Hasta La Gadget!

Shopping for a smartphone can be an exciting and arduous experience. Along with the promise of something new and fantastic, it brings the fear of commitment, and even worse, the prospect of saddling yourself to a lousy device for two years. Fortunately for you, Engadget spends tons of time playing with the latest gear and we’re constantly on the lookout for what’s coming next. If you’re wanting to take the pain out of shopping for a smartphone, you’ve come to the right place. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: your one-stop resource to finding the best and most exciting handsets on the market today.

Before you dive in, however, we’ve introduced a few changes to the buyer’s guide, so take a minute to prepare yourself for what’s in store. First and foremost, you’ll now find alternate selections to supplement our top picks. This should already be familiar to many of you, which is the same format we use for our seasonal gift guides. The next one is a biggie: we’ve dropped the QWERTY selection. By and large, manufacturers and carriers alike have shifted their focus away from keyboard-equipped smartphones, and you’ll rarely find more than one option on any given carrier. That said, if you still insist on the tactile experience, you’ll always find everything you need to know in our reviews. Finally, whenever possible, you’ll now find prices from Amazon Wireless, which allows us to provide you with more compelling budget selections and highlight the substantial savings that you can score by circumventing the carriers. It’s not like they need your charity, anyway.

If you’re curious to see how it all unfolded — and we know you are — join us after the break, where we round up the very best smartphones of the season.

Continue reading Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: fall 2012 edition

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC, Nokia, Google, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, LG, T-Mobile

Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: fall 2012 edition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Hopefully AT&T subscribers weren’t spooked when the Nokia Lumia 920 first passed through the FCC in only its non-US guise, and its lower-end 820 cousin only as the (currently unofficial) Verizon-ready Lumia 822. The two Windows Phone 8 flagships have had follow-up approvals in GSM versions that are unmistakably destined for AT&T and Canadian carriers. Never mind the slightly distracting RM-820 model number on the Lumia 920; it reveals the 920’s distinctive curved design, 700MHz LTE in AT&T’s range and AWS-based LTE for both AT&T as well as its Canadian neighbor. The Lumia 820 is equally identifiable as the RM-824, even if it limits the LTE access to AT&T’s network. We haven’t seen any shocking revelations from either device, although we weren’t expecting any from phones that hew so closely to the original templates. The filings mostly set expectations for Microsoft’s October 29th event — now that the likely stars of the show are cleared to make their appearances, the companies involved should breathe more easily.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

Nokia Lumia 820, 920 for AT&T swing through the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FCC (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

Where goeth AT&T, so often goeth its one-time partner Rogers. That’s certainly true for the Nokia Lumia 920: Rogers has confirmed that it will have an exclusive on the Windows Phone 8 flagship in Canada, much as AT&T has a lock on the device in the US. While there’s no pricing or color options yet, the Canuck model will share the November shipping window and LTE support, and it’s easy to imagine Rogers gravitating towards its signature (and coincidentally patriotic) red. Other Canadian carriers haven’t chipped in about the Lumia 820; if history is any indicator, though, we’d anticipate the less expensive portion of Nokia’s lineup going Telus’ way.

Continue reading Nokia Lumia 920 to be a Rogers exclusive in Canada, we wonder if red is an option

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

Nokia Lumia 920 to be a Rogers exclusive in Canada, we wonder if red is an option originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Can we call October the Month of Metro, even if Microsoft isn’t keen on the idea? Hot on the heels of its Windows 8 invitation, the company is asking us to head out a second time to see a street-inspired OS, inviting us to Windows Phone 8’s formal launch on October 29th in San Francisco. The teaser doesn’t say much about what Microsoft will show, although there’s a real chance we’ll get firmer launch schedules — not to mention more opportunities with the Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC Windows Phone 8X than staring lovingly at their home screens. You can be sure that we’ll report back with the full details.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, HTC, Nokia, AT&T

Microsoft continues invitation spree, asks us to attend its Windows Phone 8 launch event on October 29th originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Yesterday’s lab installment gave us an opportunity to pit the Lumia 920 against competing smartphones in a low-light capture scenario, but Nokia’s standard battery of tests is used to evaluate and improve far more than stills shooting. Several stops throughout the day brought us to a foam-filled sound chamber tasked with analyzing call quality in a variety of environments, a room with industrial freezers and ovens used to push the limits of operability, and a rig that can shoot with interchangeable sensors and apply image quality algorithms in real-time, without a handset in sight. Unfortunately, due to proprietary technologies and processes, we weren’t permitted to photograph these first facilities, though we did manage to snap away at two other stations — a platform that shifted up and down at adjustable speeds to test the Lumia 920’s optical image stabilization, and a machine that drops smartphones against a block of concrete, used to simulate that all-too-frequent occurrence of handsets plunging towards pavement.

We’ve seen plenty examples of the 920’s OIS capabilities this week, so we won’t go into much more detail on that front, but specialized (and pricey) equipment enables engineers to introduce consistent processes — this machine simulated hand shake at different speeds, and even with exaggerated movement, the benefits were clear. A separate building contained the drop test contraption, which releases devices from an adjustable height, letting them land directly on a block of polished concrete. We tested both the 808 PureView and a Samsung Galaxy S III in this manner (with roughly 100 Lumia prototypes currently available, Nokia wasn’t quite willing to risk sending one to its death). Both smartphones remained in perfect working order following the drop, so it’s likely that they’ll be able to handle a similar fall during regular use as well (company reps offered to test our iPhone 5, but we declined handing it over). That wraps up our week at Nokia’s facilities in Finland — there will be plenty more to explore once we have a Lumia sample in hand, but you’ll find the OIS test and concrete plunge videos ready right now, posted just after the break.

Continue reading From the lab: Lumia 920 image stabilization and 808 drop test at Nokia R&D (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile

From the lab: Lumia 920 image stabilization and 808 drop test at Nokia R&D (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments