Hasta La Gadget!

Earlier today, a Galaxy Note 3 as reached a download speed of 300Mbps, and with its Snapdragon 805 processor, it became the fastest and most powerful device of its kind. The bad news is that you won’t be able to purchase it: it’s a unique prototype built for the sole purpose to demonstrate LTE Category 6 (Cat6) which is even faster that the best wireless networks deployed in the world: South Korea’s Cat4 LTE networks.

This Galaxy Note is has a Gobi 9×35 modem (a cousin of the Gobi 9×30) that is twice as fast as anything found commercially, and it features Snapdragon 805, which brings a boost of 30%-40% over the original Snapdragon 800 of the Note 3. [note: the image above is NOT the actual Note 3 used in the test] (more…)

Samsung and Qualcomm Build World’s Fastest Galaxy Note 3 original content from Ubergizmo.

After wowing us at CES with the Xperia Z, Sony enticed us at Mobile World Congress with the Xperia Tablet Z. Both devices combine top-notch specs with beautiful industrial design — pure rectangular forms with a mirror-like finish packaged in thin, light and water-resistant shells. We sat down with product marketing manager Stephen Sneeden in Barcelona to talk about these iconic products. We discussed the “omni-balance” design and the common user experience shared by both devices, which was spearheaded when Kuni Suzuki became Sony Mobile’s president and CEO. He explained that some of these design elements will likely be incorporated into future (non-mobile) products and that the both the Xperia Z and Tablet Z are premium, aspirational devices which will become reference points for more affordable models. We then chatted about the Tablet Z’s specs, in particular its impressive thickness (6.9mm / 0.27 inches) and best-in-class weight (495g / 0.99lbs). Mr. Sneeden mentioned the TV SideView app, an electronic programming guide with voice activation that’s available from the Play Store and takes advantage of the Tablet Z’s built-in IR blaster — he also pointed out that Sony’s Music Unlimited and Walkman Player apps will be fully integrated by summer. We touched upon a few other topics, including the Xperia Play and PlayStation Certified program for phones. Check out the full video interview after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Sony

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It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the HTC One here at Engadget — we’ve already written at length about the handset’s hardware design, software features and imaging chops. At MWC, we were lucky to spend some time with Scott Croyle, VP of design, to discuss the company’s latest superphone. We talked about the handset’s delightful zero-gap aluminum and plastic unibody and how HTC wanted to “break down that last barrier” of integrating antennae in a metal casing without making compromises. He explained that the One’s design was inspired by high-end watches, and it turns out that the zero-gap machining process was developed in-house specifically for this device. Some of the antennae (such as WiFi and GPS) are actually machined as part of the unibody and coexist on the same aluminum panel.

We then chatted about the gorgeous 4.7-inch 1080p display which was supplied by the same manufacturer which provided the screen for the Droid DNA and One X, and the daring Ultrapixel camera, which packs four million large (2µm) pixels and OIS. Mr. Croyle mentioned that while the business side is incredibly important, the decision to use Ultrapixels was focused on the needs of consumers. We asked if limiting the number of pixels was in any way driven by the software — the desire to implement Zoe and perhaps curtail the massive amounts of data gathered and processed by the feature. It turns out that the development of the sensor and optics started a long time before the software. As for Zoe, “nobody’s redefined what a photograph could mean” and HTC was eager to try something new. Our full video interview is yours to watch after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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I’m spending a decent amount of time using the LG Optimus G Pro before finalizing the Ubergizmo review, but I thought that I would drop a quick note about the LG Optimus G Pro benchmark numbers as some of you may be impatient to know how it performs in the real world. Overall, the results are much better than the original model that we had reviewed. The performance is now much more stable (less variations in-between runs) and we feel like LG did a lot of tuning on its software, that’s a really good thing. The original Optimus G had huge variations, and we ended up averaging the results, which explains that it scored lower than the average Snapdragon S4 Pro handsets out there. Overall, we’re still pretty close from S4 Pro levels of performance, but there are differences worth noting. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sleep Art App Turns Your Sleep Patterns Into Works Of Art, Huawei Prism II For T-Mobile Spotted,

We gave the LG Optimus G Pro a Best of MWC award, but for a number of you who are waiting for a possible availability in your local market, we wanted to show what’s inside the box, namely: the phone itself, some documentation, a nice pair of earbuds, two 3140 mAh batteries, a USB cable and a battery charger/dock. Note that this is a Korean handset (with a typical DMB antenna), so the content may change depending on your retail location or on your local carrier. However, this gives an indication of what LG wants to ship in the box. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Ubergizmo’s Best of MWC 2013, ASUS Padfone Hands-On Review,