Been clamoring for a Samsung Galaxy 2 10.1 with LTE? While you may have known about Sprint’s variant which launched 10 days ago, Verizon is now laying claim to the tablet as well. Big Red’s model will cost you a cool $500 ($150 than its 7-inch sibling) with “month-to-month service” that’ll run you between $30 for 4GB of data to $60 for 10GB. Details on the slate’s internals are light, but you can expect it to be loaded with Android 4.0 and 8GB of flash storage (expandable to 64GB via microSD) — whether this one has the beefed-up 1.5GHz dual-core CPU like Sprint’s remains to be seen, but it is 50 dollars less. Verizon’s listing the 10-incher as being ready to ship by the 26th, so hit up the source links below if it’s up your alley.
Samsung Electronics announced on the 19th that Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE—the 4G version upgraded with new features—would be consecutively released via three major Korean mobile carriers. Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE simultaneously supports the voice call, video, and data transmission with the latest LTE technology such as VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and Multi Carrier, which is five times faster than the previous 3G technology. Equipped with a slew of new features, Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE runs on the latest Android …
The AT&T pre-order period for the ultra-powerful re-birth of the captain of the HTC football team, the HTC One X+, begins on the 13th of November, that being tomorrow, with a release date of November 16th for in-store availability. These devices expand the HTC One series into the future with one extra-affordable entry into the family and another that’s an upgraded version of its former self. Along with the updated version of the T-Mobile HTC One S, this should very well count as a resurgence of the HTC One lineup – a rebirth as a butterfly, if you will.
The HTC One X+ will be running you $199.99 with a two-year agreement right out the gate while the VX will be popping up for just $49.99 with a two-year agreement. This provides you with the biggest and the smallest, the slightly more costly and the extremely affordable, both of them bringing AT&T 4G LTE and HTC’s own Sense user interface. See our AT&T HTC One X AT&T full review right this minute – and our original HTC One X international edition review as well!
The HTC One VX comes with a 9.19 mm thin body and a 4.5-inch qHD display covered with Corning Gorilla Glass. The back of this device has a 5 megapixel camera able to capture 1080p video backed up with HTC’s own ImageSense processor – a separate processor entirely from the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor under the hood. THis device also has Adreno 305 graphics, a 0.3 megapixel camera on the front, and a microSD card slot for memory expansion. Built-in storage for this device is 8 GB and you get 1GB of RAM to run the beast.
The HTC One X+ is an upgraded version of the original HTC One X for AT&T, this time coming with the processor that it had in its original international form: the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core SoC with 4-PLUS-1 technology. This device bears the bragging rights for being the first to market with the combination of the Tegra 3 and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean – the Tegra 3 here being clocked at a massive 1.7GHz per core.
This device has a 4.7-inch 720p HD display and works with an 8 megapixel camera with the same HTC ImageSense chip that the whole of the HTC One series has brought to the market. This device comes in one iteration, bringing with it a massive 64GB of internal memory that, as AT&T puts it, “is non-partitioned to store more high quality photos, video, music, movies and apps however the user wants.”
With an update that makes one change and one change only, T-Mobile and HTC have brought the HTC One S back in its true form: red under the hood with Micro Arc Oxidation through the body. This device now matches the original HTC One S’s hardware basically top to bottom, with a body that’s not just a standard metal, but a metal that’s gone through a process which makes it essentially impervious to everyday damage. This device is also being offered by T-Mobile for an undeniable price at the moment: absolutely free.
Having reviewed the original HTC One S earlier this year as well as the HTC One S T-Mobile edition later on, we can say that this machine is just about as awesome as it gets for Android. T-Mobile’s price point is absolutely crazy considering the quality of the hardware, and as our original judgement of the HTC One S stands, this version only brings our recommendation to check it out right back up to the top. The only difference between earlier this year and now is the collection of devices that’ve been released since, and it is that which you’ll need to consider in possibly picking this unit up from your local carrier.
The insides of this device appear to be exactly the same as the original. So similar, in fact, that every benchmark we’ve tested has come in line precisely with the original device. This means, of course, that the only changes that have been made have been in the software – and the original edition’s software updates bring that device up to par with this one just the same. Instead it’s all about that main bulk of metal on the back of this device – cured with Micro Arc Oxidation. Have a peek at this video of our mini-tour of the process as it was displayed at CTIA earlier this year:
Next feel free to see the fire in HTC’s own showing on how the process takes place. This process creates a unique surface on the device, making it more durable than your average device. Don’t expect to be able to cut it with a knife and come away unscathed, but still – it’s pretty hardcore.
Have a peek at the timeline below to see our other hands-on experiences with the HTC One series over the past few months and don’t forget to consider it amongst the rest of the top-tier choices at T-Mobile this Autumn. It’s got the same Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor in it as the Samsung Galaxy S III and Android 4.0.4 right out of the box – that’s Ice Cream Sandwich.
Most of us know that when it comes to smartphones, it’s a constant struggle to find the right balance between power, looks, and affordability, with affordability normally losing out in the end. The problem most of the time is that the affordable phones don’t always look the best and typically don’t have the best hardware under the hood. If you want a phone that looks sleek and performs great, you’re going to have to shell out the big bucks, right? LG is attempting to challenge that idea with the Optimus L9, a new handset at T-Mobile that comes with the very manageable price tag of $79.99. The question is: can this phone deliver the goods at a budget price, or do the savings mean that the phone ultimately disappoints in other areas?
Hardware
It’s strange, the mentality one quickly falls into when it comes to budget handsets. The expectation with inexpensive phones is that they aren’t going to be anything to write home about from both a cosmetic and a hardware perspective. It would be shady of me not to mention that I wasn’t expecting much when I learned I was getting the Optimus L9 in to review – I expected another cheap handset that didn’t perform very well and left me wanting when it came to looks.
Image my surprise, then, when I opened up the box and was greeted by a phone that’s actually pretty sexy. The Optimus L9 certainly has a lot going for it in the looks department – not only is it a sleek device with its black chassis and silver trim, but it’s thin and lightweight to boot. At just 0.36-inches thick, it definitely isn’t the slimmest smartphone we’ve seen, but it’s thin enough. The phone also weighs in a just a hair over 4.4 ounces, and it feels very light in the hand. I was surprised when I was picked it up for the first time, and immediately grabbed my girlfriend’s iPhone 4S and my Atrix HD to compare. The Atrix HD and the iPhone 4S both come in right around 4.8 ounces, and though that isn’t much more than the Optimus L9, the difference in weight in certainly noticeable.
Typically a lightweight and thin design would lend to a fragile feeling, but not with the Optimus L9. It feels like a well-constructed device, and though I’m not willing to begin hurling it across the room, it does feel like it can take a bump or two. There’s also Gorilla Glass 2 covering the display, so it should stand up pretty well against scratches.
Speaking of the display, you’ll be working with a 4.5-inch IPS LCD display that’s running at qHD resolution. That means 960×540, so no, you don’t have an HD display to boast about. That’s okay though, because the display on the Optimus L9 is still colorful, sharp, and surprisingly bright. Before I began my battery test (more on that later), I went to turn the display down to 50% brightness, only to discover it was already there. Cranking it up to 100% results in a display that’s very bright, so 50% should be sufficient for most and serves to conserve battery life at the same time.
Underneath the screen are a set of soft buttons – a back button and a menu button – with a physical home button placed in between them. I’m a sucker for physical buttons, and I think that the home button helps make the Optimus L9 look even better. On the top of the device, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, with the power button on the right side and the volume button on the left. On the bottom is where you’ll find the micro USB port. On the back is where the speaker and camera have taken up residence, while the microSD slot has been tucked away behind the removable backing. It isn’t the most convenient place for it, but hey, at least LG included one.
On the inside, we’ve got a dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor clocked a 1GHz. That’s working alongside 1GB of RAM, and while that may not sound like much power, it’s actually enough to keep the Optimus L9 running smooth. Swiping through home screens and the apps menu is fluid and lag-free, so you probably won’t notice the fact that your Optimus L9 is using aging hardware all that often. Sadly, there’s only a rather pitiful 4GB of storage, which in reality is about 1.6GB after the pre-installed apps and operating system are accounted for. In other words, you might want to buy a microSD card alongside your Optimus L9, as it won’t be long before you run out storage.
Software
Starting right off with the operating system, the Optimus L9 is running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, so I suppose it was a bit too much to hope for an Android 4.1 install. In any case, Ice Cream Sandwich functions well enough, though it’s covered up by LG’s own interface. Thankfully, that custom interface doesn’t seem to slow anything down, and I actually like the look of it, so I see no need to complain.
T-Mobile, naturally, has included plenty of pre-installed software, and you’re probably not going to use most of what comes pre-installed. You’ve got things like WildTangent Games, Lookout Security, More for Me, Slacker Radio, and T-Mobile TV alongside Google’s typical suite of apps, and T-Mobile has packed the home screens full of widgets and shortcuts, so you’ll definitely want to do some rearranging once you get your Optimus L9 out of the box. Sadly, you can’t delete most of the apps that come pre-installed, so allow me to take this moment to stress once again that you’ll want a microSD card.
Keyboards on mobile phones are typically a crapshoot, but I’m pleased to say that the one on the Optimus L9 works pretty well when you’re using it in landscape mode. Portrait mode will likely be another issue, and the smaller amount of space will probably lead to more typos. T-Mobile and LG have also included their own version of gesture typing, and while it works, I think I’d rather stick with just punching in each letter individually. That’s because the word that was selected for me usually wasn’t the word I had just attempted to type, but it’s worth pointing out that the word I was shooting for was in the list of words that the system suggested for me most of the time.
The Optimus L9 also features gesture zooming, which is pulled off by sliding the browser menu up while you’re looking at a webpage, holding down to the zoom button, and then tilting the phone to zoom in and zoom out. Like gesture typing, it works, but I feel like you’ll have more accuracy if you’re just doing pinch-to-zoom instead. They’re neat little features, don’t get me wrong, but I think regular typing and pinch-to-zoom will suffice for most folks.
Battery
The Optimus L9 comes packing a relatively beefy 2,150mAh battery, and the phone seems to do a good job rationing out its power. It took quite a bit of game playing and video watching to get the battery to dip down below 50%, and even with the screen brightness at 50% (remember, I said earlier that 50% brightness is still quite bright) and Wi-Fi connected all the time, the battery still didn’t drain as quickly as I was expecting it to.
Leaving it connected to the Internet – be it T-Mobile’s mobile data network or my own Wi-Fi connection – while the phone was asleep didn’t do much to drain the battery either. You won’t have a problem getting a full day of use out of a full charge, and if you’re not the type who’s on their phone constantly, you might even have enough juice left over to make it through a second day.
It’s also worth pointing out that the battery is indeed removable, which should be a big win for some folks. As far as I’m concerned, the battery that comes packed in the Optimus L9 is good enough, but if, like all batteries, it begins to have issues holding a charge as time goes on, you’ll be able to swap it out for a new one.
Camera
The Optimus L9 features a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel shooter. The 1.3-megapixel camera will obviously only do for video chatting, but the 5MP rear camera is decent for taking pictures. As with most 5-megapixel cameras, the images aren’t the best, and I’d suggest using an actual camera for taking photos as opposed to the camera on the L9.
The L9’s camera also features a panoramic mode, and while that’s pretty cool, again the quality of the images isn’t any to write home about. Have a look at the sample shots I took to get an idea of what I’m talking about.
Benchmarks
In our benchmark tests, the Optimus L9 performed okay, but as you can imagine, there are plenty of other devices that rank higher. In Quadrant, it was given a score of 3035, which is enough to put it ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy Nexus, and the Nexus S. In AnTuTu it’s more of the same, coming in just below the Samsung Galaxy S II but above the LG Optimus 2X and the original Kindle Fire with a score of 5648.
As far as speed tests are concerned, T-Mobile’s network did decent. It obviously isn’t the fastest around, and your results will vary, but for where I’m at in the world (mid-Michigan), T-Mobile’s network posted some good speeds.
Of course, we knew from the start that the Optimus L9 wasn’t going to be the best handset on the block and that T-Mobile’s network wasn’t going to be fastest around. The Optimus L9 performed within expectations though, so don’t let these seemingly low benchmark scores dissuade you if you’re in the market for a budget handset – the Optimus L9 runs smooth enough, and that’s all that should really matter.
Wrap-Up
What can I say? For a budget handset, the LG Optimus L9 impresses. In no way is the phone the best, but its sleek design, nice screen, and the fact that it runs so smooth with have you thinking otherwise. Be sure that you consider the options before you pick one up, however, because while the Optimus L9 is good enough to be worthy of a recommendation here in 2012, its aging hardware means that probably won’t be the case when you enter the final part of your two-year contract in 2014.
Still, for $80 on contract, the Optimus L9 certainly isn’t a bad phone. It’s perfect for budget-minded consumers who don’t need the very best, but instead just want a phone that runs well and looks good. It’s not likely to win awards in either category, but it gets the job done, and that’s all you can really want in a phone that only costs $80.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that the Optimus L9 is one of the best budget handsets on the market at this moment. If you’ve been thinking of picking up a new phone but don’t have hundreds to drop on the latest and greatest, be sure you take a look at the Optimus L9, as you really are getting a lot of bang for your buck.
If it were ever time for another Android tablet with a thin frame and a 10.1-inch display, it’s now, and it’s Huawei who’s bringing this device into the world. Huawei makes a valiant effort at creating a tablet with the MediaPad 10 FHD, and it does indeed bring on an impressive package, especially for media playback. If you’re looking for the most massively impressive tablet on the market – this isn’t it – but if you do have this device on your radar and wonder if it’s worth the cash, let me give you a spoiler: it’s definitely nice to watch a movie on, but that’s just about where it ends.
Hardware
The 10.1-inch display on this device has 1920 x 1200 pixels and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The tablet is 8.8mm thin and weighs 580g – that’s just a bit heavier than it it seems like it should be given the aesthetics of the device. This just means that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, which is 20g heavier than the MediaPad, seems light simply because it’s got plastic on the outside, giant-looking speakers on the front, and a pen built-in. The MediaPad 10 FHD on the other hand does too good a job of hiding it all – but the speakers can certainly be heard loud and clear.
The speakers on this device are nice – Dolby Surround Sound back them up and you do indeed get some impressive blasts when you hold the device the right way or have it propped up with a stand or up against a wall. What I mean is that, like the rest of the past generation of tablets out there, the speakers on this unit are facing the back. Even though we would like them to face the front, they still sound nicer than the vast majority of the smart devices out there – and that includes smartphones.
This device is available in 8, 16, or 32GB internal memory configurations – there’s no microSD slot, so choose wisely on that internal number right out of the box. The battery is 6600 mAh large, you’ll be connecting to the device for charging with a unique port at the bottom. The bottom of this tablet also shows a couple of ports that allow for the keyboard accessory which – sadly – we have not worked with at this time.
The display on this device is relatively sharp at 1920 x 1200 pixels, that placing the pixel density at 224 PPI, well below the iPad 4th gen’s 263.92 PPI and in a different league compared to the Google Nexus 10 which has 300 PPI. If you’ve seen neither of these tablets up close and personal before, you’ll find the MediaTab FHD to be rather bright and sharp.
The tablet is not unlike many, many other high-end tablets on the market right this minute, coming rather close to the original Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in its appearance and feel – it’s as if Huawei has taken a dash of Apple metal-love and placed it in a mixing pot with the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and out popped the MediaPad we’re looking at today.
Software and Performance
The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich you see here is ever-so-slightly modified beyond its vanilla state. It’s not the abilities you’ll have added, but the slight side-steps you’ll be taking that really show you where Huawei was going with the user interface here. One example is the complete absence of an apps drawer – you’ll have everything out in the open here like MIUI or iOS rather than home screens and an app drawer separate.
There are also some slight changes in your standard settings in how you’ll be able to work with your device, but nothing to absolutely write home about. This device is not made to be competing directly with the US market for tablet dominance, so it’s not difficult to see why Huawei wouldn’t push too hard on the features list, especially in the software. You can play movies you’ve downloaded or transferred to the tablet with the standard movie playing app, you can play some MP3s if you wish, or you can straight up rely on Google’s suite of media-playing apps, which certainly is a viable option with Google’s family as mature as it is at the moment.
Above you’re seeing the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD next to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a 3rd generation iPad with Retina display. They don’t look or feel all that different from one another when they’ve got their displays turned off, that’s for sure. See if you can name each tablet by their corners and edges!
Then have a peek at a few benchmarks taking note that this tablet works with Huawei’s own quad-core processor (quad-core 1.4GHz Cortex-A9 to be exact) but doesn’t quite beat out the competition in a standardized competition. You’ll be able to run many high-powered applications here but don’t expect much more power than you had with your NVIDIA Tegra 2 tablet – don’t be fooled by a simple addition of a couple cores to the name. Have a peek once more at the hands-on video above to see how well it does in everyday switching between apps and you’ll see the truth.
Camera and Battery
This device works essentially as well as the rest of the top-tier Android universe as far as battery life goes, with a massive 6600mAh battery under the hood to keep you up all night. What happens with a tablet – unless you carry it with you all day long – is that you leave it asleep for the major part of your day. When you do this, the machine gets a relatively unfair advantage over the smartphone you’ve got in your pocket as far as battery life goes because it’s not getting punched in the gut all day long with mobile data. It’s true too with this Huawei tablet: because you’re not prone to using it all day long, you’ll be getting several days of battery life if you use it regularly (or 26 days if you don’t use it at all). If you’re a heavy user, expect as short a battery life as 8 hours.
The camera is OK, certainly nothing to write home about. It’s utterly blown away by competitors such as the HTC Jetstream and the Google Nexus 10 tablet from Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1‘s camera takes the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD to the cleaners even though the Note has 5 megapixels under the hood and the MediaPad has 8 – food for thought. The video it captures, on the other hand, is fairly nice.
Wrap-up
This device is a rather nice addition to the Android tablet universe, and certainly offers up a unique option where otherwise you’d be handling either a Samsung tablet or going over to Apple for an iPad. If you’re thinking about grabbing the highest quality Android tablet on the market today, I would still personally point you toward the Galaxy Note 10.1 simply due to its much more well-rounded ecosystem and matured device family. [See: “Smart Device specs are over, long live the ecosystem” column for more information.]
If on the other hand you want to take a fresh look at the Android tablet and don’t mind that your device looks strikingly similar to an original Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Huawei is here to back you up. The speaker system is strong, the display is fairly nice, and you’ll definitely be the only one on your block with this tablet, guaranteed. The cost of this device for anyone outside of China will certainly be prohibitive at $600 USD or more, on the other hand, so unless you can get this machine for next-to-nothing, you’ll be better off skipping it and waiting for Huawei to present a more complete package – and a wider release, to boot.
The original HTC One S has finally made its way to T-Mobile from overseas, replacing the paint-covered Blue edition that’s been in stores since the launch. The international coverings for this machine are the same as we’d seen in the international edition of the machine here in Matte Black with Micro Arc Oxidation. This process, for those of you that weren’t around when the HTC One series was introduced earlier this year, makes the device just about as rough-and-tumble as they come, ready to take on the world without any protection from a 3rd party case – no worries!
The HTC One S also works with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor and has a lovely 8-megapixel camera working with HTC’s own ImageSense processor under the hood. This combined with the Snapdragon S4′s dedicated architecture for image processing makes the HTC One S one of the most fabulous camera phones in the world. Once we get the device in for some hands-on time, we’ll do some comparisons to the rest of the modern-day contenders as well.
We have an HTC One S T-Mobile review up from earlier this year and you can expect similar results for this edition coming this week. Some differences here in the present are going to exist in the software department – any One S in the wild today with T-Mobile will have the upgrades present, but here with the MAO edition we’ll have them right out of the box – hot stuff.
You can also take a peek at our original HTC One S review from April of this year to see what this device is like with MAO. As Chris Davies said of the finish back then: “HTC is offering two finishes for the casing, either a graduated metallic green or, as is the case with our review unit, a so-called micro arc oxidized shell that has been heat-treated so as to be scratch resistant. Scrape up the rear panel with your fingernail and the marks just rub straight off, though our previous experience with a One S prototype suggests keys can still leave some noticeable marks if used in earnest against the phone.”
We’ll see if all of that is still true here in this new edition. We’re expecting essentially the same shell as that device back closer to the start of this year – stay tuned!
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Tablets, tablets, tablets. Everybody’s making them these days, but it seems that only a select few are truly worthy of being taken home. Lenovo has a pair of new IdeaTabs on the market, and with them, the company is ready to vie for both your attention and your dollar. We reviewed the IdeaTab A2109 a little while back, but today it’s all about the IdeaTab S2110A. Is it worth the purchase price, or does is leave us feeling a little let down? Read on to find out.
Design and Build Quality
I have to say, the IdeaTab S2110A looks pretty great. It’s really thin – we’re talking 0.34” – and pretty lightweight to boot. With a weight that sits right around 1 pound, 4 ounces, this 10-incher feels pretty good in the hand, if not a little on the delicate side. It doesn’t feel like it can take a lot of abuse, so if you pick one up, be sure to treat it gently, otherwise it may not be long before you’re flushing your investment down the drain.
Lenovo has opted to go for something of a simplistic design with the S2110, as there aren’t any face buttons. It’s just the 10-inch screen, a black bezel that surrounds the whole thing, and a silver Lenovo logo underneath. On the top (assuming you’re holding the tablet in landscape orientation) is the power button and microphone. On the left side there’s a little more to see, as it’s here that you’ll find a mini HDMI port, the headphone jack, and a SIM card slot you can use for mobile data. On the bottom, the mini USB port for charging, data transfer, and docking has taken up residence, while the volume buttons are the only thing of note on the right side.
You’ve got a nice silver trim on the sides, which goes well with the black. On the back you’ll see another Lenovo logo, but aside from that, the textured surface, and the 5MP camera, there’s isn’t much to see back there. The Lenovo S2110A sure does look sleek, and it’s a good choice if you’re looking for a tablet that’s extremely portable.
We’ll get more into the included keyboard dock a little later, but for now let’s talk about it merely in relation to the overall design of the device. The dock matches the color scheme of the tablet, with a gray, black, and silver scheme that looks really nice. When the tablet is plugged into the dock, you’ve got a miniature laptop that still manages to be incredibly thin, so you may find yourself with the dock on hand at all times. In short, the tablet looks great while connected to the dock, but we’ll talk about the quality of the keyboard later on in the review.
Hold on though, because even though the IdeaTab S2110A is a good looking device, it suffers from some sub-par build quality. Hopefully you’re a fan of pressure spots on your LCD, because you’ll get them whether you like them or not. Just causally holding the device can set these pressure spots off, so it isn’t as if you need to be applying a ton of pressure from the back to get the spots to show up on the LCD screen. Some spots of the tablet seem weaker than others, so these pressure spots won’t be appearing everywhere, but still, the fact that they happen at all is no good.
The pressure spots are bad enough, but the S2110A just feels like a cheaply made product. It seems like it wouldn’t take much to damage this thing, so you’ll need to be careful with it if you pick one up. It’s also worth pointing out that my S2110A had a dead pixel out of the box, but that’s a bit more excusable. After all, dead pixels are going to happen from time to time – that’s just a risk you take when you’re buying products with LCD screens. While the dead pixel is a forgivable issue, the overall build quality is not. I would understand poor build quality in a less expensive tablet, but you’ll spend a considerable amount of dough on the S2110A, and for $400 (at the least), I expect much better build quality.
Hardware
As stated above, the IdeaTab S2110A comes with a 10-inch IPS display, which runs at 1280×800 resolution. I was very impressed with the screen on the S2110A, especially after hearing some less-than-stellar things about the screen on A2190. The viewing angles are really something excellent – it takes a lot to get the screen to appear washed out, which is always a good thing. The screen is bright and colorful too, and on-screen visuals are nice and sharp. I would have preferred a better resolution, but as I said, text and images on screen are still sharp (seriously, reading on this thing is a pleasure), so 1280×800 resolution really isn’t much of a problem.
The screen is glossy, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering that matte screens on tablets (or anything else these days, for that matter) are a rare sight. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the S2110A’s screen seems to attract more fingerprints than other, similar displays. It could just be the fact that the lighting on the IdeaTab’s S2110A screen is really good, but with that black color scheme, finger prints are going to stick out. It’s a problem that can be solved easily with a quick wipe-down, but you’ll want to do that frequently – the screen looks too good to have it covered in ugly fingerprints all the time.
The S2110A is running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060A dual-core processor that’s clocked at 1.5GHz, so you’ve got a quick little CPU working under the hood, despite the fact that it’s only a dual-core. The processor is working in tandem with 1GB of RAM, though it might have been a better idea for Lenovo to include 2GB of RAM, just to make the S2110A a bit more fluid. Things can get pretty choppy when transitioning through homescreens and swiping between screens in the settings menu, so know that you’re not going to get an entirely smooth experience if you pick up the S2110A.
You’ve got two internal storage options when it comes to the IdeaTab S2110A: 16GB and 32GB. The model we received for review came with 16GB, and I don’t really have any complaints about that amount of storage. If Lenovo offered an 8GB version of the tablet, you might run into some issues, but 16GB should be more than enough to tide you over for a while. Of course, if you store music or movies on the tablet, you might run out of free space sooner rather than later, but if that happens, the tablet’s dock has a full-size SD slot to take advantage of. It’s important to note that the tablet itself doesn’t have an SD slot to speak of, so if you buy the tablet alone without paying the extra $100 for the dock, the internal memory you have on the S2110A is what you’re stuck with.
The hardware on the S2110A is decent, but there are some things that leave me scratching my head. I’m bummed that you’ll have to purchase the dock to get an SD slot, and even though the hardware is decent, the choppiness is something that will certainly annoy. Still, the hardware this thing comes packing should be able to handle the apps you download from the Google Play Store, and makes the S2110A a tablet that can at least hold its own in the hardware space.
Software
Like most tablets and phones, the IdeaTab S2110A comes with its share of bloatware, and it appears that you can’t uninstall most of it, meaning you’re stuck with the programs whether you like them or not. We’ve got a bunch of card games installed out of the box, including Solitare, Hearts, and Spades, along with rara.com, Papaya Free, and ooVoo. Naturally, all of Google’s apps are there, as are Norton Security and News Republic.
The majority of users probably won’t touch most of those (expect for Google’s stuff), but thankfully, the IdeaTab S2110A comes with some handy apps installed. These include Amazon Kindle, Evernote, Skype, and SugarSync. I was happy to see all of those installed on the IdeaTab S2110A, and I’m sure that a lot of people will appreciate the fact that Evernote and Skype are present from the start.
The IdeaTab S2110A runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but you’re not getting stock Android with this tablet. Lenovo has put its own home screen layout in place with the S2110A and has filled the screens with its own widgets, which I have feeling contributes to the choppiness you’ll undoubtedly experience at points.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, as manufacturers frequently like to add their own touches to the Android operating system, I just don’t think that decision was for the best this time. In any case, after the operating system and the pre-installed apps are accounted for, you have just about 12GB of free space left on the tablet (remember, we were sent the 16GB model to test), so at least Lenovo hasn’t gone as crazy as some manufacturers do with bloatware.
Keyboard Dock
Lenovo is also offering a keyboard dock alongside the IdeaTab S2110A, and I have to say that the whole package looks really nice once the tablet and the dock are attached. The keyboard dock will help improve battery life, and it actually feels like a solid piece of equipment. The tablet feels a little heavier than the keyboard dock, so as a result, your mini notebook will feel a little top heavy at times – something to watch out for so you can make sure your tablet doesn’t take a spill.
The buttons on the keyboard feel really nice, as does the trackpad, though it’s going to take some time to get used to both. At first, the trackpad feels a little too sensitive, and since Lenovo has crammed a keyboard into such a small space, the keys are not only tiny, but they’re pretty close together too. That’s something I struggled with at first, but that may have more to do with my big hands than anything else. Expect to spend a few days getting used to the keyboard before you can really begin typing up a storm while keeping errors to a minimum.
The dock has a mini USB port for charging, accompanied by two full USB ports so you can use to connect a mouse or jump drive (or any other USB device for that matter). It’s here that you’ll also find the aforementioned SD card slot – it’s a full-size slot too, so microSD cards aren’t going to do you any good unless you have an SD adapter. There’s isn’t too much going on as far as ports on the dock are concerned, but considering that there’s already a number of ports and jacks on the tablet, less is more in this case.
Above the row of number keys is a set of hotkeys that allow you to do all sorts of things on your tablet. You can use these keys to turn on wireless, activate Bluetooth, and lock the tablet, which will help limit the number of times you’ll be reaching for the screen. However, the touchscreen still works while the tablet is connected to the dock, so you’ll have the option of using the S2110A’s touch capabilities if you need to.
I really like the way the whole package looks when the tablet is connected to the dock. The tablet actually locks in place once you connect it to the dock (meaning that you don’t have to worry about it falling out once you’ve connected it), which is definitely a nice touch. In all, I don’t have any major gripes with the dock – yes, it will take some getting used to, but Lenovo actually did a pretty good job considering the small space it had to work with.
Don’t let the fact that the dock with take some getting used to dissuade you though, because in my mind, it’s the dock that really makes this package worth checking out. On its own, the IdeaTab S2110A doesn’t have much to make it stand out from the sea of other tablets out there, but when you’ve got it attached to the dock, you’ve got a solid unit on your hands. It’s a shame that Lenovo isn’t including the dock with every IdeaTab S2110A, because the experience of using the tablet without the dock is vastly different than using it with the dock. If you ask me, it’s worth shelling out that extra $100 for the dock, even if the makes the total price a little difficult to swallow.
Battery
Lenovo has packed the S2110A with a 2 cell Lithium-polymer battery that it says will last for 9-10 hours of surfing with Wi-Fi enabled. Turning the screen down to 50% brightness and using the IdeaTab S2110A to surf, watch video, and play a few games of Solitaire, I was able to get about four hours of use out of a fully charged battery with right around 35% left over. This means that casual users should be able to get right around 6 hours of power out of a full charge, but naturally that all depends on a few variables.
Most importantly, these variables are screen brightness and Wi-Fi. Leaving the Wi-Fi on all the time (as I did) will obviously drain the battery faster, and keeping the tablet on auto brightness will help conserve battery. Aside from auto brightness, the IdeaTab S2110A comes with three brightness settings. The first is a little too dim for my liking, while the second setting, which places it at 50% brightness, is plenty bright. On the third and highest setting, colors will be their most vibrant, but you’ll also drain the battery very fast with the S2110A on that setting.
Lenovo says that you can double the life of the battery by using the dock, and again while those quoted times will vary, getting a full day of heavy use while the tablet is connected to the dock certainly isn’t out of the question. In other words, use the dock, because it makes almost everything about the IdeaTab S2110A much, much better.
Camera
I’ll just say this right away: the five-megapixel rear-facing camera on the IdeaTab S2110A isn’t great, so don’t pick up this tablet expecting to use it as your main-shooter. It also comes equipped with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, but that’s really only good for video chat and nothing else. The sample shots taken with the rear-facing camera show us that the snapper on this tablet is nothing to get excited about; there pictures aren’t anything special, merely average in quality. I’m not sure that a camera should be one of the key features in your hunt for a tablet, but if for whatever reason it is, keep on looking.
Benchmarks
In Quad and AnTuTu, the IdeaTab S2110A showed some very promising results. It isn’t at the top of it’s league, but it definitely isn’t near the bottom either. These benchmark results show us that dual-core isn’t dead yet, and indeed, the processor on the S2110A is quite speedy, despite the fact that lag on the home and settings screens suggest otherwise.
In Quad, the IdeaTab S2110A was given a score of 4953, which was enough to beat out the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Nexus, and Nexus S all by a wide margin. That may not be all that surprising, considering that all three of those devices aren’t exactly considered young and sexy these days, but it’s worth pointing out that the S2110A more than doubled the score of the Galaxy Tab. That certainly isn’t bad.
In AnTuTu, it’s much the same. The S2110A came in under the Galaxy Note II, HTC One X+, Galaxy S III, and Transformer Prime by a significant amount, but managed to beat other devices like the original Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Nexus, and the Galaxy S II. In other words, don’t expect to be blown away by what’s the under the hood, but at the same time, don’t be tricked into thinking that the S2110A is a slouch.
Wrap-Up
I have to say that I have very mixed feelings about the S2110A. The screen is beautiful, and bright colors, sharp images, and wide viewing angles make the tablet a pleasure to use. The optional keyboard dock is also a winner in my book, and I like it so much that I can’t recommend picking up the S2110A without one. There we run into a problem though: the keyboard dock is an optional accessory, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s an integral part of the S2110A experience.
But then there are some issues with the tablet too. Even though the S2110A looks really nice, it’s obvious from the first time you hold it that someone at Lenovo slacked off when it came to build quality. It definitely doesn’t feel as sturdy as it should, and seeing those inevitable pressure spots on the screen is enough to send anyone into a rage.
For that reason, it’s hard for me to recommend the S2110A. If the stellar keyboard dock came standard, then I might be willing to suggest that users overlook the issues with build quality and go for it. As it is, though, the keyboard dock sends the price of the IdeaTab S2110A up well over $500, and that’s simply too much money for a tablet that, aside from the dock, doesn’t have many qualities to make it worth that price tag. Even without the dock, I think the IdeaTab S2110A is still on the expensive side.
You might be able to live with the build quality issues, and if that’s the case, knock yourself out. For most, however, I think it would be a better idea to look at other tablets before settling on the IdeaTab S2110A. There are instances when the S2110A threatens to be a really nice tablet, but unfortunately, the issues with the device hold it back from greatness each and every time.
As Sony’s second stab at the US mobile market, the Xperia TL arrives with a major corporate synergistic push: a 007 movie franchise tie-in. But an awkward distinction as the official Bond phone and a smattering of pre-loaded “Skyfall” multimedia content alone won’t drive consumer adoption; the specs and pricing will. Following in the footsteps of the company’s first stateside flagship, the Ion, this AT&T 4G LTE exclusive is priced aggressively at $99 on two-year contract, packing a 4.6-inch HD Reality display (1,280 x 720) powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine, a dual-core Snapdragon S4 clocked at 1.5GHz, 16GB of storage (expandable up to 32GB via microSD), 1GB RAM, NFC, dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, as well as an integrated 1,850mAh battery.
With Ice Cream Sandwich running the show and a planned upgrade to Jelly Bean in the works, it has all the makings of a current-gen high-end offering. So will the Xperia TL help Sony build much-needed buzz for its mobile division here in the states? Can a sub-$100 price tag effectively lure consumers away from the bigger, faster and flashier Android phones AT&T has to offer? Or is this mainly one for Sony loyalists? Find out after the break as we put the TL through its paces.
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