The curtains have finally been pulled back on Motorola’sDroid RAZR HD, revealing little in the way of surprise. Abysmal attempts at secrecy aside, the Verizon-bound handset pushes the line forward with an incrementally larger 4.7-inch screen, 720p display, dual-core 1.5GHz S4 CPU and, most importantly, a 2,500mAh battery to temper LTE’s juice-sapping ways. So does this less-than-wafer-thin device live up to its predecessor’s legacy? Follow along after the break as we deliver our first impressions.
In addition to the Droid Razr HD and Razr Maxx, Motorola today at its New York event also introduced the little brother to the Verizon-exclusive—the mid-range Droid Razr M. More »
In the last HTC Frequencies media summit, the company didn’t shy away from the possibility of exploring different color options for its flagship devices, but never did we expect it to come out with such a simple yet eye-catching combination of black and white on the same body. Courtesy of Frequencies II today, what we’re looking at here is an HTC One X (on AT&T) with a bit of love from fashion label Cushnie et Ochs: the design simply consists of a two-part chassis instead of a unibody shell, so we could just about feel the seam along the center of the backside. Other than that, this is a surprisingly attractive device, especially with the preloaded wallpaper that matches the shell colors — we like the effect of it moving along horizontally as we swipe between home screens. There’s no word yet on availability, but keen fashionists should see this pop up at Milk Studios during the New York Fashion Week in a few days.
Update: Bad news, folks: we’ve just had confirmation from HTC that this funky phone will not be available for purchase. Only certain celebrities will receive one as a gift.
Nokia‘s just announced its latest stable of Windows Phone handsets, including the new Lumia 820 and we were lucky enough to get our hands on it for a few moments. After countless leaks this budget smartphone is finally official. Not to be overshadowed by the larger brother in the Lumia 920, the 820 has plenty going for it — like Windows Phone 8 — so lets take a look.
First off you instantly can both see and feel the difference compared to the larger Lumia 920. While the design is similar the newer rounded edges make it feel much more familiar and less severe in the hands. Nokia’s usual attention to detail combined with the new Windows Phone 8 makes for a refreshing new smartphone that has a familiar touch at the same time.
Again, compared to the larger brother the Lumia 820 offers an overall solid package coming in slightly smaller at 4.3-inches while not compromising on power and performance. You won’t have an HD display, or the new PureView camera technology here but the Lumia 820 is aiming for a more budget friendly crowd. Complete with a crisp and vivid 4.3-inch WVGA 480 x 800 resolution display it certainly isn’t the biggest, but feels right at home with their previous launches.
Unlike the 800 and new Lumia 920 this version doesn’t enjoy the sleek and curved edges to the glass. Instead you are greeted with a plain-Jane flat panel but that doesn’t hinder the experience so far from our initial first impressions. Other specs include the same 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor as its bigger brother, 1GB of RAM, 8 megapixel camera and 4G LTE will be available in supported locations too. Nokia will offer a wide array of color options as the polycarbonate back is removable. This will give you different color options for any occasion, as well as support for their new wireless charging standard.
Speaking of the back. Nokia’s previous matte colors were always a favorite of ours but the new Lumia 920 and 820 have a slightly different look to them. Adding a bit of glare and polish to their colors we can certainly see fingerprints being more of an issue than previous models — but that is just nit picking.
Now regarding Windows Phone 8 which is running wonderfully here, Microsoft says it still isn’t quite ready for prime-time but after a few quick minutes we instantly noticed the improvements. The user interface is extremely fluid and polished, and animations were butter smooth. Google snagged the use of “butter” when describing Jelly Bean, but Windows Phone 8 certainly has some buttery smooth performance here.
Nokia’s exclusive apps helps round out the Windows Phone experience but with the combination of their improvements to the new and improved Windows Phone 8 the platform is really starting to come together. My only gripe with the Lumia 820 could have to be the display. While it is 4.3-inches the lower resolution is a let down. We don’t have IPS or Samsung’s AMOLED here so it’s pretty generic compared to most from Nokia. The Lumia 820 and 920 have been announced but no specific dates or pricing was revealed at this time. We’ll know more on pricing and official details later which will give us a better idea of where to stack this against the competition.
Nokia’s Lumia 820 is here, after countlessleaks, and the budget-friendly handset is exactly what we expected. We’ll admit we’re sad to see the rather singular design of its spiritual forebear, the Lumia 800, fall by the wayside, but we can’t complain about the build quality here. The usual attention to detail and materials we’ve come to appreciate from the Finnish phone maker is on full display. The flat glass panel on the front may lack the mystique of the curved display on the 920 and 800, but it’s hardly something that should factor into your decision to buy this handset or another. The ceramic volume rocker and lock button on the right side have a pleasant and satisfying click, though we’re sad to report that the camera button still leaves us wanting. Sure, any dedicated camera key is better than none, but its squishy response to our press was hardly encouraging. At least Nokia had the good grace to upgrade to a dual-stage solution. We were also a bit put off by the shine of the body. The Lumia series stole our hearts with its matte finish when it first debuted; now the glossy exterior is more likely to throw some glare and attract fingerprints. The new plastic also feels quite a bit lighter in the hand, which makes the 820 feel more like the midrange device it is and less like the premium handset it’s succeeding.
What’s under the hood certainly makes up for some of those shortcomings. The 1.5 GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM simply chewed through the lightweight Windows Phone 8, leaving us to wonder if Apple and Google can truly keep up. All of the UI animations were smooth and fluid, and apps launched with nary a hiccup. And, can we just say that Windows Phone 8 is an absolute pleasure to use. At the risk of angering quite a few people — there’s simply no mid-range Android phone or iOS device that’s as quick and satisfying to use as the Lumia 820, and much of that is thanks to the highly optimized Microsoft OS. It’s a pleasure to see that new features like the customizable home screen and background multitasking haven’t weighed down Redmond’s phone platform. And things will likely only get better as the final wrinkles are ironed out and bugs are squashed. But, as we all know, speed and smooth animations alone don’t make a device — Microsoft will have to convince developers to support its still fledgling platform.
It’s official. Nokia’s just taken the wraps off its worst-kept Windows Phone 8 secret: the Lumia 920. The device, announced at the manufacturer’s event in New York City today, is a spiritual successor to the 900 that first broke onto American shores and can largely be seen as a response to critics of that former device. With a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU (the same one that drives the current US supremos, the HTC One X and Galaxy S III), a “better than HD” 1,280 x 768 LCD display, PureView imaging (albeit with only eight megapixels), NFC capabilities, 2,000mAh battery with wireless charging and a next-gen Redmond-baked OS, this handset’s a big-break proposition for the flailing Finnish company; an attempt to up the ante and compete on even ground. From the outside, it may appear as though not much has changed in this generational hardware leap, but rest assured that what Espoo’s packed inside should take the mobile outfit to the next level. So, follow on after the break as we dive into our first impressions of this curiously hued smartphone splash.
Looks like Russia isn’t the only place with an appetite for overly expensive gadgets. Following the original launch last month, two of the four latest Tonino Lamborghini devices have made their way over to Hong Kong. Pictured above is the L2800 tablet which has since been upgraded from Android 2.3 to 4.0.3, but the hardware remains the same: a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm chip, 9.7-inch 1,024 x 768 display, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and microSD expansion, along with 3G connectivity, two- and five-megapixel cameras front and back, four obviously redundant capacitive buttons, 7,500mAh battery and, sadly, a proprietary dock connector. All of this plus the nicely crafted titanium chassis weigh 850g, and it’ll cost you just HK$13,800 or about US$1,780. Hey, quit moaning — it’s a massive reduction from the US$2,320 price tag in Russia.
WiFi in a camera. No matter the practicality or the cost of adding wireless functionality, it’s become a must for high-end point-and-shoots, and if they don’t pack it now, they soon will. But access hasn’t become as prolific as protocol prophets once preached — we’re at the mercy of pay gates, passwords and bandwidth limitations, even today. Our smartphones, on the other hand, are always connected. There’s no need to fuss with hexadecimals or other cryptic keys — assuming we haven’t crossed an international border, getting online is as convenient as taking a breath. As the world’s most prolific smartphone maker, Samsung is very much invested in cellular. Sure, there were gasps from the crowd at last week’s Unpacked, but built-in 4G makes perfect sense, and while WiFi and a Micro SIM may make the Galaxy Camera an instant winner, it’s Android that completes the package, as the glue that cements this latest category’s promise. Samsung may be the pioneer, but should other manufacturers be scrambling to shift roadmaps, ready to embrace this new digital direction? Tap past the break for our take.
Samsung’s Windows 8 line-up at IFA wasn’t limited to just the ATIV range; the company also had some interesting concepts to show, of which the most usable was a Dual-Display Notebook. Resembling one of Samsung’s slick Windows ultrabooks from face-on, close the notebook’s lid and there was a second display to be found, turning the machine into a slate-format tablet.
That arguably gives the best of both worlds: you get the convenience of a slate form-factor when you’re more interested in content consumption, and then a full keyboard when you’re looking to get some words down on (virtual) paper. It’s a similar concept as we saw Toshiba and Sony follow with their Windows 8 tablets, though those companies opted for a slider mechanism rather than a second display. Samsung also throws in its S Pen digital stylus, for notetaking and sketching.
The downside to Sony’s strategy is weight. The base section of the notebook is as slim as a regular Samsung ultrabook, but the lid is considerably thicker than the norm; it has to be, to fit back-to-back displays. Although it didn’t tip back under its own heft, or prove too much for the hinge mechanism to keep the screen stable, you did notice it when lifting the concept notebook up.
Samsung isn’t saying whether the Dual-Display Notebook will ever get a commercial release, though the company was running IFA attendees through questionnaires about form-factors and expectations around battery life. Our guess is that the collective response to that will decide whether the concept makes it out of the labs or gets relegated to the back-burner.
This week we got a quick hands-on with the Vodafone Samsung Galaxy S III LTE at IFA 2012 running the next generation of Google software: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This operating system upgrade has not yet been released for the Samsung Galaxy S III anywhere else in the world, but Samsung has promised that it will be out “very soon.” We also got a Speed Test result for those of you wanting to see how fast the Vodafone LTE network can be in Germany.
This device is a lovely Plum color, too, a color that’s certainly rare if not completely exclusive at the moment to Vodafone. This device otherwise has the same specifications as the Galaxy S III throughout Europe with a quad-core Exynos processor from Samsung – the difference between this and the USA being a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor. Have a peek first at the LTE result from inside the IFA building:
Next have a peek at a single Quadrant benchmark result, and note that the I/O and CPU are quite high. Compare them to the HTC One X with NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor if you wish, and see how they’re both handling four CPU cores in hardcore action. The HTC One X with Tegra 3 got CPU 6670, Memory 3305, I/O 4832, 2D 946, 3D 1244. Also compare if you will to the Galaxy S III we’ve reviewed in full – the International Version, that is.
Finally hear this: the Jelly Bean upgrade appears here on the Vodafone version of the device to have made the device just a bit quicker, but certainly within a margin of error. There’s going to be some changes done to the Samsung TouchWiz interface that we’re not really seeing here yet as this is a bit of a pre-release build, so to speak. Stay tuned for the final build as it hits the USA soon.
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