TechmoLocal

HTC One SV Review - Introduction and Design

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:42:00 +0000

In the mid-range smartphone category reminds us of a college party – there's always room for one more to join the fun! Naturally, we have nothing against that as the broader the selection of handsets is, the harder smartphone makers are trying to bring a truly competitive device. The HTC One SV is one of them offering a display of respectable size, well-performing dual-core processor, and LTE connectivity for rapid access to the web. U.S. carrier Cricket Wireless will be offering the smartphone starting January 16, but it can already be purchased in other parts of the world, including Australia, the U.K., and select Asian markets. However, is the HTC One SV as worthy of a pick as it seems? Well, let's put it through its paces and find out!

The package contains:

Wall charger
microUSB Cable
Wired stereo earphones with tangle-free cord
Safety guide, warranty statement, and other documentation

Design:

Shortly after taking the HTC One SV out of its eco-friendly packaging we found ourselves oohing and aahing, impressed by the device's visual appeal. It is one beautiful handset, we must admit, and even though it is made mostly out of plastic, it seems well-built and definitely doesn't have a cheapo feel. The phone is relatively slim and light as well, sporting a thickness of only 9.2 millimeters while tipping the scales at 122 grams, and its slightly curved back side allows it to rest nicely in the hand. Speaking of which, the dimensions of the unit are quite suitable for single-handed operation.


The HTC One SV is quite suitable for single-handed operation

There's a couple of things, however, that we're pretty disappointed by. One of them is the hideousearpiece grill that totally spoils the looks of the device's front side. And then there's the screen lock button located on the top side of the HTC One SV. The key is soft, lacks tactile response, and since it is far from the user's index finger, reaching for it is anything but comfortable. The volume rocker and the capacitive buttons, on the other hand, work just as expected.

Display:

First the good news: with the HTC One SV you get a screen that is neither too big, nor too small – a 4.3-inch Super LCD2 panel, to be more specific. Colors on it look vivid and accurate even when viewed at an angle and its outdoor visibility can be described as acceptable, even though this surely isn't the brightest mobile display out there. Furthermore, sliding your fingers across the protective layer of Gorilla Glass 2 is a pleasure, especially when you know that the few fingerprints it might collect are really easy to get rid of.

However, the bad news is that you only get 480 by 800 pixels of resolution, which, although passable, is a bit underwhelming to see on a smartphone of this caliber. Due to the somewhat low pixel count, text and graphics don't look as sharp as we'd like them to be, and that makes things like surfing the web, for example, a bit less enjoyable. We should also mention that the screen exhibits a slight blurriness when moving objects are displayed, presumably caused by relatively low pixel response times. That's not too big of a deal, but perfectionists might find it annoying.

HTC One SV Specs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:20:00 +0000

Description:

The HTC One SV features a 4.3-inch WVGA Super LCD2 display which works out at a very decent pixel density of 217ppi. With not that many pixels, the dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus should not have much trouble with fluid performance. There is 1GB of RAM, 8 gigs of internal storage and Beats Audio support. Moreover, at 4.3 inches this device would be great for one-handed use. The One SV comes with a very quick 5.0-megapixel BSI camera that takes as many as 30 consecutive shots. All of this runs on Android 4.0.

Design

Device type:
- Smart phone
OS:
- Android (4.0.4) Sense 4 UI
Dimensions:
- 5.04 x 2.63 x 0.36 inches (128 x 66.9 x 9.2 mm)
Weight:
- 4.30 oz (122 g)
  the average is 4.1 oz (117 g)

Display

Physical size:
- 4.3 inches
Resolution:
- 480 x 800 pixels
Pixel density:
Pixel density - The pixel density of a display represents the number of pixels over an area of one inch. It’s measured in “pixels per inch”, or ppi. The higher the number, the more detailed and good-looking the display is.
- 217 ppi
Technology:
Technology - There are two main screen technologies currently used in phones and tablets: LCD and AMOLED. The former usually features a light source and liquid crystals, while the latter is based on organic light-emitting diodes. Newer LCD variations like IPS-LCD and Super-LCD allow for very accurate color reproduction and very wide viewing angles, where no significant image quality loss is observed. Current AMOLED screens differ in such a way that they can exhibit much more saturated colors (sometimes too much) and incredibly high contrast levels, which is due to black color being completely black in AMOLED displays.
- S-LCD 2
Touchscreen:
- - Capacitive, Multi-touch
Features:
- Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Scratch-resistant glass

Battery

Capacity:
- 1800 mAh

Hardware

System chip:
System chip - Most modern handsets use an advanced chip that includes many of the device’s hardware modules like the processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and sometimes even the wireless radio. This field shows what particular system chip (or System-on-a-Chip) is used in the phone.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
Processor:
Processor - The processor is the main computing component of a phone and is a major factor when it comes to the overall speed of the device. Some more powerful smartphones use dual-core and quad-core processors designed to deliver greater performance.
- Dual core, 1200 MHz
Graphics processor:
- - Yes
System memory:
System memory - System memory, or RAM memory is the type of memory that the device uses to temporarily store data from the OS or currently-running apps. The more RAM available to the device, the better the performance will be when multiple or heavier programs are running.
- 1024 MB RAM
Built-in storage:
- 8 GB
Storage expansion:
- microSD, microSDHC up to 32 GB

Camera

Camera:
- - 5 megapixels
- Flash:
  - LED
- Aperture size:
  Aperture size - The aperture of a camera is the opening through which light travels before it reaches the camera sensor. The smaller the number is, the bigger this opening is, allowing for more light to pass.
  - F2.0
- Features:
  - Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), Auto focus, Geo tagging
Camcorder:
- - 1920x1080 (1080p HD)
- Features:
  - Video calling
Front-facing camera:
- - 1.6 megapixels

Multimedia

Music player:
- Filter by:
  - Album, Artist, Playlists
- Features:
  - Album art cover, Background playback, Beats Audio
Speakers:
- Earpiece, Loudspeaker
YouTube player:
- Yes

Internet browsing

Browser:
- - Yes
Built-in online services support:
- YouTube (upload), Picasa

Technology

CDMA:
CDMA - Code Division Multiple Access. A technique of multiplexing, also called spread spectrum, in which analog signals are converted into digital form for transmission. For each communication channel, the signals are encoded in a sequence known to the transmitter and the receiver for that channel. The foremost application is digital cellular phone technology from QUALCOMM that operates in the 800MHz band and 1.9GHz PCS band. CDMA phones are noted for their excellent call quality and long battery life.
- 800, 1900 MHz
LTE:
- 1900 MHz
Data:
- LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s, LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s, EV-DO Rev.A
Positioning:
Positioning - This field shows the positioning systems supported by the device. There are three main types: GPS, A-GPS and GLONASS. GPS - This is one of the most widespread global positioning technologies, developed and maintained by the U.S. government. It uses satellites in order to detect your location. Works best in clear weather. A-GPS - A-GPS stands for Assisted GPS and is the industry standard for positioning and navigation. “Assisted” means that it can use local wireless networks, in addition to satellites, for quicker and more precise localization. GLONASS - GLONASS is a global positioning system, developed by the Russian Federation. It’s very similar to GPS, but isn’t so popular in cell phones.
- A-GPS, Glonass
Navigation:
- Yes

Phone features

Phonebook:
- Unlimited entries, Caller groups, Multiple numbers per contact, Search by both first and last name, Picture ID, Ring ID
Organizer:
- Calendar, Alarm, Document viewer (Office 2007, Office 2003, PDF), Flashlight (Camera flash), Calculator
Messaging:
- SMS, MMS, Threaded view, Predictive text input
E-mail:
- - IMAP, POP3, SMTP, Microsoft Exchange

Connectivity

Bluetooth:
- - 4.0
Wi-Fi:
- - 802.11 a, b, g, n, n 5GHz
- Mobile hotspot:
  - Yes
USB:
- - USB 2.0
- Connector:
  - microUSB
- Features:
  - Mass storage device, USB charging
HDMI:
- - via microUSB
Other:
- NFC, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync

Other features

Notifications:
- Haptic feedback, Music ringtones (MP3), Polyphonic ringtones, Vibration, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone
Additional microphone/s:
- - for Noise cancellation
Sensors:
- - Accelerometer, Compass
Hearing aid compatibility:
- - M3, T3
- Voice dialing, Voice commands, Voice recording

Availability

Officially announced:
- 04 Jan 2013
Scheduled release:
Scheduled release - Shows when is the particular phone scheduled to be made available to the public in North America
- 16 Jan 2013 (Official)

The Nokia Lumia 920 was sold out at Clove before inventory arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:36:00 +0000

Is the Nokia Lumia 920 going to do for Windows Phone 8 what the Motorola DROID did for Android? Back on November 5th, 2009, Verizon launched the Motorola DROID and the first smartphone to be powered by Android 2.0 quickly changed history. Named the Time Magazine Gadget of the Year for 2009 even though it had been in the market less than 2 months, demand for the DROID kickstarted the Android platform which soon grew to be the largest mobile OS in the world. It is hard to believe, but by May 2010, 6 months after the DROID had been released, iOS had 40% of the global smartphone market while Android owned 26%. Things sure are a lot different today. The latest data for the U.S. alone showed that for the three months ended in November, 53.7% of the smartphone market in the country belonged to Android while 35% was claimed by iOS.

The Nokia Lumia 920 was sold out at Clove before inventory arrived

Microsoft was hoping that one of the Windows Phone 8 handsets that it launched late last year could replicate the success of the Motorola DROID. With BlackBerry 10 set to be introduced before the end of this month, Microsoft has a lot at stake right here and right now. The good news is that the Nokia Lumia 920 is beginning to take off globally. In China, the Nokia Store in Shanghai was twice surrounded by long lines of customers looking to buy the Nokia Lumia 920. The second time, the yellow variant of the phone sold out in 20 minutes.

Another example of the strong demand for Nokia's flagship Windows Phone 8 device comes from U.K. retailer Clove. For the third time, the device sold out from pre-orders placed with Clove even before the phones were received at the store. The shipment will now be sent out next week. According to Clove's website, backordered red and black models of the Nokia Lumia 920 will ship this coming Tuesday. New orders and backorders placed for the white variant will ship next Friday.

In the U.S., billionaire Mark Cuban gave a great endorsement of the Nokia Lumia line by saying that it crushed the Apple iPhone 5 which is why he switched. Actually, while Cuban didn't mention the Nokia Lumia 920 specifically, we're pretty sure that it was the model he had, After all, when you are that wealthy, you typically buy yourself the top of the line for everything.

Maybe a phenomena like Androidmania comes only once in a lifetime, or just maybe the demand for the Nokia Lumia 920 starts to spread through out the Windows Phone 8 ecosystem. Regardless of how this all plays out, the Nokia Lumia 920 certainly has proven itself to be worthy of being a flagship smartphone.