Craig Lloyd

Author: Craig Lloyd

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 Review

By Craig Lloyd
on 21 Apr, 2013

Samsung has had a place in the mid-size tablet market for a while now, and their newest piece of machinery takes things to a new level. The Galaxy Note 8.0 is the happy medium between the company’s Galaxy Note 10.1 and the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II, and we first took a look at the new device during Mobile World Congress back in February. It comes with the infamous S Pen, as well as a quad-core processor to keep things humming along nicely. However, the tablet starts at $400, which is a bit expensive compared to other tablets in the same playing field, which makes us wonder what’s so special about this specific slate. Let’s take a peek.

LG Spectrum 2 Review

By Craig Lloyd
on 22 Nov, 2012

Mid-range smartphones are a mixed bag -- most of them are decent, but at the end of the day, they usually still leave something to be desired. However, every once in a while, a mid-range device will come along that’s worthy of its accolades and has flagship specs at a budget price. The LG Spectrum 2, which is available now at Verizon for $99, seems to be one of those devices. It’s based off the LG Optimus LTE II that was released in Korea earlier this year. LG and Verizon made a few changes to the design and specs, and ended up spitting out the Spectrum 2 to US users. The phone sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core chip, 1GB of RAM, a 4.7-inch 720p HD IPS display, and even NFC and wireless charging capabilities -- not a bad combination of features, but we have to see if the handset can use them advantageously. Let’s find out what this thing is capable of.

Pantech Flex Review

By Craig Lloyd
on 14 Nov, 2012

While Pantech has never been a major leader in the Android handset business, they’ve been a relatively good choice when it comes to budget devices. The company’s newest smartphone, the Flex, is Pantech’s first attempt at making a real contender while still keeping the price on the down-low. It’s available now on AT&T’s network for just $20 after signing a two-year contract. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and a large 4.3-inch display -- all of which are crucial ingredients to a powerhouse device. However, since specs aren’t everything, we have to dig deeper into the Pantech Flex to see if it can compete with the likes of HTC, Nokia, or even Samsung. Let’s see how it fares.

HTC and Apple settle patent issues, agree to 10-year licensing deal

By Craig Lloyd
on 10 Nov, 2012

HTC and Apple have just announced that they're settling all of their patent disputes, and have agreed to a 10-year licensing deal with one another, as well as dismissing all of their current lawsuits against each other. The license extends to current and future patents held by both companies.

LG Optimus L9 Review

By Craig Lloyd
on 7 Nov, 2012

LG has certainly been on a roll recently. They made Google's newest Nexus smartphone, the Nexus 4, and they released their new flagship device, the Optimus G, just recently on AT&T. However, LG isn't just about the high-end game. They came out with a set of mid-range Optimus devices throughout the summer, and their latest one is the Optimus L9, which was released through T-Mobile on Halloween. We ended up getting our hands on one and decided to run it through its paces to see if it's worthy of the $79.99 price tag. Let's see how it fared.

Nexus 4 announced, coming November 13

By Craig Lloyd
on 29 Oct, 2012

The incoming Hurricane Sandy might have forced Google to cancel its Android event in New York City, but that hasn't stopped the company from announcing its new products anyway. Google and LG officially announced the Nexus 4, which is Google's new flagship smartphone and the newest iteration in the Nexus family.

Android Community Weekly: October 28th, 2012

By Craig Lloyd
on 28 Oct, 2012

Another week has gone by, and it went by quickly, but that doesn't mean that nothing crazy happened. It was a big week for Android news; more rumors of the next Nexus device made their way around, and Google's major Android event scheduled for tomorrow was suddenly cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. Read on for more of this past week's best Android news.

Android Community Weekly: September 28th, 2012

By Craig Lloyd
on 30 Sep, 2012

Another great week here at Android Community has wrapped up. There were a lot new app releases, as well as a plethora of news from Google. On the other side of the fence, Apple is still getting a ton of grief for its new Maps app and even apologized for how awful their mapping service is. All we have to say is that it's great to be an Android user right about now.

Poweramp updates with better support for Jelly Bean

By Craig Lloyd
on 28 Sep, 2012

Poweramp has been a dominant figure in the Android music player market ever since its initial launch. Even in its beta stages, Poweramp was a great music player that had tons of unique features. It's continuing that dominance with a new update today that includes a lot of welcome changes and improvements.

AT&T announces four new Samsung Galaxy devices

By Craig Lloyd
on 28 Sep, 2012

It's been a little while since AT&T has announced some worthy phones (except the iPhone 5 obviously), but today AT&T just added a slew of new Samsung Galaxy devices to their lineup. The Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Galaxy Express, and Galaxy Rugby Pro are all coming to AT&T and will also support the carrier's 4G LTE.