Gadget and Technology

TIPS 9 CARA AGAR BLACKBERRY TIDAK LEMOT SAAT BEROPERASI | Penyebab-Penyebab Blacberry Sering Lemot Dan Ngeheng Parah Diblackberry

2012-09-14T02:29:00.003-07:00

TIPS 9 CARA AGAR BLACKBERRY TIDAK LEMOT SAAT BEROPERASI | Penyebab-Penyebab Blacberry Sering Lemot Dan Ngeheng Parah Diblackberry. BlackBerry saat ini tak lagi cuma digunakan para profesional. Mulai dari pebisnis sampai anak sekolah sudah cukup akrab dengan handset besutan Research In Motion (RIM) itu. Sayangnya, terkadang pengguna tidak memahami bahwa BlackBerry juga mempunyai keterbatasan dalam hal memori. Jejaring sosial, email, BBM Group dan BBM yang online secara non-stop mampu membuat BlackBerry ini menjadi lemot. Hal ini ditandai dengan seringnya muncul 'tanda jam' atau 'jam pasir' ketika kita sedang menggunakan aplikasi di BlackBerry.

Lantas bagaimana caranya kita bisa mengatasi BlackBerry yang sedang lemot? Berikut 9 tipsnya:

1. Install aplikasi yang penting Kebanyakan aplikasi atau theme akan cukup menguras kemampuan dari memori. Cek kembali aplikasi-aplikasi apa saja yang kita biasa gunakan dan delete aplikasi atau theme yang menurut kita sudah jarang dipakai.

2. Batasi group BBM Group BBM adalah penyumbang terbesar 'sampah' yang membuat BlackBerry kita menjadi lemot. Carilah group BBM yang benar-benar berguna, teman-teman kita yang lain toh masih bisa dihubungi melalui BBM pribadi, email, Twitter atau lainnya.

3. Tutup chat di BBM yang sudah selesai Jika Anda merasa bahwa percakapan dengan seseorang itu penting, Anda dapat menyimpan percakapan tersebut di media card dengan melakukan setting di BBM - Options - Cari Save Chat History lalu pilih media card. Namun jangan sampai, aktivitas percakapan yang sudah selesai jauh-jauh hari tetap Anda biarkan. Bijaklah menggunakan BBM, dimana salah satu caranya menutup aktivitas chat setiap obrolan selesai.

4. Hapus email yang tidak diperlukan. Ini juga menjadi salah satu penyumbang lemot, terutama email yang memiliki attachment cukup besar. Saat anda melakukan delete biasanya akan muncul pilihan On Mailbox & Handheld (email di BlackBerry dan di Mailbox Server akan dihapus) atau On Handheld (hanya email di BlackBerry saja yang dihapus). Kalau email yang akan anda hapus itu dirasa masih cukup penting, cukup pilih On Handheld saja. Email aslinya masih akan tersimpan di Mailbox (Yahoo, Google, atau klien email Anda lainnya).

5. Biasakan lakukan clear log dengan cara: tekan alt+LG+LG -> Menu BlackBerry -> Clear Log

6. Jika Anda sering Browsing, hapus cache memory di browser. Caranya: Menu BlackBerry -> Browser -> Options -> Cache Operations -> clear history

7. Rajin-rajin lakukan pembersihan memori Caranya: Menu BlackBerry -> Options -> Security Options -> Memory Cleaning -> Ubah status ke posisi ENABLE -> Menu BB -> Clean Now.

8. Maksimalkan penggunaan memori eksternal. Penyimpanan foto, lagu, video dan lainnya sebaiknya disimpan ke dalam memori eksternal atau media card. Caranya setting: Menu BlackBerry -> Options -> Memory -> Ganti status media Card Support menjadi ON.

9. Tips yang paling ampuh saat BlackBerry Anda lemot adalah: Soft Reset: Tekan bersamaan tombol Alt – Caps/tombol aA (sebelah kanan dekat tombol sym) – tombol del — selesai (Khusus BlackBerry yang menggunakan keyboard) Hard Reset: Biasa dikenal pula dengan istilah cabut baterai. Tindakan ini dilakukan untuk memastikan bahwa tidak ada lagi energi/daya listrik yang tertinggal. Biarkan selama maksimal 1 menit kemudian pasang kembali baterainya. Semoga berguna...

TABLET PC WINDOWS 8 PRODUKSI HP KELUAR BOCORAN DI INTERNET | Harga Spesifikasi Fitur Hp Slate 8 Tablet Terbaru 2012

2012-09-14T02:27:00.003-07:00

TABLET PC WINDOWS 8 PRODUKSI HP KELUAR BOCORAN DI INTERNET | Harga Spesifikasi Fitur Hp Slate 8 Tablet Terbaru 2012. Kabar yang menyebut bahwa Hewlett Packard (HP) akan merilis tablet berbasis Windows 8 sebelum akhir 2012 mulai terkuak. Tablet buatan HP ini telah "beredar" di Internet beberapa hari yang lalu. Kabar tersebut dihembuskan dari situs teknologi Neowin yang menunjukkan "bocoran" gambar tablet tersebut lengkap dengan beberapa spesifikasinya. Terlihat dari gambar tersebut, tablet yang dinamai "HP Slate 8" itu disebutkan memiliki daya tahan baterai hingga 8-10 jam.

Layarnya berukuran 10,1 inci dengan ketebalan hanya 9,2 mm dan beratnya 680 gram. Dimensi tersebut memang akan mengalahkan ketebalan iPad baru sebesar 9,4 mm, namun masih akan kalah dengan iPad 2 sebesar 8,8 mm. Namun tidak seperti iPad yang akan menyasar pasar konsumer dan bisnis, tablet Windows 8 milik HP ini akan menyasar murni untuk kalangan pebisnis.

Sehingga HP akan menyematkan fitur seperti HP ProtectTools software, mendukung untuk Computrace, docking enterprise dan input pena digital. Bocoran tablet Windows 8 ini selaras dengan CEO HP Meg Whitman yang sempat menyatakan bahwa HP akan merilis produk berbasis prosesor x86 dengan Windows 8 sebelum akhir tahun 2012. Sementara Windows 8 sendiri kemungkinan akan dirilis oleh Microsoft paling cepat kuartal tiga tahun ini.

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SAMSUNG OMNIA M HP SAMSUNG TERBARU Harga-Spesifikasi Samsung Omnia M vs Nokia Lumia 610

2012-09-14T02:24:00.003-07:00

SAMSUNG OMNIA M HP SAMSUNG TERBARU Harga-Spesifikasi Samsung Omnia M vs Nokia Lumia 610. Review Gadget Windows Phone 7.5 - Samsung tak ingin ketinggalan dari Nokia dalam mengadopsi sistem operasi Windows Phone dari Microsoft. Saat ini, Samsung resmi meluncurkan Omnia M yang berjalan dengan Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh (Tango). DAFTAR PEMAIN TERBAIK LIGA INGGRIS TERBARU 11 Pemain Terhebat Premier League.

Jika dilihat dari keseluruhan, spesifikasi Samsung Omnia M tampaknya memang dirancang untuk menantang Nokia Lumia 610. Keduanya sama-sama menggunakan Tango dan ditujukan untuk pasar low-end.

Dapur pacu Omnia M ditopang oleh prosesor 1GHz, RAM 384MB, dan memori internal 4GB. Sementara itu Lumia 610 menggunakan prosesor 800MHz, RAM 256MB, dan memori internal 8GB.

Keduanya sama-sama memiliki kamera 5MP. Namun, Omnia M memiliki layar lebih besar, yakni 4 inci, sementara Lumia 610 berlayar 3,7 inci.

Di Indonesia sendiri, Nokia membanderol Lumia 610 dengan harga Rp 2.250.000. Samsung diprediksi tidak akan mematok harga Samsung Omnia M diIndonesia jauh dari angka tersebut.

Meski Samsung sudah mulai membuat ponsel berbasis Windows Phone, pabrikan asal Korea Selatan ini masih terfokus pada Android.

"Secara strategis, Android adalah tempat di mana Samsung menempatkan fokusnya. Akan tetapi, perusahaan ini tidak bisa bergantung seterusnya dengan Android," kata analis utama Gartner, Roberta Cozza.

Sementara itu Nokia menaruh harapan besar pada Windows Phone untuk mengembalikan kejayaannya.

Hp Samsung Nokia M full specifications:

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LG OPTIMUS L7 HP ANDROID MURAH TERBARU Harga-Spesifikasi LG optimus L7 Android 4.0

2012-09-14T02:23:00.003-07:00

LG OPTIMUS L7 HP ANDROID MURAH TERBARU Harga-Spesifikasi LG optimus L7 Android 4.0. PT. LG Electronics Indonesia merilis seri terbaru keluarga LG L-Series. Ponsel LG Optimus L7 hadir dengan Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Lihat dan NOKIA LUMIA 610 HP NOKIA TERBARU Harga-Spesifikasi Nokia Lumia 610 Indonesia.

“Hp Android LG Optimus L7 menawarkan gabungan kecanggihan dan penampilan menarik bagi mereka yang menginginkan ponsel dengan performa handal, sekaligus tampil elegan,” ujar Dr. Jong-seok Park selaku Presiden dan CEO LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company.

“L7 merupakan bagian dari jajaran L-Series. Kami yakin ponsel ini akan sangat menarik bagi para konsumen dan akan menjadi smartphone LG paling populer,” imbuhnya.

Spesifikasi LG Optimus L7 Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwidch

Optimus L7 mengedepankan desain premium. Bodi langsing dengan ketebalan 8,7mm ini dibingkai sudut-sudut metalik yang elegan. Warna hitam dan putih dapat menjadi pilihan Anda untuk bergaya.

Layar menjadi daftar keunggulan L7. Ukuran seluas 4,3 inci menempatkan smartphone ini dalam klaim LG sebagai ponsel berlayar terbesar di kelasnya. Lapisan Gorilla Glass siap melindungi dari goresan benda tajam.

Dari segi isi, LG sudah mengisi L7 dengan sistem operasi paling baru, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Tampilan antarmuka dan halaman rumah bisa diisi widget dengan ukuran yang dapat disesuaikan.

Ice Cream Sandwich menawarkan fitur recent application. Anda bisa dengan mudah mengetahui aplikasi yang kali terakhir dibuka. Bahkan, ketika membuka aplikasi lebih dari satu.

Kunci layar pun tampil berbeda. Anda hanya perlu menggeser gambar gembok untuk membuka layar. Akses aplikasi saat layar terkunci pun dapat dilakukan dengan menggeser ikon aplikasi.

LG juga memberi ruang kapasitas memori yang lega. Memori internal berukuran 2,7GB diberi dukungan slot kartu MicroSD hingga 32GB.

Memori lega ini siap menampung file foto berukuran besar hasil kamera 5MP pada bagian belakang L7. Kamera ini didukung LED Flash untuk dapat memberikan dukungan saat memotret dalam kondisi pencahayaan rendah.

Konektivitas sudah disiapkan untuk kemudahan aktivitas Anda. Berbagi konten bisa menggunakan USB2.0 dan Bluetooth. L7 diperkuat dengan dukungan koneksi ke perangkat Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA). WiFi membantu Anda menikmati hiburan streaming video YouTube.

Harga LG Optimus L7 di Indonesia

LG Optimus L7 siap beredar di pasaran akhir Mei 2012. Kendati terlambat mengusung Android 4.0 dibanding kompetitornya, LG menggoda dengan memberi harga Rp2,999 juta. Anda bisa memesan melalui sistem pre-order pada 22 Juni hingga 28 Juni 2012.

LG Optimus L7 Full Specs:

Dimensions: 125.5 x 67 x 8.7 mm
Weight: 122 g
OS: Android OS, v4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Chipset: Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon
CPU: 1 GHz Cortex-A5
GPU: Adreno 200
Display: Type IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density), Protection Corning Gorilla Glass
Memory: Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB, Internal 4 GB storage (2.4 GB user available), 512 MB RAM
Network: 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
Data: GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, EDGE Class 12, Speed HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA
Connection: Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, NFC, USB microUSB v2.0
Camera: Primary 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash and Secondary camera
Video: VGA@30fps
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1700 mAh

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HARGA RESMI SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII INDONESIA Ponsel SGS III Android Terbaru

2012-09-14T02:22:00.003-07:00

HARGA RESMI SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII INDONESIA Ponsel SGS III Android Terbaru. PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia (PT SEI) , meluncurkan generasi ketiga dari flagship smartphone Android mereka, Galaxy S III. SGS III resmi diluncurkan hari ini, Sabtu 2 Juni 2012 bertempat di Central Park, Jakarta Barat. Cek SAMSUNG GALAXY MINI 2 HP ANDROID TERBARU Harga-Spesifikasi Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500.

Peluncuran resmi tersebut juga menandakan penjualan perdana Samsung Galaxy SIII. Penjualan perdana dilakukan di empat kota sekaligus yakni, Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya dan Medan. Di Jakarta disediakan 1500 Samsung Galaxy SIII. Para pembeli juga mendapat potongan harga sebesar Rp500 ribu dengan pembelian kartu kredit tertentu.

Samsung Galaxy SIII dibanderol seharga 7 juta rupiah. Ratusan pembeli telah antri sejak pagi untuk mendapatkan penawaran menarik dari penjualan perdana ini, yakni aplikasi Dropbox dan storage cloud 50GB gratis selama dua tahun.

Samsung Galaxy SIII merupakan Smartphone Android micro simcard terbaru dari vendor terkemuka Samsung, dengan OS Ice Cream Sandwich. Dengan design yang ramping, Samsung Galaxy SIII menawarkan fitur berteknologi tinggi seperti S Beam yang memungkinkan pengguna berbagi dokumen berukuran besar seperti video.

Diklaim Samsung adalah sebuah ponsel yang mengenali suara Anda, mengerti keinginan Anda dan membuat Anda berbagi momen dengan mudah dan cepat. Samsung mengharapkan ponsel ini menjadi terobosan yang menduduki peringkat teratas di kelasnya.

Smartphone berlayar 4,8 inch full HD super amoled ini dibuat dengan bahan hyperglaze. Samsung melengkapi Galaxy S III dengan prosesor 1,4 GHz quad core dan kamera 8MP plus 1,9MP kamera depan.

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TABLET MICROSOFT BARU DIBANDROL HARGA MURAH RP 1 JUTAAN

2012-09-14T02:20:00.000-07:00

TABLET MICROSOFT BARU DIBANDROL HARGA MURAH RP 1 JUTAAN

TABLET MICROSOFT BARU DIBANDROL HARGA MURAH RP 1 JUTAAN. Harga akhir dari perangkat tablet microsoft surface sempat digosipkan bakal mencapai kisaran 1000 dollar AS, tetapi seorang sumber yang dikutip situs teknologi Engadget mengatakan sebaliknya. Sang sumber, yang dikatakan menghadiri konferensi TechReady 15 Microsoft, menyebut harga final versi Windows RT dari Surface sebesar 199 dollar AS atau sekitar Rp 1,9 juta. Adapun tanggal peluncuran Surface kabarnya ditetapkan pada 26 Oktober.

Tablet Surface versi Windows RT ini menggunakan prosesor ARM dan memiliki ukuran layar 10 inci. Kapasitas storage-nya dikabarkan antara 32 dan 64 GB. Windows RT sendiri adalah salah satu versi Windows 8 yang dioptimalkan untuk penggunaan pada perangkat ber-prosesor ARM.
Apabila benar terwujud, harga yang relatif murah untuk sebuah tablet high-end itu bakal menempatkan Surface berhadap-hadapan dengan Nexus 7 dari Google serta Kindle Fire dari Amazon.

Sebelumnya, salah satu partner besar Microsoft, Acer, telah mengimbau raksasa software itu agar jangan membanderol Surface dengan harga murah. Kamis lalu chairman Acer JT Wang berkomentar bahwa tablet surface seharga 199 akan membawa "pengaruh besar" -- yang kemungkinan bersifat negatif.

Wang menganjurkan agar Surface dibanderol antara 499 hingga 699 dollar AS agar tak teralu keras bersaing dengan prouduk-produk rekanan Microsoft. Tablet Surface telah memicu kontroversi sejak pertama kali dirilis Juni lalu. Dengan tablet ini, Microsoft akan bersaing langsung dengan para rekanannya yang notabene juga membuat perangkat-perangkat tablet Windows 8.

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KAMERA HP X-RAY TEMBUS PANDANG Ponsel Kacamata Sinar X Kamera Tembus Dinding FOTO KAMERA HP TEMBUS PANDANG

2012-09-14T02:19:00.001-07:00

KAMERA HP X-RAY TEMBUS PANDANG Ponsel Kacamata Sinar X Kamera Tembus Dinding

KAMERA HP X-RAY TEMBUS PANDANG Ponsel Kacamata Sinar X Kamera Tembus Dinding. Kamera sinar X bisa bikin baju tembus pandang. Mantab :) Para ilmuwan berhasil menciptakan ponsel yang mampu bekerja sebagai kacamata sinar-x. Dengan teknologi chip canggih memungkinkan kamera di ponsel mampu menembus dinding, kayu, plastik bahkan kain, seperti baju. Lihat Harga-Spesifikasi Sony NEX-5N vs DSLR dan VIDEO BARCELONA VS REAL MADRID 1-2 EL CLASICO 2012 Youtube Barca vs Madrid Hasil Akhir untuk El Real.

Dilansir harian Daily Mail, teknologi chip ini bisa mengetahui apa yang ada di balik suatu dinding dan mengetahui uang palsu. Chip ini bekerja di jaringan Terahertz (THz) dari spectrum elektromagnet, yang merupakan salah satu rangkaian panjang gelombang di antara gelombang mikro dan sinar infra merah.

Gelombang ini sebelumnya tak bisa diakses kebanyakan perangkat konsumen. "Kami berhasil menciptakan pendekatan untuk membuka porsi itu. THz memiliki potensi yang sangat menguntungkan," kata profesor teknik elektro Dr Kenneth O dari UT Dallas.

Chip ini nantinya akan digunakan bersama chip CMOS karena harganya yang terjangkau dan banyak digunakan di berbagai produk sehari-hari, seperti komputer, ponsel pintar, TV definisi tinggi dan konsol game.

"Terahertz juga dapat digunakan untuk mendeteksi tumor kanker, diagnosis penyakit melalui analisis napas, dan tingkat racun udara," kata Kenneth.

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Nokia Lumia 900

2012-07-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

Also known as Nokia Lumia 900 RM-823

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
	Announced	2012, February
	Status	Available. Released 2012, May

Body	Dimensions	127.8 x 68.5 x 11.5 mm, 90 cc
Body	Weight	160 g

Display	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass
		- Nokia ClearBlack display

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

Memory	Card slot	No
Memory	Internal	16GB storage, 512 MB RAM

Data	GPRS	Class 33
	EDGE	Class 33
	Speed	HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual-LED flash,
	Features	Geo-tagging
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps, video stabilization,
	Secondary	Yes, 1 MP, VGA@15fps

Features	OS	Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
	Chipset	Qualcomm APQ8055 Snapdragon
	CPU	1.4 GHz Scorpion
	GPU	Adreno 205
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	No
	Colors	Black, cyan, white, magenta
		- MicroSIM card support only - SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA player - MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player - Document viewer/editor - Video/photo editor - Voice memo/command/dial - Predictive text input

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1830 mAh (BP-6EW)
	Stand-by	Up to 300 h (2G) / Up to 300 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 7 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 60 h

Misc	SAR US	1.29 W/kg (head) 0.95 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	1.33 W/kg (head)
	Price group

Tests	Display	Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal) / 2.562:1 (sunlight)
	Loudspeaker	Voice 70dB / Noise 68dB / Ring 75dB
	Camera	Photo / Video
	Battery life	Endurance rating 38h

Nokia Lumia 900

2012-07-17T05:33:00.001-07:00

Introduction

It took the Nokia Lumia 900 just a few days to top the US sales charts and see delighted handshakes quickly turn into group hugs, as Nokia, Microsoft and AT&T, which carries it exclusively stateside, were busy celebrating the flagship's performance in recent months.
The Lumia 900 has finally made the trip across the pond but it's not the return home it must've dreamed of. Not quite the triumphant welcome from thousands flocking to retail outlets and carriers. Yes, there's a big question mark hanging over the global version of the Nokia Lumia 900. The news that Windows Phone 8 is out of reach has taken the shine off its appeal. But its character is intact - and the Lumia 900 has enough of that to spare.

Nokia Lumia 900 official photos

A big, quality screen, fluid and stylish OS and premium build are all sprinkled with Nokia's magic in a package that's made to impress. We've been there already - and we don't mean the review we have of the Lumia 900 for AT&T. After all, it's a Lumia 800 all over again, only the screen got bigger. And yet, we are delighted to meet this smartphone again - and we'll give it that, it looks stunning in white.
You'll also be happy to know that this time around we're putting the Lumia 900 to all our usual tests. AT&T's Lumia 900 was reviewed away from the office but this one will not simply walk in and out of our labs without getting a taste of our torture routine.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Quad-band 3G with 42 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
4.3" 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 480 x 800 pixel resolution
Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display with anti-glare polarizer
8 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash, 720p@27fps video recording and fast f/2.2 lens
1MP front camera
Windows Phone 7.5 OS (Mango), upgradeable to WP 7.8
1.4GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset, 512MB of RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Non-painted polycarbonate unibody
GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
Digital compass
16GB of on-board storage
Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack; FM Radio with RDS
microUSB port
Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR
Impressively deep and coherent SNS integration throughout the interface

Main disadvantages

Won't get WP 8
No USB mass storage (Zune only file management and sync)
No native video calls
Non-user-replaceable battery
No memory card slot (and no 64GB version like the N9)
microSIM card slot
No native DivX/XviD support, videos have to be transcoded by Zune

The newly announced Windows Phone 8 has given us plenty to look forward to, but a WP8 upgrade is not on the cards for the Nokia Lumia 900. WP 7.8 is coming later this year to all compatible single-core devices and it will be the last update they are about to get. Both Nokia and Microsoft promise to continue the support though they will most likely be focusing their efforts on multiple-core WP8 smartphones.

Nokia Lumia 900 live pictures
But don't close the page on the Lumia 900 just yet. The Windows Phone experience is impressive even on single-core chipsets and the OS is beautifully simple and charmingly social. The proprietary apps are a major lift too - Nokia Reading was recently added to the familiar Drive, Maps and Music.
It will be a while before the new WP8 devices start hitting the market, so the Nokia Lumia 900 will be the Windows Phone flagship for a good few months. With a shadow always looming over it, the Lumia 900 will stand tall or fall short. But it won't go unnoticed.

Design and build quality

The design of the Nokia Lumia 900 should be quite familiar by now, which is not to say boring. It couldn't have had better inspiration than the Nokia Lumia 800 and, ultimately, the N9. The simple but compelling aesthetics are purely driven by function for a package that's beautiful to both look at and use.

Nokia Lumia 900 next to the MeeGo-happy N9
The Nokia Lumia 900 is being offered with four color schemes - the traditional black, white, magenta and cyan. The white version we're testing stands out with its glossy ceramic surface. The matte finish of the rest is more practical perhaps - in terms of both grip and durability, but a matte white body would've been almost impossible to keep clean.
Build quality is flawless as always, it's just that the white Nokia Lumia 900 doesn't have the heavy-duty looks of its siblings using other paintjobs. It trades them for an extra bit of sophistication. The phone still appears ready to take a lot of abuse, as it is a blend of polycarbonate and Corning Gorilla Glass. The body is not painted the old fashioned way but it's rather made of plastic that has the same color in depth, scratches and marks from accidental drops won't stand out as much.

The screen is a major improvement over Lumia 800's unit
We've always said that AMOLED screens and Windows Phone OS are a perfect match. The Nokia Lumia 900's display is yet another proof. The 4.3" unit impresses with infinite contrast and deep blacks. In a manner befitting a Windows Phone flagship, Nokia Lumia 900's screen has dropped the PenTile matrix, found in the unit of the Lumia 800, so, despite its lower pixel density on paper, it is nicer to look at from up close.

Above the screen you will find a discreet earpiece, the ambient light and proximity sensors, as well as the front-facing camera. Below the screen are the three touch-sensitive buttons for getting around the beautiful Metro UI.

The view above and below the screen
There is absolutely nothing on the phone's left side but things get a lot busier on the right. The volume rocker is there, along with the power/lock key and a dedicated camera button. The Lock button feels somehow less solid than the rest of the phone's body but it's definitely not as flimsy as the same control on a Nokia N9. The half press of the shutter key could've been a lot more distinct and the stroke is too shallow for our liking.

Nothing on the left • the buttons on the right feel flimsy
There is a lot going on at the top of the Nokia Lumia 900. The 3.5mm audio jack is there, along with the microUSB port and a secondary microphone for active noise cancellation. The microSIM tray is tucked in there as well. It feels gentle when handled, so use caution when dealing with it.

The view on top • the microSIM tray is quite gentle
On the bottom, you have the loudspeaker grille machined into the polycarbonate body. The mouthpiece is hidden there as well.

The loudspeaker at the bottom
The back of the device is where the 8MP camera and dual LED flash can be found. The Carl Zeiss-certified lens is placed on a trademark chrome plate set within the casing.

The camera and flash combo on the back
The battery on the Lumia 900 is non-removable. In terms of battery life, the same standby and talk times are quoted as on the US version of the phone. With the same 1830mAh on tap, the Nokia Lumia 900 has quite an edge over its AT&T sibling with that power-hungry LTE radio.
Nokia Lumia 900 battery test results
You should easily squeeze a full day out of the Lumia 900 on a single charge. If you are a power user though, you may want to have a charger at hand just in case. Thankfully, the one in the bundle is very compact.
The Nokia Lumia 900 is comfortable to use and single-handed operation is a breeze - having all the controls on one side certainly helps. The device's side curves allow it to fit perfectly in your hand. The glazed white finish cannot match the grip of a black Nokia N9 but there's little to be concerned about in terms of durability. Our biggest disappointment was the absolutely flat display. Granted, the Windows Phone interface doesn't need a curved screen like the swipe-driven MeeGo but feeling the (somewhat rough) edges of the screen isn't the most pleasant experience.

Handling the Nokia Lumia 900 feels great
Still, the Nokia Lumia 900 looks fantastic, and is well put together. The Lumia 800/900 design and build quality will be remembered as one of the rebels to break the boring cycle of uniform shapes reigning the last few years.

Windows Phone 7.5

The Nokia Lumia 900 runs the latest software currently available. The Windows Phone build is 7.5 Refresh and was revealed at this year's MWC in Barcelona under the codename Tango. Barring some minor added features, the main point was to allow the OS to run on less powerful hardware. This is irrelevant to the Lumia 900 though, which has some of the highest hardware specs available on Microsoft-powered smartphone: a 1.4GHz CPU and 512MB of RAM.
That's about to change with Windows Phone 8 which, we all know by now, the Lumia 900 won't be getting. The 7.8 software version is the last major update the current generation of Microsoft-powered smartphones is likely to receive. That way they will at least have the new WP8 start screen with resizable live tiles.
That's at least a few months away though, so let's focus on what the Lumia 900 offers here and now. Here goes a video demo of the user interface in action.

A push on the unlock button reveals the lock screen, which displays the current time and date and shows calendar events, emails and missed calls.
Swiping the lockscreen up unlocks the device and reveals the live-tile Metro user interface. It's a vertical grid of Live tiles, which can be reordered the way you like. Almost anything can be placed in the grid by tapping and holding down over an app and selecting the Pin to start option.
It's a clean and simple interface. Each of the Live tiles display relevant info such as the current date, pending calendar events, missed calls, unread emails and more (third party apps do it too). The Marketplace tile displays the number of updates available, while the Pictures tile is essentially a slideshow of your photos. It's nice to have all that info always available at-a-glance. You can look at them as homescreen widgets of sorts, but that's a bit oversimplifying.

Homescreen • Main menu
The Lumia 900 goes about multitasking like every other WP7 smartphone. It's not true multitasking; things are being done the iOS way. Apps not in the foreground are suspended, but the OS has ways to take over and carry out the task for them.
To switch between apps you press and hold the Back key. The app switcher itself looks similar to that of Symbian or WebOS: thumbnail snapshots of the apps, ordered chronologically left to right.

Multitasking
You can scroll the list horizontally to select an app and a tap will bring you back to exactly how you left it. Usually, the last 5-6 apps are here. You can't "kill" any of those apps, this is more of a history of the recently used apps.
Eventually, as you open more apps, the old ones start to drop out from the list. Once an app is gone, you have to launch it again the old-fashioned way, which means you'll need to start over. However, the browser for example will still load the last visited page. Apps with active background tasks (e.g. streaming online radio) will keep on working.
Multitasking can be disabled from the settings to save battery life. There you'll also find a list of all installed apps that support multitasking.
Opening the settings menu displays two sets of options: like on the start screen, you can swipe between System and Applications. System covers all the settings you can think of like sounds, color theme, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Accounts, etc. The Application settings let you configure each app you have on the device.

Settings
Windows Phone 7.5 can be controlled through voice only - you can dictate, have the phone read out the reply, you can initiate searches and so on. Other OSes are doing it too - Android's got Google Voice, Apple has Siri and there are a number of third party "virtual voice assistants" available.

Specification Blackberry Curve 9380

2012-07-16T07:31:00.002-07:00

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 or HSDPA 800 / 1900 / 2100
		HSDPA 900 / 1700 / 2100
	Announced	2011, November
	Status	Available. Released 2011, December

Body	Dimensions	109 x 60 x 11.2 mm
Body	Weight	98 g

Display	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen
	Size	360 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches (~188 ppi pixel density)
		- Optical trackpad

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

Memory	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB
Memory	Internal	512 MB storage, 512 MB RAM

Data	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, HSUPA
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UMA (carrier-dependent)
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	NFC	Carrier dependent
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera	Primary	5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization
	Video	Yes, VGA
	Secondary	No

Features	OS	BlackBerry OS 7.0
	CPU	806 MHz
	Sensors	Proximity
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	No
	Colors	Black
		- SNS applications - MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/FLAC- player - MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player - Organizer - Document viewer - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion (JM-1)
	Stand-by	Up to 360 h (2G) / Up to 360 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 5 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 5 h 40 min (3G)
	Music play	Up to 30 h

Misc	SAR US	1.38 W/kg (head) 0.77 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	1.09 W/kg (head) 0.59 W/kg (body)
	Price group

Tests	Display	Contrast ratio: 863:1 (nominal)
	Loudspeaker	Voice 61dB / Noise 64dB / Ring 66dB
	Audio quality	Noise -85.8dB / Crosstalk -80.3dB
	Camera	Photo
	Battery life	Endurance rating 39h

Specification Blackberry 9220

2012-07-16T07:27:00.002-07:00

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	Announced	2012, April
	Status	Available. Released 2012, May

Body	Dimensions	109 x 60 x 12.7 mm
	Weight	102 g
	Keyboard	QWERTY

Display	Type	TFT, 65K colors
	Size	320 x 240 pixels, 2.44 inches (~164 ppi pixel density)
		- Touch-sensitive optical trackpad

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

Memory	Card slot	microSD, up to 32 GB
Memory	Internal	512 MB ROM, 512 MB RAM

Data	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera	Primary	2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
	Video	Yes
	Secondary	No

Features	OS	BlackBerry OS 7.1
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	No
	Java	No
	Colors	Black, Fuchsia Pink, Pure White, Teal Blue
		- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/FLAC player - MP4/H.263/H.264 player - Organizer - Document viewer - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1450 mAh (J-S1)
	Stand-by	Up to 432 h
	Talk time	Up to 7 h
	Music play	Up to 28 h

Misc	SAR US	1.31 W/kg (head) 0.61 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	1.61 W/kg (head) 1.01 W/kg (body)
	Price group

Specification Blackberry Curve 9360

2012-07-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
		HSDPA 900 / 1700 / 2100
	Announced	2011, August
	Status	Available. Released 2011, August

Body	Dimensions	109 x 60 x 11 mm
	Weight	99 g
	Keyboard	QWERTY

Display	Type	TFT
	Size	480 x 360 pixels, 2.44 inches (~246 ppi pixel density)
		- Touch-sensitive optical trackpad

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

Memory	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB
Memory	Internal	512 MB storage, 512 MB RAM

Data	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UMA (carrier-dependent)
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera	Primary	5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization
	Video	Yes, VGA
	Secondary	No

Features	OS	BlackBerry OS 7.0
	CPU	800MHz
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	No
	Colors	Black, Purple, Pink
		- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/FLAC player - MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player - Organizer - Document viewer - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 336 h (2G) / Up to 288 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 5 h (2G) / Up to 5 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 25 h

Misc	SAR US	1.42 W/kg (head) 1.06 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	1.22 W/kg (head) 0.62 W/kg (body)
	Price group

Tests	Display	Contrast ratio: 1054:1 (nominal)
	Loudspeaker	Voice 69dB / Noise 65dB / Ring 71dB
	Audio quality	Noise -85.9dB / Crosstalk -82.1dB
	Camera	Photo

Review Sony Xperia Ion

2012-07-16T06:40:00.001-07:00

Introduction

Sony was the talk of town during CES 2012 back in January and the Xperia ion for AT&T was among the main reasons why. Launched alongside the Xperia S, the Sony Xperia ion took the great honor of being the company's first LTE smartphone. To make the matters even more epic, the smartphone marked Sony Mobile's grand return to the most lucrative segment of the US smartphone market - that of the high-end, tricked out handsets with spec sheets as long as a daily newspaper. In a nutshell, the Sony Xperia ion was a big deal anyway you looked at it.

Sony Xperia ion official photo
Arriving to the market six months after its announcement, the Sony Xperia ion has a different smartphone landscape to face. Samsung and HTC have already released their heavy hitters in the United States, packing better internals, and offering more up-to-date software experience. To put it mildly - arriving late to the party, the Sony Xperia ion now finds itself outgunned by the competition.
What makes this occurrence particularly frustrating is the fact that this wasn't the case at the smartphone's announcement six months ago. Back in January, the Xperia ion for AT&T could go have a go at any top-of-the-line Android smartphone on the market and emerge victorious.
To offset the massive delay, the Sony Xperia ion is priced quite aggressively. AT&T asks only $99.99 for the smartphone. Should you choose to pick one up directly from Sony though, you will only have to shell out $49.99 with a two-year contract. Cutting edge it might be not, but the Sony Xperia ion still offers you a lot of smartphone for the money. Here goes the list of its full talents.

Key features

Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
Tri-band 3G with 21Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
Category 3 LTE network connectivity
4.6" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of 720p resolution (720 x 1280 pixels) with Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine; Scratch-resistant glass
Dual-core 1.5 GHz Scorpion CPU, 1 GB RAM, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 chipset
12 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging, Multi Angle shot
1080p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
1.3 MP front-facing camera, 720p video recording
Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
GPS with A-GPS
16GB built-in storage; microSD card slot
microHDMI port, dedicated TV launcher
microUSB port (charging); stereo Bluetooth v2.1
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Voice dialing
Adobe Flash 11 support
Deep Facebook integration
PlayStation Certified
Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Main disadvantages

Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread out of the box doesn't cut it for a high-end device this far into 2012
Display has sub-par side viewing angles
Underwhelming front touch buttons and side camera key
Non-user replaceable battery

As you have probably noticed above, the Sony Xperia ion for AT&T is rather closely related to the Xperia S, which came to be quite popular. In order to be more appealing to the US users however, the handset has seen its screen stretch up a bit. The microSD card slot is also a nice addition to the spec sheet - after all, the handset is made for consuming multimedia and playing videogames.
The biggest letdown about the Sony Xperia ion for AT&T is undoubtedly the lack of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. Sony's customization of Android 2.3 Gingerbread is quite polished but still - it simply does not befit a mid-2012 high-end device. The battery life could have also been much better, given the handset's knack for multimedia.

Sony Xperia ion live photos
As always, we are going to kick things off with an unboxing of the Sony Xperia ion for AT&T, followed by a design and build quality inspection.

A retail box to match the price tag

Much like with the case of other $99 smartphones, the Sony Xperia ion for AT&T won't blow you away with its retail package. Inside the orange/white colored box, you will find a charger and a microUSB cable, along with the usual set of booklets.

Quite frankly, a set of headphones would have been much appreciated here, especially given Sony's own lineup of accessories. In the case of the AT&T flavored Xperia ion however, you will have to get one on your own dime.

Design and build quality

The Sony Xperia ion is a well-designed piece of hardware. The handset recently won a Red Dot award for its pleasantly understated looks. However, for every person who thinks that the Xperia ion is a looker, there's probably another who would brand the device as being dull. On our end, we can't help but note, that the transparent strip, found in the Xperia S would have added a welcome touch of character to the Xperia ion.
Build quality is superb. The Sony Xperia ion for AT&T is a blend of high-quality plastic and metal, while the handset's screen is scratch proof - even the pickiest user will have a hard time finding something to frown about.
The measures of the Sony Xperia ion are fairly acceptable for a device with such a massive screen. They are 133 x 68 x 10.8 mm, while its weight tips the scale at 144 grams. The only negative worth noting here is the handset's thickness, which is far from great. In any case, the Xperia ion won't tear a hole in your pocket.
The 4.55" screen of the device is truly great. Backed by Sony's BRAVIA engine, the display is sharp, offers great color reproduction, and good contrast. Its pixel density of 323ppi is not as high as the 342ppi found in the Sony Xperia S's unit, but it's well on par with a the latest iPhone Retina screens offer.

The Xperia ion's display is gorgeous
There is a lot going on above the display. There, you will find the ambient light and proximity sensors, the earpiece, an indicator light, as well as the 1.3MP front-facing camera. Below the screen is where the four capacitive buttons for navigating Android reside. Their sensitivity is far from the greatest we've encountered.

The view above and below the screen
The microUSB and microHDMI ports are neatly located under a cover on the left side of the phone. There is nothing else to be found there.

The microUSB and microHDMI ports on the left
Things get busier on the right side as it is the home of the power/lock key, the volume rocker, as well as the dedicated button for the 12MP snapper.

The view on the right
On top of the device, you will find the lonely 3.5mm audio jack sitting at the center. There's nothing but a mouthpiece at the bottom of the Xperia ion.

Viewing the Xperia ion's top and button
The 12MP camera and its LED flash light are located on the back. The loudspeaker grille can be found immediately below them. The green logo and Xperia letters at the bottom hark back to the Sony Ericsson heritage.

The view on the back
The SIM card slot and the microSD card slot are stealthily tucked in under a small cover, located right above the camera sensor. Removing it takes place by pressing with your thumbs on its sides and sliding up.

The home of the microSD and the SIM card slots
The 1900mAh non-removable battery of the Sony Xperia ion for AT&T achieved an endurance rating of 31 hours in our traditional battery test. This means that you can expect the Xperia ion to last you just a bit over a full day, should you use it for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback every daily.

You can find out all about the battery performance of the handset in this post.
Handling the Sony Xperia ion is relatively easy for its size. Even one handed operation is possible on most occasions. The curved back allows the device to fit comfortably in hand, and reduces the risk of drops.

Handling the Sony Xperia ion is relatively easy
Overall, we'll give excellent marks for build quality of the Sony Xperia ion. Design on the other hand is strictly a matter of personal perception. Battery life could have been much better, but we are not surprised by the Xperia ion's showing on this instance - the combination of Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 with HD screen and LTE is a well recorded energy hog by now.
Following next is a look at the (ageing) software of the Sony Xperia ion.

Gingerbread for now

The Sony Xperia ion for AT&T, like the rest of the NXT series, runs Android Gingerbread 2.3.7 with an ICS update coming up later on. We've seen the same UI combo on the Xperia S, the sola, the Xperia P, and Xperia U, so we'll cut straight to the demo video.

The Xperia ion has the usual five-pane homescreen (you can't add or delete panes), with four docked shortcuts (two on either side of the launcher shortcut). These are visible on all five homescreen panes and are user configurable: they can be either single icons or folders with multiple items in them.

The Sony Xperia ion UI
The homescreen does a neat trick called Overview mode. Pinch to zoom out on any of the 5 homescreen panes and a new screen opens up with a cool transition. All active widgets gather there for easy viewing and selection.

The Overview mode
The Xperia ion has some custom-made Sony widgets in addition to the standard set. Those include the Timescape widget (there's a dedicated app too) and a Mediascape-like widget for photos and videos (the actual app isn't there anymore, the standard gallery is back).

Widgets menu • Removing widget
The lockscreen shows notifications for Facebook events too. A cool new addition to the lockscreen, unseen in the old Xperia line, is the music player widget, which lets you control music playback without unlocking the phone - we'll get back to this further on.
The standard notification area and task switcher are of course present and accounted for - no custom touches to them.

The lockscreen • Lockscreen notifications • The standard notification area and task switcher
Color themes are also part of the Sony Xperia ion's user interface. There are several of them preinstalled.

Some of the preinstalled themes

Synthetic benchmarks

The Sony Xperia ion for AT&T is powered by a dual-core Scorpion CPU clocked at 1.5 GHz and 1GB of RAM. Back at the time of the smartphone's announcement, those were as good as it could possibly get. These days however, they are considered mid-range.
We ran our usual round of benchmarks and compared the Xperia ion to a selection of popular upper-midrange competitors.
We'll start with Benchmark Pi, which measures the CPU computing power of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 chipset. The Xperia ion could have done much better here.

Review HTC Desire C

2012-07-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Are you a seasoned Android user looking for ICS on a budget or a learner ready for that big step into smartphones? Is it the journey or the destination? HTC will be pleased to welcome you on board either way. And they're making sure you start on the right foot.
Meet the Desire C. The little one at the feet of giants. The adopted child of the blue-bloods in the One family. The HTC Desire C is about half the size of a One X and has only a fraction of its processing power but the C in the name doesn't only signify compact, it also stands for comfort and capability.

The Taiwanese have a solid record in the entry-level smartphone segment. To be fair, their pricing is not the most competitive but the build, fit and finish of their smartphones are hard to beat. Beauty anyway is in the eye of the beholder, so here are the solid facts about the Desire C.

Key features

Light and compact
Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
14.4 Mbps HSDPA, 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
3.5" 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution (320 x 480)
600MHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 MSM7227A chipset, Cortex A5 CPU, 512MB RAM, Adreno 200 GPU
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with HTC Sense 4 UI
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot functionality
GPS with A-GPS connectivity
5 MP camera, geotagging, face detection
VGA video @ 24fps
microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
microSD slot (up to 32GB)
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Accelerometer, proximity sensor
Polaris Office doc viewer / editor
25GB of free Dropbox
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Smart dialing
DivX/XviD video support
HTCSense.com integration
Adobe Flash support
Surprisingly good audio output

Main disadvantages

Feeble CPU
Modest retail package
Fixed-focus camera
No front-facing camera

That's a long list of features showing HTC have done their homework. Entry-level phones are usually ranked by the best bang-for-the-buck and the Desire C appears equipped well above the average. The biggest doubt is cast by the single-core 600MHz Cortex A5 processor but running Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box is a nice way to make amends. This market is all about give and take.

The Desire C is super compact and lightweight for an amazingly comfortable feel in hand. It's still very well put together and oozes the usual HTC quality. Follow us after the break for more on the design and construction.

Standard retail package

The HTC Desire C has the same eco-friendly packaging as the One series phones: a rounded foam box in a sleeve of paper. The phone comes with a standard microUSB cable for charging and transferring data, a set of headphones and a wall charger.

The Desire C retail package
It has the Beats Audio technology, but HTC didn't throw in a Beats headset - it would've been a ridiculously generous bonus to a 200 euro handset. Still, the standard set in the retail package has decent sound.
HTC haven't bundled a memory card either. 4GB of built-in storage should be enough to get you started but a card will soon be a necessity.

Design and build quality

The HTC Desire C looks like the One X designers worked on it on their own time. Viewed from the front, it's a miniaturized version of the HTC flagship. Around back is where the differences start to show. Of course the entry level Desire C cannot match the finish of the One X - it's mostly the different feel and lesser resistance to smudges.
The color accents are different too - the back of the Desire C reminds us of the HTC Sensation XE, with the red trim around the camera lens and the beats audio logo.
For the most part, the HTC Desire C is made of plastic, but we like the subtle metallic frame around the screen. The back cover is rubbery for comfortable grip but it does tend to get a bit grimy - nothing though that a good wipe won't handle.
The Desire C may not have the premium feel of the One series but the compact size and neat styling are definite points in favor. The red outline of the lens and the microUSB port are nice accents and the phone's inner body and the battery come in matching color. Popping the battery cover open reveals the red-painted innards - something we saw in the HTC Aria a few years ago, only in yellow.
The HTC Desire C is available in three different colors: red, black and gray. Gone are the funky HTC Explorer colors for a decidedly grown-up look. The Desire C will do for the business hours too.

The Desire C comes in several color options
The earpiece is traditionally placed in the center above the screen. The proximity and ambient light sensors are in the screen bezel nearby. The Desire C hasn't got a front-facing camera, which could be a deal-breaker for some. A notification LED is also missing.
Below the screen is the usual set of three capacitive buttons - Back, Home and Task Switcher. Their white icons are always visible but it takes a tap of the screen to light them up. The keys are small but well-spaced to be comfortable to use. They also vibrate on touch.

Earpiece and sensors • Capacitive Back, Home and Multitasking keys
There's nothing on the left side of the phone but the microUSB port. It's placed near the bottom and serves both charging and computer connections. It's easy to spot thanks to its red lining. The right side houses only the volume rocker, which is prominent enough to locate by touch and solid to press.

microUSB port on the left • Volume rocker on the right
There's a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top and a power/lock button, which stands out with its metal finish. It's quite a slim knob that needs some getting used to but the trick is not to try and push the button itself - you can barely do it by anything but a nail.

The 3.5mm audio jack and power/lock key on the top
The bottom of the device features only the mouthpiece.

The bottom of the Desire C
The back of the Desire C is very grippy, with a nice rubbery feel to it. The 5MP fixed-focus camera lens is centrally placed at the top, with nothing but the loudspeaker next to it. There's no LED flash. The HTC logo is prominently engraved in the middle of the back cover.

The grippy back cover
Undoing the back panel reveals the cool-looking red plastic innards with a regular-sized SIM card compartment and a microSD card slot. The 1230 mAh Li-Ion battery is red too.

Underneath the back panel lie some uniquely-colored insides

Display

The HTC Desire C features a 3.5-inch LCD display of HVGA resolution (320x480). It's not the best display by any means, but you do get what you pay for. The bigger 3.5" screen stretches the resolution a little thin and the viewing angles are not particularly good. We've definitely seen worse though.
Colors are okay, but the overly reflective screen and low contrast aren't doing them any favors. Considering the price tag though, it's an overall okay display.

The 3.5 inch LCD display of the Desire C
We put the HTC Desire C through our usual display tests and here's how it scored.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
Display test	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio
HTC Desire C	0.23	186	814	0.5	360	723
HTC One X	0.15	200	1375	0.39	550	1410
Sony Xperia U	0.35	287	831	0.55	515	930
Samsung S7500 Galaxy Ace Plus	0.27	239	873	0.6	528	888
Samsung Galaxy Pocket	0.31	238	774	0.62	468	753
Samsung Galaxy Y	0.40	247	624	0.72	471	625

Contrast ratio

Nokia 808 PureView 4.698
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III 3.419
Samsung Omnia W 3.301
Samsung Galaxy S 3.155
Nokia N9 3.069
Samsung Galaxy Note 2.970
HTC One S 2.901
Samsung Galaxy S II 2.832
Huawei Ascend P1 2.655
Nokia Lumia 900 2.562
Apple iPhone 4S 2.269
HTC One X 2.158
Nokia N8 2.144
Apple iPhone 4 2.016
Sony Ericsson Xperia ray 1.955
Sony Xperia U 1.758
LG Optimus 4X HD 1.691
HTC One V 1.685
LG Optimus Vu 1.680
LG Optimus 3D 1.542
Nokia Asha 302 1.537
Nokia Lumia 610 1.432
Gigabyte GSmart G1355 1.361
HTC Desire C 1.300
LG Optimus L7 1.269
Meizu MX 1.221
Samsung Galaxy Pocket 1.180
Samsung Galaxy mini 2 1.114

We snapped a shot of the display under a microscope and here's what the RGB matrix of the HTC Desire C looks like.

The HTC Desire C display pixels

Handling

The HTC Desire C looks good and approaches the low-end market with the right attitude. In terms of build, there's little the HTC Desire C doesn't do right. It's a bit thick for its diminutive size but anything slimmer would probably have been a lot less comfortable to hold.
Don't let this put you off though. We think the Desire C feels great in the hand and the fact that it's extremely light helps a lot too. The red design accents are subtle but effective in a package that isn't trying to impress aesthetically but looks straightforward and reliable instead.

The Desire C in-hand
So far so good. Now, let's see what the Desire C can offer in the software department with the Ice Cream Sandwich treatment HTC has given it.

Android ICS with the latest Sense

The HTC Desire C comes with Android 4.0.3 and Sense 4.0 - that's no longer the most recent Android release, but as most of its competitors are still stuck with Gingerbread it's still quite an achievement. We've seen this particular combo of ICS and Sense several times already on the HTC One series phones, but it's still interesting to see it perform on a much cheaper device like the Desire C.
The user interface is trimmed down just like it was on the HTC One V - this time around, it isn't just the small screen but the less processing power too.
Anyway, what's missing compared to the One X and the One S is Leap View. The Recent Apps interface is the vanilla ICS layout and the lockscreen cannot be customized: you cannot assign custom app shortcuts - you get Phone, Mail, Messages and Camera, and that's nonnegotiable. There are no different lockscreen types to select from either - the only option the Desire C gives you is the ability to show or hide the default four app shortcuts.
The lockscreen is still quite efficient. There are the usual four shortcuts and a ring at the bottom. You can either drag the ring towards the center of the screen to unlock the phone, or any of the shortcuts into the ring to unlock the phone and launch the corresponding app.

The Sense 4.0 lockscreen
The number of homescreens is locked at five - like on the One V, you cannot add or remove any. There is no leap view either. You get an auto-hiding indicator of which screen you're on and a brand new dock with five shortcuts - the middle one is locked to the app drawer, while the other four can be customized as you please (you can even put a folder there, if four shortcuts isn't enough).

Some of the homescreen sections
Sense offers one of the most full-featured customization suites around. The proprietary Scenes interface lets you choose from various custom homescreen setups, which provide new wallpaper and widget sets that can be further customized to suit your needs. This version of Sense only comes with one preloaded, but hitting the 'Get More' button on the upper right will take you to the HTC Hub where you can download additional Scenes.
Switching between scenes takes a couple of seconds, but they're a handy feature if you want to quickly change your phone's functionality, such as going from work to home.

The preset and downloadable Scenes
The HTC Sense has another customization option called Skins. Every skin changes the look and feel of most of the onscreen buttons, application screens, option menus, and other items. They also come with unique wallpaper each and use different colors for various UI elements. The Desire C comes with a total of two preloaded skins, although like with Scenes, it's easy to get more.

Getting various Skins is also easy
The main menu has the typical grid layout, which is composed of vertical pages with shortcuts sorted alphabetically. You can set different sorting options - alphabetical, most recent or oldest - but you can't rearrange them manually. There are Search and Play Store shortcuts along with a menu for some options.

The app drawer in Sense 4.0
The App Drawer uses a tabbed layout similar to different Sense elements (such as the phonebook). There are three tabs available at the bottom - All apps, Frequent and Downloads. You can rearrange them or remove Frequent and Downloads if you don't need them.

You can remove whichever tabs along the bottom you don't need
The Personalize app also has Sound customizations - you can pick a Sound set or individual ringtone, notification and alarm sounds.

The Personalize menu does sound too
Adding widgets to the homescreen is done in a similar fashion to Honeycomb and is one of the less successful changes since Sense went ICS.
You press and hold on the homescreen and everything zooms out so that the homescreen panes are visible as thumbnails on the top row of the screen. You tap a homescreen to select it and then select a widget to add to it (or you can just drag the widget).

Adding a widget to the homescreen
The main problem here is with how widgets are selected - they are shown four at a time and there's a lot of scrolling involved. Widgets are available in multiple versions - usually differing in size, but also functionality - and they're all dumped into the list, so you're scrolling through a lot of duplicates.
There's a search option to speed things along or you can choose a widget from the dropdown menu and then select which size you like, but that still feels like an extra step.
The old setup of picking a widget and then adjusting its size (if applicable) seemed simpler.
Editing the homescreen is different from vanilla Android. You can tap and hold on a widget and you can drag across homescreen panes. While you're dragging a widget (or shortcut or whatever), two fields appear at the top of the screen - Edit and Remove. You can drop the widget on either one to perform the corresponding action.
When it is highlighted, Edit can be used to modify the settings of a widget - e.g. choose a different folder for the Photo Frame album or even choose a different version of the Clock widget. This saves you the trouble of first deleting a widget and then putting it on the screen again to choose a different version, setting and so on.

Dragging a widget gives you options
The notification area no longer has the list of recent apps - it's reserved for notifications only. No more tabs and toggles either, although you get a Settings shortcut here if you need to power something on or off. There's also a Clear button to dismiss all notification or you can swipe them off one by one.

The notification area
Pressing the task switcher button on any screen displays a list of all your recently accessed apps, which you can remove with a swipe to the left or right. This is really just a quick way to access apps you've used recently, as swiping away doesn't kill them.
To actually terminate a running app, you have to close it via the traditional task manager we've become familiar with from Gingerbread. It's simple to use - each running app is listed with an indication of how much RAM it's using (no CPU usage reading though). You can terminate apps one by one and there's a Stop All button too.

The standard task switcher • The task manager

Android-ish gallery

The HTC gallery is a custom job, but stacks photos just like the vanilla Android gallery. The app automatically locates images and videos, no matter where they are stored. You can choose to show/hide camera shots, All photos or All videos.
A tap on the Albums dropdown lets you view local or online albums. On the cloud side, you get Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, Picasa or SkyDrive.

The Albums app has a new look
Once you pick one of the "stacks" (each representing a folder), you're presented with a grid of the photos. Some files have an icon indicating it's not a still photo but a video instead.

Browsing the image gallery
You can also mass delete images, but you can't copy/paste images across folders - you'll need a proper file manager for that. There are some basic editing tools - crop, rotate and effects (auto enhance, sepia, vintage, etc.).

Mass deleting photos • Basic image editing tools
The HTC Desire C supports multi-touch and you can take full advantage of it while browsing your images. You can zoom up to 100% with a simple double tap on the screen. The implementation here is extra smooth too.

Zooming in on a photo

Capable video player

There's no dedicated video player onboard the HTC Desire C, which means that video files have to be accessed via the Gallery.

The Videos app is part of the Gallery
The video interface offers a view mode toggle (full screen or best fit) and you can scrub through videos. There's a shortcut that lets you adjust screen brightness and another one to take screenshots of videos.
Video support on the Desire C was a mixed bag - as expectd, 1080p and 720p videos were a no go. It was able to play most standard resolution file formats we threw at it - AVI, MP4, MKV - though it did choke on some old XviD-encoded AVI videos.
Unlike the One series, Beats Audio enhancement is not available when viewing videos; it only works when listening to music (more on this below).
Subtitle support is available, although you have to have a subtitle file in the same directory as the video to be able access the subtitle options. These include the ability to select a subtitle file (if there is more than one in the same directory), as well as adjust the character encoding, which can be useful in getting those non-Latin subtitles to work.

Playing video • Adjusting the subtitle options

Music player with very basic Beats support

The Music app starts off by offering you several shortcuts - music library on the phone, SoundHound track recognition or TuneIn Radio. Below is a list of all your recently played songs, and at the bottom there is a ticker for the currently playing song.
Once you get into the music library available on the phone you get a dropdown menu to browse it by artist, album, playlist or genre. There's a search tool too.

The music library
The now playing interface is a Cover-Flow-like visualization of the current playlist - you can swipe sideways to skip songs back or forward. You can also opt to view the full playlist if you need to skip more than a few tracks.

The full-featured music player
The Desire C offers the Beats Audio sound enhancement to boost the sonic experience, although at a slightly dumbed-down variant. Gone are all the Beats Audio presets we're used to in other HTC phones, all you're really able to do on the Desire C is toggle it on and off.

Turning on the limited Beats Audio version
The lockscreen has a widget that shows the album art and name of the song and artist along with playback controls. You can pause playback or skip tracks directly by pressing the relevant button but you cannot unlock the phone into the full featured Music Player by dragging the widget into the ring.

The lockscreen music player widget
SoundHound is the track recognition of choice for HTC and they've even integrated it into the music player UI. It easily ID's a song from just a short sample. Or you can say the name of the artist and song and SoundHound will find it for you, including lyrics.

The SoundHound app

Functional FM radio

The HTC Desire C is also equipped with an FM radio, which has a pretty simple interface. It automatically scans the area for the available stations and allows you to mark some of them as favorite. It also supports RDS and allows loudspeaker playback.

The FM radio UI
You can play the sound through the headphones or the loudspeaker, although you need to have a headset plugged in at all times to be used as an antenna. There's no Beats enhancement here though, or a playback control card on the lockscreen.
If you have a data connection, you can use TuneIn radio instead of relying on your local FM radio stations.

Audio quality is surprisingly good

Despite its modest price tag the HTC Desire C did quite well in our audio quality test. In fact it turned out to be one of the best HTC smartphones we've ever subjected to the test.
An active external amplifier lets the Desire C show its full potential and achieved some pretty good results. But for the cut-off extreme bass frequencies it did perfectly well with no weak points whatsoever. The volume levels were slightly above average too, so it's a surprisingly good overall performance
What's even more surprising is the very little degradation when headphones come into play. The stereo crosstalk rises the tiniest amount (and remains probably the best we have seen in this scenario) and the intermodulation distortion spikes a bit. Kudos HTC!.
And here come the full results so you can see for yourselves:

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
HTC Desire C	+0.14, -1.14	-87.3	88.8	0.019	0.127	-84.5
HTC Desire C (headphones attached)	+0.48, -0.79	-87.4	88.7	0.025	0.205	-79.9
HTC One V	+0.11, -0.10	-81.7	81.6	0.011	0.047	-90.5
HTC One V (headphones attached)	+0.12, -0.04	-81.8	81.7	0.011	0.090	-52.6
Samsung Galaxy mini 2 S6500	+0.13, -1.24	-85.9	88.0	0.023	0.173	-80.5
Samsung Galaxy mini 2 S6500 (headphones attached)	+0.12, -1.17	-83.8	88.1	0.022	0.231	-54.9
Samsung Galaxy Y S5360	+0.03, -0.32	-87.0	86.8	0.0042	0.064	-76.9
Samsung Galaxy Y S5360 (headphones attached)	+0.21, -0.08	-85.3	85.8	0.013	0.238	-44.2
Samsung S5830 Galaxy Ace	+0.11, -0.47	-84.9	86.8	0.025	0.084	-82.1
Samsung S5830 Galaxy Ace (headphones attached)	+0.82, -0.22	-84.5	86.7	0.083	0.628	-42.3

HTC Desire C frequency response

Uninspiring 5 MP camera

The HTC Desire C packs a 5MP fixed-focus camera that does stills of up to 2592 x 1944 pixels and records VGA video @ 30fps. There is no LED flash and no shutter key either. Given the lack of autofocus the lack of a dedicated camera is hardly as big an issue, but it still would have come in handy for quickly accessing the camera app.
The camera interface is the same for both the still camera and the video camera - no they don't "look alike", the camera just has the UI shared between both functions, with the option to either take a video or snap a still image all from one screen.
The right-hand side features the Effects button, shutter key, camcorder record key and a shortcut to the gallery that shows the last photo/video taken. On the left are buttons for general settings and shot mode.

The HTC Desire C camera interface
To snap a photo, you tap the shutter button. To record video, you tap the button below it.
The dual interface is convenient to say the least, but it does have a few drawbacks. For one, if you're shooting video at the highest resolution possible, VGA, once you hit the record button the frame shrinks down to 4:3. This can make framing a bit tricky, as you don't get to see the actual dimensions of the image until you start recording.
The effects button brings out a panel with the usual set of color effects (sepia, solarize and so on), while the shot mode button offers just a few very limited options - portrait, landscape, and low light.
As far as the quality of the shots is concerned, the Desire C definitely leaves something to be desired. In our tests it had a hard time getting the white balance correct, and a lot of our outdoor images had some color deviation and underexposure issues. When it works as it should, the level of detail and color rendering is pretty good, although up close photos do have a grainy look .
Overall, the camera is certainly not the best we've seen from, but considering the low-cost package, it could have been worse.

HTC Desire C camera samples

Photo quality comparison

The HTC Desire C joins the other 5MP shooters in our Photo Compare Tool. The tool's page will give you enough info on how to use it and what to look for.

HTC Desire C in our Photo Compare Tool

VGA video recording

The VGA (640 x 480) recording capabilities of the Desire C are nothing to write home about, especially in this day and age when it seems that every other device out there is capable of 720p recording.
If you can get past the low resolution, the camcorder itself has quality similar to that seen in the still image samples - slightly-skewed white balance which leads to rather dim outdoor images, and color reproduction that is otherwise accurate.
Videos are stored in MP4 files and have a variable framerate which generally hovers around the 29fps mark. Audio gets recorded at a sampling rate of 44kHz and a bitrate of 96Kbps.
Here is an untouched sample VGA@30fps video clip.
And here's a video uploaded to YouTube for convenience.

Ample connectivity options

The HTC Desire C offers quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band 3G, and HSDPA speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. Local wireless connectivity features Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.
You have a long list of options for connecting to a PC - Charge only, Disk drive (mass storage), HTC Sync, USB tethering (use the phone as a modem) and Internet pass-through (the phone uses the computer's Internet connection). The Charge only and Disk Drive have big, thumbable icons, which is great since they are most often used.

Selecting a USB connection type • Starting the personal Wi-Fi hotspot
Last but not least is the HTC Portable Hotspot. It can support up to 8 devices, you can WEP, WPA or WPA2 encrypt the hotspot and you can enable "allowed users" only to connect or leave it open for all (unsecure, but the quickest setup).
The app can be set to power off automatically after 5 or 10 minutes of inactivity, saving your battery in case you forget to switch it off manually.

Great ICS browser

The HTC Desire C comes with the latest Android web browser, and because it runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, you can also install Chrome for Android.
Anyway, the browser's interface keeps mostly out of sight, which leaves the entire screen to the web page. You get the standard Menu dropdown on the right, but HTC have thrown in some extra buttons at the bottom of the screen (you have to pan to reveal them, which is a little annoying).
They let you save a page in your bookmarks or reading list, view bookmarks, saved pages or tabs. You might want to enable Quick controls - they let you tap on any point on the edge of the screen and move your finger to select the desired option from a jog-dial menu.
Once you select some text, you can copy it, do a Google search with that text as the query or share the text over a message or social networking.

The ICS web browser on the HTC Desire C
Tabs can be closed with an X button on their top right corner. Incognito tabs are available if you want to bypass History, tracking cookies, form auto-fill stuff and so on.

The Bookmarks and History lists • The Tabs interface
The Menu options include a toggle to enable/disable Flash and another one to request the desktop version of a site, instead of the mobile one. Another ICS feature has the phone preload search results that it suspects you're going to open, speeding up the whole process.
The Desire C comes with Flash support, although the 600 MHz processor has a hard time keeping up. Clicking the 'Enable Flash support' option in the browser settings allowed for all the flash banners on our site to show up, but made the browsing experience so choppy it was pretty much unusable. YouTube videos will load and play in-line, although a lot of times it takes a while for them to show up. Flash games failed to run altogether.

YouTube videos run in-browser, although with a fair amount of lag

Great-looking PIM tools

The usual set of organizer apps are aboard the HTC Desire C, with a mobile Office app to boot, that can both view and edit documents.
The Polaris app has support for viewing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, including the Office 2007 versions and it can create Office 2003 Word, Excel documents and presentations. There is also a PDF viewer to handle PDF files.

Polaris Office handles .doc, .xls and .ppt files
You can format the text style and color, justify the text, do lists (numbered or bullet points) in the Word editor. The Excel editor does support function editing, which some mobile editors don't.
The app also integrates with Dropbox and SkyDrive, which makes syncing documents between your computer and your phone a breeze.
The calendar has four different types of view: daily, monthly, agenda and invitation. Adding a new event is quite straightforward and you can also set an alarm to serve as a reminder.

The HTC Desire C organizer centerpiece: the calendar
The Agenda view shows a list of all the calendar entries from the recent past to the near future. Invitation only lists events with invitation info attached to them. The day view showing the weather forecast at the top of the screen is a nice touch.
The Calendar supports multiple online calendars (including Facebook), one you sync with your computer and easily show/hide events you don't want.
There is also a calculator aboard. It is nicely touch optimized with big, easy to hit buttons. Flipping it horizontally enables some more advanced functions like logarithms.

The built-in calculator
The Desire C features an alarm clock application, which can handle multiple alarms, each with its own start and repeat time. You also get a stopwatch and a timer in the same app. There's a world clock, to display the time in multiple locations, as well.

The world clock, alarm clock, stopwatch and timer
The Voice recorder might be quite useful for making audio notes and the weather app brings Yahoo's weather forecast for your area a click away.

Voice recorder • Weather app

Google Play Store and HTC Hub

The Google Play Store features several scrollable tabs - categories, featured, top paid, top free, top grossing, top new paid, top new free and trending. Apps usually have several screenshots (some even offer a demo video) so you can get an idea of what the app looks like before installing it. You can also check out comments and ratings, as well as the number of downloads and so on, to help you decide if the app is worth it.

The Google Play Store
There are all kinds of apps in the Android market and the most important ones are covered (file managers, navigation apps, document readers etc.).
Not quite an app store, the HTC Hub is a good source of wallpapers and sound customizations - ringtones, alarms and notification sounds and entire sound sets (a set is a whole package that brings together the other three categories).
There are also a handful of apps, as well as customizations for skins and entire scenes as well.

The HTC Hub is your source for customizations

Navigation and location with Google Maps

The HTC Desire C has a built-in GPS receiver, which managed to get a lock in under a minute (with A-GPS switched off). If all you need is a rough idea of where you are (within 150 meters) you can use the Cell-ID and Wi-Fi network lock, which is very fast.
At this point, Google Maps is a standard part of the Android package and we've covered it many times before. It offers voice-guided navigation in certain countries and falls back to a list of instructions elsewhere. You can plan routes, search for nearby POI and go into the always cool Street View.

Google Maps is an inherent part of the Android platform

Final words

HTC has stepped out of its comfort zone with this one. It's not their first attempt at a smartphone for the masses and the Taiwanese are definitely getting the hang of it. The Desire C is firmly in the tradition of the two Wildfires and the Explorer. By another tradition honored by HTC, even their entry level offerings get the latest software and the combination of Ice Cream Sandwich and Sense 4.0 is the phone's key selling point.
What we have here is a trimmed-down version of the Sense UI but it's by no means a massive deal-breaker. After all, even the HTC One V had to accept cuts like the missing leap view and the non-customizable lockscreen. Anyway, with microSD card support, flash playback and ICS, the Desire C is a pretty good catch.
The flipside is, the hardware doesn't quite keep up. It's actually as low-end as it gets. But it suffices for two things - run Ice Cream Sandwich glitch-free and stay within budget. The Desire C is clearly cheaper than some of its direct competitors and that's fairly surprising coming from HTC, which usually prices its phones quite steep. The premium is well worth it most of the time, considering the solid build quality of the gadgets.
The Desire C will not let anyone down in terms of build and finish but it should take account of the fact that the market has evolved to a point where dual-cores are calling the shots in the midrange.
Of course, HTC will tell you it has the One V in the market of the affordable dual-core droids and their Desire C is targeting a different, lower segment. We don't think anyone will disagree but still, a certain Sony Xperia U is priced unsettlingly close.
For a couple of euros more (less than 20 really) you get incomparably more processing power thanks to the two 1GHz cores of the Xperia U's NovaThor chipset. The screen size is the same but with FWVGA resolution Sony's smartphone makes all the difference. The auto-focus still camera and HD videos are important advantages too. We like the glowing strip that matches the screen color too. Overall, we would've told you right away that your money is better spent on an Xperia U, was it not for its limited storage capacity.

Sony Xperia U
The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is another recent dual-core droid, which raises the bid with a bigger screen, an autofocus camera and 720p videos. The memory card slot is a massive advantage over the Xperia U and the traditionally solid video codec support should count too. The Galaxy Ace 2 is still running Gingerbread and is even more expensive, and that's something for the Desire C to build on.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160
The LG Optimus L5 too fetches a slightly higher price than the Desire C. It has the same Snapdragon chipset but the processor is clocked higher at 800MHz. It comes with ICS right out of the box. An autofocus camera and the slim, Prada-influenced design are its highlights. The LG Optimus L5 has a big 4" screen but we're not sure whether we can actually call it an advantage at the same HVGA resolution as the Desire C.

LG Optimus L5 E610
As for the few options that currently cost less, the Lumia 710 still has a good run ahead of it, regardless of the fact that it's not getting Windows Phone 8. With WP 7.8 confirmed and the good package of apps (Nokia Drive adds quite a lot of value to the deal), the Lumia 710 is still a solid option in the lower midrange. It beats the Desire C with a bigger and higher resolution display, an autofocus camera, and a clearly more capable processor. The limited storage capacity and an app market that's not nearly as well-stocked as the Google Play store are points against.

Nokia Lumia 710
Back to the Android camp, the Defy Mini is a pretty close match - it has the same processor as the HTC Desire C and almost identical looks. The screen is smaller, the camera is 3MP and there's still no ICS - but it costs less and is dust and water-resistant.

Motorola Defy Mini XT321
To sum it up, HTC seems to be taking the entry-level market more seriously than usual. Just look at the multiple versions of the Desire C, including dual-SIM support. Of course, HTC's entry level is different than say, Samsung's. What we mean is, there're obviously cheaper ways to own an Android smartphone. But the HTC Desire C is among the few to give you ICS right out of the box. It looks good and is really comfortable to handle - clearly, it's an easy phone to like.
Maybe it would be a lot harder for many people to forgive the slow, outdated processor. To be clear, most people won't call the Desire C slow, unless they're holding a dual-core in the other hand. That's the thing, though - the other hand.

Review Samsung Galaxy Ace 2

2012-07-15T22:43:00.001-07:00

Introduction

With the Galaxy S III busy grabbing the headlines, a midrange smartphone has been making its way to a number of markets without much fanfare. But you can bet the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 won't settle for the role of just another sequel. It has a chance to prove the Galaxy S III is not the only superhot smartphone Samsung has released this season.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 official photo
And it's going to use it. Aiming to deliver 90% of the benefits of its extremely popular sibling for a fraction of the price, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 plays to the company's strengths and might turn out to be one of the unsung heroes of the year.
Dual-core might not be top-dog material in the Android realm any more, but it's enough to run virtually all apps and give you a nice smooth sailing around the interface. The entrance of ST-Ericsson in the smartphone race has enabled Android OEMs to make sub-€250 smartphones, with specs that would be considered high-end on any other platform. Now who would say no to a bargain like that?

Key features

Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
3.8" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit PLS TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels), Scratch-resistant glass
Android OS v2.3.7 Gingerbread, planned Android 4.0 ICS update
Dual-core 800 MHz Cortex-A9 CPU, 768MB RAM, Mali-400 GPU, NovaThor U8500 chipset
5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging, Multi Angle shot
720p video recording @ 30fps
VGA front-facing camera
Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS
NFC connectivity
4GB built-in storage expandable through the microSD card slot
microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Voice dialing
Adobe Flash 11 support
Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Main disadvantages

No Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box
All plastic construction
NovaThor U8500 is the least powerful of the dual-core offerings on the market
No screen and capacitive key haptics

The recent crop of inexpensive but reasonably powered droids also answers another criticism Android has been facing lately - that it fails to offer performance in a compact package. Sony was first to up the ante with the Xperia U and now Samsung is ready to rise to the challenge.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 at ours
The Koreans have stepped up the pricing of their smartphone a bit, but they are willing to throw in a larger screen and expandable storage, so it's going to be a pretty tough pick between those two. Let's waste no more time then and get down to testing - the answers should be coming as the review
unfolds

Standard retail package

There are no surprises in the Galaxy Ace 2's retail package. The phone comes with just a compact charger, a microUSB cable and an unusually designed headset with a single button remote.

Charger, USB cable and a headset: the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 retail package covers the basics

Design and controls

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 resembles a compact Galaxy S, which helps brand identity (the original Ace looked a lot like a certain very popular competitor). The phone remains relatively compact, despite the increase in screen size.
Above the display, there is the proximity sensor, but no ambient light sensor. The new addition here, compared to the original Ace, is a front-facing VGA camera.
Below the display there's an arrangement of three keys, in what's become the trademark Samsung layout. There's a hardware Home key in the middle, with two capacitive buttons on either side - Menu and Back. There's a dedicated setting for the duration of the capacitive key backlighting, and you can even have it always on. But there's no way to enable vibration on press - the entire screen has haptics disabled - just like on entry level handsets like the Galaxy Y and the Galaxy Fit.

The proximity sensor • The three Android keys rest below the display
On the left side of the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 you get, top to bottom, the lanyard eyelet, volume rocker and a microSD card slot, under a plastic flap. The card slot handles cards of up to 32GB, so you can have plenty of storage even when the built-in 4GB run out. You'd have to get your won card though, there isn't one in the box.
The Power/Lock key is on the right (again, typical Samsung), which makes it accessible with both the right-hand thumb or the left-hand index finger, depending on which hand you're holding the phone with. Some users would still rather have this button at the top though.

The volume rocker and microSD card slot on the left • Power/Lock combo key on the right
On the top side of the phone is the 3.5mm standard audio jack, as well as the small crevice for removing the back panel. The bottom of the phone features the USB port and the mic pinhole. The microUSB port is used for both data and charging.

The 3.5mm jack is on top • The microUSB port located on the bottom
The back of the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is almost completely flat with a very subtle diamond pattern. The plastic feels nice to the touch and takes almost no fingerprints, but hasn't got any sort of premium feel to it.
Around back, the 5MP camera lens is centrally placed near the top, along with the LED flash. Just like in the original Ace, the lens is exposed and vulnerable to scratches so you'll have to take care not to damage it.

The smudge-resistant back panel and 5MP camera
The back also features the loudspeaker grille, which has a small nub to make sure the sound doesn't get muffled when you place the phone down on a level surface.
Underneath the battery cover is the SIM card slot and the battery. The battery is a 1500mAh unit, which Samsung says should last for up to 7 h 30 min of telephony or 640 h of stand-by on a 3G network. If you stick to 2G you get up to 16 h 20 min of talk time or 670 h of stand-by.

The 1500mAh battery and SIM card slot
Our dedicated battery test found the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 to be a pretty long-lasting device, the smartphone getting an endurance rating of 43h. That's exactly as much as the Galaxy S III did and slightly better than the Galaxy S II.

Display

Speaking of the screen, it's a very good unit and a major improvement over what the Galaxy Ace had. It's a PLS LCD unit with a 3.8" diagonal. The resolution has been more than doubled and is now WVGA (480 x 800) at 246ppi pixel density.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 has a great screen for the class
The image looks sharp, with reasonably good viewing angles and pleasant colors. The brightness could've been better though and the screen is rather reflective, meaning sunlight legibility is less than stellar.
We put the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 through our usual display tests and we are now giving you its results.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
Display test	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160	0.24	225	921	0.59	500	843
HTC Desire C	0.23	186	814	0.5	360	723
HTC One X	0.15	200	1375	0.39	550	1410
Sony Xperia U	0.35	287	831	0.55	515	930
Samsung S7500 Galaxy Ace Plus	0.27	239	873	0.6	528	888
Samsung Galaxy Pocket	0.31	238	774	0.62	468	753

We zoomed into the display using our digital microscope so you can get a better idea of how the pixels are arranged, and how big they are. As you can see the pixels are slightly bigger than those of the Xperia U, which suggests slightly lower perceivable sharpness.

The Galaxy Ace 2 display pixels compared to those of the Xperia U

Handling and build quality

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 is solidly built and since it has no chin or hump, the phone slides into pockets easily. The Ace 2 is a bit on the wide side at 62.2mm but it's quite comfortable to hold.
We have no gripes with the handling and usability of the phone, the one complaint we do have is the phone's plain plasticky aesthetics.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 held in hand
This concludes the hardware part and we're ready to move on to software. With Android 2.3 and TouchWiz 4.0 we don't expect any surprises there. Value for money phones like the Ace 2 aren't supposed to surprise, as long as the functionality is up to standard.

Gingerbread with TouchWiz UX up front

The Galaxy Ace 2 is running Gingerbread 2.3.6 and Samsung's custom TouchWiz 4.0 launcher. It's not ICS (let alone Jelly Bean), but Samsung's customizations make using Gingerbread a smoother experience than the stock UI.
Here's a demo of the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 doing its thing on camera.
The lockscreen of the Ace 2 has the usual integration of missed events but doesn't go any further. It's the "drag your finger outside of the circle" type of lockscreen but no shortcuts like in the Galaxy S III. You do get music player controls though.

The standard Samsung lockscreen
The homescreen accommodates plenty of widgets with lots of functionality. You can have up to 7 homescreen panes. A pinch zoom brings you to an aggregate view of all homescreen panes, which can be rearranged, deleted or added.

Homescreen • Thumbed preview
In typical TouchWiz fashion, there are four shortcuts docked at the bottom of the screen that are visible both on the homescreen and in the app drawer. The first three are user configurable (Phone, Contacts, Messaging), the fourth one being locked. It's the app drawer/home shortcut so it makes sense to always keep it in the same place.
Adding widgets, shortcuts, folders or changing wallpapers is done by a context menu that pops up on demand at the bottom of the screen. The list of available widgets can be swipe-scrolled, enjoying a smooth animation throughout. You can also swipe each of the homescreen panes, which is a nice bonus of TouchWiz 4.0.

Adding elements to the homescreen
The app drawer is very similar to the homescreen - you can create folders and pages by dragging them to the appropriate icon at the bottom of the screen. You can also rearrange pages from the same aggregate view as the homescreen.
List view can be enabled in the app drawer instead of the regular grid view. There's also a preview of all your app drawer screens for quicker browsing.

The app drawer
The notification area has toggles that give you easy access from anywhere in the interface to the following functions: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, silent mode and screen auto-rotation.
With the Galaxy Ace 2 you get a standard Android task switcher with the traditional Samsung modification - it has a button to launch a task manager.
The custom task manager offers a lot of functionality. It also comes with a handy widget, which shows you the number of active applications right on your homescreen.

Notifications area • Task manager
Most of the time, Android does really well when it comes to managing apps by itself (in fact, some claim that using a task manager is detrimental to the performance of a phone), so you would only need the task manager to occasionally kill a buggy app.

Social phonebook

The phonebook has a wide range of features and practically unlimited storage capacity.
There are options to filter contacts that have phone numbers, show/hide some of the groups you've created (including groups from social networks) and change the sorting (by first or last name).

The Galaxy Ace 2 phonebook
The phonebook has the Quick contacts feature, which lets you tap the contact photo for a popup menu with shortcuts to call, text, or email. The TouchWiz-specific swiping gesture is here too - swipe a contact right to make a call and left to compose a message.

Quick contacts • Swiping is a neat gesture for calling and texting
There are many info fields that you can assign to each contact, but it still remains perfectly organized. You have all types listed (numbers, email addresses, etc) and there's a plus sign on the right to add another item of that type. Pressing the minus sign under it deletes the redundant field.

Editing a contact's details
Of course, the real flexibility of the phonebook becomes apparent when you sign into your Facebook or LinkedIn account. After syncing, the phonebook will automatically merge your contacts (you can do it manually too).
The contact info screen is tabbed. The first two tabs are pretty standard - one displays the person's contact information, while the other stores call and message history. The third and fourth tabs handle the social stuff - status updates and the contact's online galleries.

Viewing a contact's details
Weirdly, only Facebook and LinkedIn contacts can be synced with the phonebook - we usually see Twitter contacts in here too.

Smart dialing and video calling

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 had no issues with reception even in areas with poor coverage. Sound in the earpiece was crisp and fairly loud.
The dialer and call log have been integrated into the phonebook, each in its own tab. Smart Dial is enabled for both names and numbers.
Only one contact (with photo) is shown at a time in the Smart Dial suggestions. You can tap the down arrow to view the rest (a digit above the arrow indicates how many contacts have matched your query).

Smart dial is nice
The dialer also has a key for making a video call and another for sending a message instead.
Thanks to the proximity sensor, your screen will automatically turn off during a call. The available options during a call include taking a note, using the keypad, muting or holding the call, or adding another call to the conversation. There's turn-to-mute too, thanks to the accelerometer.
The Call log is the tab next to the dial pad. It displays all the dialed, received and missed calls in one list, while sorting your call history by contacts.

Call history
The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 scored Average in our traditional loudspeaker test. The vibration on the other hand is strong, which will alert you in case you don't hear the ringer in a loud environment. Here's how it stacks up against the competition.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overal score
Nokia Lumia 800	60.9	59.0	61.7	Below Average
Samsung Galaxy Nexus	66.2	60.5	69.0	Below Average
Apple iPhone 4S	65.8	64.5	74.6	Average
HTC Desire C	64.9	64.6	72.2	Average
Sony Xperia S	72.7	61.8	69.6	Average
HTC One S	65.1	64.6	76.7	Average
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2	66.8	66.2	75.7	Good
Motorola RAZR XT910	74.7	66.6	82.1	Very Good
HTC Desire	76.6	75.7	84.6	Excellent

Messaging and email

The messaging interface is quite straightforward: there are no folders here, just a new message button. Under that button is a list of all your messages organized into threads.
Swiping on a message header will do exactly the same as in the phonebook - a left swipe starts a new message, while swiping to the right will start a call.

The Galaxy Ace 2 messaging mode and swipe functions
There's application-specific search that lets you quickly locate a message among all your stored SMS and MMS.
When you add multimedia content to the message, it automatically turns into an MMS. You can either quickly add a photo or an audio file to go with the text, or compose an MMS using all the available features (like multiple slides, slide timing, layout, etc.). The multiple slides are all shown inside the compose box.

Adding any multimedia content automatically turns an SMS into an MMS
Moving on to email, the Gmail app supports batch operations, which allows multiple emails to be archived, labeled or deleted. Multiple Gmail accounts are also supported.

The Gmail interface must be familiar to everyone by now
There is also a generic email app for all your other email accounts and it can support multiple POP or IMAP inboxes. You have access to the original folders that are created online, side by side with the standard local ones such as inbox, drafts and sent items.
It offers a combined inbox option, which color-codes emails from different accounts for easier sorting and viewing. Conversation layout is also available - it groups related emails into single entries with a number in parenthesis showing the number of emails grouped. A tap on that entry expands it to show a list of the individual messages.

The standard email app is easy to set up
Google Talk handles Instant Messaging. The G-Talk network is compatible with a variety of popular clients like Pidgin, Kopete, iChat and Ovi Contacts. Video chat support is also onboard here.
As far as text entry goes, you have the standard Samsung keyboard at your disposal, with an XT9 option. Text input is quite comfortable for the range thanks to the bigger screen. Swype comes preinstalled too, you can switch to that in the Language and Keyboard submenu of the general Settings. It would've been more convenient to have that option in the dedicated settings of the keyboard itself.

Samsung Android keyboard

Gingerbread gallery and My Files

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 uses the standard Android gallery. It automatically locates the images and videos no matter where they are stored.

The standard Android gallery
Little about the Gallery should surprise you. It displays full resolution images and supports double tap and pinch zoom. Sharing images over Bluetooth, email and MMS is enabled, and so is uploading to Picasa or using DLNA to push the image to a compatible TV.

The Gallery offers only a few editing and sharing options
The My Files app is a simple to use but efficient file manager. It can move, copy, lock and rename files in bulk, even send multiple files via Bluetooth. My Files will only browse the memory card and the large internal storage (it can't access the system drive).

The My Files app
Music player has DNSe, 5.1ch virtualization The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 uses the standard TouchWiz music player. Samsung have enabled equalizer presets (including a custom one) along with the sound-enhancing DNSe technology and 5.1 channel virtualization.
By default, tracks are sorted into four categories - All, Playlists, Albums and Artists. From the settings, you can add or remove categories to set up the music player just the way you like it.

The music player is great • The DNSe settings • A now-playing interface in the taskbar
The album art has a central place in the Now Playing interface, but you can replace it with an equalizer. You can skip songs by sideways swipes. There's an onscreen scrubber, as well as a volume slider.
Another nice feature allows you to quickly look up a song on YouTube or via Google search by tapping on the track title. The handset will prompt you to select whether to look up the artist, the song title or the album and whether you want to do an Internet search, search your music library or YouTube.

The Now playing interface • Looking up a track
The Music player offers quick shortcuts to play the audio over Bluetooth or DLNA.
In this screen we also found a "Tag" button, which tries to identify the song and automatically fill in any missing ID3 tags (that's info about album, artist, etc.), but that came back with a negative result all too often. The "Lyrics" option in the settings didn't seem to do anything either.

FM radio with RDS

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is equipped with an FM radio with RDS. The interface is simple - there's a tuning dial and you can save as many as 8 stations as favorites. You can also play on the loudspeaker, but the headset still needs to be plugged in to serve as an antenna.

The FM radio app

Good video player hindered by iffy codec support

The player on the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 can handle the most common video files - MP4, AVI (DivX, XviD) and MKV. But we often ran into problems (even with some old, low-resolution files) and the player would either show a blank screen or fail to play sound.
The video player interface itself is fairly simple, but it covers the basics. You can adjust the brightness independently of the global setting and you can stream the audio over Bluetooth or use DLNA to play the video on another device.

The video player is good, but codec support lets it down
720p files usually played (including DivX, XviD and MKV files), but 1080p didn't work. That is just FYI, since there's no TV-Out and the screen has just WVGA resolution, meaning you'd better stick with SD videos, as it will save storage and you won't see much difference. DTS and AC3 audio aren't supported.
Subtitles in various languages are supported, but you can't load them manually - the video and subtitle files must have the same name. You can adjust the text size and subtitle sync.

Audio output is good

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 did pretty well in our audio quality test. The smartphone was nearly perfect with an active external amplifier and more than decent when a pair of headphones is plugged in.
An active external amplifier lets the Galaxy Ace 2 show its full potential and achieve some excellent scores. It's only averagely loud, but that's just the only bad thing we can say about it here.
The degradation when headphones come into play consists of a moderate hike in stereo crosstalk, and some extra intermodulation distortion. Overall it's a really solid performance.
And here come the full results so you can see for yourselves:

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160	+0.20, -0.27	-88.7	87.6	0.0086	0.018	-88.9
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 (headphones attached)	+0.37, -0.08	-88.6	87.6	0.044	0.221	-57.9
Samsung S7500 Galaxy Ace Plus	+0.14, -1.30	-88.2	88.1	0.010	0.065	-84.1
Samsung S7500 Galaxy Ace Plus (headphones attached)	+0.12, -1.12	-86.0	88.1	0.018	0.186	-43.1
Samsung S5830 Galaxy Ace	+0.11, -0.47	-84.9	86.8	0.025	0.084	-82.1
Samsung S5830 Galaxy Ace (headphones attached)	+0.82, -0.22	-84.5	86.7	0.083	0.628	-42.3
Sony Xperia U	+0.03, -0.04	-87.3	87.5	0.0091	0.020	-87.7
Sony Xperia U (headphones attached)	+0.45, -0.10	-86.4	86.6	0.393	0.352	-66.5

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160 frequency response

Very good 5MP camera

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 comes with a 5MP camera and a single LED flash. It captures photos at a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels. There's a front VGA camera for video calling too.
The camera interface is the same as on previous Gingerbread Galaxy devices with two shortcut bars on each side of the viewfinder. On the right you get the still camera / camcorder switch, a virtual shutter key and the gallery shortcut.
On the left there's the front-back camera toggle, the flash options and the Settings shortcut. You can add a total of four shortcuts above the Settings shortcut - any four you like in any order.

Camera interface
The Galaxy Ace 2 has rich camera functionality - touch focus, scenes, geotagging, panoramas, smile and blink detection, effects and manual settings for things like ISO, exposure compensation and so on.
The Galaxy Ace 2 produces good images overall but not quite the best in the 5 MP league. Our main issue with the results is that they came out with pretty low contrast and are a bit too soft. Still colors are nicely balanced and the detail is enough for the Ace 2 to be considered a good shooter in times of need.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 camera samples

Image quality comparison

The Galaxy Ace 2 joins our image quality comparison tool and will face off with the likes of the Xperia U and the LG Optimus L7. The tool's page will give you all the information you'd need on what to look for.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 in our Photo Compare Tool

720p video recording is uninspiring

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 can capture 720p videos at 30 fps with its main camera and VGA videos with the secondary camera. The camcorder uses the exact same interface as the still camera. You can use effects in the videos, but there's no touch focus.

The camcorder interface is identical to the still camera one
Videos are recorded into MP4 files with a bitrate of 12Mbps, which is pretty good for 720p resolution. The accompanying sound uses the AAC audio codec, but is mono only (64 Kbps bitrate, 44.1 kHz sampling rate).
The framerate hits the 30 fps target easily and videos are very smooth.
We weren't very pleased with the video performance of the Galaxy Ace 2 - despite being smooth the videos lack contrast and the resolved detail isn't nearly as good as on some other 720p-enabled camcorders.
Here's a video sample shot with the Galaxy Ace 2 that we uploaded to YouTube.
And here is an untouched 720p@30fps (0:16s, 24.7MB) video sample for direct download.

Video quality comparison

The Galaxy Ace 2 enters our video quality comparison tool to square off against the Xperia U and the Optimus L7, check out the results below.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 in our Video Compare Tool

Streamlined and feature-rich connectivity

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 has dual-band 3G and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support, with HSPA (14.4 Mbps downlink and 5.76 Mbps uplink).
Moving on, there's stereo Bluetooth 3.0 for fast local file transfers. Then there's Wi-Fi b/g/n support, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct and a Wi-Fi hotspot option.
The AllShare app allows you to stream content to and from various devices (TV or computer) over DLNA.
NFC will be available in select models. For charging and file transfers there's a MicroUSB port and a microSD card extension.

Connect to a PC wirelessly with Kies Air

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 comes with Kies Air preloaded. The app connects to the local Wi-Fi network (or it can create a Wi-Fi hotspot) and gives you a URL to type into your computer's web browser.
From there you can manage just about anything on the phone - from contacts, messages (including composing messages), to browsing images, videos and other files straight in your desktop browser. You can grant or reject access to computers and see who's connected to the phone at any moment.
The cool thing is you can stream music with handy playback controls. It works for videos too.

Kies Air in Google Chrome

Gingerbread browser is a little behind the ICS/JB curve

The interface of the Android web browser has hardly changed. Its user experience is, as always, flawless.

The Android browser
The browser supports both double tap and pinch zooming along with the new two-finger tilt zoom. There are niceties such as multiple tabs, text reflow, and find on page and so on. A neat trick is to pinch zoom out beyond the minimum - that opens up the tabs view.

Zoomed in view
Yet another neat trick is the browser-specific brightness setting. You can, for example, boost the brightness in the browser to comfortably view your web pages but keep the general brightness low to conserve battery.

Settings
There's Flash 11 support, which means you can watch YouTube videos right in the browser (videos up to 720p worked smoothly) and play Flash games too.

Flash support in action

Samsung Hubs - games, Facebook and more

The Social hub we've seen before - it combines your email accounts with social networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and email accounts and shows all incoming messages on one list with handy shortcuts to reply, mark as favorite and so on. There's filtering by message source too, to help manage the inflow of incoming updates.

The Social Hub
The Music Hub lets you browse music online (with search tools, charts, lists of new releases and so on). You can preview songs (30 seconds each) and buy tracks or whole albums.

The Music Hub helps you discover and buy new albums and songs
Finally, there's the Game Hub, which will quickly become your go-to place for finding new games. The titles break down into Social and Premium, and there's a news section, too. You also get to try before you buy. The nice thing about that Hub is it includes the titles by Gameloft, which are otherwise not available on the Android Market.

Impressive office suite

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 comes with Polaris Office preinstalled. It's one of the most feature-rich mobile editors we've seen. You can view, edit and create Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents (Office 2003 and Office 2007 are supported) and there's a PDF viewer as well. The app enables searching through your office files just like in a file explorer.
There are a large number of editing options - from font size and style, justification and bulleting options, to table styles. You can easily pick Excel functions from a list too (a feature commonly missing in mobile editors).

Polaris Office

A plethora of organizational tools

The calendar has four different types of view: list, daily, weekly and monthly. Adding a new event is quick and easy, and you can also set an alarm to act as a reminder.

The calendar
The list view (often referred to as Agenda view) shows a list of all the calendar entries from the recent past to the near future. It's a very handy tool when you need to check your appointments for the next few days.
There is also a calculator aboard. It is nicely touch optimized - the buttons are big enough and easy to hit. Turning the phone landscape reveals more advanced calculator functions.

Calculator • Advanced view
The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 features a decent alarm clock application with a huge number of alarms to be set, each with its own start time and repeat pattern.

The Clock app and the alarm options
The Memo and Mini Diary are self-explanatory. The first app works with text only, while the Diary lets you also attach pictures.
You also get a To-Do app called Task and a Voice recorder to round off the organizer functionality.

The Memo and Mini Diary • Task handles your To-Do list • The Voice recorder

The latest Google Maps

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 managed to get a GPS lock in just under a minute without A-GPS. A-GPS can speed up the lock (but it involves data traffic). Cell-ID and Wi-Fi positioning are also available if all you need is a rough location, but they need a data connection too.
Google Maps is a standard part of the Android package and we've covered it many times before. It offers voice-guided navigation in certain countries and falls back to a list of instructions elsewhere. You can plan routes, search for nearby POI and go into the always cool Street View.

Google Maps
The latest version uses vector maps, which are very data efficient and easy to cache. The app will reroute you if you get off course, even without a data connection.
3D buildings are shown for some of the bigger cities and you can use two-finger camera tilt and rotate to get a better view of the area.

The improved Android Market

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 has the latest version of the Android Market. Upon launch of the Market app you're greeted with the tiled interface of the Featured window. A swipe to the right takes you to the Categories view.
Swiping to the left takes you through Top Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing, Top New Paid, Top New Free and Trending (the ones with growing popularity). New sections are available such as Staff Picks, Editor's Choice and more.

Android Market
Downloads are easy and won't take more than a couple of seconds. Before you agree to download an app, the Market will show you what features the app requires access to (e.g. Internet connectivity, access to the file system, etc.).

Final words

At the end of the review, we think we are ready to answer the two most important questions about the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160. The first one's "Is it worth the asking price?" and it couldn't have been a more resolute "yes".
Indeed, the new Samsung mid-ranger offers so much for its modest price tag that it's hard to resist. A capable processor, a pretty decent screen, good build quality and above average media are things you wouldn't normally expect to find in a single device at this price point.
As we said, the ST-Ericsson chipsets are exactly the news that those after solid smartphone experience on a tight budget wanted to hear. One might argue that if you spend little on your phone you can't be a power user, but the extra core and the relatively new architecture make a huge difference no matter what you use your smartphone for.
This leads us to the second question and the fact we're about to ask it says much about how well Samsung have done with the Ace 2. It would hardly surprise you to hear that the Galaxy Ace 2 is excellent value for money but could it be the best bang for your buck?
At first glance the Sony Xperia U is the logical choice, for its slightly faster CPU and cooler curved design. The compact Sony smartphone will give you more power and character for less.
But before you think that the deal is sealed, you should know that there is a catch. The Xperia U has 6GB of user-accessible storage and there's no way of expanding that. This means that if you like to have your music and videos always at hand you might run into trouble.
The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 on the other hand offers you a microSD card slot for all the storage you need and a larger screen, which is quite important for gaming and watching videos.
Overall, if the limited storage is of no consequence we'd go for the Xperia U (which should also get ICS next month). But anyone choosing with the head, not the heart, will probably look at the Galaxy Ace 2.

Sony Xperia U
We shouldn't also forget the Xperia sola, which is Sony's direct competitor of the Galaxy Ace 2. It addresses the limited storage and the smaller screen issues, but doesn't look quite as good as the Xperia U and its highly promoted floating touch feature turned out to be pretty useless in real life. Still the sola costs the same as the Ace 2 and should give it a pretty good run for its money.

Sony Xperia sola
Of course there are other options in this price range, but it's hard to see anyone stealing too many customers from those three. The HTC One V, for example, costs just a few bucks more than the Ace 2 and offers superior looks plus Android ICS right out of the box, but it's let down by its chipset. It might seem like a solid option now, but in the long run the Samsung smartphone has it easily beat.

HTC One V
Then there's the LG Optimus L7, which would offer you a much larger 4.3" screen (of the same resolution though) and the ICS experience out of the box, but again fails to come anywhere near the Galaxy Ace 2's performance levels.

LG Optimus L7 P700
If you are willing to look beyond Android for your next smartphone, Samsung can treat you to some Super AMOLED WP goodness with the Omnia W. It was already confirmed that it won't get WP8, but smooth performance and a cooler-looking and consistent (if not nearly as functional) UI on a superior screen has its charm.

Samsung Omnia W I8350
Overall, Samsung have a winner in the Galaxy Ace 2. This is a very meaningful upgrade over the original and ticks all the right boxes to get in the running for midranger of the year. Now it's up to Samsung to release the ICS update (and if we dare dream, Jelly Bean after that). Anyway, the moment it gets the Ice Cream Sandwich, there will be just the Xperia duo between it and its goal.

W205

2010-07-31T22:04:00.000-07:00

General 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800
GSM 850 / 1900 -W205a
Announced 2009, March
Status Available. Released 2009, July
Size Dimensions 92 x 47 x 16.4 mm
Weight 96 g
Display Type TFT, 65K colors
Size 128 x 160 pixels, 1.8 inches
Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones, composer
Speakerphone Yes
Memory Phonebook 1000 contacts, Photo call
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Internal 5 MB
Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), up to 2GB
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE No
3G No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Camera Primary 1.3 MP, 1280 x 1024 pixels
Video Yes
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS, MMS
Browser WAP 2.0/HTML (Opera Mini)
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Ambient Black, Sakura Pink, Windy Blue
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Walkman media player
- TrackID music recognition
- T9
- Organizer
- Voice memo
Battery Standard battery
Stand-by Up to 425 h
Talk time Up to 9h
Music play Up to 13 h 30 min
Misc SAR EU 0.87 W/kg (head

S312

2010-07-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

General 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800
Announced 2009, April
Status Available. Released 2009, June
Size Dimensions 100 x 46 x 12.5 mm
Weight 80.1 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 176 x 220 pixels, 2.0 inches
- Scratch-resistant surface
- Wallpapers, screensavers
Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones, composer
Speakerphone Yes
Memory Phonebook 1000 entries, Photo call
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Internal 15 MB
Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), up to 4GB
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes
Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, LED flash
Video Yes
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS, MMS, Email
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Radio FM radio with RDS
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Dawn Blue, Honey Silver
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- MP3/MP4 player
- TrackID music recognition
- Organizer
- Voice memo
- Built-in handsfree
- T9
Battery Standard battery, Li-Po 930 mAh (BST-38)
Stand-by Up to 400 h
Talk time Up to 8 h
Misc SAR EU 0.73 W/kg (head

Aino

2010-07-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 Aino (a) for Americas
Announced 2009, May
Status Available. Released 2009, October
Size Dimensions 104 x 50 x 15.5 mm
Weight 134 g
Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 240 x 432 pixels, 3.0 inches
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Limited touchscreen functionality
Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones
Speakerphone Yes, with stereo speakers
Memory Phonebook 1000 x 20 fields, Photo call
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Internal 55 MB
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 8GB included, buy memory
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Camera Primary 8.1 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features Touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, video stabilizer, videocalling
Video VGA@30fps
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email
Browser WAP 2.0/HTML (NetFront 3.5), RSS reader
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes, incl. motion-based + downloadable
Colors Obsidian Black, Luminous White
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support; Wayfinder Navigator
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Remote play for Playstation 3
- MP3/AAC/MP4 player
- Google Maps
- Picture editor/blogging
- YouTube & Facebook applications
- Organizer
- Voice memo
- SensMe
- T9
Battery Standard battery, Li-Po 1000 mAh
Stand-by Up to 380 h (2G) / Up to 367 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 4 h 30 min (3G)
Music play Up to 31 h
Misc SAR US 1.00 W/kg (head) 0.95 W/kg (body)
SAR EU 0.74 W/kg (head)

J105 Natalie

2010-07-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

Also known as Sony Ericsson Naite GreenHeart
General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 2100
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - Naite (a) for Americas
Announced 2009, May
Status Available. Released 2009, October
Size Dimensions 108 x 47 x 12.6 mm
Weight 84 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
- Wallpapers, screensavers
Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones, composer
Speakerphone Yes
Memory Phonebook 1000 contacts, Photo call
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Internal 100 MB
Card slot microSD, up to 8GB, 2GB included
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
Video Yes, QVGA@15fps
Secondary Yes
Features Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, RSS
Browser WAP 2.0/ HTML (NetFront)
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Vapour Silver, Ginger Red
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- MP3/eAAC+/WMA player
- MP4/WMV/H.263 player
- TrackID
- Organizer
- Voice memo
- T9
- E-manual
- Eco friendly materials
- Ecomate, CO2 Calculator
Battery Standard battery, Li-Po 950 mAh (BST-33)
Stand-by Up to 600 h (2G) / Up to 583 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 13 h 45 min (2G) / Up to 4 h 30 min (3G)
Music play Up to 33 h 45 min
Misc SAR EU 1.22 W/kg (head)

C901

2010-07-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
Announced 2009, May
Status Available. Released 2009, July
Size Dimensions 105 x 45 x 13 mm
Weight 107 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
- Accelerometer sensor
Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones
Speakerphone Yes
Memory Phonebook 1000 x 20 fields, Photo call
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Internal 120 MB
Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), up to 8GB
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Camera Primary 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, xenon flash, LED flash
Features Geo-tagging (cell-ID), face, smile detection, smart contrast, red-eye reduction
Video Yes; video light
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/HTML (NetFront), RSS reader
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes, incl. motion-based + downloadable
Colors Ocean White
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Google maps
- MP3/eAAC+/WMA player
- MP4/WMV/H.263 player
- TrackID
- Picture editor/blogging
- YouTube application
- Organizer
- Voice memo/dial
- T9
- E-manual
- Eco friendly materials
- Walkmate, CO2 Calculator
Battery Standard battery, Li-Po 950 mAh (BST-33)
Stand-by Up to 430 h
Talk time Up to 9 h 30 min
Misc SAR EU 1.57 W/kg (head)

Jalou D&G

2010-07-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

Limited edition Jalou by Dolce&Gabbana with 24 carat gold plating
General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 2100
Announced 2009, August
Status Available. Released 2009, November
Size Dimensions 73 x 45 x 18.2 mm
Weight 84 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.0 inches
- Secondary external monochrome display, 128 x 36 pixels, 1.3"
- Accelerometer for auto-rotate
Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones, composer
Speakerphone Yes
Memory Phonebook Yes, Photocall
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Internal 100 MB
Card slot microSD, buy memory
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Camera Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
Features Geo-tagging, videocalling
Video Yes, QVGA@15fps, video light
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/HTML
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games 1 + downloadable
Colors Sparkling Rose
GPS Yes, A-GPS (US version only)
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- MP3 player
- MP4/WMV/H.263 player
- TrackID
- Organizer
- Voice memo
- T9
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion
Stand-by Up to 350 h (2G) / Up to 250 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 7 h (2G) / Up to 4 h 30 min (3G)
Misc SAR EU 1.14 W/kg (head)

Xperia X10

2010-07-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

Previously rumored as XPERIA X3 and Sony Ericsson Rachael
General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 1700 / 2100
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 / 800 - X10a for Americas
Announced 2009, November
Status Available. Released 2010, March
Size Dimensions 119 x 63 x 13 mm
Weight 135 g
Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 65K colors
Size 480 x 854 pixels, 4.0 inches
- Scratch-resistant surface
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
- Timescape/Mediascape UI
Sound Alert types Vibration, MP3 ringtones, composer
Speakerphone Yes
- 3.5 mm audio jack
Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records Practically unlimited
Internal 1 GB storage, 384 MB RAM
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 8GB card included, buy memory
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, DLNA
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB
Camera Primary 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features Touch focus, image stabilization, geo-tagging, face and smile detection
Video Yes, WVGA@30fps
Secondary No
Features OS Android OS 1.6
CPU Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor
Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push email, IM
Browser HTML
Radio No
Games Yes
Colors Sensous Black, Luster White
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Yes, via third-party application
- Digital compass
- MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player
- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV player
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk
- Facebook and Twitter integration
- Document viewer
- Voice memo
Battery Standard battery, Li-Po 1500 mAh (BST-41)
Stand-by Up to 415 h (2G) / Up to 425 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 10 h (2G) / Up to 8 h (3G)
Misc SAR US 0.87 W/kg (head) 0.81 W/kg (body)
SAR EU 1.25 W/kg (head)

Spiro

2010-07-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

General 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800
GSM 850 / 1900
Announced 2010, April
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2010, Q3
Size Dimensions 92 x 48 x 16.8 mm
Weight 90 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone Yes
- 3.5 mm audio jack
Memory Phonebook 2000 entries, Photocall
Call records Yes
Internal 5 MB
Card slot microSD, up to 16GB
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
Video Yes
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (Obigo Q7)
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Contrast Black, Sunset Pink, Spring Green, Stealth Black
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Walkman 4.0 player
- MP3/eAAC+/WAV player
- Track ID
- MP4/H.263/H.264 player
- Facebook, Twitter applications
- Organizer
- Flashlight
- T9
Battery Standard battery

Zylo

2010-07-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
HSDPA 2100
Announced 2010, April
Status Available. Released 2010, July
Size Dimensions 103 x 52 x 11.5 mm
Weight 115 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.6 inches
- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
- Scratch-resistant surface
Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone Yes
Memory Phonebook 2000 entries, Photocall
Call records Yes
Internal 260 MB
Card slot microSD, up to 16GB, buy memory
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, USB v2.0
Camera Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
Features Geo-tagging, videocalling
Video Yes, VGA@24fps
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (NetFront), RSS reader
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes, incl. motion-based + downloadable
Colors Jazz Black, Chacha Silver, Swing Pink
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Walkman 4.0 player
- FLAC/MP3/eAAC+/WAV player
- SensMe, Track ID
- MP4/H.263/H.264 player
- Google Maps
- Picture editor/blogging
- YouTube, Facebook, Twitter applications
- Organizer
- T9
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion
Stand-by Up to 340 h (2G) / Up to 400 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 4 h (2G) / Up to 3 h 30 min (3G)
Misc SAR EU 0.88 W/kg (head)

Xperia Pureness

2010-07-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

eneral 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 2100
Announced 2009, November
Status Available. Released 2009, November
Size Dimensions 112 x 43 x 13 mm
Weight 70 g
Display Type Transparent, monochrome
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 1.8 inches
- Scratch-resistant surface
Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone Yes
Memory Phonebook Yes, Photocall
Call records 30 dialed, 30 received, 30 missed calls
Internal 2 GB storage
Card slot No
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA; HSUPA
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes
Camera No
Features Messaging SMS, MMS, Email
Browser WAP 2.0 / xHTML (NetFront)
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes
Colors Black
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.1
- Concierge service
- TrackID
- MP3 player
- Voice memo
- T9
Battery Standard battery, Li-Po
Stand-by Up to 350 h (2G) / Up to 350 h (3G)
Talk time Up 8 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 3 h 30 min (3G)
Misc SAR US 1.37 W/kg (head) 0.76 W/kg (body)
SAR EU 1.60 W/kg (head)