ReGiz: Tech News and Product Reviews

Samsung Galaxy S3 specs leaked, look impressive

2012-03-03T19:56:00.000-06:00

What do a 1.5 ghz quad core exynos processor, a 1080p screen, and a ceramic back have in common? Well, their new home will reportedly be the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3, the successor to what many heralded as 2011's best phone, the Galaxy S2.

Motorola Atrix 3 leaked

2012-02-26T11:33:00.002-06:00

Remember how the Motorola Atrix 2 was rumored to have a 720p display, LTE, and a quad core processor? Well it looks like we'll be seeing these specs on an Atrix, just one iteration too late. These leaked photos are of none other than the Motorola Atrix 3, with specs such as a 3300 milli amp hour battery, a quad core plus one Tegra 3 processor, 720p display, Ice Cream Sandwich, and last but certainly not least, LTE.

Why isn't Samsung using the Exynos for more phones

2012-02-19T21:46:00.000-06:00

The release of the Galaxy S2 was special; not only was it the thinnest phone on the market by a large margin, it also featured the powerful Exynos processor, still one of the most powerful processors available in a smartphone today. But the release of the S2 in the United States brought a troubling trend, for while two of the four releases contained the Exynos, the other two featured the higher clocked but less powerful Snapdragon processor. And unfortunately, this trend has manifested itself again, for arguable the fastest phone in existence, the Galaxy Note, has been crippled again in the United States with the addition of yet another Snapdragon processor.

The reasons for this are unclear; it may be that more consumers in the U.S. look directly at the clock speed rather than the actual capabilities or real world performance of a phone than perhaps in Europe.

Whatever the reason for this troubling trend, we implore Samsung to avoid the Snapdragon in the future and stick with its home grown Exynos.

When is large too large

2012-02-14T21:01:00.001-06:00

The iPhone's screen comes in at 3.5 inches.

The Motorola Atrix's at 4.

The Galaxy S2's at 4.27.

This is my list of recent phones. An upward trend in screen size is a visible, if not mostly enjoyable fad. But when is enough truly enough? Scores of people gawked at the unbelievable large size of the Galaxy nexus, at 4.65 inches. But that does not even compare to the Galaxy Note, whose monstrous 5.3 inch touchscreen has even those with large hands asking the same questions.

When is a large phone too large?

Chrome for Android finally released

2012-02-07T21:58:00.001-06:00

After years of breathless waiting, Google finally announced and released the beta version of Chrome for Android. Unfortunately, it is only available for android 4.0 at the time of this writing, so the number of phones or tablets is pretty limited at this point.

Pirate Bay's founders convicted, get a year in IKEA

2012-02-01T19:27:00.000-06:00

It's not quite IKEA, but it's pretty darned close. It's Swedish prison, which features soft lighting, hanging lamps, wood paneling. The doors are locked by prisoners, not the guards. There are no fences to prevent escapes. It seems to me that the Pirate Bay's founders are actually being rewarded for their crimes.

My new life plan is to move to Sweden, commit some sort of fraud, and spend the rest of my days in a 4 star hotel.

Another reason why you shouldn't buy the iPhone 4S

2012-01-29T18:27:00.000-06:00

When speaking to someone over why they bought their iPhone 4S, invariably Siri comes up. And most of the time, people who have android fans have to concede that point to the iPhone. After all, most of the "replacement Siris" are buggy and lack the wealth of features that Siri has. Previously on the site, we mentioned iris, an alternative to Siri. At the time, iris was buggy as well. But over the past few months, I am happy to report that Siri has met her equal, and with the rapid development of iris, may well pull ahead.

AT&T Galaxy S2 ROM comparison

2012-01-23T20:17:00.003-06:00

Over the last few months I have tried out four different ROMs for my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S2. In this article I will rank them by which ones I thought were the best overall.

1. SHOstock ROM

In first place is SHOstock ROM, and it is just a phenomenal ROM overall. It comes with an overclocking kernel, a separate, modifiable TouchWiz launcher (providing support for multiple themes), battery life improvements, a reworked notification bar, and ICS transitions.

Grade: A

2. Unnamed ROM

Unnamed ROM is about as close as you can come to stock TouchWiz 4.5 and still call yourself a ROM. Notable changes include better performance, automatic overclocking to 1.6 ghz, a modded notification bar, and the ICS boot animation. Unfortunately, battery life issues hampered this ROM's overall appeal.

Grade: B+

3. CyanogenMOD 7.1 (Latest stable build)

CyanogenMOD is on the opposite side of the spectrum. It's array of improvements is too long to list in this article, but since CyanogenMOD does not provide its own launcher, and instead relies on ADW launcher, which has more than a few bugs on the GSII, my experience was unfulfilling.

Grade: B

4. MIUI

MIUI is a beautiful ROM. I will give it that. But it is hampered by a myriad of bugs, including the home and search buttons not working.

Grade: C-

Marco Rubio backs down on his support for PIPA

2012-01-18T19:03:00.000-06:00

Marco Rubio, freshman senator from Florida, recently withdrew his support for the controversial Protect IP Act, a bill that he helped to pen in response from growing criticism from the general public. He had this to say on the subject

I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor. Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.

Keep it up people. Tell congress, don't censor the internet

Want Android 4.0 on your AT&T Galaxy S2? Here's how to get it

2012-01-14T21:43:00.000-06:00

OK that was a slightly misleading title. What I'm about to show you will give you ICS, but it will look nothing like ICS. It will still be, however, running Android 4.0. You will be installing the GalnetMIUI ICS build, which will give you all the features of MIUI and the satisfaction of owning an ICS phone.

Make sure you followed our previous guides on rooting your Galaxy S2. We are not responsible for your tomfoolery.

Download the ROM here

Copy that file to your device in a place that you will be able to find it. Disconnect your phone from your computer. I almost forgot, backup your device NOW, before it is too late.

Boot into recovery mode by holding the power button as well as both volume buttons, and when clockworkmod boots up, wipe all user data as well as the cache. Select install file from zip, then select the file you placed on your phone. Go to reboot, and select.

Once the device boots up, you will notice internet is not working. Go into settings, system, mobile network, access point names, and you will see a small dot. Touch it. Internet will now work.

A disappointing CES

2012-01-12T20:48:00.000-06:00

Last week I wrote an article describing my predicament in whether I would purchase a Galaxy Nexus, for which I had found an exemplary deal on. I said that because CES was just around the corner, I would be making a mistake If I bought a dual core phone as quad core varients were announced.

I guess I was wrong (there always is Mobile world congress). No quad core ICS phones were announced, and the lone phone with these features was a demo by NVIDIA featuring their Tegra 3.

Last year's CES left me exhilarated, and this one just... meh.

Why I am not buying the Galaxy Nexus (even though I want to)

2012-01-03T20:40:00.001-06:00

No, it is not because I "saw the light", and converted my religion to Apple Fanaticism. No, it is not because of what it can or can't do as a device. And no, I have not sold my soul to the devil and bought a Windows Phone.

It is because Google, whether it likes to admit this or not, has released a phone with dated hardware. I promised to myself 3 months ago that the next phone that I bought would be both quad core and LTE. But then, Google unveiled the Galaxy Nexus in Hong Kong. I told myself to look past the gleam and glitz of Ice Cream Sandwich and see the hardware on the newest Nexus for what it is: dated. I wasn't able to do so, and for the last few months have been pooling together enough resources to buy it. I even found a really good deal on it. Exemplary, in fact: $400.

Today, just as I was about to order my new Nexus, I looked at Engadget, to see what was going on in the industry. Well, what is about to happen. See, a week from now, the Consumer Electronics Show will bring together all sorts electronics manufacturers. And lo and behold, to be announced at CES: quad core Ice Cream Sandwich phones.

So, I unbookmarked my link to the Galaxy Nexus, and started prepping myself for next week.

Your Guide on who to trust in the Debate over SOPA and its companion Bill

2011-12-31T16:15:00.001-06:00

If you own a computer, and don't work for one of the big names in "old media", then you are probably against SOPA (stop online piracy act). SOPA will severely limit freedom of speech on the internet, giving the government the ability to block foreign web pages and take down without warning domestic ones. This bill, if passed, would put the United States on par with China and the like in limiting free speech, a right guaranteed to us by the first amendment. Here are the companies on our side:

Disqus
AOL
eBay
Facebook
foursquare
Google
GrooveShark
Kickstarter
Mozilla
PayPal
Wikipedia
Reddit
Square
The Huffington Post (I'm sort of surprised by this one)
Craigslist
LinkedIn
OpenDNS
Tumblr
Twitter
Yahoo
Zynga
EA
Sony
Nintendo
Go Daddy

Keep in mind that the last four companies originally supported SOPA before pulling a Mitt Romney and flip flopping after open revolt from consumers.

We arent providing a list of the companies that are supporters of the bill for the fact that they are easily definable: all of the "old media" companies. Think NBC and recording companies.

AT&T Galaxy S2 gets an update, fixes a few bugs

2011-12-22T22:22:00.002-06:00

If you are packing an AT&T Galaxy S2 ( not the Skyrocket), then you are in luck. Samsung just began pushing a routine software update to said phone, promising improved performance and less lag when the home button is pressed (no ice cream sandwich quite yet). Look forward to it being pushed to your phone in the coming weeks, or, if you are impatient, you can go to the software update tab in settings and download it yourself.

Motorola Lapdock for Motorola Atrix Review

2011-12-18T20:43:00.000-06:00

The Motorola LapDock for Motorola Atrix was one of the most innovative technologies announced at CES this year. It represented the ultimate ability, to have both your phone and your computer to be one and the same. (Read our reviews for the Motorola Atrix 4g here and here.) At this point I can add my impressions of WebTop and the LapDock. In general they were quite positive.

Hardware

Upon looking at the exterior of the device you realize there is very little there. All you have is the Motorola logo, the charge port, two usb ports and speaker grilles. Upon opening the device you are greeted by an 11.6" screen, an amply sized trackpad, and a decent keyboard. With my abnormally large hands I can find it difficult to type on the keyboard, but all in all the experience isn't horrible. Well typing I have found I tend to activate the trackpad, but because the trackpad can be locked this is a fairly minor issue. The trackpad is plenty large and you can double tap the upper left hand corner to lock it. The screen is fairly well sized and with decent viewing angles, decent colors and good contrast. The hardware is impressively good. The battery life seems to be accurate to what Motorola has claimed, which is in the range of 8 hours. Motorola is quite well known for their hardware.

Build Quality

The build quality is quite impressive. It's all manufactured out of some kind of metal, probably aluminum and has a very solid feel. The device has a comfortable density and heft, but without being heavy. This seems like a device that could take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.

Keyboard

The keyboard is always a problem in a device like this. You are naturally constrained by the size of the device so the keyboard is where you need to compromise. Motorola went with a chiclet style keyboard, which many prefer in a device such as this. I personally prefer the keys to be as large as possible, on account of my freakish hands. Overall the typing experience is not bad with the keys having a good feel and nice click. No where near as mushy as some devices.

Software

The WebTop software is is truly revolutionary. It changes the phone-computer paradigm in a radical way. It changes your mobile device into your computing device, leaving your life with a new degree of interconnectivity. When you dock your phone, you are greeted with an emulated view of your phone with full functionality. You can use this phone as you would any other. There are no constraints and only very little lag well you interact with it. It's interesting playing Angry Birds on a screen this large, without touch. But you must remember, there are no multi-touch gestures, no pinch-to-zoom etc... This makes certain apps more difficult to use. But still not impossible.

The Firefox web browser is just what you expect from a browser. But when you have several tabs open you can see a little bit of lag. When you are using Google Docs and really hammering away at the keys you can see a delay in the typing. You are running this on a dual core 1 ghz machine with 1 gb of ram. While these are great specs for a phone, they are weak for a computer and that can show through in the web browsing experience. But being able to use a full web browser with add-ons is quite impressive, and an interesting experience.

There is support for both external keyboards and mice and both work quite well with all of the device. You can also network with printers, but be forewarned you can only print on printers with PostScript. The device also accepts USB storage devices and can copy and move data from them to your device.

Closing Remarks

I used the device to type this entire review, albeit with an external keyboard. This proves to me the device has a real use and can be used for content creation. The potential for this device is incredible and I see it advancing a lot into the future. The concepts behind the device are very forward thinking and resonate with concepts of convergence and therefore are quite enticing. The device has a few weaker areas, but I in no way regret my purchase and will continue to use and appreciate it. This is the future of computing.

If you liked this article please share it.

Any questions, comments, etc... please share

--Bennett contact me at bnetter12@gmail.com

Why the Galaxy Nexus is better than the iPhone 4s

2011-12-17T23:40:00.002-06:00

When you argue with a iPhone fanboy on why their iPhone 4S or even iPhone 4 is better than any Android phone out there, one of the inevitable topics that you will cover is the OS, specifically how Android looks as if five different teams came up with the same amount of different ideas, and proceeded to then cobble them together into one OS.

And then came the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich.

I went to the Verizon store today to check out the Nexus, you know, because I could. I was blown away. Gone was the cobbled together look of versions past. Everything was seamless, with all of the Google apps updated, continuing the themes of the rest of the OS. Graphics acceleration made scrolling through homescreens as smooth as butter, and if we're speaking of smooth as butter, we'd have to mention the browser. Not only is the new Nexus an impressive piece of hardware, the software is on par with any other mobile operating system I've seen yet.

Ice Cream Sandwich refutes that age old argument and presents some pretty compelling new ones in the process.

One caveat: don't buy this phone if you are looking to replace your point and shoot.

GSM version of the Nexus Prime spotted as it passes through the FCC

2011-12-14T22:31:00.000-06:00

I've been sort of sad for the past couple of months" knowing that Google's next Nexus phone would be Verizon exclusive. Well, I am sad no longer, as the Samsung I9250 (believed to be the Nexus Prime) recently passed through the FCC sporting both T-Mobile and AT&T bands.
Unfortunately there is no mention of any LTE bands, so it appears that feature at least is Verizon exclusive.

Christmas Smartphone Guide

2011-12-10T20:50:00.001-06:00

It is now getting closer and closer to that time of year when you will make the difficult choice of exactly which phone to buy for that significant other. Well look no further.

AT&T:

Fat wallet: Galaxy SII Skyrocket

With a 1.5 ghz dual core snapdragon, an AMOLED screen, and LTE, the Skyrocket is one of the best phones out period. True, LTE is available only in limited markets, but man is it blazing fast. We would have recommended the Nitro HD, but many users have complained thus far of poor battery life and a laggy UI.

Skinny wallet: Atrix 4G

The United States' first dual core phone with a 1 Ghz Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC offers up a superior GPU and selection of optimized games. Sure, its specs are middle of the road, but for only a penny on contract you can't go wrong.

Verizon:

Fat Wallet: HTC Rezound, Motorola Droid Razr, Galaxy Nexus (If you can wait)

Any of these phones will deliver a suitably fast and smooth experience. Pros of each? Pure Google OS on the Nexus, Beats Audio on the Rezound, and an incredibly svelte profile on the Razr.

Skinny Wallet: Xperia Play

With vanilla Gingerbread and a dedicated gamepad, the Xperia play is a great choice as its free on contract at Verizon. Pus, Sony says it will receive Ice Cream Sandwich early next year, which is far more than most phones can say.

T-Mobile:

Fat Wallet: HTC Amaze

With a beautiful unibody aluminum and soft touch plastic design and a blazing fast processor, the Amaze is no doubt the best phone on T-Mobile.

Skinny Wallet: G2x

Dual core processor, check. 8 megapixel camera, check. Just because this is cheaper than its counterparts doesn't mean it's any worse a phone. However, it comes with a caveat. This one is going to run you $99 on contract. We would have put another phone in its place that costs less, however, the free options on T-Mobile kinda suck.

Sprint:

Fat Wallet: Galaxy S2 Epic 4G

Same story as the AT&T version of the phone: Fast processor, great speed, and 4G. You can't go wrong

Skinny Wallet: Nexus S 4G

While its specs might come across as a bit dated, make no mistake: The Nexus S is still a great phone, and besides, it'll soon receive the update to Android 4.0, which'll be more than your buddy toting around that G2x will be able to say.

Android Phone Name Generator: fun for about a minute

2011-12-06T22:24:00.001-06:00

What does every android fanboy need to know? Why of course! They need to know every single possible Android phone combination. And to help you on your way to success in the uber fanbod department is the Android phone name generator. It's powered by a pretty simple algorithm that just chooses four or five different parts of different android phone names manufacturers and subtitles (like 2 or 4G) to create a nonexistent android phone: for example, I received the name "Acer defy XT 4G Slide 2"

Go have some fun with it.

How to flash back to stock after you mis-followed my directions (Galaxy S2 AT&T)

2011-12-04T22:16:00.001-06:00

So you soft-bricked your Galaxy S2. Congratulations.

Now back to work.

This guide assumes you at least partially followed the previous two guides, meaning you have the custom recovery and you also are rooted (duh).

Most likely it was no fault of your own and your phone was just acting goofy and quit on you.
So anyway!
Download this file. http://downloadandroidrom.com/file/GalaxyS2ATT/unroot/ATTGalaxyS2Unroot.zip

Make sure that you have Odin installed on your computer. A download link can be found on our guide to rooting your galaxy s2.

Connect your phone to the computer. Boot into download mode by holding both volume buttons and the power button.

Open Odin.
Check the boxes entitled PDA and auto re-boot. Nothing else. After that select the .tar file you downloaded from the link.

Press start.

If that didn't work, leave a comment below and I'll try to help you as best as possible.

How to install Cyanogenmod 7.1 on the Galaxy S2 i777

2011-12-01T19:34:00.001-06:00

This guide assumes that you have followed the previous one on how to root your Galaxy S2 (AT&T).

This guide also assumes that you are not technologically inept. We are not responsible for your personal shortcomings as you install Cyanogenmod 7.1.

You will first need to download Cyanogenmod 7.1 from the cyanogenmod website (cyanogenmod.com). Download it for the Galaxy S2 i777, not for the international version. This may cause a soft brick.

Next, transfer that file from the computer to your phone. Store it in a folder on your phone that you will remember.

Boot into recovery mode by holding both volume buttons and the power button. If you followed the previous guide, clockworkmod recovery will pop up.

Wipe the cache and the user data. Then go to install zip from SD card and select the zip file that you placed on your phone.

Reboot phone.

As the Cyanogenmod boot animation flashes, it may become stuck in a bootloop. Simply boot back into recovery mode and reboot.

How to root your AT&T Galaxy S2 easily.

2011-11-27T19:16:00.001-06:00

So you want to root your Galaxy S2, but you have no idea on how to go about unlocking the full power of your phone. Well fear not, for here is the official ReGiz guide to rooting your Galaxy S2.

First step: make sure you actually want to root your phone. Although rooting offers many benefits, it also voids your warranty, and if one is extremely dim-witted, it may brick your phone. Because we don't want you walking around with a very expensive paperweight in your pocket, we want you to recognize the dangers and the fact that ReGiz is not responsible for any damage that you incur to your phone during the process.

Second step: download Odin, Superoneclick, and ClockworkMod recovery to your computer:
Download Odin here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=832827
Download Superoneclick here: http://shortfuse.org/?page_id=2
Download ClockworkMod recovery here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1285823

Next, you'll want to install Odin and Superoneclick to your computer. Save the file for ClockworkMod recovery somewhere that you can easily find it, because you'll be needing it in just a second.

Plug your phone in and make sure the drivers are installed. If not, download the Kies software for your device, and this will automatically install the drivers.

Open Odin. Then, while plugged in, hold down the power and both volume buttons until recovery mode pops up. If the drivers are installed, you should see a code specific to your device appear in the first box.

Check all of the boxes circled in red, and click the PDA button to search for the clockworkMod recovery file.

After pressing start, Odin will finish doing its thing and you can move on to Superoneclick. Open that and just press root.

You now own a rooted Galaxy S2

Samsung apes Mac vs. PC commercials, does a nice job

2011-11-22T23:03:00.001-06:00

As a proud owner of a Galaxy S2, I certainly was intrigued when a commercial that hearkened back to the Mac vs. PC days was released by Samsung. The ad features hopeful Apple fanboys waiting for the launch of their next iDevice while an innocent bystander. Needless to say, the fanboys were blown away by the Galaxy S2. Best line? "I can't own a Samsung. I'm Creative" "Dude, you're a barista"

Google needs to update its phones faster

2011-11-20T17:21:00.001-06:00

That, my friends, is a little something that we like to call an Android Fragmentation chart. If you look up to the top of your screen, you'll see a lot of Green. Now remember, green = good. If you look at the bottom of that very same chart, you'll see a bunch of orange, red, and yellow. These colors are bad.

Why is Green good, you might ask? Well, green is good because it means that your phone is up to date, allowing it to have the latest software goodies that Google or Apple can provide. And when you have a phone powered by Apple's iOS, that's OK because for the most part, your phone will be up to date for years to come.

But nowadays, a phone powered by Google's Android operating system can expect, one, maybe two updates before it sees the end of its life cycle. And don't expect to receive that update on time, no sir.]

I must admit, I wasn't very truthful with the title of the article. It really isn't Google's job to make sure that these phones get updated. They just release the source code and hope for the best.

What I want Google to do is to pressure manufacturers and carriers into releasing the updates sooner or risk facing sanctions against them.

If you enjoyed this article please comment and share it. Or comment if you didn't enjoy it. We don't really care.

AT&T.....

2011-11-17T22:46:00.001-06:00

So today, as many did, the first article that I saw on Engadget was a lengthy article describing the meticulous process that an AT&T smartphone goes through before it is released, a process that sometimes takes as long as18 months.

The article goes on to describe the rigorous testing phase that each and every phone released by the carrier must undergo, a phase that can take up to a few months.

I began to think back to the long delay between the release of the international version of the Galaxy S2 and the release of said carrier's... and I got around to thinking about how much shorter that process could have been. Because Samsung releases their international version the same in almost all countries save for a select few, the phones must undergo testing that rivals that of their AT&T counterparts because the phone must work in far more areas than the AT&T version. So theoretically, AT&T could just cross check the networks tested by Samsung against their own in the U.S. , thusly greatly reducing the delay.

Just a thought.