capacity battery in the Xperia Z4, which features a 2930mAh cell, while its predecessor sported a slightly larger, 3100mAh battery. We’re yet to see how this translates on the actual battery longevity of the phone, but one thing to keep in mind is that the Xperia Z3 was a great starting point: it scored at the very top of our battery life test, so even if we see slightly degraded battery life on the Z4, we can still expect it to outlast the competition.

Conclusion: price, availability and release date

Sony has not announced an official price for the Xperia Z4, but we can safely bet that it will be priced right in the $650 off-contract ($200 on a 2-year contract) industry tradition. Availability will be limited to Japan for the initial launch, while a very similar model is expected to get unveiled later on for the rest of the world.

The release date is again not set in stone, but chances are that we will see the Z4 on store shelves in early summer, around the end of May/beginning of June.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony-Xperia-Z4-specs-review_id68428

Source: Phonearena

HTC One M9 hands-on

2015-03-01T20:28:00.007-08:00

Design
Evolutionary or revolutionary, it’s tough for us to validate what HTC is going for with the M9. To the company, they claim it to be even more luxurious than before, which we agree to an extent, but for the most part, there are some minor design changes that make it subtly different from the M8 before it. The footprint, for the most part, remains unchanged, which is a good thing in this age of super big smartphones. For a flagship smartphone, it’s undeniably one of the more compact models out there – allowing us to comfortably grasp it in our hand without the need to excruciatingly stretch our hand.

Remarked by HTC as the first in the industry to offer a “dual finish” design, one that’s consists of the same premium feeling metal cladded body with a new anodized finished trim accent, the One M9 retains the same lovable design that radiates premium from head-to-toe. Technically, it sheds the unibody design of its predecessor in favor of this new dual finish one. However, the phone loses its clean and uniform finish due to that second choice of material. For starters, the new metal trim adds a lip to the sides of the phone – where it leaves this sharp feel.

The new metal body finish is slightly grippier, which doesn’t make it feel as slippery as its predecessor – so it’s less prone for us to accidentally drop it. For the most part, there’s nothing too radical with the design, especially when it employs the same distinct design traits as before – like its dual front-firing BoomSound speakers, separating lines on its back, and the plastic cover over the top edge. Other small, but minor changes that we appreciate include the placement of the power button to the right edge of the phone and its textured finish.

Indeed, flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z3 benefit from water-resistant constructions, but the HTC One M9 doesn’t see anything different from before. Essentially, it’s still the same IPX3 rating, which safeguards it from minor run-ins with splashes, but it’s not something that’s meant to be submerged.

Display
Some won’t be too bothered or annoyed by this decision, while some might be irked by it, but the HTC One M9 doesn’t make the move to quad-HD resolution. Rather, it’s the same 5.0-inch 1080 x 1920 LCD display that we’re all familiar with. To be fair, the size keeps this flagship far more form-fitting in the hand – unlike some of its more sizable competitors. For what it’s worth, 1080p resolution for it is more than effective, allowing all the details to be easily distinguishable to the eye. And of course, all of the qualities from before continue to exist in this panel as well – like its decent viewing angles, neutral color reproduction, and acceptable outdoor visibility.

What keeps on coming back is the decision to stick with 1080p resolution, more so when all of its main competitors are leaping ahead into quad-HD realm. Like we said, there isn’t a whole lot to complain about 1080p resolution, since looking at stuff on a 5-inch screen is more than detailed enough. Regardless, it still would’ve been nice on a higher level to also make the jump to quad-HD – giving it that true modern flagship quality.

Interface
A new flagship phone from HTC means an updated new Sense experience, that’s the expected evolution. In this case, we’re now up to HTC Sense 7.0, which carries the software legacy that HTC is known for, but it’s been evolved to give users more control in how the interface is presented. Honestly speaking, the visual changes on the surface are subtle – like how the weather-clock widget from HTC now sports a clean, italicized font. For the most part, the same modern design language we’ve seen in previous incarnations are present here. In typical Sense fashion, usual staples like HTC BlinkFeed, Zoe, and various Motion Launch gestures are all present once again.

After spending a day with a pre-production unit, the lock screen’s new enhanced functionality becomes more apparent, seeing that contextual suggestions are delivered. For example, restaurant suggestions are dished up in the homescreen, but in our short time of using the phone, it’s unable to provide enough relevant ones to us – albeit, we imagine it’ll be more useful over prolonged usage. In the same premise, HTC has added a new widget in the homescreen that they call the Smart Launcher. This widget is comprised out of apps that dynamically change depending on what apps you commonly use. At the same time, we’re asked to select if we’re using the phone at home or work – to better provide us with meaningful apps for the occasion. It’s useful in some cases, but if it’s not your cup of tea, it can always be removed entirely.

The absolute best part about Sense 7 is the unprecedented level of personalization that’s available. Don’t get us wrong, Sense is already one stylish and elegant looking thing, making it one of the more likable customized Android experiences out there, but HTC has gone deeper to give users control in how it looks. Specifically, we can select various themes to spiffy the standard look of Sense, which by itself is already one slick looking thing. However, with this new feature, we’re able to even modify the color scheme of the UI, the way the icons look, and even rearrange the standard set of Android menu buttons.

Not surprisingly, Sense 7 is running on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop. Strangely, though, HTC Sense 7.0 doesn’t offer true multi-user support. Instead, there’s a Kid Mode that’s available, but there’s no way to add different user accounts to the phone. It’s odd, but hopefully they’ll somehow add it in with a future update of some kind. At the core of it all, HTC continues to refine its interface, which is already one of the more visually pleasing ones in the space. Functionally, it’s nice that they’ve kept true in making it a straightforward experience – one that’s not overcomplicating things.

Processor and Memory
HTC’s flagships have never been slow with their performances, so it’s no surprise that the same fact is present here with its most latest and prized model. Ticking underneath the hood of this one is the latest and greatest from Qualcomm, a blazingly fast 64-bit based octa-core Snapdragon SoC with 3GB of RAM – where four of its cores are clocked in at 2GHz, while the other four are at 1.5GHz. Just moving around the interface and doing some basic stuff, there’s that constant presence of swiftness and tight response with its operation. Don’t worry, it also helps that there are also all of those software optimizations with Android 5.0 Lollipop that help to propel this one on a consistent level.

From the sound of it, HTC will only be selling the One M9 with 32GB of internal storage out of the gates. It might change, but for the near term, that’s the tally you can expect to find. Luckily, as always, there’s a microSD card slot that there and ready to supplement its capacity. Therefore, there’s no need for panic if you’re one of those multimedia heavy junkies.

Camera
Alas, HTC has finally listened to the critics and decided to bring the phone’s rear camera to a respectable level. With last year’s model in the M8, HTC opted to pursue its “UltraPixel” camera, which to the dismay of many, just couldn’t compete in the details department that many of its rivals prided themselves on – so the results were rather disappointing. This time around, however, the HTC One M9 is blessed with a formidable 20-megapixel rear camera, which features an f/2.2 aperture lens, BSI sensor, sapphire cover lens, and up to 4K video recording.

Now, in the short of time of using this pre-production model, we managed to snap several photos. From outdoor shots, macro ones, and situations where lighting was insufficient, we were sure to shoot several samples for your enjoyment. From what we can gather, HTC has finally solved the details problem, as outdoor shots are filled with plenty of sharp visuals and details – allowing us to do some minor cropping, without significant loss of quality. However, its low lighting performance is a bit scary, seeing that they’re riddled with heavy noise, softer tones, and even some color fringing. Quite honestly, it’s not pretty, but there’s hope that tweaks to the processing will be accomplished to weed out this issue with the final product.

Interestingly enough, the “UltraPixel” camera isn’t totally removed from this phone, since the front-facing camera is an “UltraPixel” one. The main benefits here include its wide angle lens and attention to low lighting situations – so it’s the kind of thing that’s perfect if you want to include several people in your shots.

On the software and experience side, there’s just an obnoxious level of editing tools that are available. Some are really fun, where they add some nifty and artsy effects to photos, but HTC continues to go beyond by delivering customized themes that are taken directly from photos snapped by the smartphone’s camera. Frankly, the results are pretty interesting, as the software intelligently analyzes a snapshot, and then proceeds to procure color themes from it.

Since this is technically a pre-production unit, we won’t be too worried at the camera’s quality. However, knowing what’s out there in the space, one can only hope that HTC is able to recognize the opportunities present here and deliver results that can win over shutterbugs.

Expectations
Looking at the big picture, it’s tough to say what’s on the horizon for HTC now that its latest flagship model has been announced. In the space, we have several noteworthy flagship smartphones that push the boundaries – such as the case with these phones with quad-HD screens, impressively long battery lives, and cameras that take outstanding photos in all sorts of situations. Personally, we feel as though there was more of a significant evolution from the M7 to the M8 – while here with the M8 to the M9, it’s more of a subtle, incremental step.

Some folks might be disappointed about its close resemblance to its predecessor, but we have to remember that it’s quite common for companies to recycle designs (look at Apple for example). Visually speaking, though, HTC executes on what it does well – and that’s designing a smartphone. Sure, there are some good and bad things with the new design, but we can’t escape the fact that it’s still one premium looking thing. That alone shows dedication and attention to detail, which is tough for some other companies to deliver on.

In addition, HTC has addressed the main concern of the M8’s “UltraPixel” camera by blessing the M9 is a beefier sized 20-megapixl sensor. However, the results from what we can see are still a bit disappointing, but that can obviously change between now and when the smartphone is official released. On the software side, though, we have to applaud HTC for enhancing the Sense experience to a higher level. It’s still one of the best looking out there, but the new software features in tow, like the various photo effects tool and customizable themes, help to offer enough pleasantries in the experience – and they’re not really distracting or redundant.

Source: Phonearena

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge hands-on

2015-03-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

Design
We suggest checking out our hands-on article of the Samsung Galaxy S6 if you haven’t done so already, mainly because the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge shares the same design language – though, the added word to the name implies something more profound. First and foremost, we’re in utter amazement in the complete redirection Samsung has opted to go in for its latest smartphone. For many years now, Samsung has been known to heavily rely on plastic for its phones, but things slowly started to change with the release of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha.

From then on, Samsung has sprinkled a subtle premium quality to its smartphones in the form of a metal trim bezel. We’ve seen it in the high-end category with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, as well as in the mid-rangers like the Samsung Galaxy A5 and A3. However, there’s an evolutionary design leap with the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge! Gone is the plastic chassis of previous flagships, replaced instead by a body that’s constructed from finer materials that give the phone a premium quality. To be exact, the Galaxy S6 edge pays meticulous attention to everything – evident by its aluminum trim bezel and Gorilla Glass 4 front and back surfaces.

This is one gorgeous looking smartphone! Not only is it remarkably attractive, but it’s compact, lightweight, and offers one comfortable feel in the hand. And there’s that sense of substance a durability with its design, one that can’t be forgotten just because of its more premium materials. Honestly, though, the curved sides of the display are there for aesthetics – more so than function. As we grip the phone in our hand, our fingers naturally contour the sides of the phone, giving it a slightly more comfortable feel than the standard Galaxy S6.

Every way we look at the Galaxy S6 edge’s design, we can’t help but to come to the realization that this is actually a Samsung-made thing. It’s quite shocking to tell you the truth, but they deserve recognition for listening and delivering one of the more memorable designed smartphones in recent memory. However, there are a couple of shortcoming with the new design – like the fact that it’s a magnet for smudges and fingerprints. In addition, it sheds the water-resistant construction of the Samsung Galaxy S5 before it, but in all fairness, it’s a compromise we’re happy they decided to make because this one is just too utterly beautiful.

Display
Nope, Samsung isn’t settling on sitting still. Many folks argue that 1080p resolution is more than sufficient for today’s smartphone, but Samsung pushes forward by gracing the Galaxy edge with a defying 5.1-inch quad-HD 1440 x 2560 Super AMOLED display. Talk about impressive details! This one undoubtedly proves that point because it’s one of the most detailed around with its pixel density count of 576 ppi. Sticking with the same display technology that the company has popularized, its Super AMOLED screen continues to be vibrant – though, if it’s following after recent things like the Note 4, we can expect its color temperature and reproduction to be top-notch.

Obviously, the biggest thing separating this model over the standard Galaxy S6 is the curved edges of the display. Whereas the curved edge of the Note 4 is more for function, the edges present here are actually meant to accentuate the aesthetics. In particular, it gives the phone a uniform and seamless look, as the sides wrap around and meet together in the back. As for function, it’s not on the same level as what we get with the Note 4. Instead, the only functionality it has to offer relates to being able to access some quick contacts, notifications, and information from certain apps (think Yahoo’s services). On top of that, when a phone call is received, one side will shine and light up in a specific color that’s associated with a contact.

Beyond that, there’s nothing more in terms of functionality with the dual edge display of the smartphone. Like we said, it’s mainly there for the aesthetics to accentuate the already good looks of the smartphone.

Interface
Samsung claims that this is the best TouchWiz experience yet! That’s a little bit tough to say after spending just a short time with the phone, but we can certainly agree that it’s vying for a cleaner looking interface – one that also goes back to a simpler set of software features. Visually, the DNA of TouchWiz continues to be present, as the app panel and notifications panel for the most part remain unchanged. However, they added several new animations and a cleaner looking font type for its various widgets, which help to soften the tone of the user interface.

Running on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop, we’re a bit sad to find multiple user support nixed with the experience. Samsung claims that it’s not a feature that most smartphone users would use, as it’s mostly relevant to tablets instead. Despite that, some of Sammy’s classic TouchWiz features are present – like multi-window to give us a true multi-tasking experience. With this latest incarnation, however, it’s quite apparent that they’re trying to tone things down, as some of TouchWiz’s previous features, are not activated from the get-go. For example, we’re told that Air View isn’t some that’s enabled – so it merely goes to show that they’re trying to streamline and minimize any complications with the experience.

All told, it’s tough to say how this new TouchWiz experience can separate itself in a positive direction, seeing that TouchWiz in the past has sometimes proven itself to be too features filled and cartoony looking.

Processor and Memory
As it currently stands, when the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge launches as an international model, it’ll be powered under the hood by a brand new 14nm 64-bit based Samsung Exynos octacore chip – coupled with 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The result, based on our quick experience checking out the phone, is a far more responsive TouchWiz-running device than ever before. For example, Samsung was especially insistent on how fast the camera can quickly launch thanks in part to this new hardware. To tell you the truth, we find it more fluid than previous Galaxy devices, but it’s really tough to say if the consistent performance will be retained the more apps and usage the phone receives in the long term.

In coming up with the new design, Samsung had to make some compromises. One of them is found in the reality that there’s no longer expandable storage with the smartphone via microSD card slot. At the bare minimum, prospective owners will have their choice on storage options, which include 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities.

Camera
There’s no denying it, Samsung’s high-end smartphones are remarkably equipped for taking photos and videos – so you won’t be disappointed by what new camera gear in the Galaxy S6 edge is capable of producing. Slapped onto the back is a 16-megapixel camera, which features an f/1.9 lens, optical image stabilization, and an IR Detect White Balance to neutralize shots for a more neutral exposure. Around the front, selfie-snapping purists will be delighted to know that there’s a wide-angle 5-megapixel camera.

Having a proven track record already, we can only suspect that the results with the new camera hardware are going to be impressive, but we’ll save our reservations until we can actually snap our own, real-world shots with the smartphone. Then again, it’s tough for us to not believe that, as both the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 before it have constantly done well in our various camera comparison tests.

Although it’s not something necessarily new, especially with Sammy’s line of smartphones, the camera lens of the phone is more pronounced than ever before. If you thought that the lens stuck out a lot with last year’s Galaxy S5, you’ll be shocked to find out that it protrudes outwards even more with the Galaxy S6 edge.

Expectations
In the very short time of checking out the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, we’re blown away by how drastically different it is from all the other smartphones Samsung has manufactured thus far. The Galaxy S6 edge is a darling in the space with its unique dual edge screen, one that positively affects the aesthetics of the phone more than its functionality. In the same manner, Samsung doesn’t skimp out on the specs of the phone either, since it’s one beast of a thing that won’t disappoint.

Even though they’ve toned down the software features of TouchWiz, it still lays claim to an abundant set of hardware features – like its IR blaster, finger print sensor, and heart rate sensor. Ultimately, though, it’s the stark change to the phone’s design that makes it so impressive and surprising at the same time. In terms of pricing and availability, Samsung only mentions a global roll out beginning April 10th – where it’ll be offered in white pearl, black sapphire, gold platinum, and green emerald paint jobs. We're just hoping that its price point isn't going to be obnoxiously high!

Indeed, we’re still early in the year, but Samsung isn’t afraid to take the lead and set the bar high for everyone else.

Source: Phonearena

Samsung Galaxy S6 hands-on

2015-03-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

Design
One of the huge improvement that have taken place with the Galaxy S6 can be found in the design department. The Galaxy S6 is the first phone from the series that doesn't utilize materials of questionable quality. You heard that right - this is the end of cheap plastics and colored parts that lose their brilliance after a while (and after a few accidental hits). The new phone's exterior comprises two tempered glass pieces, courtesy of Gorilla Glass 4, fused into a whole with a solid metal frame. The glass panels, as you can imagine, pick up fingerprints really easily, but they do make the phone non-slippery and premium-feeling. The frame itself has been carefully shaped, so that there are no sharp edges to create discomfort while holding the phone.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S6 feels like a solid, well-made piece of machinery, unlike any other Galaxy smartphone so far. It's has a pretty normal size too - by sticking to a reasonable 5.1" screen, and by shedding water resistance, Samsung has managed to create an impressively sleek device that doesn't take too much space in your pocket, and most importantly, makes for possible (and enjoyable) one-handed usage experience. From design standpoint, this is easily the best Galaxy smartphone yet.

Display
As we mentioned, the screen size has been kept the same - the panel measures 5.1 inches in diagonal, resulting in a spacious, yet perfectly reasonable canvass. The resolution, however, has been pumped all the way up to QHD, or 1440 x 2560 pixels. You can imagine that this leads to a staggering pixel density - in the Galaxy S6's case, we're talking about the mind-blowing 577 pixels per inch. Yes, the display is unbelievably sharp. It's very nice, although we can't really say that the difference from 1080 x 1920 is that big, but you know, if the hardware can take the additional load without significant compromise with regards to battery life and performance, we guess it doesn't hurt having those extra pixels packed in there.

Of course, the Galaxy S6 is going to rely on Samsung's traditional screen tech of choice: Super AMOLED. It took a while for the manufacturer to reach a good level of color accuracy with its AMOLED displays, but now that the Galaxy S6 is here, it looks like the company is looking to solidify the good impressions that it made with the Note 4 and Note Edge. We can't fully confirm this yet, but the new display is definitely quite impressive, both in terms of color intensity and truthfulness. The company has also worked on the maximum brightness level of the Galaxy S6's screen, which should be able of reaching the 600-nit mark. It's not certain yet if it's going to be capable of reaching that figure in each and every scenario, like a quality LCD screen, but hopefully it won't be too dependent on the content that's being displayed.

Interface and Functionality
Armed with Android 5 Lollipop, Samsung's Galaxy S6 is going to be well-positioned to showcase the progress of Google's operating system. After all, it's shaping up as a state of the art device - packed with all kinds of features, yet showing care for things like refinement and stability. Having said that, Samsung has once again promised to take the path of 'more is less' with this latest version of TouchWiz UI, and while we can definitely see some of the simplifications and enhancements made by the company, the bulk of the software's previous versions is mostly still going to be present. Don't think that you'll be tapping and swiping your way happily without the phantom presence of air gestures, dual window mode, or some of the other 'extra features' that the manufacturer has generated over the years. Most of those things are going to still be available with the Galaxy S6, but at least the company has tried to hide them even deeper, under a bunch of settings and menu screens.

Enabling one-handed usage has been among the main priorities for Samsung while refining TouchWiz, and we can say that the Galaxy S6 is a top performer in that department. Its compact size, mixed with sizable icons and other user interface elements, make for an experience that facilitates easy and quick usage with just one thumb. Of course, more advanced tasks will still require you to use two hands, but when it comes to simple stuff like checking your email, checking the weather, or calling a contact, using one hand should be sufficient.

Samsung Pay
The Samsung Galaxy S6 will be the first phone to feature Samsung's new Pay service, which, as you might guess, is an alternative to Apple Pay. Right now, Samsung has completed deals with Visa and MasterCard, but it's yet to expand that partnership to other major players, such as American Express, Bank of America, or Chase. However, the company reassures that it's working on it. Easily the most interesting thing about Samsung Pay is the new Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) proprietary technology, which is said to widen Samsung Pay's compatibility with shopping terminals significantly. In addition to NFC for making contactless payments through terminals that support near field communications, Samsung Pay will also be able to communicate with traditional magnetic stripe terminal, thanks to MST.

Users will be able to use Samsung Pay to buy various goods in a quick and secure way, plus the whole process is promised to happen rather quickly. For example, should you wish to pay for something using Samsung Pay, you'd simply need to swipe of from the bottom bezel in order to bring up the Samsung Pay app (or just tap the icon, we guess), choose the desired card for the payment, authenticate using the fingerprint sensor, and from there, everything should be done in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, the bad news is that Samsung Pay will not be available to use with the Samsung Galaxy S6's launch, as the service will be enabled sometime during the summer, first in the Unites States and South Korea, followed by Europe and China a bit later.

Processor and Memory
Quite some effort has been put into the Galaxy S6's chips, too. It's not certain if there's going to be a Snapdragon version yet, but Samsung does talk up its new Exynos SoC pretty heavily. And looking at the specs sheet, there sure is a reason for Samsung to be proud of it. Powered by a total of eight cores, and made using a cutting-edge 14 nm process, the new Exynos is expected to blow most other mobile SoCs out of the water. Did we mention that it's a 64-bit chip, too? Yep, it seems like Samsung isn't willing to make compromises with regards to the internals of its upcoming flagship. However, things get even better, when you factor in stuff like faster internal memory and faster system memory. In terms of capacity, storage space variants will be a bit beefier than before: 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB. That's good, seeing that there's not going to be a microSD card slot present on the device. Meanwhile, the 3 GB of RAM should prove to be just enough to allow for the smooth operation of the system, even when using some of the more demanding features, such as the multi window mode.

So, just how fast is the Galaxy S6? While we can't really make any conclusive claims about the phone's overall system performance, we can say that it feels quite snappy and lag free. There's still some weird jerkiness present with TouchWiz and its movement, but overall it's a very speedy phone that promises to carry out pretty much any kind of task you throw at it with ease.

Camera
Samsung is traditionally very strong in the mobile camera department, and by the looks of it, the Galaxy S6 will attempt to further solidify Samsung's leading position in this regard. Same as before, the camera resolution is 16 MP, but there is a respectable host of new features involved. One of the more intriguing ones is optical image stabilization, in addition to reat-time HDR, infrared white balance (should work more efficiently than standard white balance), and tracking auto-focus for the video camera. Besides the mandatory cleanup work in the camera application, Samsung has made sure to upgrade its camera module a bit - the 16 MP resolution will be accompanied by a wide, F1.9 aperture now, promising to deliver better low-light image quality than that of the Galaxy S5 (its aperture was F2.2). The camera app itself is also extremely fast to launch - you can even call it by double-pressing the home button now. The reason why the camera app is so quick to start is because it never gets cleaned up from the system memory - it's always running in the background. Thankfully, Samsung promises that this isn't supposed to introduce any battery or performance issues, thanks to its software optimizations. One thing we feel is certain - once the Samsung Galaxy S6 launches on the market, it's going to be one of the best, if not the best camera phone around, judging by how easily the Note 4 has managed to win our blind comparison about the iPhone 6 Plus and... a dedicated DSLR camera.

Expectations
Truly impressive and decidedly streamlined - the Galaxy S6 looks to be an attractive phone, but there are still a few things that need to be made clear, like the pricing, for example, in order for us to have the complete picture. However, when it comes to release date, Samsung is willing to share that its current plan is to launch the Galaxy S6 in April, or in just about a month and something from now, which sounds like soon enough to us.

We have to admit, the Galaxy S6 shapes up as a truly impressive handset, just like its predecessors. We can't know yet if it's going to be efficient enough in battling all the Androids and iPhones of the world in its quest for stabilization of a slightly shaken up Samsung, but it does seem like the company has now put some serious effort into improving its top proposition... which had kind of adapted to living in the shadow of its larger sibling, the Note line, for the last couple of generations. The Galaxy S6 may be what it takes for Samsung to restore its influence in the mainstream smartphone market, but as of right now, we can't be perfectly sure. One thing we know for sure? This is going to be the best Galaxy phone ever.

Source: Phonearena

Nokia Lumia 730 Review

2015-01-28T18:25:00.002-08:00

Design
The Lumia 730 inherits the pillow-shaped design of the Lumia 800, and this means an excellent-quality construction with great ergonomics and a pleasant, soft plastic body.

The Nokia Lumia 730 comes with a pillow-shaped design that will remind those who follow the Windows Phone history of the first Nokia handset on the Microsoft’s platform: the Nokia Lumia 800 from early 2012. Luckily, this design that was once considered premium now comes to affordable handsets, and we’re impressed with the quality feel of the Lumia 730.

With no sharp lines, the phone sits very comfortably in the hand, and it has a welcoming soft feel to it. It’s made of plastic, with a removable, wrap-around plastic shell, but the material is a well-treated plastic that does not feel or appear cheap. The thickness of the phone is 0.34” (8.7mm), but it does not feel as thick as that number suggests because of the curved edges of the device. All in all, the phone is well fit for single-handed use, and it can safely be considered one of the best designs in the affordable phone class. You also have a choice of black, white, red, and green colors for the Lumia 730, and we appreciate having these color options as opposed to having just the more conservative black and white.

The Lumia 730 features on-screen navigation buttons, while all physical keys are conveniently within reach of the thumb on the right. The lock key is in the middle, and the volume rocker above - both are made of glossy plastic that contrasts with the matte grey of the body, and are clicky and responsive.

Display
The 4.7” 720p AMOLED display features overblown colors in the default mode, but you have the option to fine tune it to your liking.
The Nokia Lumia 730 features a 4.7-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 720 x 1280- pixels (720p). It uses AMOLED technology, which is still rather rarely found in affordable phones. It comes with the advantage of perfect black color, excellent contrast, and great viewing angles. On top of it, is a Nokia ClearBlack filter with polarization that filters out reflections nicely, which makes it easier to use the phone outdoors.

Looking at sharpness, we have a pixel density of 312ppi on the Lumia 730, which sounds great for such an affordable phone, at least on paper. In reality, however, some pixelization is noticeable. The reason for this is not the resolution per se, but rather the PenTile Diamond pixel arrangement used in the phone. PenTile features less sub-pixels, and this results in noticeable jaggedness, especially noticeable on larger patches of a single color.

Colors on the Lumia 730 are not bland at all: quite the contrary, we have a rich, vibrant image and looking at our display measurements one can see why. The 4.7” AMOLED panel covers a wider color gamut than the industry standard sRGB, and all the color saturations are overblown. As a result we have the aforementioned vivid colors that are rather unrealistic. This effect is multiplied by the fact that the screen’s gamma response at 2.48 is above the standard 2.2, which results in a darker, even more contrasty and unrealistic picture. Some people like those punchy colors, but we have seen better calibrated displays even in this affordable class of devices.

Keep in mind that those display measurements apply for the default standard color profile (you can change color profiles from Settings -> Display -> Color Profile). The Lumia 730 features an even more oversaturated ‘vivid’ color mode, a ‘cool’ one with preference for colder tonalities and a colder white point, and finally, one big surprise. That big surprise comes in the form of the ‘advanced’ color profile that allows you to tweak key aspects of the color performance of the display: you can set color temperature (from warm to cold, with a slider), tint (from green to neutral to purple), and color saturation (from natural to vivid). Those obsessed with color purity will be able to use these settings to calibrate the screen to near perfection.

Our measurements show that the Lumia 730 can reach peak brightness of around 294 nits. Keep in mind that AMOLED displays reach different brightness levels depending on the colors that are displayed (we measure brightness on an all-white display, while in real-life usage the brightness output might be a bit higher). We find the Lumia 730 bright enough for use outdoors.

We’re happy to see that the screen can also be used with gloves (something Nokia calls ‘super sensitivity mode’). We did not have to trigger any option to enable this - it works right out of the box, which is nice.

Interface and Functionality
Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim is the most mature version of Microsoft’s platform, with improvements to camera and stability, but it still lacks the apps.
The phone sports Windows Phone 8.1 with the Lumia Denim update on top. Windows Phone is a platform that remains visually largely unchanged from its inception, and Windows Phone 8.1 on the Lumia 730 is no exception to this rule.

You have the typical animated Live Tiles, a suite of core Microsoft apps, and all the improvements from the 8.1 update: the Action Center with quick toggles and all your notifications, the Cortana voice assistant, the ability to set wallpapers, and all the nice added functionality to the lockscreen that is now fully customizable by developers.

Basic functionality is well covered: Microsoft includes a solid phonebook that integrates deeply with Facebook, you have one of the fastest virtual keyboards out there, and free Office on board is a nice addition. HERE Maps with free offline maps and navigation has also long been one of the hidden advantages of the Windows Phone platform, and even though we now have the app in beta on other platforms, it’s still nice to have the best optimized version of the app on Windows Phone.

Then, you have the former Nokia (now - Lumia) apps and Lumia camera, which has become faster with the Denim update. Lumia camera gives you a full manual ride with control over shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and manual focus.

Even though Windows Phone is constantly growing, though, we still feel there is a sore shortage of apps. Recently, Chase withdrew its mobile banking app from Windows Phone because of ‘lack of interest’, and many other apps are missing or underdeveloped (Viber, one of the most popular VoIP/IM clients, for instance, does not register incoming voice calls when the app is not running). Still, the app situation is worst when it comes to games that often come late or never to the Windows Phone platform.

Processor and Memory
With Snapdragon 400 and 1GB of RAM, the Lumia 730 features the same specs as many of its Android rivals, but performance is not butter-smooth and app loading times are long.
The Lumia 730 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 system chip, a quad-core SoC with clock speeds reaching up to 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, and an Adreno 305 GPU. The Snapdragon 400 is one of the most widespread chips for affordable devices, and we’ve already seen how it performs on Android.

Unfortunately, we are seeing quite a bit of lag on the Lumia 730. Windows Phone is still tediously slow with opening apps, and this does not even touch on more CPU-intense tasks. Seeing a screen freeze for a few seconds at the loading stage is a common view, and we’re also often seeing dropped frames.s

Looking at actual performance benchmarks, we’re seeing very typical Snapdragon 400 scores, on par with the performance of the Moto G (2014 edition), for instance, an Android phone that runs on the same chip.

We’ve already mentioned that the lack of games is an issue on Windows Phone, but those that are available do tend to run fairly well. You can’t expect much from a mid-range chip - it will handle most games (even Asphalt 8), but frame rates might be a bit lower than ideal.

One serious issue with the Lumia 730 is the scant 8GB of internal storage that you get. This is not enough storage for even the most conservative of users. Luckily, you have a microSD card slot that you can use to expand memory by up to 128 gigs.

Internet and Connectivity
The Lumia 73x gets served in two versions: the dual SIM Lumia 730 and a 4G LTE single-SIM Lumia 735.
The Lumia 730 features Internet Explorer as the browser of choice. On mobile, it is a fairly fast browser, and one of just a few that have their address bar at the bottom, within easy reach of the fingers. Loading up web pages is zippy, and surfing the web, zooming in and out, and scrolling around happen with a very slight stutter, but nothing too irritating.

In terms of connectivity, we should once again point out the difference between the Lumia 730 and Lumia 735. The Lumia 730 is a dual SIM model that does not support 4G LTE connectivity, while the Lumia 735 sports a single SIM card, but does have 4G LTE. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS. Both versions of the phone come with an NFC antenna and full NFC functionality.

Camera
The selfie cam lives up to the promise - it takes great-looking selfies, and the rear camera is also fairly good.
The big highlight of the Nokia Lumia 730 are its capabilities as a ‘phone for selfies’. The main, rear camera is still the more capable one: a 6.7-megapixel auto-focus shooter with a small, 1/3.4” sensor, but a very wide f/1.9 lens aperture, a key advantage for low-light shooters in particular, while the 5-megapixel front cam is of a fixed-focus variety.

As all recent Lumia smartphones, the 730 comes with two camera apps: the default Windows Phone camera application, and the much more capable Lumia Camera. The default camera is not particularly rich in options, but it does get the job done. Lumia Camera is more interesting with its precise control of ISO, white balance, shutter speeds, and manual focusing. It’s become faster to capture multiple shots in succession, and that’s a big improvement over earlier Lumias. Still, there is no way to quick-start the camera app from the lockscreen, and a cold start of the app is a bit on the slow side, enough to miss that shot of that-funny-thing-your-toddler-just-did.

What about image quality? You can’t expect much from this affordable shooter, and that’s a good thing as the Lumia 730 is not a stellar performer, but it ranks around or even above average with fairly decent images: pictures turn out sharp, with sufficient detail, and nice dynamics. Colors, however, are definitely on the cold side, resulting in pictures that lack the joyfulness of warm tonalities.

Indoors, image quality is still decent, but it deteriorates with noise noticeable, plus there are more issues with white balance, and the single LED flash is not sufficiently powerful, and cannot illuminate indoor scenes good enough (unless you use it from a very close distance).

The front camera, on the other hand, tailor-made for meeting the ever-growing obsession with selfies, does more than well to capture you in the best light. Selfies come out rich in detail and a step above many other smartphones. It’s not just selfies, of course, with deep integration for Skype, video calls look gorgeous with this camera as well. It’s not perfect, and if we had to nitpick, we’d say there are slight issues color balance and again, a preference for colder colors.

The Lumia 730 records video in a 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution and 30 frames per second (you can also choose 25fps, and 24fps), with a fairly high bitrate of 19Mbps. Video quality is good: recordings have a nice smoothness to them, and even with quicker movements there is very little rolling shutter. The lack of optical stabilization, however, can be noticed, as handheld footage turns out noticeably shaky. Good news is that HAAC mics are present on the Lumia 730, and this results in some great audio recording quality. You have a bass filter as well, so that you can record with your phone at concerts without the bass ruining the sound picture.

Multimedia
Windows Phone is a mixed bag when it comes to media consumption. On one hand, you have some clever built-in apps with great design like the Photos application that uses images from your camera roll to present you with a fresh look everytime you open the app. Also, you have Lumia’s Creative Studio that offers some nice image editing capabilities and filters, but then, you lack the much richer image editing applications of iOS and Android - apps like VSCO Cam, and Snapseed.

The phone is also capable of playing back videos of even 1080p resolution (above the 720p native for the screen) without much effort, and the only commonly used format that we could not play back was MKV.

The music app, on the other hand, integrates with Xbox Music, but for all else is a fairly barebones creation that gets the job done with no bells and whistles. The loudspeaker is of a disappointingly low quality, producing hissy sound that is unable to reproduce lower frequencies at all, which makes many modern tracks sound bad on it.

Call Quality
Call quality is good on the Lumia 730. Voices in the earpiece come out very loud, so you’d have no problem making calls in even noisier environments. Clarity in the earpiece is not perfect, there are slight distortions, but those are minor issues that don’t get much in the way of understanding your caller.
On the other end of the line, the situation is a bit better with a bit cleaner sound.

Battery life
The Nokia Lumia 730 sports a 2,220mAh battery that can be easily removed by the user. Quoted talk time is 17 hours on 3G, which is above the average, while official stand-by time ratings are for 25 days.

Our initial impressions are that the phone has very good battery life, easily lasting us a full day, and when not using the phone too much even two days off the charger.

Conclusion
The Nokia Lumia 730 lives up to the promise of being a great phone for those who like to take selfies. It’s not just that, though: with one of the best designs among its peers and an improved camera app it is a good phone overall. On the downside, Windows Phone just does not feel as snappy as Android does on a similar configuration, and you’d see apps loading too long too often. We’re also not perfectly happy with the default display color mode on the Lumia 730, which comes with overblown, unreal colors. Luckily, those who care about accurate colors have the option to fine tune the screen to their liking.

At a price of $320 (€200 in Europe), the market is filled with rival Android phones, though. The Motorola Moto G (2014 edition) is a cheaper phone with a larger, 5” screen that offers the same Snapdragon 400 chip with a much smoother performance, and access to the richer Android ecosystem. Then, if you prefer a larger display, you can get the excellent HTC Desire 816 for around the same price, and you get a 5.5” 720p display, a Snapdragon 400 system chip, and a very capable 8-megapixel camera. Next, if you care about great design, you need to look no further than the iPhone 6-like Blu Vivo Air with its 4.8” 720p AMOLED display, and an equally capable MediaTek chip. Finally, you also have the LG G3 s, a 5” 720p phone with a Snapdragon 400 SoC. It’s a good performer with its physical keys on its back, which adds an interesting twist to usability.

If you feel an attraction for Microsoft’s Live Tiles and Windows Phone on the whole, though, and have an affinity for selfies, the Lumia 730 is a device that has more pros than cons. Microsoft is also promising to upgrade it to Windows 10 in the future, so you probably should not be worried about updates as much as someone owning an Android phone would.

Source: Phonearena

Nokia Lumia 830 Review

2015-01-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

Design
One of the thinnest Lumias available, the colorful polycarbonate 830 feels solid in the hand, eschewing the traditional unibody with a replaceable battery design this time.

At first brush, the Lumia 830 is the typical Lumia Nokia's been churning out since the brand's inception, with a polycarbonate chassis that is available in numerous flashy colors. Here, however, we don't have the traditional unibody design, but rather an easy to pry off rear cover that reveals a swappable battery pack, as well as the nano SIM and micro SD card slots. We have to take points off for the nano SIM, however, as it will force you to cut or replace your micro SIM card if you buy it unlocked, but this trend is inevitable, it seems. At 5.49 x 2.78 x 0.33 inches (139.4 x 70.7 x 8.5 mm), however, and weighing 5.29 oz (150 g), it is somewhat tall and heavy for a 5-incher, and yet it utilizes a nano SIM slot, which should be reserved for slim and light design efforts.

Moving on, the Lumia 830's chassis feels very solid in the hand, the matte polycarbonate on the back prevents it from slipping, and the keys concentrated on the right-hand side, are all big enough, with good tactile feedback, and easy to find and press without looking. We also liked how the tapered cover glass slopes towards the sides to merge with the side rim for one uninterrupted look and feel. Nokia bragged that it takes hundreds of robotic movements to achieve the curved glass edges, and we have to say that the results of all that scrubbing are very pleasant to hold or simply look at. Overall, the Lumia 830 feels like one very solid piece of hardware that should serve you well a long time.

Display
While an HD resolution is nothing to write home about in this day and age, Nokia has put a good IPS LCD panel in the 830, with plenty of color modes and manual adjustments to choose from.

Lumia 830 sports a 5” 720x1080 pixels IPS LCD display with decent 294ppi pixel density. You have several display modes to choose from, like cool, vivid and advanced, with the latter letting you play around with color temperature, tint and saturation sliders, until you've reached the desired results. Color saturation can be adjusted from “natural”, all the way to the gaudy “vivid” level. Color temperature goes from warm through neutral to cold, while the tint slider lets you emphasize individual colors – from green to purple.

The color accuracy of the screen in the default mode is excellent, too. Lumia 830 returned 6558 Kelvin white point in our display measurements, which means that the hues are neither too cold nor too warm, but rather cover almost perfectly the reference 6500K mark. Scoring another good point, the color distribution chart returns accurate representation, with no oversaturation or off-kilter tonalities.

Nokia cites “sunlight readability enhancements” for the Lumia 830, which consist of boosting the display brightness significantly when outdoors under direct sunlight, but doesn't list it as having the Clear Black filter on top that diminishes reflectivity. Thus, while the 830 fares well outdoors, it's contrast is not as good then as the one on the Lumia 930, for instance, so you'd have slightly subpar experience reading the screen under the bright sunlight, compared with the flagship. Still, at 478 nits, the phone's display is bright enough to be used comfortably outdoors.

Covered by sculpted Gorilla Glass 3, the Nokia Lumia 830 screen should withstand more than a few bumps and scratches, and, as usual, it also features a supersensitive touch layer, meaning that you can operate it with your gloves on.

Interface and functionality
Windows Phone 8.1 is a richer mobile OS now, to which Nokia adds a laundry list of exclusive apps like HERE Maps and MixRadio, and Win 10 is on the horizon.

The Lumia 830 sports all the bells and whistles that Microsoft's mobile platform can currently offer, and was already promised to be in line for the upcoming Windows 10 upgrade. Windows Phone 8.1 introduced a host of new features including a drag-down notification center (Action Center) that is home to all your notifications, and also to four toggles that you can conveniently use to quickly adjust brightness, switch Wi-Fi on or off, etc (you can customize the function of the four toggles from settings). The brightness toggle is particularly useful, since you can quickly change between low, medium, and high brightness levels without needing to go into settings every time, like before. In the Action Center, you can now also see the actual battery percentage, and the date, which is neat. As for notifications, you can swipe them away one by one to discard them, or you can clear them all in bulk, like the heads-up notifications style that is in Android Lollipop.

Windows Phone 8.1 has also gotten plenty of new customization options including the capability to finally have a wallpaper (Start Background) on your home screen. Well, kind of, as it is not plastered behind the tiles, like it will be in Windows 10, but rather works as a common tile background. How does it fit with all those Live Tiles? In fact, the wallpaper occupies space from the tiles, and scrolls live with them. A lot of those Live Tiles aren't transparent, and thus do not all show the wallpaper, so it looks a bit like a mosaic, but the achieved effect is still unorthodox.

There are lots of other, smaller improvements like the neat Quiet Hours feature. It is a do-not-disturb option in essence, that can automatically activate in certain hours. It also works with the calendar, and when you’re in a meeting, it’d automatically put your phone into silent mode. For the enterprise world, Windows Phones can have their passwords changed and remotely locked, certain functionalities can be restricted, and individual app installation can be allowed or denied on a case by case basis.

Basic functionality is - needless to say - well covered. Microsoft bundles in a bunch of useful apps - Travel, Sports, Finance, Food & Drinks and News are here, while Nokia also adds value with a rich Weather app. You have a rich phonebook, and the keyboard experience is one of the best out there with well-spaced keys and a reassuring clicky sounds when you type.

On the other hand, you have Nokia Cyan, a host of improvements to Windows Phone exclusive to Nokia. Those include apps like the Nokia Camera, Creative Studio and Storyteller for all Nokia phones, and a few features like Dolby Surround Sound recording available on select phones. Nokia also supplies the so-called Sensor Core feature with certain Lumias, which lets low-power sensor info trickle into the Health app in the form of a step counter, for instance. Add to these the excellent HERE Maps suite that lets you download whole geographical regions for offline voice-guided navigation, and as far as basics go we can say that Windows Phone os only a step below its two main contenders – Android and iOS – in out-of-the-box functionality. When it comes to third party apps, though, that's still another beer – half a million or not, some of the ones you are used to are still missing.

Processor and memory
It's good that Windows Phone is comparatively light on resources, as Lumia 830 carries a lowly Snapdragon 400 chipset, potentially marring game performance.

A quad-core Snadpragon 400 chipset clocked at 1.2 GHz only is nothing to get excited about in the Lumia 830. This processor is now at the low-end of Qualcomm's spectrum, and is coupled with 1 GB of RAM only.

Windows Phone doesn't ask for much in terms of processing power, so the interface runs quite smooth, but heavy 3D games might be a chore, not that there are much in the WP app store. Nokia supplied the handset with 16 GB of internal storage, plus a microSD slot for expansion.

Internet and connectivity
Just like iOS, Windows Phone doesn't let third party browsers spoil a veritable monopoly. The mobile Internet Explorer 11 browser has been updated in WP 8.1 to be faster and with tons of new features, though. Internet Explorer’s new options include an incognito mode that does not store browser history, reading mode that leaves only the text of a webpage in a nicely formatted document, and support for unlimited tabs. You also get the option to go back and forward in pages by just swiping left and right like on some other mobile browsers we know, which is neat.

Another option that is particularly nice is pinning webpages to the start screen. The pages then appear as live tiles showing you the page in its latest, most up-to-date state, serving as a living and breathing bookmark. The browsing experience itself is very smooth, and you can scroll around and zoom in and out of pages without lag.

The Lumia 830 supports both a pentaband 4G LTE modem, or speedy 42 Mbps HSPA+ download speeds, depending on the carrier you are on, and its network speed setup. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, DLNA and NFC.

Camera
Lumia 830 brings optical image stabilization and Nokia's Rich Recording to a lower price point.
The 10 MP PureView rear camera is not what your typical midranger comes equipped with. It sports six-element lens, optical image stabilization, and an LED flash. The 1.12 µm pixels are spread on a smallish 1/3.4'' sensor size, and the Lumia 830 has a middle-of-the-road f/2.2 aperture. The 0.9 MP frontal camera is wide-angle, and can record 720p video footage. Nokia pegs the minimal focus range to be about four inches (10cm), which is a pretty good number, though you'd have to enter the separate macro mode to achieve it. The phone comes with a two-stage shutter key on the side, and the shot-to-shot time may take 3-4 seconds, so it's not exactly a camera speed king. The camera app is a bit slow to start, too, especially cold-start, but once it’s loaded, navigating the interface is quick and ergonomic.

Nokia Camera has got a very convenient interface, rich in manual controls that don’t get in the way when you don’t need them. There are handy sliders for features like white balance, ISO, shutter speed (up to 4 seconds) and so on. In addition, you get Nokia's mode and effects set like Panorama lens, Nokia Refocus, Bing vision, Cinemagraph lens, and Nokia Glam Me.

Outdoors the photos' tonality sometimes leans on the warm, yellowish side a bit too much than it should, given the actual hues in front of the camera. The phone captures plenty of detail, or at least as much as we would expect from the camera's 10 MP resolution. There are no glaring exposure or white balance issues with the Lumia 830's camera, with the shadows highlighted enough even missing an HDR mode, and brighter objects like the sky toned down without overexposure.

Indoors the camera returns a rather realistic color presentation, which doesn't lean on the warm or cold side of the spectrum too much. In addition, the photos come out with well-defined objects, and the image is sharp throughout the frame. The Lumia 830 won't fire its flash unless it is pretty dark – like other phones with optical stabilization it uses pretty slow shutter speeds (like 1/15 sec) which often results in blurry image if there is any movement involved from your side, or the objects you are snapping. That's not the only issue with the Lumia 830, though, as the phone didn't fire the usual pre-flash, so our darkness test was ruined, returning only soft, unfocused shots. The handset did spot the scenes when there was at least some light around, but in complete darkness the measurement system sometimes can get fooled.

The Lumia 830 can shoot up to 1080p video with fluid 30fps, which runs smooth and uninterrupted by handshake, thanks to the OIS tech that is built in. Details are plenty, and exposure compensation rapid when panning around, but the colors are too warm and saturated to be called accurate, compared to what's actually in front of the lens. Lumia 830 has an ace up its video recording sleeve, though – the sound quality, thanks to the three HAAC microphones is very good. You have a few options – a normal stereo, surround sound (Dolby Digital Plus 5.1), or sound with noise filters applied. We tested all of them, and we'd have to say that the surround option with no filters applied captured the fullest sound range, as can be expected. Nokia's default setting recommends the 100Hz filter, though, which is a good compromise between capturing voices and eliminating background noise.

Multimedia
The video player was missing during the MKV lessons, but Nokia's MixRadio will take care of your musical ear for free.
With a good 5” display, the Lumia 830 has got the core asset for enjoying media on the go. It is also pretty conducive to pictures and video editing, and the Microsoft-Nokia duo are supplying free apps with rich functionality for both of those undertakings.

For music, Nokia’s MixRadio is traditionally a great option for enjoying tunes on the go. It has Spotify-styled on-demand music streaming at a very low price, but you can also use a lot of the functionality for free, with ready-made channels of your favorite artists. In addition, you have Microsoft’s standard Music application with tight integration for the rich Xbox Music catalog, where you can purchase tunes, but the equalizer presets are taken out in the general settings menu, rather than built into the music player's interface. Sound output via the loudspeaker is rather strong with its 79 dB, and sounds pretty decent, too.

The stock video player runs MPEG-4/DivX/Xvid files at up to 1080p resolution without a hitch, but the MKV container is a no-go, regardless of the footage resolution. The video player now also has subtitle and captions support.

Call quality
Middling earpiece performance can't be compensated with the three nice HAAC noise-canceling mics.
As you can expect from a Nokia phone that has three high amplitude HAAC mics, those we called reported stellar quality in their receiving earpiece, with clean and well-defined voice timbre, generous strength, and suppressed ambient noises. The earpiece of the Lumia 830 itself, however, is not good, as it sounds hollow, and way too muffled for telling out the caller's voice well, or hearing them on a loud street.

Battery
The 2200 mAh battery flaunts a decent capacity given the phone's specs and price range. Nokia cites 15 hours of talk time in 3G mode, and more than 20 days on standby. In addition, the screen-on time when browsing or watching videos is pegged at 10 hours, which is a good testament to the phone's longevity. In fact, we measured 9 hours and 19 minutes in our demanding battery benchmark test, which jibes with what Nokia cited for the handset, and is an excellent result. The rear cover also has a built-in Qi wireless charging system.

Conclusion
While a very decent Windows Phone device, the Nokia Lumia 830 has a steep hill to climb against midrange Androids with its current price bordering on 300 USD or EUR. Windows Phone 8.1 is now a better mobile OS, and the Lumia 830 is promised for a Windows 10 update, too. We certainly can't complain about the out-of-the-box software that comes with the handset, but the ecosystem still lacks in terms of app count, so if you are coming from an Android handset, or an iPhone, some applications you know and love might not be there.

The biggest advantages of the Lumia 830 against said Androids are the excellent sound recording ability that the three high-amplitude mics bring about, and the color-accurate display. Also, not many phones at that price point come with optical image stabilization for smooth and flawless videos. On the minus side, the earpiece call quality is not that good, flash shots are murky, and the chipset might stall at heavy 3D gaming.

At this price point you can find many a formidable Android competitor, like the LG G2 and Huawei's Honor 6 with 1080p displays, faster chipsets, and a lighter build, while a Benjamin more would get you the LG G3 now, for instance. The arrival of Windows 10 might change things for the Lumia 830, but for now, unless you need quality video sound recording on the go, we'd advise to wait for the inevitable price drop.
Software version: 8.10.14157.200

Source: Phonearena

BEAUTY in the details: LG G Flex2 hands-on

2015-01-06T09:15:00.005-08:00

LG didn't bring the awaited LG G4 flagship to CES, probably keeping it under wraps until the MWC in March. Instead, today we got the premium LG G Flex2 top dog, one of the most powerful smartphones around.

The new curved phablet introduces better display and packs the Snapdragon 810 beasty chip - it has an octa-core processor, an Adreno 430 GPU and 2 or 3 gigs of RAM depending on the configuration. The curved design isn't the only interesting innovation, of course. LG G Flex2 press conference

The new LG G Flex2 comes with an even better protection both for the display and the rear cover. Enhanced front protective glass and self-healing coating over the back sound rather cool, right?

The comfy control deck over the back, just below the new 13MP OIS+ camera is something we really like in the LG lineup and we are glad the company has stuck to this features.

Go your interest? Follow us after the jump for the real fun!

LG G Flex was one of those niche devices that may not sell well, but still make enough of an impact to leave an honorable footprint in history. The G Flex received mostly positive reviews both from the press and the early adopters. It may not be the best seller the G2 and G3 flagships were, but it was still a milestone LG definitely needed in its portfolio.

The original G Flex was designed and built around a seemingly simple recipe, including a curved body, a curved P-OLED display, and a self-healing coating over the back. Of course, as a premium top-tier device, LG G Flex has to pack the latest available tech by the time of release.

Today, LG introduces the next generation curved smartphone - the LG G Flex2. It follows the basics established by its predecessor, building upon its major principles and developing further the features that made the G Flex so attractive and popular.

So, the new LG G Flex2 is now official and the launch is almost here, too. The new Flex2 features a smaller 5.5" P-OLED curved display, but with higher 1080p display resolution. This means you'll be getting a nice and lively P-OLED display of 403pp density, which is more than enough. And the curved screen indeed looks gorgeous, especially when you are enjoying high-res multimedia content in landscape orientation

The LG G Flex2 is currently the most powerful smartphone to date. Sure, the Snapdragon 810 chipset ticking inside will make it to a plethora of devices later, but few of them will offer displays of 1080p resolution. The lower display resolution will give it a noticeable edge over the competition and the G Flex and it octa-core processor plus the latest Adreno 430 will be benchmark toppers for sure.

The beautiful LG G Flex2's display is protected by a piece of Corning Gorilla Glass 3, but LG has enhanced it further making it 20% tougher than the usual. LG says Corning had no part in creating the improvements in the proprietary dura-guard glass.

Speaking of toughness, LG F Flex2 might be quite durable on the front, but it also comes with an impressively protected rear cover. It follows the steps of its predecessor, introducing an even better self-healing coating that "heals" up to 18 times faster. LG claims everyday scratches and dents disappear for about 10 seconds at room temperature. This is indeed quite an achievement but we are yet to test how this turns out in real-life usage.

The rear cover is removable, but the 3,000 mAh battery is not user accessible. You can just hot-swap the microSIM and the microSD cards.
LG G Flex2 will launch this month in Korea in Platinum Silver and Flamenco Red colors. Both look great and thanks to the rear protective coating covering the glossy material, fingerprints and smudges are highly unlikely to stick.

You bet the rear control deck LG is so proud of is here to stay. The keys and placement are very similar to LG G3's, and there is no hump at the back as it was the case with the original G Flex. The volume rocker has a nice dotted pattern.
Above the rear controls is the 13MP camera sensor, the same as on the LG G3. It features OIS+ optical stabilization, and it works side-by-side with the laser autofocus LG has been offering on its G3 top phones for a while. A dual-LED two-tone flash is also around, helping you achieve better low-light shots. LG says the camera shoots better quality images compared to LG G3's but we are yet to put this to the test.

The top of the LG G Flex2 packs an IR blaster, which somewhat became a mandatory feature for flagships in the recent years. It will allow you to control remotely various devices across your home, the TV being the most targeted one, of course.

The bottom of the G Flex2 has the microUSB port, which has been upgraded with fast charging capability. LG is providing a compact 2.6A wall charger, which will charge the G Flex2 a lot faster than usual - up to 50% in less than 40 min. This isn't as impressive as Oppo's Rapid Charging, but is still faster than most of the smartphones out there.

LG G Flex2 is powered by the latest Snapdragon 810 chip. It offers an octa-core 64-bit processor with four Cortex-A57 @ 2.0GHz and four Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz cores. It also comes with the most powerful Adreno GPU to date - the Adreno 430 as well as 2GB or 3GB of RAM depending on the storage flavor you choose - the 16GB or the 32GB model.

We were able to test the CPU performance via the latest GeekBench 3 and it turned out great - the best score produces by a smartphone to date. It seems those eight cores will be providing stellar performance. Note that this unit is running on a pre-release software version, so the performance could be even better on the retail unit.

LG G Flex2 runs on Android 5.0.1 Lollipop skinned with the latest LG launcher. In addition to the native 64-bit OS support coming from Lollipop, the highlights of the proprietary launcher include Gesture Shot, Gesture View and Glance View features.

The Gesture Shot allows you to capture selfies easily, recognizing your hand from 1.5m. Gesture View helps you view the last shot, while Glance View displays key info on the display when it is off (Samsung offers the same within the TouchWiz UX).

Here is a short hands-on video showing the G Flex2 in action:

LG G Flex2 kicks off later in January in its homeland - South Korea, while the rest of the world will get it in the following couple of months. It will carry a premium price tag over the LG G3 flagship, just like the Galaxy Note Edge does over the Galaxy Note 4.

Source: GSM Arena

HTC Desire 826 hands-on

2015-01-06T08:42:00.001-08:00

Design
The HTC Desire 826 reminds us a lot of the 820's design language, mixed with a splash of Desire EYE. It is mostly made of glossy plastic, adorned with some subtle color accents – a modernistic look, which seems to be becoming a signature of the Desire series. The sides of the 826 have a rubbery texture, which should provide for a better grip of its not-so-small body. This handset is also equipped with HTC's BoomSound speakers, which are hidden in thin lines where the display panel meets the top and bottom bezels – much like how HTC did with the Desire EYE. HTC Desire 826 hands-on

Display
The display is still a 5.5" display, but the Desire 826 one-ups the Desire 820 by upping the resolution to 1080 x 1920 pixels, which gives it a nice dense ratio of 401 PPI. It offers a sharp image, nice, wide viewing angles, and is surrounded by rather thick bezels by today's standards.

Interface
HTC's snappy Sense interface makes a return, but this time around – it adorns Android 5.0 Lollipop, which makes the Desire 826 HTC's first midranger to come with Google's newest OS out of the box. On first glance – the Sense UI doesn't seem to look very different from anything we've seen so far.

Processor and Memory
The Desire 826 is powered by the 64-bit, octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, clocked at 1.7 GHz, and paired with 2 GB of RAM. Now, we've encountered this SoC before, as it also powers the Desire 820 – a nice and powerful CPU, which provides a snappy performance – we are truly curious how it would perform under extensive testing on a phone with Android 5.0 Lollipop.
The phone's internal memory is 16 GB and it supports microSD, microSDHC, and microSDXC cards of up to 128 GB.

Camera
The main camera has a 13 MP resolution sensor, keeping in check with HTC's strides towards enabling and encouraging users to take more high-quality photos. If the sensor is the same as the one in the Desire 820, we'd expect some very satisfying results. The frontal snapper is a 4 MP UltraPixel camera. Yup, the tech that HTC tried to cram in not one, but two of its One (M7 and M8) models' main cameras, and which is rumored to be absent from the upcoming 2015 flagship, is making a return as a selfie-cam. This could actually turn out well, as frontal cams often need better light-siphoning abilities, and HTC's UltraPixel tech was invented with just that in mind. Expectations A slightly upgraded Desire 820, with a crisper display, a different type of frontal cam, and a slightly sleeker design with its hidden speaker grilles and rubbery bezels, the Desire 826 doesn't seem to offer specs that are notably better than its sibling, however, if one were on the market for a new HTC midranger right now, we could see how the newest offering could be more attractive.

Unfortunately, the only thing we know about the handset's launch is that it will be hitting stores in China soon. This doesn't mean that it will not be available in the US, though, there is not word on if or when. We also don't have official information on price, but seeing as the Desire 820 was priced at $475 (off-contract), we'd imagine that the price of the HTC Desire 826 would be in the ballpark, if not slightly above.

Source: Phonearena

Asus Zenfone 2 hands-on

2015-01-06T07:51:00.001-08:00

The Asus Zenfone 4 is the smallest and most affordable member of the new Zenfone lineup. It comes with a 4″ WVGA IPS display and runs on a dual-core Intel Atom Z2520 1.2GHz processor. The rest of the specs include PowerVR SGX 544MP2 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of expandable storage and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Asus says the phone will be launching with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean but will be getting KitKat shortly after.

Design
Holding the ZenFone 2 for the very first time, we can’t help but say that we’re unmoved by its design. For the most part, it’s more of what we expect from the company – a mostly all-plastic constructed smartphone. However, we will mention that we dig how there’s some personalization with the various covers and finishes that the rear casing is available in. With our particular test model, it sports a brushed red metallic finish, but it’s instantly recognizable that it’s still plastic. Despite that, the various textured patterns that are available help to give this otherwise bland looking smartphone some style. We should note, too, that its volume controls have been put in the back of the phone, for a more natural feel as we hold the phone in our hand.

Display
The façade is dominated by a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS display, which as we all should know, is nothing to brag about. Indeed, it’s super detailed and has a natural color production – one that comes off nice looking to the eyes, but it’s barely anything ground-breaking we haven’t seen before. Still, from our quick analysis, its brightness output seems potent enough to make whatever is on-scree visible to the eyes.

Interface
Slowly and steadily, we’re increasingly becoming attracted to Asus’ customized Android experience – the ZenUI. Here with the ZenFone 2, it’s running the most up-to-date version of the UI on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop. That’s awesome news! Especially considering that many current high-end Android phones are still waiting to be updated. Visually, there’s a balance between minimalism and responsiveness, as nearly every interaction is accompanied with some sort of cool animation. Needless to say, we’re eager to get more intimate time playing around with the new interface.

Processor and Memory
Intel is increasingly stepping up its game, and it shows here with the Asus ZenFone 2, seeing that it’s powered by a 64-bit based Intel Atom Z3580 processor – coupled with a whopping 4GB of RAM. You read that right folks, a staggering 4GB of RAM. From our cursory look, we can tell you that the phone is buttery smooth with all sorts of basic operations. Who knows how it’ll fair with things like gaming, but maybe that 4GB of RAM will surely aid it in reaching its maximum potential with little effort.

Depending on the version of the ZenFone 2, it’ll be available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, which can be supplemented by its microSD card slot.

Camera
Asus talked big about the handset’s camera, a 13-megapixel rear camera that features a 5-element f/2.0 apertures lens and a dual-color Real Tone LED flash. In addition, they highlighted that it’s an excellent thing to use for low-lighting situations, as its dynamic-range mode is able to adapt and enhance photos to expose improved details and the color range. Around the front, it’s slapped with a respectable 5-megapixel wide-angle camera with an f/2.0 aperture lens. Everything sounds good, but until we see real sample from a final unit, we shall reserve our judgment.

Expectations
Knowing the specs and all, it’s almost hard to believe that Asus has the ZenFone 2 priced at an impressive outright cost of $200. That’s unbelievable, right? Especially for something with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 64-bit based processor, and running Android 5.0 Lollipop. However, we should note that’s most likely for the 2GB model, so it’ll be interesting to hear later on what they say about the 4GB model. Still, at $200, it’s a steal on so many levels – even for an outright phone.

Source: Phonearena

Oppo R5 Review: 5,2 inch, 2GB Ram, 2000mAh, 13 Megapixels, Android 4.4.4

2014-12-26T18:10:00.001-08:00

Design
There is no denying that the Oppo R5 is a pleasure to look at. The manufacturer did not rely just on the slim profile for aesthetics, but on a beautifully crafted matte silver-finished metal frame and back, intertwined with the white, non-glossy plastic bezels. Indeed, the R5 looks and feels like a well-built, premium handset; despite its thickness, it is absolutely sturdy, with no bends and creaks. As every slim handset to come out these days, this one also has a protruding camera on the back, though, it is housed in a nicely looking, rectangular bulge, so as long as one is used to this "feature" on modern smartphones, it will be a non-issue.

Measuring at 5.86 x 2.93 x 0.19 inches (148.9 x 74.5 x 4.85 mm) and weighing 5.47 oz (155 g), the R5 does not feel very different to hold, compared to other top-line handsets in the market – its footprint is familiar to the hand, and, while the slender profile does make it feel less bulky, the device still weighs just about the same as other, more traditional phones. Accessing the power button and volume rocker is easy, as both are placed in a comfortable spot on the right side of the frame, and while their feedback is not the best, they still feel clicky enough to not be awkward to use.

Due to the size constraints, Oppo was unable to pack a 3.5mm headphone jack on the device and hasn't equipped it with a dedicated speaker for audio – its earpiece doubles as a loudspeaker. The lack of these components actually contributes to the device's uniform look, as there are no excessive grilles or openings to disrupt its solid lines. Fear not, the phone comes with its own proprietary headset, which connects via micro USB.

Display
The Oppo R5 has a 5.2" display with a 1080 x 1920 resolution, which results in a 424 ppi density, giving us a clear and crisp image. The panel uses AMOLED technology, which results in vivid, punchy, though, also – rather inaccurate colors. Its brightness levels range between a minimum of 2 nits, to a maximum of 339, making it comfortable to view in pitch-darkness, but troublesome when out in the sun.

The display's color temperature measures at 8011 K, quite a ways off from the reference value of 6,500 K. That, combined with an apparently skewed color reproduction, results in the picture looking cold, with a bluish/greenish tint visible throughout. The typical for AMOLED screens color over-saturation is also present here.

Interface and Functionality
The Oppo R5 comes loaded with Android 4.4.4, heavily skinned to become what the company calls "ColorOS" – a simplified interface that does away with the app drawer, adds customizable gesture controls, themes, and a few other small, but useful functions. Users of the Find 7, Find 7a, N1, or N3 who have used ColorOS v2.0.1i will instantly feel at home, while others will have to traverse only a minor learning curve. On the R5, the software does not stutter or exhibit huge hangups, but there is an ever-present and very minor delay when scrolling through home screens – it doesn't feel as if the hardware is having a hard time drawing, though, so we wonder whether Oppo went a bit over the top with trying to make the animations feel buttery smooth, and accidentally overdone them to feel sluggish. That being said, users will enjoy scrolling around, though, those coming from snappier interfaces will need a little time to adapt and not feel constantly annoyed.

The gesture controls include the well-familiar double-tap to wake, but barely end there. When the screen is off, the user has a choice to draw a circle, which will open the camera app, or draw a V-shape, which starts up the flashlight. Swiping downwards with two fingers will play / pause music playback, and drawing a > or < shapes will skip to the next or previous song, respectively.

Once the display is on, the user can control volume, by swiping up or down with two fingers. Swiping with three fingers will snap a screenshot. If these are not enough, one can call up a gesture board by pulling up from the bottom of the screen. Here, the user can draw the "O" or "V" gestures for camera / flashlight, or enter the Settings and create their own gesture commands for a select group of predetermined functions or apps.

In our experience, gesture app-launching was generally slower and more unreliable than just scrolling to the needed app and tapping its icon, but we did enjoy using the touch-controlled music playback, volume set, and screenshot features.

Processor and Memory
One of the first smartphones to come with a 64-bit Snapdragon
Not only is the Oppo R5 one of the thinnest smartphones in the world, it's also one of the first to come with an octa-core, 64-bit, Qualcomm-made SoC on board, ready to enter the Android Lollipop era with full force (and we are assuming that Oppo will update its newest devices to the new OS, sooner or later). Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 615 in February, 2014, and this is our second taste of the new SoC (the first one being HTC's Desire 820).

The 600 series is usually where the upper mid-range class of Qualcomm-made processors resides, and for what it is – we are more than pleased with the SD 615's performance. Web browsing is a breeze and 3D games run smoothly, even on the highest setting. The SoC is paired with 2 gigabytes of RAM, which is now the norm for a phone that takes itself seriously, and we had a hard time making the device exhibit a hiccup.

The R5 does tend to get hot, though, this is expectable with its slim body. Oppo has said that it's used materials that dissipate heat faster and “radically improve thermal efficiency”. Still, we'd keep a watchful eye on any signs of overheating and avoid over-stressing the device (using it while charging, for instance).

Unfortunately, the phone's size shows to be a hindrance yet again, as Oppo only fitted it with 16 GB of internal storage, 4.5 of which are taken by the OS, and there is no slot for an external memory card.

Processor and Memory
One of the first smartphones to come with a 64-bit Snapdragon
Not only is the Oppo R5 one of the thinnest smartphones in the world, it's also one of the first to come with an octa-core, 64-bit, Qualcomm-made SoC on board, ready to enter the Android Lollipop era with full force (and we are assuming that Oppo will update its newest devices to the new OS, sooner or later). Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 615 in February, 2014, and this is our second taste of the new SoC (the first one being HTC's Desire 820).

The 600 series is usually where the upper mid-range class of Qualcomm-made processors resides, and for what it is – we are more than pleased with the SD 615's performance. Web browsing is a breeze and 3D games run smoothly, even on the highest setting. The SoC is paired with 2 gigabytes of RAM, which is now the norm for a phone that takes itself seriously, and we had a hard time making the device exhibit a hiccup.

The R5 does tend to get hot, though, this is expectable with its slim body. Oppo has said that it's used materials that dissipate heat faster and “radically improve thermal efficiency”. Still, we'd keep a watchful eye on any signs of overheating and avoid over-stressing the device (using it while charging, for instance).

Unfortunately, the phone's size shows to be a hindrance yet again, as Oppo only fitted it with 16 GB of internal storage, 4.5 of which are taken by the OS, and there is no slot for an external memory card.

Camera
A 13 MP Sony Exmor IMX214, paired with an options-packed camera app brings us mostly good results
The main camera module houses a 13 MP Sony IMX214 sensor, with an F2.0 aperture size, while the frontal cam has a selfie-afficianado-pleasing 5 MP resolution. The camera app is among the better ones we've seen, offering a rich choice of modes (and a selection of downloadable ones), among which one can find Auto, HDR, UHD, Manual Mode (called Expert Mode), Colorful Night shot, and others. Switching over to the frontal cam automatically activates the Beauty Face function and gives the user a variety of filters to choose from.

In well-lit situations, the camera snaps quickly and gives us generally balanced pictures – colors are represented accurately and the images are neither oversharpened, nor extremely soft. Indoor, the sensor does a great job at capturing a good amount of light and detail, even in darker situations.

The phone's HDR function is a letdown – sure, it does light up all the dark corners in an image, but the whole picture ends up looking like it has its contrast set to low and brightness to high, while also being covered in grain. It is still usable in some dark situations, but is mostly hit-or-miss.

The Expert Mode offers access to manual focus, exposure compensation, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance settings. While its options are not extremely elaborate, users who enjoy tinkering to get the best photos possible will be pleased with it.

Battery Life
The thin profile takes its toll
Having a thin phone is great and all, but a lot of users would agree that the compromise in battery size makes for a bad trade-off. In this case, we are on the fence, as the R5's 2,000 mAh juicer managed to last 5 hours and 8 minutes in our battery life test – quite an impressive feat, since the juicebox has to power a 5.2”, 1080p display, but still – lacking way behind other premium Android handsets.

There is also Oppo's VOOC tech – a technology, which uses a 4.5 A charger, and a circuitry inside the smartphone, which protects the battery from damage. So, the Oppo R5 charges up from 0% to 75% in about 30 minutes, while going to the full 100% will take around 73 minutes, as the last 10% of battery take quite a while to fill up. Super-fast charging is great, though, it doesn't really make up for a mediocre battery life – we doubt purchasing the thinnest smartphone in the world, only to have to lug around its bulky charger, is what users have in mind.

Our real-life experience with the device shows that, with casual use, it can last one through the day. It manages to hold its charge very well in standby mode, and if it's used for the sporadic phonecall / e-mail check / chat / picture share, it will not leave its owner high and dry. Additionally, Oppo has included two tiers of power saving to help users out when in a tight spot and low on power.

Source: Phonearena

Sony Xperia Z4, Z4 Compact and Sony Z4 Ultra

2014-12-21T23:14:00.005-08:00

New Year's Eve is right around the corner, and we're already taking our little peeks at upcoming smartphones that will kick-start 2015 into being another awesome year for mobile technology. The biggest blip on our phonedar right now is Sony's upcoming Xperia Z4 lineup - which is led by the Xperia Z4 smartphone and followed by the smaller Xperia Z4 Compact, the huge Z4 Ultra, and quite possibly, the Z4 Tablet - which we won't be taking a look at here.

These glorious beasts could be announced as early as January at CES 2015 - and, therefore, they're leaking like there's no tomorrow! So, we figured it's about time we rounded up all the rumors that sprouted over the past month and a half. Looking at how much we know or heard about the Xperia Z4 family, it's safe to say Sony won't stand a chance at catching us - or you - off-guard! But there's always room for surprises, so be sure to take all the information presented here with a precautionary grain of salt!

Design
For better or worse, the Sony Xperia Z4, Z4 Compact, and Z4 Ultra are yet to leak in credible pictures. What we we have to entertain our imagination with are two convincing concept renders, and the Xperia Z3 devices, of course, whose design DNA will surely carry over. We can safely assume Sony has found ways to make its best smartphones slimmer and lighter, while reducing the "empty space" around the display by minimizing the top, bottom, and side bezels. The build materials will most probably be metal and tempered glass - a high-end combination Sony has a proven ability to handle. Thus, expect metal power and volume buttons thrusting out of a finely sculpted metal frame.

Of course, a Xperia smartphone is not worthy of the "flagship" moniker if it isn't water and dust-proof as well, so let's put that in the bag too. Another likely addition is front-facing stereo speakers, a feature Sony has no reason to remove from its premium offerings.

Display
1440p or 1080p resolution? The rumors are as unsure as ever, but we'll be getting one of the two in the Sony Xperia Z4's Triluminos display for certain. The display size is debatable as well. A leaked internal presentation, along with a few other tips, has put it at 5.2 inches by diagonal, while previous rumors have pointed towards 5.4 or 5.5 inches - take your pick!

Given the Sony Xperia Z3 has a 5.2-inch diagonal, and Sony's strategy is one of improving its designs without changing them significantly, we're keen to bet on 5.2 inches. If that's the case, then the Xperia Z4 screen's pixel density will stand tall in both the 1080p (423ppi) and 1440p (565ppi) scenarios.

On the lesser side of things, the Xperia Z4 Compact is shaping up with the familiar 4.7-inch diagonal, 1080p resolution configuration, while the Xperia Z4 Ultra's broad 6.44-inch display could have its resolution set at Quad HD (1440x2560). Thus, at least on paper, both screens will have their pixel densities through the roof at 468ppi for the Z4 Compact's and 456ppi for the Z4 Ultra's.

Performance
When it comes to the Sony Xperia Z4's processor, the rumor mill is torn between the 32-bit Snapdragon 805 processor and the 64-bit Snapdragon 810 SoC, both by Qualcomm. The former is sufficiently powerful and readily available to Sony, but it lacks the future proofing of the latter - which won't make it to manufacturers until the second quarter of 2015. Knowing this, and that Sony might be introducing the Xperia Z4 device lineup at CES 2015 (Jan 6-9), we're placing our bets on the Snapdragon 805.

Besides, Sony has no reason to rush, as it will get the chance to outfit the Xperia Z5 with premium 64-bit silicon six months later. The amount of RAM should remain 3GB, which is more than enough for the Android devices of today. The Xperia Z4 Compact and Ultra, however, are in a different ballpark. Their rumored release timeframe is the second quarter of 2015, which means they can enter the scene Snapdragon 810 processors blazing! Both will have 3GB of RAM on board, too.

Interface
Sony's Xperia Z4 lineup will run on Android 5.0 Lollipop topped off with the fit Xperia UI. Sony's vision for it is about delivering entertainment and productivity in a simple package, so it's safe to say it will spare the feature bloat. Instead, there are many smaller nuggets of useful functionality. Double tap to wake; an options panel, which can be revealed at any time by doing a swipe gesture from the left edge of the screen; Sony's Small Apps multitasking suite, which pins windowed calculator, browser, notes and other apps on top of anything else; built-in screen recording functionality, and more goodies. In addition, the pleasant and understated design is consistent and melds with the user experience of recent Sony smart devices you may have in your household - such as the PS VITA, the PS4, or a TV set.

Camera
With its Xperia smartphones, Sony is in the awkward position of peddling the industry's best-selling Exmor RS camera sensor to its direct competitors, while inexplicably failing to make it stand out in its own products. Don't get us wrong, Sony smartphones take decent photos, but you won't see the Xperia Z3 in our selection of 2014's best cameraphones - even though it should have qualified for it with its potent 20.7-megapixel CMOS sensor and extensive camera app. The Xperia Z4 lineup is Sony's next chance to redeem itself, and for that, the company has prepared a new camera sensor.

The Exmor RS IMX230 is a 1/2.4", 21MP sensor that advances mobile photography with image plane phase detection autofocus and 192 AF points. These additions should enable blur-free tracking and snapping of fast moving objects, along with real-time HDR images. Sony plans to make a 16MP version too, but whether we'll have any of the two inside the Xperia Z4 devices is up in the air, as the IMX230 will be put in mass production as late as April 2015. So don't be surprised if the Xperia Z4 shows up at CES rocking its predecessor's 20.7 MP 1/2.3” Exmor RS sensor with 1.12 micron pixels - which won't be a bad thing at all!

Storage and connectivity
We don't expect Sony to pull any surprises or surprise punches here. We can count on either 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and why not 128GB of built-in storage in the Xperia Z4, Z4 Compact, and Z4 Ultra's different models. LTE, fast Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and popular standards for connecting phone and Smart TV or monitor together are a given.

Battery life
We measure battery life by running a custom web-script, designed to replicate the power consumption of typical real-life usage. All devices that go through the test have their displays set at 200-nit brightness.

If the Sony Xperia Z4 ends up anywhere around the Xperia Z3's size, it would be logical to assume it has roughly the same battery. A 3100mAh unit (or, hopefully more) will have plenty of juice to power even the purported QHD display variant, but we're not sure whether the smartphone will stand a chance to ace our battery test like its predecessor did if it has such a power-hungry display. Then again, the mighty Samsung Galaxy Note 4 achieved an excellent result with only a 3220mAh unit to make do with, so either way, we're optimistic about the outcome. Same for the Z4 Compact, which is rumored to have wireless charging. Finally, the Rubenesque Xperia Z4 Ultra will find itself with an appropriately sized battery unit of a 3500mAh to 4000mAh capacity. Check out the test results above to get an idea of how the Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact, Z Ultra, and Galaxy Note 4 perform in this important regard.

Release date, price, and carriers
As mentioned above, we expect Sony to unveil the Sony Xperia Z4 (and possibly, the Z4 Tablet) at CES 2015 in early January. The Xperia Z4 Compact and Z4 Ultra will follow later, almost certainly in the second quarter of the year. However, pricing and carrier availability in the USA are totally different questions. If you don't plan on buying unlocked, maybe you could look for the Xperia Z4 at Verizon and T-Mobile - the only US carriers that sold the Xperia Z3 on a contract. Meanwhile, the Z3 Compact and the original Xperia Z Ultra were never sold with a plan - you have to get them at stores. Whether the Z4 Compact and Z4 Ultra will face the same fate, or not, it remains to be seen.

Price, you asked? Well, Sony's high-end smartphones don't come cheap! We expect Sony will charge anywhere between $600-$800 for the Xperia Z4 unlocked, between $500-$700 for the Z4 Compact, and $700 for the Xperia Z4 Ultra. But this is only some educated speculation on our part.

Source: Phonearena

Samsung Galaxy S6 (Project Zero)

2014-12-08T00:34:00.001-08:00

Samsung have launched a new product line class and have really changed in all aspects of the design, configuration and features.
And the product is expected to soon be launching Samsung is the Samsung Galaxy S6. S6 is expected to own a completely new design, no longer equipped with Full HD screen anymore, but instead, S6 will have a Quad HD screen with TouchWiz interface.

This is the internal codename of the Galaxy S6, the supposed next Samsung flagship. So far, Samsung has been quietly codenaming its flagships with letters from the alphabet - the S4 was Project J, the S5 -- Project K, but rather than the S6 being ‘Project L’ (which also coincides with Android 5.0 ‘L’ollipop), it decided it is time for a reset.

It’s all back to the basics. After a few prosperous and worry-free years of growth, Samsung has to go to the drawing board to re-think its ‘next big thing’, which no longer looks so big after sales tumbled and the Galaxy S5 sold slower than the S4.

And frankly, a lot of the fairy tale growth for Samsung thus far ONE THING IS CERTAIN: THE GALAXY S6 WILL BE A VASTLY DIFFERENT SMARTPHONEis not least due to the fact that Apple was inexcusably late with its product cycle, taking years to make an adequate, large-sized iPhone. Now that there are two of them, and a mature market with a plethora of strong offerings from China, Samsung is starting to feel the heat and this time it’s serious. Samsung mobile head JK Shin is said to be leaving, replaced by Samsung electronics head BK Yoon.

One thing is certain: the Galaxy S6 will be a vastly different smartphone, aiming to show the best of Samsung in one device.

Design: entirely new vision
We’ve been criticizing Samsung a long time for its uninspiring, all-plastic, cheap-looking devices, and that chant reached a crescendo in the Galaxy S5, where the company ignored all hopes and pleas for a more refined style, and stubbornly released the S5 with the same plastic design.

With ailing financials, though, and a series of well-made, metal devices, Samsung might finally make a change.

Going back to the ‘Project Zero’ codename, it’s very likely that the reset it implies refers to the visual style of the device at most. After all, previous Galaxy S series devices were never criticized for their processors and performance power. All of this leads to one logical conclusion - Samsung is probably developing an entirely new style for the Galaxy S6.

Display: wave goodbye to 1080p, welcome Quad HD
The Samsung Galaxy S5’s other big disappointment was the screen. The 5.1-inch Super AMOLED panel - despite being praised by Samsung loyalists - has one big shortcoming - its green tint that throws it off in terms of color accuracy, making it look unnatural.

The recent advancements in the land of Samsung AMOLED displays that the company showed with Galaxy Note 4 make one thing clear: it can do a good-looking display, if it wants, so we have high hopes that the S6 will finally have a well-calibrated display. As to the size? We do expect it to be slightly larger, going from 5.1” to not more than 5.5”.

The road towards higher-resolution screens has been a one-way street, and despite the little perceived difference of going from 1080p to Quad HD (1440 x 2560-pixel) displays, the Galaxy S6 is said to make that jump.

Interface: an unknown direction for TouchWiz
The Samsung TouchWiz custom user interface on top of Android has been the source of controversy for many years. It’s an extremely feature-rich skin, but it has consistently fallen behind in terms of speed, and despite Samsung flagships boasting state-of-the-art processors, they still stutter and lag in certain moments.

Nonetheless, it will be extremely difficult for Samsung to turn this around so quickly, and while we do expect a small step towards simplicity and speed in the Galaxy S6 TouchWiz version, it will likely take more time until we can enjoy a truly sleek-running version of the skin.

We’ve already seen the TouchWiz version re-imagined for Android 5.0 Lollipop on the Galaxy S5, and you can take a look at it below to get an idea about the direction Samsung is likely to go to when designing the Galaxy S6 interface.

First 64-bit Samsung flagship: Snapdragon 810 and Exynos 7420 models
The Galaxy S6 will be the first truly important, widespread Android phone with a 64-bit chip, but it will still come a year and a half after Apple kickstarted the transition to 64-bit in mobile with the A7 chip in the iPhone 5s.

Android will likely take a couple more years to get NDK apps updated to 64-bit and even then, we do expect it to run with some issues due to the multi-tasking on Android which will conflict older, 32-bit apps with 64-bit ones.

Nonetheless, it’s great to finally be in 64-bit territory and feel future-proof with the Galaxy S6.
The S6 is expected to arrive in two versions for different markets: the United States and other Western markets are said to get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810-powered model, Samsung Galaxy S6 (Project Zero) rumor round-up: specs, features, price, release date and all we know so far while other territories should get the Samsung Exynos 7420-based version.

Qualcomm has a reputation for making its own, custom CPU cores, but it has also been caught off-guard with Apple’s 64-bit announcement, and in order to fit into a more aggressive timeline, the Snapdragon 810 no longer ships with a custom Qualcomm core - instead it uses an ARM-based setup: four Cortex A53 cores and four Cortex A57 cores.

In fact, this makes the Snapdragon 810 version of the Galaxy S6 very similar to the Exynos 7420 model, which also comes with four Cortex A53 cores and four Cortex A57. Both are also expected to feature 3GB of RAM.

Camera: Galaxy Note 4-like excellence
The Galaxy S5 took a hit for its 16-megapixel camera. Samsung’s decision to go with such a large resolution came with the downside of smaller individual pixels, and this is said to be one of the major reasons behind the less than inspiring low-light performance of the S5 main shooter.

The company has improved its technology, though, and in the Note 4 we are seeing a much better performing 16-megapixel camera. Since the Galaxy S6 is not a finished design yet, internal discussions are still going on to decide whether to use a 16-megapixel or 20-megapixel sensor.

Chances, however, are that after a seemingly not very successful run with its own Samsung sensor in the S5, the S6 could feature a sensor like the Sony IMX240 (often said to be in the Note 4), with optical image stabilization (OIS).

Another interesting upgrade on the camera end is a 5-megapixel front camera said to arrive on the S6

Storage: 32GB in the basic model
While processors and cameras have improved at a staggering pace in the last few years, an area that they both depend on has largely stagnated.

We’re talking about internal storage, of course. 16GB of internal storage has been the standard for flagships in the past 5 or so years, and luckily, Samsung is finally planning to pick up the pace and introduce the S6 with a 32GB base model. The handset should also be offered in a 64GB and 128GB storage tiers, all with support for expandable storage via microSD cards of up to 128 gigs.

Connectivity: first with all sensors on one chip, in-house LTE modem
4G LTE connectivity might still be a rarity in the majority of the world, but lucky customers in the U.S. and the Western world in general (let’s count Korea and Japan there as well) are enjoying astonishing download speeds.

4G LTE, however, has so far come with a taxing battery budget. With the Galaxy S6 this might be less so, as the phone is expected to arrive with a Samsung in-house LTE modem, the SS333, or Exynos Modem 333.

Moreover, with Broadcom’s new BCM4773 chip on board that combines GPS and all other sensors on a single die (a first in the industry), we should see some great improvements in battery longevity on the S6.

Samsung Galaxy S6: release date, price, and carriers
Finally, knowing all this about the Samsung Galaxy S6, you might be wondering: when can I get it? Given the history of Samsung announcements, we’d bet on an Unpacked 2015 event for the Galaxy S6 at MWC 2015, or shortly after. The release date of the Galaxy S6 will likely be around a month after the official announcement, so it should arrive in retail stores around the end of March-early April 2015.

So far, we have seen the following codenames leak out, and they do reveal a lot about the S6’s carrier availability (yes, it will naturally be on all four major U.S. carriers, and many more).

Samsung Galaxy S6 codenames:
Zero-F US - VERIZON SM-G920V_NA_VZW
Zero US - AT&T SM-G925A_NA_ATT
Zero EUR - OPEN SM-G925F_EUR_XX
Zero-F CA (Canada) - BELL MOBILITY SM-G920W8_NA_BMC
Zero-F US - SPRINT PCS SM-G920P_NA_SPR
Zero CA - BELL MOBILITY SM-G925W8_NA_BMC
Zero US - VERIZON SM-G925V_NA_VZW
Zero-F - EUR OPEN SM-G920F_EUR_XX
Zero US - T-MOBILE (US) SM-G925T_NA_TMB
Zero US - SPRINT PCS SM-G925P_NA_SPR
Zero US - US CELLULAR SM-G925R4_NA_USC
Zero-F US - AT&T SM-G920A_NA_ATT
Zero-F US - US CELLULAR SM-G920R4_NA_USC
Zero-F US - T-MOBILE (US) SM-G920T_NA_TMB‏
Samsung has never surprised us with price, so we do expect the Galaxy S6 to sell for $199 on a two-year contract, and $649 when you buy at a full retail price. With all this in mind, how do you like the way the Samsung Galaxy S6 shapes up to be?

Source: Phonearena

HTC Desire EYE Review

2014-11-24T19:46:00.005-08:00

Eye Desire is equipped with two cameras on both sides of the same 13.0MP Snapdragon processor with 801 strong resistance to water and dust.

Design
A big, surprisingly pleasant to hold handset that has certain issues
Despite its large dimensions (5.97 x 2.91 x 0.33 inches or 151.7 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm) and weight of 5.43 oz (154g), the large HTC Desire EYE does is not unwieldy and feels good in the hand. On the contrary, the device is pleasantly ergonomic and sits good in the hand.This time around, HTC put its faith into hard, matte plastic as a build material, both for the back and for the sides, which is pretty pleasant to touch and provides a more-than-acceptable amount of grip. It does not smudge easily, but still tends to hold a bit of grease, especially if your hands are sweaty or dirty.

It's quite possible that the main culprits for the tall silhouette of the device are the two frontal speakers (neatly hidden in gaps between the display's frames and the top/bottom bezel of the phone) and the large selfie camera up front. These take their toll and make the Desire EYE as tall as a Galaxy Note 4, for example.

Meanwhile, the right edge of the device is home to a set of hardware buttons (power/lock, volume rocker, and a dedicated two-step camera shutter key), the interaction with which is quite unpleasant – they are shallow and it's extremely hard to discern them from the surrounding plastic. The two-step camera button is particularly unpleasant – it does not provide enough feedback about its position. At the left side of the phone, we can find the slots for the nano SIM and the microSD cards, which fit rather tightly inside the frame. The HTC Desire EYE is IPX7-certified, too, which means that it will live to tell the tale if you dip it in the water – in particular, for as long as 30 minutes at a depth of up to a meter.

Display
Excellent outdoor visibility and acceptable color reproduction
Up front, we have a 5.2" 1080p display that has a pretty good pixel density of 424ppi – the display is sharp enough and we failed to discern any individual pixels. It also is very bright, vibrant, and has an excellent outdoor visibility. At the same time, its contrast is top-notch, too, but the color accuracy leaves something to be desired – its readings don't exceed the borders of the sRGB color chart, but the display fails to match with many of the color targets. The Desire EYE reproduces colors a tad bluer than they should be in real life – it has a color temperature of 7248K, noticeably higher than the reference of 6500K. The gamma, at 2.37, is also above the perfect value of 2.2. The viewing angles are mediocre at best, yet acceptable.

Interface and functionality
The best Android 4.4.4 KitKat and Sense 6 have to offer
Naturally, the HTC Desire EYE ships with the maker's own Sense user interface, which runs on top of Android 4.4.4 KitKat, the best of the pre-Lollipop era. Striking a very good balance between on-board features and a no-frills user experience, the selfie-centric device is lightweight and pleasant to work with, as far as interface is concerned.

We have BlinkFeed on board, as well as the Motion Launch feature, which allows you to wake and put the phone to sleep by double tapping the screen – quite useful on a handset like the Desire EYE, not only due to the size, but because of the unimpressive buttons, too. You can either use HTC's own messaging and mail apps or resort to Google's alternatives - Hangouts and Gmail ones. The UI of the Desire EYE can be customized with several different color themes.

Processor and memory
The hardware inside the Desire EYE ensures a no-frills experience
The HTC Desire EYE ships with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AB chipset, with four Krait 400 cores running at 2.3GHz. The latter work in concert with an Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM. This hardware combination plays out pretty good for the Desire EYE, which shows almost no signs of lag even when heavier tasks need to be processed at hand. The multitasking capabilities of the phone are adequate, too.

We also have 16GB of native storage, roughly 9 of which are available to the end user out of the box. Don't fret, as a microSD card slot is present, too – it supports microSD cards of up to 128GB in size, which is more than enough to store all the selfies you might take.

Internet and connectivity
Regardless of which one you choose, be it HTC's stock web browser or Google Chrome (both of which are preinstalled), the Desire EYE will always treat you to a pleasant browsing experience. Navigating through web pages is smooth, and we experienced little to no interface lag. Text appears crisp and pleasant to look at. The phone comes with support for a wide array of LTE bands (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17, 20, 29). Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, GPS, GPS-A, Glonass, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and DLNA are also present.

Camera
Both cameras will satisfy you with the images they produce
At the rear of the Desire EYE, we have a 13MP BSI sensor endowed with a 28mm lens that has an F2.0 aperture and a dual LED flash. Autofocus, HDR, and various manual controls. Have in mind that the snapper shoots in a 16:9 mode by default, so to fully utilize those 13 megapixels, you'll have to select a 4:3 shooting mode from the settings menu. The rear camera produces images with an acceptable amount of detail, with close to no artifacts and mostly accurate colors. Even so, it occasionally tends to produce images that are slightly darker than reality. HDR images are quite adequate, too, even with strong backlight present. However, the snapper disappoints when it comes to images that are taken indoors, under artificial lighting, as these come out quite noisy.

Call quality
In the telephony department, the HTC Desire EYE fails to impress and performs in a mediocre fashion. Its microphone tends to randomly insert artifacts and slightly distort your voice. At the same time, the top-positioned BoomSound speaker acts as a earpiece, however, its voice reproduction is not very impressive – you'll hear the other side slightly muffled and, generally speaking, not natural at all.

Battery
The Desire EYE has a 2,400mAh Li-Ion battery at the back and HTC says that the handset will last for roughly 22 days in standby mode, while the official talk time is exactly 20 hours. It clocked in at 7 hours and 2 minutes in our custom battery test, which is a good and adequate result. You'll have to wait for 2 hours and 37 minutes in order to see the battery of the Desire EYE charge all the way from 0% to 100%, which is an acceptable result.

Source: Phonearena

Nokia N1 full phone specifications

2014-11-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

After the array of smartphones and phones in the hands of ordinary Microsoft, the Nokia has turned to the tablet segment, and N1 is the first tablet of the Nokia-branded and runs on Android OS this is probably the most anticipated Nokia from a few years back.

Design
Aluminum unibody design, remarkable thinness, stereo speakers. Ring any bells?
The Nokia N1's design and appearance immediately attracted comparisons to Apple's iPad Mini 3, and for good reason. It's pointless sugar-coating the fact that, for the most part, it looks like a competent clone with little difference in design and dimensions to speak of.
However, this is no reason to cry wolf. While Nokia isn't to be respected for closely imitating a fine, successful design, the end result is, unarguably, one sleek Android tablet. And ultimately, this matters to the majority of customers more than enjoying an original creation. Besides, Nokia is in no position to take risks. After Microsoft acquired the company's smartphone business, its hardware venture is, essentially, a startup with the initial advantage of an established brand. We're not saying Nokia should be "forgiven", and neither are we blaming the company in the first place. We're just stating some clean facts - feel welcome to make what you want of them.

That aside, let's examine the Nokia N1 a little closer. This is a handsome tablet that measures a compact 7.90 x 5.46 x 0.27 inches (200.7 x 138.6 x 6.9 mm) at a weight of 11.22 oz (318 g). It is constructed from one plate of Aluminum and has the appealing advantage of a fully laminated display that sits completely flush with the body. This gives "unibody construction" a new meaning - the Nokia N1 is literally seamless. It is also comfortable to hold, owing to its portable dimensions and smooth edges. While waterproofing would have served the icing on the cake, the package is truly premium as a whole.

What else is there to point out? The button placement is the same as on the iPad Mini 3 - the power key and volume buttons are on the top right. On the very bottom, you'll find the punctures indicating the presence of 0.5W stereo speakers. There's also a microUSB port of the "reversible" type C kind. We can't tell you how much we want these to become the norm on all USB devices!

The Nokia N1 will be available in Natural Aluminium and Lava Gray finishes. We can't help, but wonder - is the Champagne Gold version coming anytime soon?

Display
A screen that meets this and next year's standards.
Zero-gap design and full lamination isn't all the Nokia N1's 7.9-inch display has to stand out with. We haven't seen the panel is person yet, but its technological profile sounds delightful - IPS LCD panel, 1536x2048 pixels resolution, 324ppi pixel densiy, all of that topped off with Gorilla Glass 3. If Nokia has gotten the colors, viewing angles and brightness levels right, reading, gaming, and multimedia will be awesome on this screen.

Interface
Nokia's Z Launcher redefines the Android experience.
The fact that Nokia's first tablet in a long while is powered by Android 5.0 is impossible to miss. What's even more interesting is the custom code that runs on top. Meet Z Launcher, quite possibly the simplest, most streamlined Android interface to come from a major brand. It offers a very different user paradigm compared to the typical desktop-like experience. Nokia touts Z Launcher as "the fastest way to access everything on your phone." Expect to see your homescreen dynamically change throughout the day, showing a choice of up to six apps, contacts and websites based on how and when you use your phone. The other interesting nugget is the gesture control that lets you "scribble" a sign or letter with your fingers to activate a certain feature.

Can't wait to see what Nokia is up to? Z Launcher is in beta mode and available freely from the Google Play store. You can download it and test it yourself right this second, if Google Play deems your device compatible. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4, and Nexus devices have the best chances.

Processor and memory
Intel 64-bit processing and late 2013 PowerVR graphics inside mean business.
The Nokia N1 is a generously spec'd device. It is powered by a an Intel Atom Z3580 (Moorefield) quad-core 2.3GHz 64-bit processor. This is a top of the line processor with similar performance to current flagship solutions such as the Snapdragon 805 and NVIDIA Tegra K1 processors. It is paired with the PowerVR G6430 GPU. This graphics unit was announced back in September 2013, and it went right inside the iPhone 5S and iPad Mini 3. In other words, you are getting a unit that is outperformed by the NVIDIA Tegra K1 chip inside the Nexus 9, but is exactly the same as in the Nokia N1's direct competitor. While PowerVR's latest silicon, which went inside the iPad Air 2, is roughly two times more powerful, this chip will be able to keep up with the best of them a year or two from now on. The RAM memory is 2GB, and the storage space is 32GB (less in reality, due to how file systems address memory). This powerhouse is ran by a 5300mAh battery. Given Intel's energy-efficient processors, the battery life shouldn't disappoint. The lack of GPS and cellular connectivity is a tad disappointing, though.

Camera
An 8-megapixel main camera and 5-megapixel front camera
To old and budding tablet photographers, the Nokia N1 offers an 8-megapixel main camera with autofocus and 1080p video recording capabilities. The front cam is a 5MP unit, which means you'll look great in video chats and selfies. There are no flashes of any kind, though. One has to wonder whether Nokia will be able to bring its imaging expertise from PureView-branded Lumia phones onto the N1 and future products. Hopefully, the Finns will offer something to retain their photographic reputation.

Expectations
If Nokia markets it properly, the Nokia N1 will sell like hotcakes.
Priced at an aggressive $250 before taxes, we expect the Nokia N1 will sell like hotcakes to tablet enthusiasts, assuming the company markets it properly. The Nokia N1 is the fiercest Android competition to the Google Nexus 9 right now, with similar horsepower, but better design and much comfier pricing. However, the question when Nokia will launch this bombshell still looms over our expectations. Only a tentative release timeframe is provided - early 2015. The first country to get the tab will be China, possibly due to Foxconn acting as Nokia's manufacturing partner. If you have a million of these little wonders sitting in a warehouse in China, you might as well go about selling them.

Ahh, it's good to have Nokia back! We think the N1 is a sign of great things to come - especially when the company's contractual obligation to Microsoft to abstain from smartphone making expires. What's your opinion?

Source: Phonearena

Samsung Galaxy A3 and Samsung Galaxy A5

2014-10-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

The Samsung Galaxy A3 comes with “full metal unibody” design. The display is a 4.5-inch, qHD one, of the Super AMOLED type. This mid-ranger will apparently be powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SOC with 64-bit architecture, and 1GB of RAM. The phone makes use of a 8-megapixels rear shooter and 5-megapixels front one. The rest of the list includes 16GB of microSD-expandable storage, a 1900 mAh cell, and Android 4.4.4 KitKat.

The Samsung Galaxy A5 comes with “full metal unibody” design. The display is a 5-inch, 720p one, of the Super AMOLED type. This mid-ranger will apparently be powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SOC with 64-bit architecture, and 2GB of RAM. The phone makes use of a 13-megapixels rear shooter and 5-megapixels front one. The rest of the list includes 16GB of microSD-expandable storage, a 2300 mAh cell, and Android 4.4.4 KitKat.

After so many pictures leaked, the Samsung has officially launched two new phones aluminum shell named Galaxy Galaxy A5 and A3. Both are owned aluminum unibody design and also the two smallest machine thinness of Samsung ever, 6.7 and 6.9 mm. A5 and A3 are configured 1.2 GHz quad-core chip, 1-2 GB RAM, screen 5 "and 4.5", the highest resolution is 720p, the camera of 13 MP / 8 MP and 5 MP front camera. The machine will have many different colors and were sold from November this year in many markets, the sale price has not been disclosed.

Galaxy A5 is higher configured machine with screen 5 "720p, 2 GB RAM, 13 MP rear camera and 2300 mAh capacity battery. The Galaxy A3 screen 4.5" qHD resolution, 1 GB of RAM, rear camera 8 MP and 1900 mAh battery only. Objects that Samsung aims to A5 and A3 this time that the customer classes of young, dynamic and personality. Thus in addition to owning the aluminum Unibody design, they are also very thin and there are many different colors including White, Black, Silver Metal, Red, Blue and Champagne Gold.

Front camera of two machine-resolution 5 MP comes with the image function wide angle selfie masturbation, Palm Selfie, Animated GIF, Beauty Face Features ... Super AMOLED display with Adaptive Display Technology enhances visibility under strong light. Super battery saving features Ultra-Power Saving Mode, privacy mode hanger, multi-screen multiscreen and has the ability to automatically adjust the sound of the loudspeaker according to the level of ambient noise.

Source: Tinhte

Motorola DROID Turbo Review

2014-10-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

"Rise to the moment: Amazing speed and performance. The sharpest display of any smartphone. Turbo charging for additional battery life when you need it most. You always have power to rise to the moment. DROID Turbo by Motorola. Only on Verizon."

After many leaks, Motorola has finally launched the Turbo Droid for Verizon. This device uses AMOLED display 5.2 "Quad HD resolution (2560 x 1440) with protective glass Gorilla Glass 3, on the back is made from Kevlar fiber with high strength, accompanied by 3900mAh battery with mixed usage of the extremely impressive: up to 48 hours. features quick charger is also fitted to the Droid Turbo to allow users to spend extra 8 hours to just 15 minutes plugged the machine power.

And despite long battery life but still owns a Droid turbo configuration with powerful Snapdragon quad 805, 3GB RAM, Adreno 420 GPU, 32GB of internal memory (64GB optional), camera key 21 megagapixel and 2 megapixel camera. Is there sufficient common connections such as Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, NFC, microUSB. Turbo will start selling Droid place on 30/10 for $ 199 (32GB) or $ 249 (64GB) comes a 2 year contract with Verizon.

Basic configuration of the Motorola Droid Turbo:
Screen: 5.2 "Quad HD resolution (2560 x 1440) with protective glass Gorilla Glass 3
CPU: quad-core Snapdragon 805
GPU: Adreno 420
RAM: 3GB
Main camera: 21 megapixe f / 2.0, dual flash
Secondary camera: 2 megapixels
Battery: 3900mAh, mixed-use time up to 48 hours
OS: Android 4.4.4 KitKat
Special Features: dorsum made from Kevlar
Connectivity: NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi a / b / g / n / ac, GPS, microUSB
Internal Memory / Memory Card: 32GB or 64GB,
Dimensions: 143.5 mm x 73.3 mm x 8.3-11.2 mm (the black ballistic), 7.8-10.6 mm (the normal black and red)
Weight: 176g (black ballistic), 169g (normally black and red)

Source: Motorola, Via photo Phonearena

Google Nexus 9 Tablet Hands On

2014-10-30T20:29:00.002-07:00

Google Nexus 9:" Designed with you in mind; Fit for your hand with a soft grip back and subtle curves, the Nexus 9 tablet strikes a slim profile that’s light and comfortable for work or play. High-quality construction built with a thin bezel, brushed metal sides, clean lines and unique colors, the Nexus 9 tablet is sleek and sturdy."

Tablets are still big business for many, but when it comes to the affordable segment, there are plenty of Android powered ones to choose from. If you want that balance between performance and pricing, you only need to look at new Google Nexus 9. Partnering up with HTC on this one, the Nexus 9 is one impressive tablet from a specs point of view, but at the same time, it’s not too draining on the pockets either.

We’re lucky to have the tablet in question in our possession at the moment, so we’re undoubtedly eager to check out what it has to offer – Android 5.0 Lollipop is one of them, naturally. Taking a quick peek at the packaging, which looks to be the final retail one, the number 9 is emblazoned right on the top of the box. Depending on how you have the box oriented, it can be mistaken for a number six, but hey, the box’s size indicates it’s the larger Nexus product.

Around the sides, we have the logos from all of the partners that help produce this tablet – like HTC to be exact, who has been strangely out of the tablet game for quite some time. For them, this is a special occasion, one that should no doubt put them back into contention. Inside, we’re greeted to the tablet in question, the usual set of documentation, wall charger, and microUSB cable.

Already, it’s shaping out to be a formidable thing. We won’t get into all of the details here, but some of its main highlights include its 8.9-inch 2048 x 1536 (QXGA) IPS LCD display with Gorilla Glass 3, 8-megpixel rear camera, 64-bit based NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor, 192-core Kepler GPU, 6700 mAh battery, and stock Android 5.0 Lollipop. Like we said in the beginning, the Nexus 9 is also notable for its aggressive price point – $399 for the starting 16GB Wi-Fi model. In addition, there’s a $479 32GB one, and a $599 32GB LTE model.

Source, Via Google Nexus, Youtube; Photo tinhte

Google Nexus 6 hands on

2014-10-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Google Nexus 6:"A bigger phone with more everything", the pixel-rich, 6" Quad HD display is perfect for getting work done, playing games, and watching movies with stunning clarity, dual front-facing speakers provide immersive stereo sound to give you the best audio for movies and games., the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 805 quad-core 2.7GHz processor provides lightning fast multi-tasking and the Adreno 420 GPU gives you brilliant graphics.

Design
While we try to steer away from oversimplifications, to not point out that the Motorola Nexus 6 is essentially identical to its maker's other new flagship device, the Moto X 2014, would be to mislead you. Indeed, for the most part, you're looking at the same device -- the same soap-shaped body is in place, with its pleasantly-rounded rear and aluminum trim around the profile. Like the X, the Nexus phablet is also water resistant.

But there are differences between the Nexus 6 and the new Moto X, and the most obvious one is size. That's right, at 6.27 x 3.27 x 0.40 inches (159.26 x 82.98 x 10.06 mm), this is one of the biggest phones you'll come across, and it's also fairly heavy, at 6.49 oz (184 g) -- a true phablet, if we've ever seen one. Said otherwise, unless you're prepared to dedicate both your hands to the task of operating this device and have space other then your pocket to keep it, you might want to think twice before going for the Nexus 6.

Moving on, also different are the front-facing speakers of the new Nexus -- unlike the Moto X, we're now looking at a duo of true stereo speakers which should hopefully provide rich sound playback. Also different is the placement of the power button and volume rocker, both of which are only slightly off-center on the right, making them easy to reach on as big a device.

Display
The 6-incher (5.96'' to be exact) of a display of the Nexus 6 is, without a doubt, the highlight feature of the device. Unlike other recent Nexus devices, the 6 sports an AMOLED display and not an IPS one, with an extremely high, 1440 x 2560 resolution, or a density of a whopping 493 pixels per inch.

We're yet to get our hands on a Nexus 6 unit and get cracking with our scientific measurements, but if the Moto X is any reference, then we'd expect the phablet to show off similarly gaudy, overstated colors -- in line with most AMOLEDs currently on the market. Then again, if we consider the Nexus 5, which offered excellent, on-target color reproduction, then we might as well have our second phone with a color-correct, Quad HD AMOLED display this year (along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4). Unlike the Note 4, however, the Nexus 6 won't offer a choice of color calibration profiles to users.

Interface
Even though older Nexus devices just might get Android 5.0 Lollipop over-the-air before the Nexus 6 ships out to consumers, that doesn't change the fact that the N6 is Google's designated device to showcase what new is on offer with the next major update -- and quite a bit is on offer. Undoubtedly, the most striking difference between KitKat and Lollipop is the transition to a new, flatter "Material Design" philosophy, which now calls the shots across a large number of Google's products and services. The interface in Android 5.0 is also far more colorful than in the past, with primary colors making a decisive appearance, not to mention that Google has worked hard to ensure that most all actions and operations one can carry out in Lollipop will provide rich animated feedback. This new theme has also been implemented with the usual stack of built-in apps, including the Dialer, E-mail, Clock, Calculator, Chrome, and many more.

Also different are the software navigation keys that traditionally occupy the bottom-most part of your screen -- those are now shaped like a triangle (back), a circle (home), and a square (recent apps). Speaking of recent apps, the multitasking menu has changed in terms of its design -- instead of running apps being separated with their own window, those are now stacked together, making it harder to tell what's going on. It boils down to personal preference, of course, but we can't say we've got the hots for this particular 'improvement'.

The way notifications are handled has also changed -- specifically in terms of the lockscreen, which will now give you at-a-glance summary of what you missed. What's more, notifications on your lockscreen are actionable, so you can either jump right into the respective app, or perform actions right from the lockscreen. Other stand-out new features include support for different users, a battery saving profile (finally!), and the ability to quickly search for particular options right inside the Settings menu.

Last but not least, this being a Nexus device, you can expect to be among the first people on the planet to get the updates that will certainly follow Lollipop -- from the incremental to the major ones.

Processor and memory
As we've come to expect from the Nexus line, the N6 won't be at all a slouch performer. Making sure of that is Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset -- the quad-core Snapdragon 805 (APQ8084). We're looking at four Krait 450 cores working in tandem, with maximum achievable clock speeds of 2.7GHz, though do keep in mind that they usually don't need to operate at such high frequencies (nor do they) to deliver a stellar user experience.

Also on board is an improved Adredno 420 GPU, which Qualcomm promises will bridge the gap between mobile and console-grade graphics thanks to its expanded feature set, which now includes support for hardware tessellation (the implications of which can be seen on the right) and geometry shaders. According to the chip maker, the Adreno 420 provides up to 40% better performance while also being 20% more power-efficient than the Adreno 330 in the Snapdragon 800.

On the memory side of things, the Google/Motorola duo has been quite generous with the amount of RAM we get -- 3GB. As for native storage, we're looking at just two options -- 32GB and 64GB. Unfortunately, neither of these offers storage expansion through a microSD card, which has become something of a statement with the Nexus line.

Camera
On the camera front, the Nexus 6 is destined to amount to quite a bit, though we nevertheless have some reservations considering the line's not-so-stellar history with imaging. In any case, we're looking at an impressive configuration on paper, with a 13-megapixel, 1/3.06'' stacked Sony IMX214 (Exmor RS) sensor with 1.1-micron pixels, wide f/2.0 lens, and a dual LED ring flash. Like the Nexus 5, the entire setup is also optically stabilized, which should theoretically help with compensating for hand shake and tremor during video capture and also allow for lower shutter speeds in low-light environments without causing blur (and thus, brighter photos). The camera is also taking advantage of the improved ISP on board the Snapdragon 805 processor, which improves performance in several areas (in a nutshell: expect very low wait times when snapping photos).

The shooter should also prove fairly versatile, with several stand-out features, including 4K UHD video capture, HDR+, high resolution panoramas, Photo Spheres (360-degree panoramic shots), and Lens Blur (for a software-induced, fake bokeh effect) making themselves available.
As for the front-facing camera, we're looking at a 2-megapixel selfie snapper, capable of 720p video capture.

Battery
With the Nexus 6 being as bulky as it is, Motorola obviously didn't have too many issues trying to come up with enough space to fit a generous, 3,220 mAh cell inside the phablet's body. The unit is of the non-removable type (and supports Qi wireless charging), and though that's unfortunate, it should be able to provide a decent battery life. But that's not necessarily for sure, as the Quad HD panel on board will, by default, require more power than a 1080p screen, all things being equal. Nevertheless, there's still hope for the Nexus 6 -- after all, Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, which also has a QHD display and an identically-sized battery, did manage to hold its own for the excellent 8 hours and 43 minutes on our custom battery life test.

At this point in time, however, the only stats we have are the official ones provided by Google. According to the figures, talk time sits at 24 hours (network not specified), with 9.5 hours of browsing time on Wi-Fi and 10 hours on LTE. Lastly, the Nexus 6 is rated as good for up to 10 hours of video playback. We are also told to expect quick charging with the Nexus 6 (so long as the battery is low) thanks to the included Motorola Turbo Charger.

Expectations
In conclusion, we can definitely say that Google is counteracting the hike in the price of the Nexus 6 by throwing as much bleeding-edge hardware as possible. We're looking at a device with very few compromises from a specs stand-point, and that should sit well with the Android-faithful and specs junkies alike. Obviously, while it'll be hard for some to shake off the feeling that they suddenly have to overpay for the privilege of getting a Nexus device, it must be made clear that it's still going to be somewhat cheaper than most competing flagship, so you're definitely getting your money's worth. But here's the catch -- the Nexus 6 is not for everybody.

Indeed, with its 6-inch diagonal, this enormous phablet will turn off a bunch of people, and many will question Google's reasoning behind releasing as massive a smartphone. We can't know for sure, of course, but our guess would be that Google simply wants to demonstrate the wealth of form factors available within the Android ecosystem -- especially since making money off the Nexus line hasn't seemed like Google's main goal for a while now. And while this means that the Nexus 6 will necessarily alienate a part of the core Nexus followership, it does also mean that a select niche will finally have exactly what they're looking for -- Android,as was intended by Google, on an immersive, giant screen.

Source: Phonearena

iPad mini 3 hands on

2014-10-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

Apple seemingly appeased several owners of its full-sized iPad when it introduced the iPad mini a couple years ago. Well, it’s crazy to believe that the 3rd generation model, aptly named the iPad mini 3, is finally making its rounds starting today. This year’s model, however, didn’t see much love versus the iPad Air 2 – more so knowing that there are few changes to it.

Before all of that, we’ll start off first with the retail box, which unsurprisingly enough, looks exactly like any other packaging from beneath Apple’s wing. On the front, we have a profile view of the tablet in question – one that looks pretty darn skinny for any tablet.
Aside from that, we’re given a glimpse into what model it is that’s within the packaging, as well as some of the included goodies inside. Naturally, they include the usual set of documentation from Apple, those iconic Apple decals, wall charger, and the Lightning USB able.

Visually, there’s nothing too profoundly different with the iPad mini 3’s design. Most folks would probably agree with us, but if there’s one notable difference, it has to be the home button. Gone is the concave button with that iconic square inside of it, replaced instead with the uniformly recessed home button of newer iDevices. In fact, it incorporates the new Touch ID finger print sensor, which is not only used to unlock the device, but it’s enabled to with Apple Pay as well.

Rather than continuing to jabber about the iPad mini 3, we’ll be putting it through some heavy testing in the meantime, so you can expect our review soon. Is it compelling enough to make iPad mini 2 owners instantly dich their tablet and shell out the money to pick up this one? We shall find out!

Source: Phonearena Via Youtube

iPad Air 2 hands on review

2014-10-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

Design
Apple seems to have run out of ideas slightly with the new model, at least on the outside. The design of the new iPad Air is slimmer - 18% thinner at 6.1mm - and polishes things up a little bit in other areas.
For instance, it's lighter than ever before at 437g, and the edges feel different in the hand thanks to a slightly more angular design. They're definitely more chamfered, and the effect enhances the premium feel and nudges it back towards the industrial design of the iPhone 4, 4S, 5 and 5S.

The mute switch has disappeared, which is something of a surprise - at the very least, this was a quick and handy way to ensure you wouldn't be get email beeps throughout the night.
Given the volume switches remain, it seems that the design could have accommodated such a thing (I could have easily understood Apple putting the volume all on screen to save space – I would have hated it, but it would have made a modicum of sense) it seems weird to have dropped this.
While in design terms, it does feel like this is an update for the sake of an update, the iPad Air 2 is still one of the nicest tablets to hold in your hand.

Its smooth back, light weight and excellent balance are all a touch better than the previous model, and although it's going to be chucked in a case by everyone who panics over their precious new toy, the thinner dimensions are perceptible.
The screen is something to talk about now. Apple made a big deal on stage about the amount of air between each component behind the screen (i.e. none) and the lack of reflection.

It really shows. Compared side by side to a tablet without this technology, colours on the new iPad Air 2 really pop. If you're taking photos with it, firstly, don't; but secondly, they will look good if you do, and the image editing is going to be much nicer on this new slate.
So this leads me to the inevitable question - why has Apple bothered to bring out a new model?
The answer is (sort of) simple: it's all under the screen. Well, that screen has been improved and with the same number of pixels I'd have thought Apple would make the display a little more efficient so the battery life should be a little longer.

The new A8X chipset is obviously the big improvement here - this leads to not only better battery life again (the previous time being the big jump on offer with the A8, meaning the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus both managed to last a day in the pocket before requiring a power socket) but also improved 2.5x graphical performance.

The gaming on display looks impressive on the iPad Air 2, but then again I've said that about countless products. Mobile gaming is getting to the same levels as consoles, and if you were so inclined you could pair this iPad with a controller and get a really good experience.
Except, most people won't, so the graphical power improvements are really limited to video editing and gaming for the more hardcore fans - not a bad thing, but given there's no battery life enhancement, one has to wonder what's been gained.

Battery life
The battery of the iPad Air 2 is quoted as 10 hours, which isn't a jump on the original iPad Air.
Unlike phones, the battery life isn't really a primary concern on a tablet, so this is less of an issue for prospective buyers. I've used an iPad Air as much as I wished for video during an 11 hour flight and not come close to running it down, so the while the improvements here are welcome, we're already into a world where tablets are more than acceptable.

That said, I'd be much happier lobbing my iPad Air 2 into a bag, leaving it for a week and then coming back to find it with a decent slug of power left.

Camera
The camera on the iPad Air 2 - something I still wish wasn't there, as it would discourage users from putting up massive screens in front of my face at sporting events or gigs - is improved again, mirroring the iPhone 6 with its 8MP sensor.
The camera app actually has almost the same feature set as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, with enhanced panoramas, time-lapse and slow-motion video, plus dual microphones, and one big improvement is the inclusion of excellent post snap editing, which makes it very easy to take photo and instantly perfect it.

My favourite use for this with the iPad Air was to take a photo on an iPhone and then edit it from the Photo Stream or using Air Drop. Being able to take a photo on the more powerful phone and then edit it on the bigger screen, with that extra power, is really nice. Of course, the camera is good on the iPad Air 2 - being able to take burst shots is fine, if a little redundant because TABLETS DON'T NEED A CAMERA - so if you're one of those that likes to snap with a slate, and are kind enough to not get in others' way, then this is a good choice.

The iPad Air 2 is the very definition of iterative. Like the jump from the iPad 3 to the iPad 4 (also known as the move from the "new iPad" to the "new iPad") nothing much has really changed here beyond it becoming thinner and gaining Touch ID.
The power is upped, the battery lasts longer and the device is less heavy - but it's Touch ID that's the real win here, as it allows the iPad to be a one-tap wonder for buying things on the go.

Samsung has already nailed this with the Tab S and PayPal integration, but I still prefer the hold-and-press method of TouchID compared to the swipe.

As far as speed, it's really really fast — that A8X is obviously a performance champ, just as the A8 in the iPhone 6 is a screamer. But every new iPad is terrifically fast; the story here is that iOS 8 and Metal let games and apps like Pixelmator hit the GPU directly; the demos I played with were amazingly solid. There's nothing new here in terms of what you might use an iPad for, but whatever it is you're already doing, you're clearly going to do it much faster.

Source: Techradar

Meizu MX4 Review

2014-10-07T00:27:00.003-07:00

The Meizu MX4 packs a 5.4-inch screen that's plenty large. So how big of a device are we talking about? At 5.67 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches (144 x 75.2 x 8.9 mm), the MX4 is slightly smaller than the equally-trimmed LG G3, which is great news. The MX4 is also fairly light, at 5.19 oz (147 g), and that's always good news.

The MX4 nevertheless feels very solid in the hand, and matches your palm nicely due to that rounded back, so overall ergonomics are excellent – not least because Meizu has done an excellent job trimming any excess fat with the bezels. The materials used with the phone are well-selected as well – we've got a metal frame, within which the device is nestled, and an especially soft plastic shell at the rear. Metal is also used with the power and volume keys, both of which provide excellent tactile feedback, though the former is awkwardly-located at the top – a problem with as large a device.

Overall, we can't say that the MX4 won us over with its exterior – it's not bad by any and all means, but the rear shell is kind of unsightly.

Display
A very bright, 15:9 display with some acceptable weaknesses.
An extra large, 5.36-inch IPS screen by Sharp or JDI (depending on the batch) is what the MX4 has going on. The resolution is rather odd, at 1152 x 1920 (15:9), good for the excellent 418 pixels per inch. For protection, Meizu is using a Corning Gorilla Glas 3 cover, which should safeguard against scratches and even small drops. Thankfully, this also means that the surface of the display is coated with an oleophobic solution, meaning that oily fingerprints are minimized.

Also excellent are the maximum and minimum levels of brightness the display can produce – 535 and 2 nits, respectively. These figures are corroborated by our own findings – reading the screen outside, even with the sun over our shoulder, was easy, and the extremely low brightness of the panel also allowed for a comfortable viewing during the night. As for the screen's color reproduction, we're looking at acceptable deviations from the target, though the color temperature, at 7778 K (6500 K is the reference here), is a bit too high, which results in a bluish overcast that is especially visible with whites and grays. The display's coldness is not its only drawback, though, as gamma, at 2.01, is also sub-par (2.2 is ideal).

Source: Phonearena

Samsung Galaxy (Alpha) A5 and A3

2014-10-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

Those of you keeping tabs on Samsung will know by now that the company appears to be in the process of creating a new line of Galaxy devices, ones modeled after the Galaxy Alpha. We last came across live images of the Galaxy A5 (SM-A500F) a while ago, thanks to a leak courtesy of SamMobile, but this time around the snaps come form another source: Android México. The new shots also show us yet another supposed member of the new Samsung family: the Galaxy A3. From what we can tell from the shots, the A3 will be smaller (about the size of the 4.7-inch Galaxy Alpha), so perhaps we're looking at a cousin device with a less impressive specs sheet.

Contrary to earlier information, which described the frame of the Galaxy A5 as one that emulates metal, we're now told that the frame is 100% aluminum, though we obviously have no way of knowing which version of the story has it true. In any case, the A5 is said to be a mid-range device with a 5-inch, 720p Super AMOLED screen, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, and a 13-megapixel camera (5MP snapper at the front). RAM sits at 2GB, and there's 16GB of microSD-expandable storage, with a 2300 mAh cell powering this all on the hardware side, while Android 4.4.4 KitKat does its thing on the software one. Thanks to a regulatory listing in China and the US, we also know that the A5 will measure 5.48 x 2.74 x 0.26 inches (139.3 x 69.7 x 6.7 mm), and weigh 4.44 oz (126 grams). We're told to expect a price tag of about $400.

As for the A3, so far we only know that it will supposedly cost between $350 and $400, offer LTE, and have metal in its construction (which lends some credibility that the A5 is not simply metallic, after all). The A3 is expected to premier around the globe by the end of 2014.

Finally, we've also heard rumors of a third new A-device dubbed A7. That one is rumored to sport a 5.5-inch screen and LTE, and cost about $450 to $500. Unfortunately, the A7 will apparently only see the light of day in select countries.

All of the above information, especially if you take pricing and screen sizes into account, has all the markings of a Samsung line -- a variety of sizes littered throughout the mid-range price spectrum. Based on what we know already, do you think you would be interested in picking one?

Source: Phonearena , Via Sammobile

Blackberry Passport hands on

2014-10-05T19:15:00.001-07:00

BlackBerry's square-shaped new flagship is here, and it's just as weird in real life as it looks in the promotional pictures. It's a square, boxy little device with a metallic trim and a dumpy physical keyboard attached to the bottom. Ergonomics? Screw 'em.

And yet, dig a little deeper and there might just be something there after all. The 4.5-inch slab boasts a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and 3GB of RAM.

There's 32GB of storage, a microSD slot and a rear-facing 13MP camera. In other words, the Canadian company has thrown everything at this device when it comes to specs.

It's not a cheap phone either: it's £529 for a SIM free version ($599, around AU$680) and free on a £30 to £35 a month contract in the UK - meaning it's up there with the iPhones, HTC and Samsung phones of the world.

BlackBerry's also confident the new form factor best suits those business customers that are the unabashed target of this device.
It calls them "power users" and argues that they want a device for working on. Emails, spreadsheets, reports – basically, what BlackBerry has always been known for. The 4.5-inch 1:1 screen incorporates 60 characters in a line, compared to the 40 on a regular smartphone.
Early indicators seem to show that people are responding to it well. BlackBerry says it has already taken 200,000 orders for the Passport and is in the process of developing another "unconventional" device.
The former phone heavyweight has a long way to go to recapture past glories and previous handsets like the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 failed to impress.
This seems different though, it's not a case of following the likes of the iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy Alpha, it's a case of genuinely trying something different. Unfortunately, it also makes some rather basic errors when doing so.

Design
The biggest talking point about the BlackBerry Passport comes from its, ahem, unconventional appearance. People will notice it, and they'll ask about it. The design is based around the 4.5-inch square screen that, with a 1:1 aspect ratio, is unlike any other smartphone on the market.
There's no portrait or landscape mode to be had here – it's a perfect square. This begets the obvious question of why – why has BlackBerry done this? Well, it ties in to the type of customer the company is focusing its efforts on.

BlackBerry is betting that you'll be using the Passport for checking spreadsheets, office documents, ebooks, presentations and full-scale websites. All of which, it says, are reproduced better on the square, 1440 x 1400 Gorilla Glass 3 screen.
It's an undeniably weird-looking phone, but BlackBerry tried to follow the crowd with the BlackBerry Z10 and it didn't work. So props to the company for attempting something a little bit different.
The second big design point is the return of the keyboard – which was always BlackBerry's calling card. It's attached to the bottom of the screen with a somewhat squat appearance – due to dropping from four rows of keys to three. This means common punctuation marks, as well as numbers, appear as on-screen keys directly above the physical buttons.

Once you get past the alternative form factor, the Passport is an attractive handset. There's a stainless steel trim that runs along the edges of the phone while the back is a soft rubberised plastic that's comfortable to grip while you fire out emails from the keyboard.
You'll find three physical buttons on the right hand side, used to control volume as well as pause music or video playback. The power switch meanwhile is on top of the handset (as is the 3.5mm headphone jack) and placed slightly right-of-centre.

Given the width of the phone, it's extremely difficult to hit this when you're operating it one handed. I always found it easier to slide upwards on the capacitive screen to unlock the phone instead. I'm not quite sure why BlackBerry didn't put the power switch on the side of the device.

There's a heft to the 194g BlackBerry Passport; but the Canadian company has kept the chassis to a fairly standard 9.3mm thickness. And it looks smart thanks to the black and silver design and the blend of materials BlackBerry's used. It reminded me of a PDA from the mid-90s. Take from that what you will. It's clear the design of the BlackBerry Passport is more suited to the inside jacket pocket than the one on the sides of your jeans. Also, in real life the size of the device makes it unwieldy. It measures 90.3mm wide and 128mm long and, as I said, is very difficult to use with just one hand.

This is a phone meant for prolonged productivity rather than a quick bout of social media browsing. The problem with that is that for most working types, prolonged productivity is handled during the day at a desk on a laptop or desktop. We want to be able to use our phones quickly while out and about and that can often mean one-handed use, which this phone is awful for.
To assume that people will only buy this device for work is plain folly - the modern smartphone can do it all, and for the high end price being charged for this phone, I'd expect it to do so.

Keyboard
Having always looked favourably on physical keyboards – a particular favourite was the Nokia N97 – I was anxious to get going with the BlackBerry Passport's offering.
In practice, using the keyboard is a really nice experience – there's decent travel on the keys and each button is backlit so you can type away in the dark. And it's comfortable thanks to the moulded keys.

But, there are some issues with it. Firstly, it's cramped – meaning that on occasion, I mis-hit a letter. Secondly, and more importantly, speed will take a hit for anyone used to bashing out texts on a touchscreen. Which, these days, is pretty much everyone.
One very cool feature is that the keyboard itself has touch functionality built into it. A swift double-tap activates a bubble-like cursor that you can use to scan your message or email although in use, this feature really is more trouble than its worth.
You can also swipe directly across the keyboard to scroll up or down websites, leaving the screen free to view. It's a small, but really good feature that adds a bit of extra usability to the keyboard.

BlackBerry Blend
The new BlackBerry Blend feature lets you effectively access your phone remotely via an encrypted Wi-Fi connection from any PC, Mac or Android tablets. All the content (messages, documents, media) stored on the Passport are accessible in real time and changes you make are reflected on the handset.
As for the security requirements, I was told that none of the data remains on the login device after you close the software down.
The principle behind it is that you can still access the Passport even if you've left it at home or the office.
It's also the method by which you can put media on the Passport and requires installation on a Windows PC before you can transfer anything. It's a bit frustrating when compared to Android's drag and drop simplicity. But, as we'll see later, chances are you won't be using the Passport for media.

BlackBerry Assistant
Joining the ranks of Siri and Cortana is the BlackBerry Assistant. Like the aforementioned digital PAs, you can use the Assistant to set reminders and prompt you with the weather as well as dictating search terms.
BlackBerry Passport reviewBlackBerry Assistant lets you place reminders or check the weather with voice control
In most cases it picked up on my question. There's a bit of a wait time as the Passport casts around for the answer though. The Assistant currently recognises commands in English, German, Spanish and Italian.

Interface and performance
Make fun of the boxy screen all you want, but BlackBerry has put some serious muscle into the Passport. It runs on a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a massive 3GB of RAM.
Combine that with the integrated nature of the operating system and you've got a very smooth, very quick device.
There's 32GB of native storage on board, but you can boost that up that to 128GB thanks to the microSD card nestled next to the nanoSIM slot. BlackBerry Passport reviewYou can use a microSD card for more storage
Connectivity-wise, you're looking at Bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC, Wi-Fi and LTE in terms of wireless and a single physical microUSB port. BlackBerry provides a SlimPort HDMI adaptor in the box that plugs into the port and lets you hook the Passport up to a monitor or TV. That's pretty cool.
On paper, the Passport has enough under the hood to go up against some of the best smartphones out there and, while it's got a tailored audience, any user is going to appreciate the power.
Multitasking in particular works well, given the amount of RAM on offer and the tiled homescreen that shows currently running apps lets you quickly dive in and out of active programs.

Camera
BlackBerry has equipped the Passport with a 13MP rear-facing camera with an LED flash and a couple of extra features like panorama, burst mode and time shift. There's an LED flash as well as the option to take images at 16:9, 4.3 and the Passport's own 1:1 aspect ratio.
BlackBerry Passport reviewThe camera on the Passport lacks effects, but is solid nonetheless
Full HD 1080p video is supported, and you'll be able to get 720p video calling from the Passport's 2MP front-facing camera. Interacting with the camera is done via the touchscreen, as you pinch to zoom in and out and tap to set the focal point.
First impressions are that the camera is solid without really offering much of a challenge to the established smartphone titans. There's built-in intelligence for suggesting the best shooting mode for the conditions you're in and the Passport also boasts HDR for capturing light and dark contrasts. BlackBerry Passport reviewNot many camera modes to choose from...
Additionally, BlackBerry has built optical image stabilisation (OIS) into the Passport's camera to eliminate judders. It's a feature become adopted elsewhere (like the iPhone 6 Plus) and really helps when taking pictures quickly.
A nice touch is that you can use either the volume keys on the right hand side of the device, or the space bar on the keyboard, to take a picture. There's also BlackBerry's dedicated Pictures app for adding filters and effects to your shots after you've taken them.

Source: techradar

Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime carries 5MP "selfie" camera

2014-09-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

While the tech world is giving much attention to Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6, information on the Grand Prime is a small surprise. Currently, in addition to the above agents, only one Russian source disclosed plans to sell off the Grand Prime by Samsung.

With a number of manufacturers producing handsets with 5MP front-facing cameras, these so-called selfie models are about to get competition from a Samsung model called the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime. The device was photographed in Vietnam, and is expected to launch in the country some time next month, priced at the equivalent of $236 USD. After Vietnam, we should see the phone launch in some other markets in the near future.

The rest of the phone's specs include a 5 inch screen with a resolution of 540 x 960. A quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 CPU is under the hood with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of native storage inside. A 64GB capacity microSD slot is on board, on back is an 8MP snapper, and Android 4.4 is pre-installed.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is a dual SIM device that offers 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. Some of the competition includes the Sony Xperia C3 and the Nokia Lumia 730, two so-called "selfie" phones. Of course, there are other models with a 5MP front-facing camera that are not given that title, such as the HTC One (M8).

Check out the slideshow below for some images of the phone.

camera 8 megapixel

This product thin 8,6mm

2600 mAh

Via

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus specs review

2014-09-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Design

The most visually noticeable change in the new iPhones is in their design. Gone are the times of sharp edges and flat sides - in the iPhone 6 versions Apple goes for an iPad mini-like style with a curved edge on both devices. The appearance has not changed drastically, but you can instantly note the evolution of design. Apple is still using the same quality materials: aluminum all around, with only a tiny flashes of plastic on the back of the phone for better reception. Both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus come with the fingerprint recognition courtesy of Touch ID, and both have now got their power/lock key on the right side so you can easily reach it. Volume buttons are on the left.

Display
The ‘bigger than bigger’ motto for the iPhone 6 Plus is a clear indication that times have changed at Apple: we now have a 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and a 5.5-inch, phablet-sized iPhone 6 Plus.

The resolution has also changed, and Apple now claims both have ‘Retina HD’, but the actual resolutions differ: the iPhone 6 boasts a resolution of 750 x 1334 pixels, while the iPhone 6 has 1080 x 1920 pixels. The ‘Retina HD’ moniker is official even though the sharpness of the 4.7” iPhone has remained the same with a pixel density of 326ppi. The title is deserved for the iPhone 6 Plus with a higher, 401ppi pixel density.

Brightness comes in at 500 nits (typical), which is the same as with all previous iPhones, and should result in great outdoor visibility for both new handsets. Interestingly, Apple claims to have this new technology of “dual-domain pixels on the photo-aligned IPS display that give you a wider angle of view”. What is that and how does it work? We’re yet to find out.
Turning over to colors, Apple claims that both displays cover the full industry-standard sRGB color gamut, and that’s a good thing - Apple has so far shipped very well calibrated screen and we expect the trend to continue with the new iPhones.

Interface: iOS 8
There are no surprises with the interface the two new iPhones are running: it’s iOS 8. The new version of Apple’s operating system adds more under the hood than on the visual side, as it retains the novel flat and modern looks of iOS 7.

Of course, the new Health Hub and Passbook updated with Apple Pay capabilities are the biggest highlights of iOS 8. The Health Hub has already been talked about and it basically aggregates data about your vitals from various gadgets including the iPhone and Apple Watch, but what’s a bit less talked about is the new Apple Pay. Both iPhones now have an NFC chip, and that can be used neatly to replace your wallet. You can use this feature to pay in Starbucks, McDonalds, and many others.

Processor and Memory
The biggest highlight of the new iPhones is the new Apple A8 system chip. Apple revealed that it has successfully made the jump to 20nm manufacturing, and that alone is a huge boost in productivity and efficiency. Apple is one of the first to get 20nm chips in a mass produced devices.

The Apple A8 is also 25% smaller than the A7, yet at the same time it features over 2 billion transistors. In comparison, last year’s A7 had ‘more than 1 billion’, so we have nearly twice as many transistors, a huge jump in just one year.

Naturally, the new Apple A8 comes with a 64-bit-enabled system chip. The iPhone 5s started this, and with most top apps already running on 64-bits, the Apple ecosystem has already made the transition.

Apple breaks new ground when it comes to internal storage. The basic iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models start at 16GB, but rather than going to 32 gigs, the next version steps up directly to 64GB of internal storage. We now also have a third model with 128 gigs of included storage on both sizes of iPhone. Expandable storage via microSD cards is still nowhere to be found, though.

Camera
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus both feature nearly identical cameras: 8-megapixel ones with 1.5µ pixels.

We’re glad to see Apple moving the conversation from megapixels to a more comprehensive one that includes pixel size. Comparatively speaking, many will be quick to point out that others have 13-megapixel and 16-megapixel cameras, and pixel peepers would say that this is an unambiguous advantage, but what this misses is the pixel size that makes a big difference when you go to those very small, 1.1µ pixels. Problem is that such tiny pixels are not particularly good in low-light capture, and it is one compromise that Apple does not want to make. Overall, the take-out is that we should not rush and oversimplify by saying ‘less megapixels means worse camera’. The new iPhones also come with new camera sensors. We don’t know whether those are necessarily larger (we’d guess so), though.

In terms of optics, we have the same five-element lens, but this time with a wider, f/2.2 aperture (older iPhones had an f/2.4 one) and a sapphire cover.

What’s notable, however, is far more than just the change in hardware. The new iPhone camera app gives you much better control over your images with exposure control, a new burst mode, and more. Take a look at the first camera samples below.

In terms of video, Apple continues supporting 1080p, so there is no 4K capture capability. However, you now also have the option to record 1080p at 60 frames per second in addition to the traditional 60fps option. A new slo-mo mode allows you to capture a twice the frame-rate for a twice more pronounced effect: 720p at 240fps.

Also, while being nearly identical, the iPhone 6 Plus has got the benefit of optical image stabilization, while the iPhone 6 will only have digital stabilization.

Battery
There is another important difference between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus: the latter one has the larger battery that also lasts longer, but both have better battery longevity. Here is how battery life breaks down on paper:

iPhone 6 talk time | Internet use | Video playback: 14 hours on 3G | 10 hours | 11 hours iPhone 6 Plus talk time | Internet use | Video playback: 24 hours on 3G | 12 hours | 14 hours

Conclusion and expectations
All in all, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are huge upgrades that deliver on all fronts, and most importantly: they have indeed the larger screens that so many people have been wishing for. Not all people will like the gigantic, phablet-sized iPhone 6 Plus, but it’s clear that there are many, and the more universal, 4.7-inch iPhone 6 size will appeal to a broader category.

Apple is also on the forefront of technology in the new iPhones: it is one of the first companies to start selling phones with a 20nm Apple A8 chip and this alone will bring huge performance and battery improvements. The decision to stay at 8 megapixels in the iSight camera counters the market trends, but keeps pixel size reasonable, and the first camera samples speak admirable in favor of it.

With all those, and the new features like Apple Pay, the growing ecosystem with devices like the iWatch, and the new iOs 8, our expactations are for a head start for this two new iPhones and record-busting sales.

Source | Via iphone 6