Chris Burns

Author: Chris Burns

Samsung promises better battery life in 2012

By Chris Burns
on 17 Jan, 2012

For those of you with devices like the Galaxy Nexus and the DROID Charge, you know good and well that not all Samsung devices are top of class when it comes to holding a charge for an equitable amount of time. That's why it comes as awesome news this week the Samsung's vice president of product innovation mister Kevin Packingham has all but guaranteed they'd be making battery life more of a priority in 2012. Noting in an interview with CNET that they "don't want you to feel anxiety about your battery life" when you wake up and when you go to bed, batteries such as that which you saw in the RAZR MAXX, for example, may well be popping up in your next Galaxy.

DROID RAZR MAXX release date tipped for the 26th

By Chris Burns
on 13 Jan, 2012

There's a whole new Motorola RAZR in town, and those of you that've already picked up the old one should know this: the release date has been tipped to us for the RAZR MAXX to be the 26th of January, 2012. This sits well with the perhaps accidentally dropped date (also the 26th shown on the Motorola site earlier this week (and subsequently taken down), this leading us to believe that, barring any newly discovered mishaps before then, we can expect a bigger and bolder RAZR in our very near future.

Galaxy S III press shots leak, details attached

By Chris Burns
on 23 Dec, 2011

There's a couple of press shots out there today with the name Galaxy S III attached to them, and although we do suggest a bit of caution in believing these details as Bible truth, the possibility that this "leak" is accurate still does exist. The Samsung line of Galaxy S devices is the best selling series in the history of Android, and continues to impress the whole Android community with each iteration: your humble narrator uses the AT&T Galaxy S II as one of his daily drivers, in fact - so this is no small news to us, I can assure you. And with such strange details included here, such as this device dual-booting Android and Samsung's own Bada operating system, we're crossing our fingers for an odd future reality.

Verizon Galaxy Nexus LTE Hands-on and Unboxing

By Chris Burns
on 15 Dec, 2011

When it comes down to Android running on a smartphone, there's a collection of devices out there that bring you a "Pure Google" experience, developed between the manufacturer and Google specifically to bring you the best experience you're going to get with each main version of their operating system - the Galaxy Nexus is next in line in this family line, and here in the Verizon version we get our first official USA glimpse of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The first version of this device was released a few weeks ago internationally, this version just dropping today at Verizon with 4G LTE capabilities and a couple tiny modifications to the operating system in the form of apps placed there by Verizon. In our first look here, we'll explore how the device feels to handle, some initial benchmarks, and some photo and video examples so you can see if you'll truly want to be running down to your local Verizon store to snatch one up.

Motorola DROID XYBOARD 10.1 Hands-on and Unboxing

By Chris Burns
on 12 Dec, 2011

This week (or last week, depending on your location), you're able to purchase not one, but two new Motorola tablets, each of them carrying the coveted "DROID" moniker in front of the word XYBOARD - what we've got here is the 10.1-inch version, the closest we'll get to a direct descendent of the original Honeycomb tablet, the Motorola XOOM. This tablet runs with Verizon's 4G LTE network for speed, a Texas Instruments OMAP4 1.2GHz dual-core processor under the hood, and has a lovely new form factor with soft black plastic and metallic-looking hard silver plastic. On the front there's one sheet of reinforced Gorilla Glass glass over this device's 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel resolution LCD display.

BobbleDroids turns your Androidify avatar into a custom bobblehead

By Chris Burns
on 18 Nov, 2011

A new breed of geeky desktop toys for Android fans has launched today and they’re called BobbleDroids. These Android bobbleheads are custom handmade based on your Androidify avatar, making them truly unique gifts this holiday season for yourself or your hardcore Android-loving friends and family. Have the coolest desk in the office and show off your Android pride with no less than a fully decked out BobbleDroid - created to your exact specifications, obeying and bobbling at your every command.

Galaxy Nexus Hands-on and Unboxing

By Chris Burns
on 17 Nov, 2011

What we've got here is the Galaxy Nexus, Google's hero device for their next-generation Android operating system version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich - manufactured by Samsung and made to exemplify the most basic flavoring of the next step in the software series. What you'll find when you hold the device in your hands for the first time is that it's essentially a cross between the most recent models of Samsung Galaxy S II and the last Google hero phone, the Nexus S, also manufactured by Samsung. Of course there's little room for error with Samsung hoping to keep up their standing with Google and Google hoping to keep up their standing with you, the consumer, so what's it going to be? You'll find right away that this little monster truly takes the cake.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on

By Chris Burns
on 17 Nov, 2011

This week we get the privilege of handling not only the newest device in the Samsung portfolio, complete with curved front display at a resolution not yet seen on a Super AMOLED touchscreen, we get to experience the newest version of Google's mobile OS: Ice Cream Sandwich. This is the 4.0 version of Android and is the most significant refresh for Android since FroYo. Have a quick peek and you'll think it's Honeycomb for handsets, but you'll quickly realize that this is a combination of all the good points, plus a bunch more new, of Androids past. Have another peek at what this newest flavoring is all about.

Nook Tablet Hands-on and Unboxing

By Chris Burns
on 16 Nov, 2011

This week marks the launch of Barnes & Noble's second-wave full-color media consumption slate, the Nook Tablet, and with a bumped-up processor from Texas Instruments, connections to Hulu Plus and Netflix, and notably similar physical attributes otherwise for the chassis, we've got to wonder how this will be able to take on the competition this holiday season. What we've got here is what your humble narrator got to look at back about a year ago in the Nook Color, but this time with a few upgrades. If it isn't broke, don't fix it - is that what this is all about? Our hands-on here and our eventual review of this device will tell the tale.

HTC Rezound Review

By Chris Burns
on 14 Nov, 2011

The HTC Rezound is not the nicest HTC device to have been released thus far to the market here in the USA, but it certainly does have all the features that make it one of the best smartphones on Verizon, and certainly one of the top two LTE devices today. In the following review I'm going to prove to you why if you're in the market for an HTC LTE device, this is your very best choice, that if you're in the market for the best HTC device on the market, you'd better go with the Sensation, and finally why if you want the most iconic, memorable, and well supported devices on Verizon you may well be better off going with the DROID RAZR.