Hardware

The Sony Xperia U is pretty much identical to the Xperia S, sharing the same design but in a smaller chassis. That hard plastic makes a return, although the back feels soft to the touch and is resistant to fingerprints and smudges. The 3.5-inch screen has a 854×480 resolution, and spec wise you’re looking at a NovaThor U8500 dual-core 1Ghz processor with Mali-400MP GPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and five megapixel camera with 720p.

Before you get too excited at the mention of a Mali GPU, remember that this is a slower version of what’s found in the Galaxy S II and other phones, so don’t expect anywhere near the performance. The other piece of bad news is that the phone only comes with 4GB of storage, and there’s no microSD card slot. That’s pretty bad, and you’ll run into problems extremely quickly even if you just add music to the phone. The upside is that USB OTG does function properly, so you’re not completely stuck, but having a USB cable dangle off your phone for extra storage is hardly an ideal solution.

The display on the Xperia U is a mixed bag. It’s plenty bright, and the viewing angles are generally decent, but tip the phone past a certain point and you can invert the image being displayed. There are three problems with the screen, though. First, there’s no oleophobic coating. That means you’re going to be looking at a very messy screen very quickly, and it’s hard to clean properly without a dedicated cloth. Second, if you’re particularly sensitive to screen quality then you’ll be able to notice the strange texture and odd colorization of the display on light colored backgrounds. Finally, you can see the digitizer grid just below the screen when shifting the phone against certain colors like yellow and white.

microUSB is found on the left side of the phone, and power, volume rocker, and a dedicated camera key are on the right. The 3.5mm headphone jack and microphone are on top, and another mic is located on the bottom. Speaking of the bottom, the cap can be removed and replaced with different color covers. All we have to say to this is: why? Otherwise you’re looking at the same clear antenna strip that you’ll find on the Xperia P and the Xperia S, which also lights up on certain notifications and alerts. You can change the color the strip using the different Themes that Sony provides in the Android settings.

Software

Just like the P and the S, the Xperia U ships with Gingerbread instead of Android’s latest and great, Ice Cream Sandwich. Sony has promised an update for the handset in the future, but it’s still disheartening to see ICS missing. If you’re familiar with the software modifications that Sony has made to previous Android handsets, then you pretty much know the score with the U as well.

There is a little bit of bloatware bundled with the device – McAfee, OfficeSuite, WisePilot – and a few other included apps like WhatsApp and Astro File Manager. All of them can be uninstalled without any issues, allowing you to claw back some of that precious 4GB. Otherwise, expect to see Sony’s own apps, including Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited, Track ID, Media Remote, and Play Now, which is Sony’s app store. There isn’t anything too exciting on there, with a lot of apps carried across from the Play Store.

The software keyboard looks daunting at first given the small size of the display, but we didn’t have too much trouble with it. Mistakes were few and far between, although the keyboard did lag on occasion with haptic feedback left on. We personally didn’t have any issues despite the horizontal resolution, although those with larger digits may struggle.

Performance and Benchmarks

Sony has managed to achieve quite a feat with the Xperia U, slotting a NovaThor U8500 dual-core 1Ghz processor and a slower Mali-400MP GPU into the device. General performance is good too: flicking around homescreens and through apps is smooth, with very few instances of stutter or lag. Web browsing is good too, with pinch-to-zoom and double tapping resulting in smooth transitions. The phone did have to catch its breath occasionally on heavier webpages, or those with Flash, but overall we’d say it performed admirably.

Benchmarks seem to back that up too. It doesn’t blow the doors off by any means, but it does seem to be beating everything in this price category. Quadrant gave us a result of 2204, SunSpider 0.9.1 achieved 2526ms, AnTuTu returned 5359, and NeNaMark 2 scored 29.2fps.

Camera

The five megapixel on the Xperia U is decidedly middle of the road. It can take some nice photos in the right circumstances, with good colors and detail, but noise reduction seems to be ever present in photos. In good lighting conditions, it’s not too much of an issue, with only occasional splotches as minor noise is dealt with. In poorer conditions, however, the noise reduction ramp up, smearing images and taking detail out along with the noise. Otherwise, we didn’t have any major complaints. It’s a competent shooter, just don’t expect miracles.

Taking photos is a bit tricker. The two-stage dedicated camera key on the side of the phone seems awkward to use, with the first press being a little too light, and too much effort needed to press the button all the way down to take the photo. Tap-to-focus is missing in the camera app too, so if you want to focus and meter the shot before you take one you’ll have to hold down either the on-screen camera key or task a risk with the physical button.

The 720p video recording, however, is horrendous. The H.264 Baseline L3.1 clips have an average bitrate of around 6Mbit/s, but you wouldn’t know it. Clips are filled with compressions artifacts, with textures obliterated and scenery swimming in macroblocks. Sharpening creates awful halos around the edges of objects, and the jelly effect is in full force, so any quick panning or fast moving vehicles will result in distortion.

Battery

The 1,290mAh battery sounds small, but its definitely a champ when it comes ot performance. A video battery rundown test took a 720p H.264 High Profile L3.1 with AAC video and played it on loop with screen brightness set to 100%, and headphone volume set to 50%. After 4 hours and 37 minutes, the phone automatically shut down.

In typical usage, the Xperia U can easily get through a full day, and if you’re a light user, you’d be able to push two without any issues. Our usage is admittedly light, with only one push email account, some WhatsApp/texting, and occasional browsing, but even heavier users won’t have any problems getting through a full working day.

Wrap-Up

The Xperia U sounds like a very average device: it doesn’t do anything particularly well, but it’s not a bad phone at the same time. What makes the phone interesting is the price point that Sony is hitting. Three UK offer the phone for £180, which brings it in cheaper than the HTC One V while offering a slightly higher screen resolution and faster processor. There really aren’t any phones around that price point that have a dual-core processor either.

Having said all that, there are some niggling issues that will irritate some users. The display is the big one, and while I imagine most people will be perfectly content with the screen, others will be frustrated once they notice the panel funk and digitizer grid. Kudos to Sony for blessing the phone with a sensible 854×480 resolution when so many other phones in this bracket don’t even match that, but otherwise the HTC One V’s display is much, much better.

If you’re on a tight budget but want the best performance your money can buy, the Sony Xperia U is a safe choice. Users need to be wary about the lack of storage space, however, as 4GB will disappear very quickly, and if you can stretch your budget just a little bit more, the HTC One V has more going for it despite the single-core processor.

The Tab 2 10-inch was rumored to be delayed in favor of a quad-core processor but that wasn’t the case. Instead Samsung has opted for a cheaper 1.0 GHz dual-core processor (not a Tegra 2 like the original Tab 10) but instead a Texas Instruments dual-core chip. Don’t worry though folks, it performs great and is being offered at a friendly price starting at $399 for the 16GB model. We’ll start with the hands-on and tour video below then dig into the details.

Hardware
With the new Tab 2 the hardware has seen a few design and internal changes but for the most part is very similar to the original Galaxy Tab 10 from Samsung last year. What you’ll get here is a different processor, a sleek design, better speaker placements and a lower price point. Like mentioned above, under the hood is a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and it comes with 16GB of internal storage. However Samsung did provide a micro-sd slot for additional storage. Then we have the usual 3 megapixel camera on the rear, and a 1.3 front for video chatting and self portraits.

Samsung has taken what they learned from the first 10-inch model, their recently released Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE, and the smaller Tab 7 and added everything into one. Gone is the cheap feeling plastic back and instead we have a brushed aluminum designed plastic back that feels very durable. Then they’ve added the SD slot, and the Infrared port from the older 7-inch model for controlling your home theater or TV.

All of the controls are actually up top with nothing on either side of the slate. We have from left to right the power and wake button, volume up/down, micro-SD slot, Infrared eye, and the 3.5mm headphone jack. The front half has a dark grey shiny aluminum while the back keeps that brushed rugged and durable look. I’m actually a total fan of this latest model and it might be my favorite Galaxy Tab to date.

I’ve always hated the rear or bottom facing speakers on tablets, especially if there’s only one like the Transformer Prime. The new Galaxy Tab’s have been improved and offer a pair of front facing stereo speakers. The new Galaxy Tab 2 10-inch model we have here today by far has the best audio of any tablet I’ve tested to date. They are clear, crisp, and get extremely loud. Not only that but you don’t have to worry about your hand covering them up during use. This makes the tablet much easier to hold, gaming is loud and exciting, and streaming Netflix (which comes pre-installed) is better than ever.

The 10-inch screen is still only 1280 x 800 like most tablets available, and isn’t AMOLED but sure is bright, vivid, and seems to have similar viewing angles to most Samsung tablets. Their displays are never much of an issue anyways and always are good quality with Sammy. The lightweight design also doesn’t add any weight over the first Tab 10, and it’s much lighter than the heavy quad-core ASUS Transformer Prime.

Software
Samsung has released these tablets with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the OS. With their own tablet-optimized version of TouchWiz over the top that offers impressive widgets, screenshot features with edit mode, and a new keyboard that is actually really nice to type on compared to the stock ICS tablet keyboard. The changes are lightweight and performance remains strong and usage is swift.

Like mentioned above, Samsung appears to be going for a cheaper consumption device here and will be targeting the high range with the 10-inch note. The Galaxy Tab 2 comes pre-loaded with tons of media apps such as Samsung Music Hub, Music Player, a custom video player, Netflix, a photo and video editor, as well as Peel smart remote to use the Infrared. Clearly this is all about consuming media with this WiFi tablet and so far I’ve done plenty of that. Playing games and watching movies is awesome with the improved speakers up front.

Performance
Being only a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor this is actually one of the lower spec’d devices released in the past 6 months in the dual-core category. With everything lately coming with 1.2 or 1.5 GHz dual-cores or higher at first we questioned Samsung’s choice. After using this for the past week I can safely say so far I don’t miss the speeds. Usage is solid, performance is great for movies, games like Grand Theft Auto III and more. Sadly we can’t access those TegraZone THD games because they’ve moved from NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 to a Texas Instruments processor, but most games are still available in the Google Play Store.

Obviously you can see where she lies in regards to benchmark tests such as AnTuTu. With many devices including the quad-core ASUS Transformer Prime blowing past its results, but that was sort of expected. Only scoring 3000 in Quadrant this is hardly an improvement over the original, more of an additional option for those in the market. Needless to say, from my video above you can clearly see performance is still stellar even though benchmark results are low. For $399 this tablet rocks.

Camera and Battery life
With the new Tab 2 the camera isn’t anything great, just like all of Samsung’s tablets. I guess they don’t see a need to offer a better camera and the Tab 2 comes with the same 3.2 megapixel camera all the others have. Their smartphones have excellent cameras but tablets are another story. I’d hardly consider this a con though, as I rarely if ever take pictures with my tablet. Below is a few pictures for those curious on the performance. As long as you have enough light it will take a few pictures with ease that are worthy of Facebook and the likes.

Battery life however is pretty awesome. Samsung’s equipped this slate with a 7,100 mAh battery and I’ve manged to get nearly 3 days of casual usage from a single charge. While usage will vary from user to user this is on par if not better than most tablets on the market — as long as you don’t watch Netflix for 6 hours a day.

Wrap-Up
From the media apps and widgets, Netflix, Peel Smart Remote and more it’s clear that this tablet is made to play and enjoy media. Offering hardly any difference over the original other than mainly the speakers and Ice Cream Sandwich coming stock — this tablet is about the same. I’d say I was disappointed with how similar they are but I’m not. For the price they’ll be asking ($399) this is an great tablet experience. The hardware is excellent, build quality is top notch and creak free, and it comes with the latest Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

If you were wanting or expecting a powerhouse Ice Cream Sandwich tablet or gaming machine the Galaxy Note 10.1 will be their flagship quad-core tablet once it’s made available later this summer. If you don’t want to wait, for the price point your options are this tablet or the Transformer Pad TF300. It does offer a quad-core processor but it’s not as premium feeling, has a plastic design, and isn’t as thin and beautiful. If you want the work horse the TF300 is for you, if you’d like a thin and awesome overall experience the new Galaxy Tab 2 10-inch from Samsung is worth a look.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below and check out all of the pictures from the gallery, as well as previous coverage or comparisons from the links below.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : Galaxy Tab 2 (10")

Manufactuer : Samsung

Carrier : NA

Announced Date : February 25, 2012

Release Date : May 13, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 10.1 Inch
• Resolution : 1280x800
• Screen Type : TFT PLS

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 6.9 Inch
• Width : 10.1 Inch
• Depth : 0.38 Inch
• Weight : 580 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Polymer

• Battery Capacity : 7100 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)
• WMV

Hardware

CPU : OMAP 4

CPU Clock Speed : 1000 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1000 MB

Internal Storage : 16 GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 3.2 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD
• MicroSDHC

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

Simply put, this phone is great. Everything about it screams of excellence from the hardware, software, camera, speed, user interface and more. The one area that it lacks though, is an important one, and that is the carrier. The Now Network 4G LTE is currently non-existent, but once it arrives this phone will be epic. Sadly this great all around devices is severely hampered by the network at the moment, but for everything else this is basically as good as it gets.

Hardware
The HTC EVO 4G LTE is basically a perfect blend of the HTC One X and the One S. It has the same micro-arc oxidation and ceramic feeling finish on back, with the kickstand dividing it from the camera and a glossy plastic back that gives access to the micro-SD slot. The phone rocks a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 HD display of excellent quality. Under the hood we have the lightning fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.5 GHz dual-core S4 processor, with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, micro-SD card (unlike the X), the top notch 8 megapixel camera on the rear and a front shooter for self portraits.

The kickstand is a famous addition to the EVO line, and users will be happy to know that is it very sturdy here. You can lay the phone on both sides and it holds it up completely stable. The phone screams of perfection and I’m a fan of the hardware and design. I didn’t like the look at first, but have quickly grown to like it. For more on the hardware and software enjoy this video tour:

One factor that I really like about the EVO 4G LTE over the X is the thinness of the phone. Everything is flat and smooth compared to the curved edges and large camera hump on the X. HTC did a great job making the EVO 4G LTE actually slightly thinner and a breeze to hold in your hand.

Software
Here we have Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich along with HTC’s Sense UI 4.0 running buttery smooth. If you’ve seen our previous HTC coverage it explains it all and more on the software can be seen from our HTC One S Review. HTC has completely trimmed down the Sense UI experience into a much simpler, prettier, and faster interface. The bloated and overdone effects on something like the EVO 3D have been toned down — but completely in a good way. The video above showed some of the interface, and the screenshots below do too.

Other than a few carrier specific apps we have HTC Hub, Google Wallet, and a few other apps like Facebook and Dropbox and that is all in regards to pre-installed apps. Everything is light and fast just the way we like it.

Benchmarks
Just like we’ve seen with the others from HTC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor is nothing to laugh at. It might not be a quad-core processor but you’d guess that from the impressive benchmarks, game results, and daily usage speeds. Check out our Tegra 3 vs Qualcomm S4 benchmark battle. The LTE-equipped dual-core S4 processor is extremely fast — scoring over 5000 in Quadrant and tearing up the competition. Results from the popular AnTuTu can be seen in the gallery below.

Camera
One of the bigger selling points for HTC’s new line is the camera. Megapixel count doesn’t mean anything, it’s all about the quality of the lens, sensor, and software to do all the work. HTC has a dedicated Imagechip processor along with the dual-core under the hood to ensure optimal camera performance. You can take up to 99 photos in burst mode, and the entire HTC Imagesense software suite makes this easily one of the best smartphone cameras around. To see it work its magic check out all the photos from my New Orleans photo tour through the HTC EVO 4G LTE. Here is one of my favorite photos that I took with the EVO 4G LTE’s impressive camera while in a moving vehicle.

The camera is amazing and all the settings make use a breeze. The dedicated two-stage camera button is a nice addition for snapping a quick photo — or hold it down for as many burst mode shots as your heart desires. The flower photo from the gallery below is an HDR shot, and we also have a panoramic sample, as well as a 1080p video recording sample too.

Speedtest and network
A phone no matter how great the software or impressive the camera is only as good as the network. Why snap excellent photos or video if you can’t upload them to Facebook or YouTube? Here with the HTC EVO 4G LTE we have zero LTE. For now you’re stuck on a painfully slow 3G connection that really honestly should be better. Once the Now Network gets their 4G LTE up and running this phone should hopefully be better. For now it pains me to say this phone is severely hampered by the network.

Per our Editor-in-Chief Vincent Nguyen, Sprint’s data speed is so slow, they ought to pay subscribers for being on their network instead of the other way around.

Battery life and Call quality
The HTC EVO 4G LTE so far has exceeded my expectations as far as battery life. Just like our finding from the One S review the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor is extremely extremely efficient and battery life is excellent. Anyone that is used to the 5 hours or so limit of the original EVO will LOVE the EVO 4G LTE. Obviously this is only 3G and things might change once we are able to test LTE and its battery drain. Call quality on the Now Network was just as expected. Calls were loud and clear and quality was great, sadly we don’t have service in nearly as many places as Verizon obviously — but that was as to be expected.

Wrap-Up
From our perspective the HTC EVO 4G LTE easily beats all phones on its respective carriers list. Nothing compares to this phone and anyone rocking the EVO, EVO 3D, or even the Epic 4G Touch this phone will be an impressive upgrade and completely satisfying. The phone is thin, light, beautiful, powerful, smooth, rugged, durable and more. I’d love to have this on Verizon. The weakest link of this phone is and probably always will be Sprint. While they are making improvements to the network until 4G LTE arrives this phone will be limited. For those on the carrier however, just as we said above this is easily the best phone being offered and would be my number one pick if I had to choose. That or the Galaxy Nexus. The all-new HTC EVO 4G LTE will be available starting May 18th for $199 with a new 2-year contract.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : EVO 4G LTE

Manufactuer : HTC

Carrier : Unknown

Announced Date : April 04, 2012

Release Date : May 18, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4.7 Inch
• Resolution : 1280x720
• Screen Type : SLCD 2

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 5.31 Inch
• Width : 2.72 Inch
• Depth : .35 Inch
• Weight : 134 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 2000 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• AMR
• MID
• MP3
• WAV

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : S4

CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1024 MB

Internal Storage : 16GB GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 8 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD
• MicroSDHC

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 1080p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• CDMA

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0
• A2DP

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Cellular location
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

Hardware

As it turns out, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor in this device has been turning up some fantastic results in both everyday performance and benchmark numbers, and the AT&T connection here isn’t half bad. You’ll find some changes to the software insomuch as there are a few more built-in apps, otherwise this is mostly the same phone as the original – its that processor that changes the performance. The casing is the same lovely hard plastic and the device is shaped exactly the same as it is in its international iteration.

Therein lies another dilemma for me. Any device larger than 4.3-inches simply seems to big for my normal human male sized hand to work with on a daily basis. Those used to using smartphones every day with a love for using both hands almost without fail will love the beast of a display and casing you get here – otherwise I suggest you check yourself before you wreck yourself. Head to the store and hold this monster in your hand – do it even if you have no need or plans to purchase a new smartphone, you simply need to handle this or the HTC One S in one of its couple of iterations thus far as well. The HTC One series devices released thus far certainly feel nice to hold.

The display glass combined with the curved glass-like plastic sides of the device here allow you a cool feel whilst handling the large-palm-sized smartphone. Likewise the camera lens sits above the back of the casing and allows your index finger to prop it up when it hits it. The back also contains your exterior speaker below the Beats by Dre logomark – sounding loud and clear as we’v ever heard a smartphone speaker sound.

The device is extremely light and thin, of course, and surprises anyone holding it for the first time after having used an HTC device of any variety inside the past few years. Though the camera lens does look nice and does provide a step for your finger to hook on to, it is nicer to have the lower-profile setup the HTC One S affords you, and the whole casing ends up being much more lovely there in a smaller form factor and with metal instead, too. That said, the HTC One X’s build is nicer than the vast majority of low-level competitors we’ve seen over the past couple of years to be sure, and will not disappoint those looking for a high-quality experience all-around.

Software and Performance

You’ll find that the device you’ve got in your hand or hands (depending on how big your hands are) is second to none when it comes to performance. Using the newest version of Google’s Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC’s user interface Sense 4.0, you’ve got what HTC says is the best they’ve got to bring to the table. HTC is no stranger to providing a high-level software experience for Android, and what they’ve learned over the relatively short time Android has existed shines brightly here.

The software build here tied with the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor is an optimized experience like no other. It’s relatively difficult to tell the difference between the performance here and what we’ve seen on the international HTC One X with its NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, but the numbers do point to some interesting changes between one and the other in the benchmark world.

What you’ll find here is that the HTC One X for AT&T (with the Qualcomm processor) is defeated by the NVIDIA processor-toting international One X in CPU scoring by nearly 3000 points. In every other category however, believe it or not, the Snapdragon S4 won over the Tegra 3 by at least a couple points. In I/O there’s a giant surprise with the S4 beating the Tegra 3 by 600 points, with the S4′s Memory result showing at 4,000 more than the Tegra 3! This is due in a great part to the S4′s dual memory channels which allow data to be read and written much faster than the competition.

Have a look at the rest of the benchmarks in the gallery below as well and note the power you’re working with here. The HTC One X in both iterations is a powerhouse to be sure. There’s really nothing like it at the moment on the market (save the HTC One S of course) and we’re not likely to see it beaten for everyday speed soon. Samsung will really have to bring the heat if they want to compare to what Qualcomm and NVIDIA have brought to smartphones with the HTC One series.

Camera and Battery

The camera here is again part of the HTC One series and thus has a processor dedicated to the camera alone. This HTC ImageSense processor makes for an amazing experience in the camera department for both images and video, 8 megapixels strong for photos and 1080p for videos. Have a peek at a few examples here of each and note how extremely similar the results are to our original HTC One X review.

For battery there are certainly some interesting results to be seen. First if you’ll have a peek at a couple of different results we’ve found here on average days, you’ll find that the HTC One X’s battery management is fabulous with the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 behind the wheel – when it’s asleep, it’s basically off. When you’re using it, it’s still not really draining the battery like a beast.

Then have a peek over at SlashGear’s review of this device and see a test comparing the HTC One X to its international version once again. There you’ll find that side-by-side, both HTC One X versions perform extremely similarly. It’s amazing!

AT&T 4G LTE

AT&T’s 4G LTE network is surprisingly strong here in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where just a year ago we weren’t seeing anything popping up – this is a testament to AT&T’s ability to set up their network at relatively quick speeds while they perform rather well against the competition in several respects. These numbers can be compared to the HSPA+ connection of the HTC One X international edition with which we’ve seen about half the data speeds both up and down. Have a peek at these AT&T LTE results:

Wrap-Up

In that the HTC One series has not yet produced a device we’ve not loved, the HTC One X for AT&T is a real winner for the United States. It’s certainly one of the nicest phones to have been released on AT&T and certainly one of two of the nicest smartphones to have ever been released by HTC. The other is, of course, the HTC One S. The decision between these two devices will likely be based on which carrier you like better here in the USA, but if you’re not taking that into account, you’ve got a basic question of screen size on your hands. If you want to get massive, go HTC One X.

Be sure to take a look at our whole timeline of HTC One product reviews below to get the whole spectrum of options on your radar. I’ve been using one HTC One device or another as my primary device since we first got the opportunity to start reviewing them, and it’s not looking like I’m going to be giving this one up any time soon!

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : One X [AT&T]

Manufactuer : HTC

Carrier : AT&T

Announced Date : February 26, 2012

Release Date : TBA

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4.7 Inch
• Resolution : 720x1280
• Screen Type : S-LCD

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 5.31 Inch
• Width : 2.75 Inch
• Depth : 0.36 Inch
• Weight : 131 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1800 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• AMR
• MID
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : S4

CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1000 MB

Internal Storage : 16 GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 8 MP

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 1080p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• GSM

GSM Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1800
• 1900

CDMA Band:
• 850
• 1900
• 2100

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Cellular location
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

The original JAMBOX portable speaker system was loud and could “fill up any room with unbelievable sound,” but with the BIG Jawbone looks to fill up your backyard, the beach, or your pool party with the same unbelievable sound. While the JAMBOX was portable and a great addition to any messenger bag the BIG JAMBOX still retains the same option. At 10 x 3.1 x 3.6 inches and 2.7lbs it’s certainly bigger than the first JAMBOX, and remains battery powered rather than requiring a wall socket – leaving portability an option. Sadly you can only charge it with the included AC Adapter — no USB power here.

Being lightweight coming in at only 2.7 lbs the build quality is still quite stellar according to SlashGear. The BIG is wrapped in perforated steel but with a comfortable mesh finish, coming in one of three patterns: dotted, on the red model, waved, on the white, or honeycombed, on the graphite.

Just like the original we have wired, or wireless connectivity via Bluetooth (33 ft range). Then the BIG also has the standard volume up/down and call buttons on top, but are also accompanied by play/pause, and previous/next. Around to the side on the right we have a power and pairing button, along with a 3.5mm line-in port, a microUSB port and lastly the port for charging. Speaking of charging, the built-in rechargeable lithium­‐ion battery provides up to 15 hours of continuous playback and 500 hours of standby time on a single charge.

According to our sister site SlashGear the BIG is everything the original was, and more. Just as the name suggests:

The original JAMBOX was a great portable speaker, but fell short of bass and overall power when faced with larger rooms. That’s not a problem the BIG JAMBOX encounters: as the name suggests, it’s simply a bigger sound.

With an airtight enclosure featuring proprietary neodymium drivers and two opposing passive bass radiators you can ensure quality sound — not to mention DSP and equalization for optimal sound no matter the content. Now you can make conference calls of any audio level, or attach the BIG to your HDTV for additional quality, high-powered sound. Check out the hands-on video below, then head to our sister site for the full SlashGear BIG JAMBOX Review.

The folks from Engadget said the BIG JAMBOX “is excellent at pushing out gobs of volume and very good sound for its size.” and you can see their full review here.

ABC News’ Joanna Stern calls it one of the best mobile speakers on the market, and it looks like most reviews are saying the same thing.

Lastly The Verge gives the all new BIG JAMBOX a positive review as well. Stating the new speaker is “Big on sound, big on price, but still small in stature.” They also claim it offers the best balance of design, sound, and portability. Read their review here.

The all new BIG JAMBOX will be available May 15th at Best Buy, AT&T, and Jawbone.com for $299. Don’t forget the official Jawbone Companion app for Android available here in the Google Play Store.

Hardware

If you took the original Transformer and the Transformer Prime and blended them together, you’d get something like the Transformer Pad TF300. It keeps the slim profile of the Transformer Prime and the 10-inch screen and connection capabilities of both, but uses a plastic body instead of an all-metal chassis. This is a little cheaper, but it should help alleviate the poor WiFi and GPS issues that Prime owners faced – you’ll find no dongles here. The TF300 is slightly chunkier than the Prime, but still considerably smaller than the original Transformer.

You’ve got quite a few color and storage options for the Transformer Pad TF300: the first Royal Blue units will cost $379 and $399 for the 16GB and 32GB versions available April 23rd, with Torch Red and Iceberg White versions of both coming down the pipeline in June. The color-matched keyboard docks will cost $149. The pricing for the TF300 is very competitive, considering that the 8GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 2 is expected to retail at the $400 mark.

And speaking of the dock – it’s essentially the same one that fits the Transformer Prime, with a few material changes and color options. Working with the Transformer Pad TF300 in what we’ve come to think of as “Netbook Mode” is the same as it ever was – far from perfect, but much more flexible than the tablet alone. Android-specific shortcut keys and the extended battery options are appreciated, but the small and somewhat finicky trackpad isn’t.

Navigating the tablet interface via the dock is simple, though all too often you’ll still need to resort to touch control. Gamers and mobile professionals might as well add a Bluetooth mouse if they’re springing for the dock. The dock adds a full-sized SD card slot to the tablets’ MicroSD slot, plus a secondary battery that charges the tablet while attached. You can also charge both through a single cable when the tablet is inserted.

As far as guts go, you get the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a gigabyte of DDR3 RAM, a 10-inch IPS LCD 1280×800 screen and the standard Bluetooth/WiFi combo. Mobile wireless versions of the Transformer Pad TF300 are in the works, but won’t be available any time soon. Weight is an interesting issue: the tablet itself weighs 1.3 pounds, with the dock coming in at half that. This makes the Transformer Pad TF300 “top-heavy” when used in the dock.

Check out our comparison video of the Transformer Pad TF300 and the Transformer Prime below:

Compared to the Transformer Prime, the Transformer Pad TF300 holds up well considering the lower price and cheaper materials. The screens are identical save for the IPS+ rating on the Prime, making it slightly more comfy to use for an extended period of time. The plastic body makes the Transformer Pad TF300 feel lighter, even if it isn’t’ actually much of a margin. From a hardware perspective, it’s a solid choice for those who don’t want to spend the extra money.

Software & Benchmarks

If the hardware of the TF300 and the Prime is similar, then the software is nearly identical. The Transformer Pad TF300 is ASUS first tablet to ship with Ice Cream Sandwich, which shares much of the same code and ASUS/NVIDIA extras as the Android 4.0.3 update to the Prime. ASUS’ additions don’t get in the way of Android – a few custom icons and menu options to take advantage of the unique hardware are all you’ll see.

One of these is the Performance Mode and Power-Save Mode, accessible by the ICS pop-up menu. This takes advantage of the 4-PLUS-1 design of the Tegra 3, with a fifth core that engages during periods of low processor activity. You’ll want to keep an eye on the manual switch if you often find yourself mixing gaming and traveling.

Another unique aspect of the software (though unique only to Tegra devices, not the Transformer line) is NVIDIA’s Tegra Zone. This app grants access to some exclusive Tegra-optimized games that you won’t find on the Google Play Store, though some of them wind up there eventually. Check out a few in the video below:

Those who want some top-end power out of their tablet won’t be disappointed, and at this price point it’s a very compelling inclusion. The nearest Tegra 3 competitor in price is the Acer Iconia Tab A510, at $70 more expensive for the base model and $50 more than the equivalent 32GB TF300. And considering that ASUS’ build quality is generally a step above Acer’s, even on the lower-end Transformer, it’s hard to recommend the more expensive Iconia based on performance.

The various benchmarks show the TF300 as lagging slightly behind the Transformer Prime with its Ice Cream Sandwich update. This might be something of a sour note, if it weren’t for the fact that the Transformer Prime is already the fastest Android tablet out there. On the AnTuTu tests, the TF300 is running around 90% of the Transformer Prime’s Ice Cream Sandwich scores. This should be more than enough for the most enthusiastic gamer, and will probably remain so for at least a year as Android games become more and more complex.

Camera

The Transformer Pad TF300′s camera is the same one found on the Prime: an 8-megapixel shooter with 1080p video capability and an F/2.2 lens. There’s one important difference, beyond the cosmetically larger lens: the TF300 has no LED flash. It’s a disappointing exclusion considering that even cheap phones come with a flash these days, but perhaps ASUS wanted another differentiation between the two models.

You can see samples of the camera’s photos and videos below – quite good, especially considering that most tablets tend to skimp in the camera department. The only real difference here is the lack of flash, making nighttime and indoor shots much harder to take with consistency. Color and sharpness are great, easily as good as any of the later smartphones on our review table, with the exception of the HTC One X and HTC One S.

Battery

The Transformer series has always been pretty solid when it comes to battery life, and that tradition continues here. We’ve gotten more than 7 hours of continuous operation with some 3D gaming and video streaming thrown in, so users who keep it to less intensive tasks can expect to meet or beat ASUS’ 8.5-hour battery life rating on the Transformer Pad TF300. Connect the dock (which can be charged separately or at the same time) and you’ll boost longevity all the way up to 12 hours easily. You can thank the Tegra 3′s well-documented power management for the excellent battery life. 

Wrap-Up

The Transformer Pad TF300 is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a WiFi tablet, and not just those who can’t afford the Transformer Prime. The combination of performance, features and price may be the best we’ve seen yet from any Android tablet. Up-to-date software and ASUS’ typically solid build quality make it a tempting device for anyone in the market.

The few sacrifices made to reach the price point – plastic construction, no LED flash and a slightly slower processor – are more than worth it in my opinion. Compare the TF300 to any other 10-inch tablet and you’d be hard-pressed to find one with as many features at this price point. And of course, there’s always the dock option to consider – you could get a 16GB TF300 and a matching keyboard dock to extend its battery and utility for just a bit more than the Transformer Prime (or iPad 3, or Galaxy Tab 10.1, etc.) alone. If you want a good tablet at a great price, this is it.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : Transformer Pad 300

Manufactuer : Asus

Carrier : NA

Announced Date : February 27, 2012

Release Date : April 22, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 10.1 Inch
• Resolution : 1280x800
• Screen Type : IPS LCD

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 10.35 Inch
• Width : 7.12 Inch
• Depth : 0.39 Inch
• Weight : 635 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Polymer

• Battery Capacity : mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• MID
• MP3
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : Tegra 3

CPU Clock Speed : 1400 Mhz

Core : 4

Ram : 1024 MB

Internal Storage : 16 GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 8 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD
• MicroSDHC

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• 1080p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• GSM

GSM Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1800
• 1900

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• GPS
• Cellular location
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

Hardware
Now the LG Viper is a nice phone that is for sure. The look, feel, and build quality are all pretty top notch. Sadly the specs leave a little to be desired but here’s a rundown of the hardware you’ll get. The Viper 4G LTE comes with a 4.0-inch 480 x 800 display that is bright and decently crisp, but if you’ve seen or used a 720p HD phone or even a qHD like the HTC EVO 3D you’ll be disappointed. We have a Qualcomm 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. Around back it’s outfitted with a 5 megapixel camera with flash, capable of 720p video.

According to LG the Viper has a “platinum” rating by UL Environment for its sustainable build quality and packaging. Claiming the phone’s body is 50 percent recycled plastic. With an aluminum bezel around the face and a brushed aluminum designed plastic battery cover the phone looks impressive and expensive, while remaining lightweight and still durable. I actually am really pleased with the build quality, even if the battery door creaks at times.

LG’s build quality is improving almost with every release but I have a feeling the back of this phone could get scratched pretty easily. Being only a 4-inch screen the device does have a great feel in the hand, it isn’t overbearing or extremely large like the Galaxy Note, and will make a great first-time smartphone buyer plenty happy. The phone isn’t a flagship device or anything, so it’s safe to say the carrier is just testing the LTE waters with this phone first and have bigger plans coming soon — like the Galaxy Nexus.

To start check out our hands-on coverage and video below then we’ll dive into software, performance, camera, and that battery life.

Software
LG’s tossed what I’d call a pretty stock version of Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread on the Viper. With 2.3.7 you’ll get full Google Talk video chat with the VGA front camera. The OS is extremely simple, pretty, fast, and familiar for anyone that has used Android. LG however has made a couple very minor changes with widgets, a few settings in the menu, and changed the launcher to have the carriers ID pack.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread runs impressively well here, and the vanilla untouched nature of the OS probably is to thank with no MotoBLUR, or Sense UI overlays on top. LG also opted to release the phone almost like a Google Experience device and they’ve added no bloatware to the phone. Other than a few carrier specific apps for ID, Nascar, and NBA Mobile this is completely free of bloatware and even has Google Wallet on board.

With daily use this past week the phone actually feels extremely quick for an older S3 dual-core processor, but most likely LG’s sped up some animations and helped make the phone fast, stable, fluid, and perform well. I’ve had zero freezes, problems, crashes, reboots or anything of that sort. It’s safe to say the experience has been top notch. My only complaint is the capacitive touch buttons backlight turns off WAY too fast, and doesn’t even give you time to look at the screen first – in terms of the phone. The carrier 3G speeds leave plenty to be desired and 4G LTE can’t arrive soon enough.

Benchmarks
As usual we’ve ran a few benchmarks just to see where the phone stands. Thanks to the smaller screen, and lower resolution along with that powerful dual-core chip the performance is stellar. My comments above state it clearly, and the benchmark results confirm it. Getting around 3000 in the popular Quadrant suite I was pretty surprised. This is no S4 like the HTC One S, but it still performed excellent.

We also ran a few rounds of Vellamo as it tests overall performance, page rendering, and provider/carrier too. The Viper 4G LTE scored higher than most and beat out many newer faster phones, and that was without LTE.

Speedtest
While the Viper 4G LTE is here at my house in Las Vegas, the Now Network’s 4G LTE is not. AT&T and Verizon have a pretty wide reach of LTE but things are just starting to take off here for the other two main US carriers. I was able to get 3G only with the Viper, and since it doesn’t have WiMAX anymore the 3G speeds were quite low and very underwhelming to say the least. Even T-Mobile’s 4G is 3-5 times faster than this. I experienced average speeds of around 1 Mbps downloads with nearly full 3G, peaking at 1.6 Mbps and uploads were even worse.

It’s safe to say this phone dearly needs 4G LTE to be activated to be used to its true potential. The carrier also is one of the only ones that offers truly unlimited data. Once 4G LTE arrives you’ll be able to stream video and do whatever else you’d like with fast speeds, and no limits. For now the phones quite limited and uploading pictures to Facebook, or updating apps was sub-par compared to other carrier standards.

For the Viper, 4G LTE can’t come soon enough.

Camera
The Viper is what we’d call a mid-range phone between the slightly slower processor, and the 5 megapixel camera when others all have 8 megapixels these days. However, if you’re a first time smartphone buyer, on a budget, or don’t need the best this performs quite well. The 5 megapixel shooter gave us decent results with good lighting, and without. It does have a LED flash should you need, and can take 1080p video too. Here is a quick photo sample with a video below and more pictures in the full gallery.

Battery Life
For now the battery life and results aren’t too important, mainly because we don’t have 4G LTE available yet so can’t test how the battery will hold up to the faster speeds. We’ve seen less than stellar results from both AT&T and Verizon’s LTE networks, and are hoping battery life is better over here. Standby battery is excellent and overnight the Viper went from 100% to about 78% in 8 hours. However once I woke up, turned off WiFi and started using 3G the battery had a quite large drop-off as you can see. I do have LTE enabled, even though it’s not available so that could be effecting battery life too.

Once we receive the green light and the Now Network lights up 4G LTE we’ll be sure and test these battery results again, but for now we’ll just have to use the 3G ones provided. So take this as you will, knowing that they will be different once LTE arrives.

Wrap Up
Our initial impressions were quite favorable, after using the new LG Viper 4G LTE for the week we still feel the same way. The Viper is a good mid-range device, and a perfect fit for a first time smartphone buyer or someone on a budget. If you are looking for the best, fastest, or prettiest this isn’t the phone for you — and you might want to wait for the LTE equipped Galaxy Nexus.

If you can look past the lower screen resolution, the average at best 3G speeds, and know that LTE will make things considerably faster this is a great buy this summer coming in at only $99. The carrier calls it “future proof” because it will be able to use the new LTE network once it arrives, but the specs are already outdated so the purchase will be based on what users need, or want from a smartphone. If you have any questions feel free to ask, and enjoy the full gallery of images below.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : Viper 4G LTE

Manufactuer : LG

Carrier : Unknown

Announced Date : April 06, 2012

Release Date : April 22, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4.0 Inch
• Resolution : 480x800
• Screen Type : TFT

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 4.6 Inch
• Width : 2.6 Inch
• Depth : 0.47 Inch
• Weight : 141 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1700 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 2.3.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)
• WMV

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : S3

CPU Clock Speed : 1200 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1000 MB

Internal Storage : 4GB GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 5 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD
• MicroSDHC

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 1080p Video Recording
• 720p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• CDMA

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Cellular location

FM Radio :

NFC :

With the T-Mobile HTC One S you get an impressive phone for sure. Other than a few changes to the software and the radios under the hood this is the same as the European model we linked to above. You get a brilliant 4.3-inch qHD 540 x 960 AMOLED display (no 720 HD here) but the AMOLED looks great as usual. The same 8 megapixel rear camera with a backside-illuminated sensor and HTC’s new Imagechip technology and additional processor. Then to complete the picture (and all tasks) is the equally impressive Qualcomm 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM that is under the hood. The One S runs on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich overlapped with the new and improved HTC Sense 4.0 UI tweaks.

Being 4.3-inches this could be considered the perfect phone for many that think the Galaxy Note is too big, or even the Galaxy Nexus at 4.6-inches for that matter. Coming with top-tier specs, the latest version of Android, and being the thinnest HTC device to date it’s destined to sell well. With T-Mobile you won’t get 4G LTE speeds like you’ll see from the AT&T One X, but they do offer a pretty fast “faux” 4G with HSPA+ nationwide. From the screenshots below you can see it doing quite well, averaging around 8-10 MB/s download speeds.

One of the only downfalls with the One S (or the other One phones) is the lack of a micro-sd slot, or a removable battery for that matter. The T-Mobile HTC One S will only come with 16GB of internal storage, but that should be enough for most users – then you can use the upcoming Google Drive or Dropbox if you need more. If you are wondering how the dual-core processor in the One S will fair next to the quad-core Tegra 3 competition in the larger HTC One X (which we reviewed here), you’ll want to check out head-to-head benchmark wars out. The fight between dual-core and quad-core is much, much closer than you’d think and the HTC One S is no slouch by any means.

For more details head over to the official SlashGear review, then check out all the links below for anything and everything about the HTC One S.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : One S

Manufactuer : HTC

Carrier : NA

Announced Date : February 26, 2012

Release Date : April 25, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4.3 Inch
• Resolution : 540x960
• Screen Type : Super AMOLED

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 5.15 Inch
• Width : 2.56 Inch
• Depth : 0.31 Inch
• Weight : 120 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1650 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• MID
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : Snapdragon S4

CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1024 MB

Internal Storage : 16 GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 8 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 1080p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• GSM

GSM Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1800
• 1900

CDMA Band:
• 1700
• 2100

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Cellular location
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

Hardware

While the HTC One X opted for a unibody polycarbonate, and the One S showed us aluminum treated with micro-arc oxidation, the One V offers up a simple unibody aluminum chassis. It’s durable, it’s lightweight (115g), and feels fantastic in the hand. That’s partly thanks to the size, too. While we understand the love for bigger screen sizes, there’s also a good argument for something in the 3.5 to 4-inch ballpark, so the One V’s 3.7-inch screen sits perfectly well with us. Spec wise, you’re looking at a Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 MSM8255 single-core processor clocked at 1Ghz, with Adreno 205 graphics. A five megapixel camera with LED flash and f/2.0 lens can be found on the back of the phone.

The display on the One V is a Super LCD 2 panel with a 800×480 resolution. It’s a shame not to see the same high resolutions found on the One X and One S, but it doesn’t disappoint in the other critical departments. Viewing angles are excellent, colors are vibrant without being oversaturated, and the brightness can be cranked up to eye watering levels. Sure, the pixel density can’t touch the One X or Galaxy Nexus, but it’s good enough for the entry-level user, and frankly the One V’s display is excellent for this price point.

In terms of storage, the HTC One V only has 1GB for the user to access, and 95MB for phone functions. A microSD card is a necessity, and the slot can be found lurking underneath the cover at the bottom of the phone, along with the SIM card slot. It takes regular size SIM cards too, unlike the One X and One S. On top of the device you’ll find the power button, 3.5mm headphone jack, and LED for notifications. The volume rocker is on the right side of the phone, while the microUSB port is on the left.

Software

The One V is running on Ice Cream Sandwich, and brings Sense 4.0 along for the ride. While it’s mostly the same as you’ll find on the higher end handsets in the One series, there are a few graphical flares missing thanks to a lack of processor grunt. First, you only get five homescreens to play with instead of seven, and you won’t get a zoomed out view if you try and pinch any of your homescreens. Transitions have also been pared back: you won’t get any fancy 3D effects or smooth animations.

The keyboard is also slightly different to what you’ll find on the One X or One S thanks to the decreased resolution. The navigation keys at the bottom have been removed, and even then it feels a little claustrophobic given the lower resolution of the screen. Otherwise, it’s the same Sense 4.0 that you’ll find on the other two phones in the line, with stock Ice Cream Sandwich elements occasionally making themselves known.

Performance and Benchmarks

This is unfortunately where the One V falls short. The 1Ghz single-core processor simply can’t keep up with some of thesoftware, often being sluggish and unresponsive, particularly in the browser. Webpages can sometimes be slow to load and process, even on WiFi, and pinch-to-zoom, scrolling, and panning can all be a laborious task. Content heavy sites can even cause the phone to lock up for several seconds before continuing duties, and the phone often stopped for a few moments when typing in search queries in the browser address bar.

Otherwise, the phone wasn’t bad: flicking between homescreens, even with numerous widgets, wasn’t an issue, and apps were relatively quick to load. Just don’t expect the performance you’d see from even a last-generation dual-core processor. With the lower price comes a sacrifice in performance, but even then it’s disheartening to see it come at the expense of the overall user experience.

As for benchmarks, we put the phone through the usual gauntlet. Quadrant returned a result of 2030, AnTuTu came in at 2626, and NeNaMark 2 hitting 28.8fps. Pointing the browser towards SunSpider 0.9.1 gave us a score of 3314ms. The Qualcomm created Vellamo benchmark will favor phones with Qualcomm processors, just like the HTC One V, and predictably returned a strong result: 1169.

Camera

The One V shares the same f/2.0 aperture found on the One X and One S, but with a five megapixel sensor instead of eight. Photos are generally solid, and definitely better than other cameras around this price bracket, but there are a few issues. Colors can sometimes look inaccurate depending on lighting conditions, resulting in dull photos, or shifted towards a certain hue.

While photos with subjects that sit a close to medium distance away from the camera generally turn out well, far away objects like buildings can result in a blocky mess. JPG compression seems to be the culprit, with photos coming in undersized (typically around 650 to 800KB), and any detail to be found on buildings seems to have been smoothed over, with a healthy dollop of blocking and ringing added for good measure. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a decent camera overall, it’s just let down by aggressive compression. That could possibly be fixed once you’re rooted and poke around the camera settings, but for those who don’t delve into such things and prefer stock devices, it’s something to be wary of.

Battery Life

There’s a 1,500mAh battery sealed into the One V, and that capacity matched with the frugal processor makes for good battery life overall. We used the phone for a couple of days, and while we would consider our usage lighter than most, it still managed to get us through two days without needing a recharge. Even with heavier usage, you should be able to make it through a full working day without any issues.

We also performed a more strenuous video rundown test. That involved a 720p H.264 High Profile L3.1 video with AAC audio played on loop with screen brightness set to 100%, WiFi and 3G left on, and headphones plugged in with volume set at 50%. The One V managed to last five hours and five minutes before it was begging for the charger.

Wrap-Up

The HTC One V is a good phone overall. It will appeal to those looking to make the jump into the smartphone world for the first time, and it’s a good step up for those still stuck on aging 528MHz devices. What ultimately lets it down is the sluggish performance in the browser thanks to the single-core processor. It’s not an automatic deal breaker, but you’ll definitely run into circumstances on heavier sites where the phone will stutter, pause, and try to catch its breath.

Having said that, it’s only one knock against an otherwise enticing package. You get great build quality, the latest version of Android along with a restrained Sense experience, a solid camera, and excellent screen, all for an affordable price. Negri Electronics has the phone in stock for $345.50, and we imagine if US carriers start offering the phone it will be close to (if not) free. If that turns out to be the case, then the HTC One V is very much worth considering.

Hardware

Comparing the Galaxy Player to the Galaxy S II, or even the original Galaxy S, will lead to disappointment. The hardware just isn’t designed to stack up to superphones: this is a compact, portable media player with an emphasis on music, that can handle web surfing and video over WiFi in a pinch. The 3.6-inch screen has a somewhat disappointing 480×320 resolution – think first-generation Android phones, and you’ve just about got it. The 1GHz processor is more than enough for basic Android tasks and music, but high-end games and flash are out of the question.

Construction is typical of Samsung’s products as of late: heavy on the plastic, but noticeably light and with a finish that’s admirable. While the device itself isn’t going to win any beauty contests, it’s exactly what it needs to be to get the job done. Samsung’s standard three buttons (all capacitive, strangely) are present, as is the power and volume control both on the right side. 8GB of storage on the base model isn’t a lot, but you can boost it cheaply with a MicroSD card. Samsung’s basic headphone/headset combo is included in the box.

Sound quality is typically good. The pack-in earbuds aren’t going to give you a symphonic experience, but connecting your more high-quality speakers or headphones produces solid sound in all registers. Video is obviously pretty small and low-resolution, but for simple YouTube-style web videos it’s serviceable. Don’t expect a great Netflix experience here, but if you’re just catching up on the Colbert Report, it’ll do.

After months of using gigantic 4.5-inch and larger smartphones, the Galaxy Player 3.6 is almost refreshing. The smaller size makes managing media quick and easy, and it won’t slow you down while jogging or hitting the gym – at least, not nearly as much as a Galaxy Nexus would. For the $149.99 asking price you’d be hard-pressed to do better if you want Android, and you could spend a lot more if you want that other OS.

Software

By now I’m so familiar with Samsung’s TouchWiz-tinted version of Gingerbread that I could navigate it in my sleep. While the Android fanboy in me is disappointed that Ice Cream Sandwich doesn’t make an appearance (and almost certainly never will) the utilitarian must admit that it really doesn’t need it. Gingerbread does well on the hardware. Samsung’s spent so much time working with TouchWiz that it seems like it could do well on a Palm Pilot.

The included apps will be familiar to anyone who’s messed with a Galaxy phone, but there are some additions to the apps that are actually appreciated in this form factor. An FM radio is a major bonus when you get tired of listening to your all-Eagles mix, and the voice recorder gives the Galaxy Player 3.6 yet another useful function. Pre-installed Angry Birds should thrill fans of the aggravated avians, without being controversial for anyone else.

If you live in a Samsung world, the inclusion of the SmartView remove viewer application and AllShare (DLNA) will be useful – assuming that you don’t have your music or video hooked up to a Samsung screen somewhere else. These are appreciated if you get the urge to watch something on a bigger, better video device, but given the small amount of space, you won’t be saving much video anyway. It might be more useful if you could see the screen on your Samsung TV on the Galaxy Player itself – if you’re working in the kitchen, for example. Other additions include Kies air, a free version of QuickOffice, and Samsung’s solid if bland skinned version of Android’s default media apps.

Camera

The Galaxy Player 3.6 comes with a 2 megapixel rear camera in the back and a VGA front-facing cam. You can take them or leave them – and most will opt for the latter. There’s nothing wrong with the shots and video that these cameras produce, all things considered, but if you’ve got a later smartphone or point-and-shoot around anywhere, you have better options. On the plus side, the front-facing cam is at least useful if you intend to do some web video chatting. Hey, it’s a hundred and fifty bucks – what did you expect?

Battery

Like most WiFi-only devices, the Galaxy Player 3.6 seems to have a pretty awesome battery life when compared with its smartphone counterparts. You don’t need much to keep this little guy going all day. All the power and battery advances that Samsung has made get dialed up to the may when there’s no constant cellular data connection to worry about, and the small low-res screen actually helps in that department.

Wrap-Up

If you want something that’s going to replace your high-powered Android smartphone minus a data connection, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a cheap alternative to the latest iPod Touch, you’re not going to get the same high-res screen or gaming performance. But if you want a simple media player that uses Android to become considerably more useful, the Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 might be right up your alley. Five years ago $150 wouldn’t get you anything more than a lot of storage and some really frustrating video options – but now that Android’s come into its own, you get a lot more.

For the price and the expectation, the Galaxy Player 3.6 is a solid choice. If you love Android and want to keep a familiar interface in a small media player gadget, this is it. The expandable storage, great battery life and the connectivity and software options make for a rich experience on this little device. If you want something bigger, track down the last-generation Galaxy Player 5.0, or wait for the newer 4.2 version that’ll be available in May.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : Galaxy Player 3.6

Manufactuer : Samsung

Carrier : NA

Announced Date : March 16, 2012

Release Date : April 09, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 3.65 Inch
• Resolution : 480x320
• Screen Type : TFT

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 4.52 Inch
• Width : 2.45 Inch
• Depth : 0.38 Inch
• Weight : 108 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Polymer

• Battery Capacity : 1500 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 2.3.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)
• WMV

Hardware

CPU : OMAP 4

CPU Clock Speed : 1000 Mhz

Core : 1

Ram : 1000 MB

Internal Storage : 8GB GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 2 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD
• MicroSDHC

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

Thursday and Friday we made sure to charge the new Mugen Power 3900 mAh extended battery multiple times to give it a good cycle and drain before testing. You can see our hands-on here. The goal was to have it last throughout the entire weekend and I’m happy to report that we achieved just that. The standard 1750 mAh battery that comes with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus barely lasts 8-9 hours on a good day (for me) and using the extended battery I charged up Friday night and it died Monday morning — I loved it.

Now I must start by saying yes the extended battery is fat and ugly, but if you don’t want to fumble with multiple batteries throughout the day or week this is an awesome solution. Before I continue on I’ll just go ahead and post up my results for everyone to see. The Mugen Power 3900 Ext Battery made my Galaxy Nexus last for 2 days and 7 hours — the entire weekend!

Sure, the phone might look like a humpback whale (thanks YouTube) but check out those results above. Now I might not be the heaviest user ever but I do browse the web, check 1000′s of tweets daily, have push email enabled and more so I use my phone plenty. At first I was completely thrown back by the price ($98) and the ugly fat look of my phone but if you can get over that, or are used to using extended batteries you won’t have any issues.

After using the phone for the entire weekend I got used to the larger design and almost completely forgot about it. I found myself using that kickstand too — even though it feels extremely cheap. This review is more than just the battery life, it’s also about build quality. That is where things go downhill for me. I love the battery life, and believe it or not I could actually get used to the larger size but the low build quality really threw me off.

The kickstand is super useful and I enjoyed it, but it makes the entire thing feel extremely cheap and really ruins the experience. I’d rather Mugen lose the kickstand in favor of a better more durable battery cover, but that is just me. The rest of the battery door is solid, durable, has a great soft-touch texture for an easy grip and more but that kickstand is a major drag.

I’m happy to report that I’m actually still using the extended battery from Mugen Power this week and I’ve not charged my phone since Monday evening. If they tossed out that kickstand feature and increased the build quality this would be extremely hard to say no to. Whether it will become my everyday battery is still up in the air as I continue testing the durability of the rear cover and kickstand.

Do I recommend this extended battery? Absolutely! Will you want to use a fatter, heavier phone that looks a little funny is up to you. Get it today from Mugen Power’s online store at the link below.

Verizon Galaxy Nexus 3900 Extended Battery

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : GALAXY Nexus 4G [Verizon]

Manufactuer : Samsung

Carrier : Verizon

Announced Date : December 14, 2011

Release Date : December 15, 2011

Also Known As : Nexus Prime

Display

• Screen Size : 4.65 Inch
• Resolution : 1280x720
• Screen Type : Super AMOLED

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 5.33 Inch
• Width : 2.67 Inch
• Depth : 0.37 Inch
• Weight : 150 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1850 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : 150 hours

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• AMR
• MID
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.264 / AVC

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : OMAP 4460

CPU Clock Speed : 1200 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1000 MB

Internal Storage : 32 GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 5 MP

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 1080p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• CDMA

CDMA Band:
• 900
• 1900

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Cellular location
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

I was really trying not to jump on the Instagram bandwagon but I actually really like it. The user interface is nice and clean (better than iOS version), simple to use, and makes sharing a breeze. The effects are good although there’s plenty of similar apps available for Android already since Instagram took so long. None of those however have the community that Instagram does. In my hands-on video below I show you all of the filters, and just how easy it is to use them and the app itself. Then I quickly compare it with the few tweaks available on stock Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Some will be drawn away for the fact you have to sign up first, but that is because in a way Instagram is its own social community. You can follow fellow grammers, enjoy others pictures and follow your friends. I’m actually starting to enjoy it as I’m meeting people based on my Android picture alone already. I’m really digging the simple and clean user interface. I wish all developers released such a polished product on day one as Instagram has here today.

A few key differences over the iOS version are worth being noted. Instagram said the Android version would be better than the iOS app, but I’m giving this a 50/50. For one, on iPhone you can see the tweaks and effects in real-time before you take the photo, and after. Android only offers after from what I can tell. That is a huge feature we should have, but the tons of devices and camera types might make that difficult.

Then for Android we have more share options. Android offers Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Tumblr. While iOS only has a few but are adding more soon. Instagram should also be adding more share options in the future for both platforms, hopefully Google+ will be one of them.

This photo-centric app is impressive to say the least, and if you weren’t planning on giving it a try (like me) I’d suggest at least checking it out. It is free after all over at the Google Play Store.

Instagram for Android Link

Hardware

This device has several elements right on the surface that make it live up to the HTC legacy that is high-quality delivery of Android starting with the manufacturer. Up front you’ll find that the 4.3-inch AMOLED display sits at qHD resolution, 960 x 540 pixels strong, and has fabulous viewing angles all around. This is partially because HTC has opted for optical lamination to bond the AMOLED panel to the fascia glass, this allowing the actual lights to sit closer to the surface of the phone as they’re able.

The glass along the front is Gorilla Glass and is mainly flat with some extremely smoothly integrated plastic sides making it seem like the front panel bends over and down the sides, making for a comforting experience across the full front, left and right of the device. The rest of the device is made up of three panels, the topmost being able to be removed to reveal a micro-SIM card. This device is the international edition of the device meaning that if you’re using it in the USA, you’ll be wanting to pick up micro-SIM from AT&T or T-Mobile to get data outside of Wi-fi.

The back panels, each of the, are made up of one of two kinds of finished metals: grey “Graded Anodization” or black “Ceramic Metal”. We’ve got the latter of the two here, it being featured as part of a video series on how fantastic the HTC One series is. This is because the Ceramic Metal is made what it is with Micro Arc Oxidation, a process in which the metal is bathed in plasma and electrocuted. This terrifying process makes the metal temporarily “hotter than the sun”, resulting in an oxidized surface that makes sure you need no 3rd party protective casing to protect it. It also feels fantastically high quality to hold and use on a daily basis.

The top of the device has a small space for you to be able to pop it off to access your micro-SIM, this sitting beside a mic hole, headphone jack, and power button. On the right of the phone is an extremely low-profile volume control (up/down) which is nearly too small to detect – but once you’ve used it a couple times, you’ll realize how little you miss that extra space between the surface and the tops of the buttons. The bottom has another mic hole (this in combination with the first resulting in noise cancellation for better audio recording), and the left has a simple microUSB port.

The back of the device also features the HTC logo pushed down into the metal in the center as well as a tiny Beats Audio logo near the bottom panel, the bottom panel having the micro-perforated holes which allow the Beats-enhanced audio to exit the device into the palm of your hand and reverberate out unto the world. HTC also mentions that Beats is integrated into this system through the headphone jack as well – and indeed we are hearing the base-heavy overall decent audio quality we’ve come to expect from these brands working together.

The top back of the device also features a red-ringed camera lens aside a single LED flash – this is the 8-megapixel camera which HTC notes has its own dedicated silicon inside to back it up, and indeed we are seeing some quality images and video the likes of which we’re comparing only to the quality we’ve seen in the Galaxy S II series from Samsung and the iPhone 4S. More on that later in the review.

HTC Sense 4.0

The next level user interface being released by HTC here with the One series is the fourth full version “Sense 4.0.” This version includes integration with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich set of capabilities like facial recognition for your lock screen, live dictation (just so long as you’re connected to the web or mobile web), and the full gamut of Google-made Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tuned apps.

Have a peek here at the applications that come with the device right out of the box – and remember that this is the international version of the device so you won’t see any carrier-added apps, only apps added by HTC on top of the standard Google set of apps. Noticeably missing is Google Music, which of course you can easily download from the Google Play App Store, but the selection of HTC-added music apps cannot be overlooked.

Sense 4.0 provides the same great set of modification abilities you’ve gotten with HTC devices for the past few generations, that being in a system app by the name of Personalize. Here you’ll have the ability to create several different homescreen setups if you wish, one for home, one for work, one for play, each of them with different apps and widgets on your standard set of 7 homescreens. HTC provides here the best out-of-box customizability of any of the manufacturers on the market today.

HTC’s widgets are second to none, and HTC has chosen here to separate them out from the apps to their own area. Where the vanilla version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has a home screen shortcut to wallpapers, this same shortcut – holding your finger down on an empty spot on a home screen – will bring you to HTC’s widgets. This screen also gives you shortcuts to certain apps and app icons to place on any homescreen as well. Access to this area also exists in Personalization.

Car Mode is updated to its simplest and most aesthetically pleasing form ever, Sense 4.0 providing you with a set of controls you’ll be able use easily with a car dock. Connected apps work in car mode as well, each with modified capabilities like instant directions from where you are physically located in Navigation.

This Car Mode video as well as the two other hands-on videos above should give you a fairly decent idea of how quick the device handles everyday tasks. See the Benchmarks below to get another perspective on things, then see the Gaming video even later in the review to see the real fury – it’s hot!

Software / Benchmarks

The software you get on this version of the HTC One S (international version) includes several music apps which each work together to bring the quality of the Beats Audio integrated throughout the device to the ear. Included here are HTC’s basic music player for music files you have on your device, SoundHound, TuneIn Radio, and 7digital. SoundHound appears several times in the other music apps, it there to allow you connections to related music which you can then purchase.

TuneIn allows you to extremely easily listen to streaming radio stations from around the world, and 7digital is a music store which HTC trusts to bring you sweet music galore. Expect these apps to perhaps exist in the USA version for T-Mobile as well, with some changes inevitable via T-Mobile’s requests – we’ll see! For now, this is a healthy set of music apps that work with one another to bring you the beats one way or another constantly.

HTC also includes a set of multimedia viewers, they connecting with HTC Watch, an app we’ve seen before which has HTC selling and renting out full-length video at high quality resolution. Play your movies and flip through photos with Media Share, a wireless ability offered up by HTC to bring wireless connecting and live sharing from your device to your HDTV. This function works perfectly well, and for those of you without the necessary equipment but with an MHL converter cord, you can plug that into your microUSB (MHL) v2.0 and convert to HDMI, this providing you with high definition output to your HDTV again.

Watching videos also has a new set of controls including a built-in screenshot function (in addition to the two you’ve also got built-in with Sense and Android 4.0, imagine that!) Check this screenshot out from Escape from the Planet of the Apes – high definition!

After that it’s all smooth sailing with, again, Sense modified Android 4.0 bringing HTC’s greatest user experience yet. This is the first device released to the market with the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor, aka Krait, this particular iteration numbered MSM8260A. Its performance utterly fabulous as you’ve seen in the hands-on videos above as well as the benchmarks here below.

And all this without heat – there’s been an absolutely unbelievable lack of heat emanating from this device the entire time I’ve used it. Qualcomm and HTC have created an experience here that’s bypassed the heat we’ve otherwise gotten used to in high-functioning smart devices.

This device makes every other smartphone I’ve used in the past seem sluggish. Ice Cream Sandwich allows you to switch between apps or knock apps out completely with your Recent Apps button – but you wont need to shut any apps down to work with app on top of app on top of app – there is slowdown (you can see it if you open many apps and run the benchmarks above) – but you won’t notice it in everyday app activities.

Gaming

Have a peek at this hands-on video to see a few games being played with great success. The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 is more than ready to bring dual-core goodness to the Android gaming world and take on any game that developers are able to throw at it so far.

This video also shows once again the power of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor in action in that for the entirety of the video we’ve got no less than 6 applications open at the same time. As the video progresses, more games are opened and performance remains superb.

Camera

The camera is one of the biggest selling points of the HTC One series, and here with the One S you’ll find a camera experience that’s more diverse than any you’ve used before. There are more built-in effects and adjustments here in the stock HTC photo app than in any other stock app that’s come out thus far, and certainly trumps what the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has with vanilla Android 4.0, and the results are, it goes without saying, one whole heck of a lot better in the gallery. First have a look at the camera experience in this video:

Then have a peek at a compilation of videos filmed with the 1080p-capable video camera, some of them filmed during the video you’ve just watched! Here you’ll see some general awesomeness in fair lighting conditions, some dark, and even some super slow-motion work – a new special effect right out of the box here on the One S!

Then here come the photos. With the brand new HTC Image Chip integrated here in the One S, there’s been a dramatic photo quality improvement that cannot be denied. HTC devices over the past year have done a generous job with photos, no doubt about it, but these images take the cake – then run a mile with it.

We’ll be doing additional posts on the photo quality of the HTC One series, but for now all you need to know that you’ve not seen in the video above is this: this camera takes less than a second to start up, can take photos extremely fast (while taking them extremely well), and the camera interface is intuitive enough that anyone could operate it. That’s important for your great aunt Bessie when she’s asked to take the family photo with your smartphone – she’ll be able to do it!

Also included here and in the gallery below are several examples of odd shots taken with the HTC One S including low-light situations and photos taken during video. Each image is identified with a tag telling how it was captured.

Battery

Here with the HTC One S running with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor, we’ve got better power savings than we’ve seen in most phones on the market thus far. Expect epic battles to go on from this point forward between the S4 and NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core 4-PLUS-1 processor for battery time, especially given that chipset’s fifth core kicking in when the rest aren’t needed. Have a peek here at an average day’s work. Mobile data on all day, messages coming in, games played, wars won, and everything else that comes with relatively heavy use:

The closest we’ve seen to this battery time on a smartphone has been the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II – that being the one closest to the original Galaxy S II which was, like this version of the HTC One S, an international version. As far as we can tell thus far, this device, thanks to the Snapdragon S4, will be running at least as long as any other device on the market on minimal charges. The screenshot you see above shows how I took this device off the charger in the morning and each time I put it in my pocked (aka when the screen is off), the battery drain essentially drops to zero.

Wrap-Up

Here in the HTC One S we find that HTC is certainly living up to the promise that they’ll be coming in strong in 2012 with a hero series of phones. The HTC One S also reminds us that HTC was once the king of high-quality hardware for Android, and indeed here again they do regain that crown – bringing a device (and a series of devices) whose features fit together so well that they’re more than ready to take on the rest of the top-tier devices in the industry. I’m honestly having a tough time attempting to find any faults in this device as it’s quit honestly impressed me enough to say that HTC has completely redeemed themselves from last year.

Though last year didn’t have HTC jamming out win after win, they did have some proving themselves to do here in 2012 – and they’ve done it. It’s as simple as that. Have a peek at the gallery of images below for additional software and hardware shots, feel free to ask additional questions in the comments section below, then prepare for the USA version of the HTC One S coming soon! Also be sure to check out our review of the HTC One X today as well – just as hot!

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : One S

Manufactuer : HTC

Carrier : NA

Announced Date : February 26, 2012

Release Date : April 25, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4.3 Inch
• Resolution : 540x960
• Screen Type : Super AMOLED

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 5.15 Inch
• Width : 2.56 Inch
• Depth : 0.31 Inch
• Weight : 120 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1650 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• MID
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : Snapdragon S4

CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1024 MB

Internal Storage : 16 GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 8 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 1080p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• GSM

GSM Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1800
• 1900

CDMA Band:
• 1700
• 2100

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Cellular location
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

Hardware

HTC has pulled out the stops with the One X, and it’s a cohesive and appealing design. A combination of lightweight polycarbonate and Gorilla Glass combine – with some neat curves and join-line detailing – to make a phone that belies the scale of its display. HTC still manages to fit in an 8-megapixel main camera, a 1.3-megapixel front camera, and docking connectors for an optional cradle, along with the 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 Super LCD screen. The HTC One X addressed major complaints with pretty much the majority of HTC’s industrial design of their handsets over the past couple of years.

That screen is bright and clear, and ideal for multimedia playback. Colors are clean though don’t show that over-saturated artificial hue we’ve seen from some AMOLED panels, and the touch layer itself is responsive. Opting for plastic rather than metal has an impact on hand-feel but it’s worth it: one of our big criticisms of 2011 HTC flagships was that they felt heavy and cumbersome, something we can’t say of the One X.

Inside, in European form at least, is NVIDIA’s 4+1 core Tegra 3 chipset along with 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. There’s no access to the battery and no way to add extra memory; instead you get a pop-out microSIM tray and a free two-year 25GB DropBox account that’s integrated with the various apps on the One X. Connectivity rises to quadband WCDMA/HSPA+ (850/900/1900//2100) but no LTE; for that we’ll have to wait for AT&T’s version, due later this year, which adds in 4G but uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core chipset rather than the NVIDIA quadcore of its Euro counterpart.

Otherwise it’s a roll-call of the latest and greatest: WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 complete with support for the aptX high-quality streaming stereo audio profile, DLNA and MHL-HDMI for wireless or wired HD video output (with the correct adapter, not included), a 3.5 headphones jack with Beats Audio, and NFC. The latter is currently used primarily for Android Beam, useful for firing across webpages and the like between the One X and the Galaxy Nexus, though at some point Google Wallet may make an appearance.

Finally there’s the expected digital compass, g-sensor, GPS, proximity and light sensors, and gyroscope. HTC throws a compact AC adapter, a set of headphones and a USB to microUSB cable in the box with the One X.

Software and Performance

Until now, HTC devices have run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread; in fact it’s only been within recent weeks that Ice Cream Sandwich has been pushed to existing users. The One Series – of which the One X is the flagship – changes all that, launching with Android 4.0 as standard, complete with HTC Sense 4.0.

The usual suite of Android apps – Gmail, the freshly renamed Play Market, Google Talk, etc. – are onboard, and HTC adds in its own Music Hub with shortcuts to TuneIn radio, local tracks and more. We were never much fans of Sense because it felt like it bogged down the system, hindering performance and chewing away precious battery life, but 4.0 changes things for the better.

HTC’s custom interface started out as a desperate reskin of Windows Mobile, evolved to rub the rough edges off of early Android iterations, and gradually became a bloated, over-designed UI and app suite in more recent phones. Much of that has seen turnaround in v4.0, faster and more responsive than before and with a new batch of widgets that, though unmistakably HTC, are also useable enough to make them worth including.

Most of the alterations now seem consciously intended to speed the user-experience, rather than simply change it. Little details, like the ability to shoot photos and video simultaneously, or to quickly snap a freeze-frame during video playback for instance, along with the ease of opening an incognito tab for private browsing, right alongside the regular new-tab button. New calculator widgets pull more useful functionality direct to the homescreen, and the Evernote synchronization with the native Notes app is useful and cleanly integrated.

HTC Sense 4.0 demo

Best of all, this is a fast phone. Tegra 3 has already proved its worth in Android tablets, and the One X is little different. Apps load quickly and multitask with no lag; images open and pinch-zoom smoothly. Full HD video plays – either on the One X’s display or via MHL-HDMI output – without jerking.

Camera

HTC’s camera on the One X is a group effort: a new 8-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor, paired with F2.0 28mm wide-angle optics and a dedicated imaging processor. There’s also a smart LED flash which is meant to adjust its brightness depending on the proximity of the subject, though we struggled to see too much of a difference.

The camera app is streamlined, with simultaneous on-screen controls for taking snapshots and shooting video. It’s possible to do both at the same time, too. Up to 1080p HD video can be filmed – 720p from the front camera – with digital image stabilization and optional slow-motion.

Sample 1080p video:

HTC ONE X Sample slow motion videos:

Battery

The 1,800 mAh Li-Ion battery is non-replaceable, HTC following a trend led by its rivals and trading flexibility for benefits in design. HTC managed to slim the One X down to only 8.9mm as a result of its unibody design, but we still managed to get on an average of 7-9 hours of “regular” usage, and peaking at 12-hours and 41 minutes on less busy days.

Standby time is amazing. On a full charge we managed to squeeze out 8-hours of extremely-light usage overnight, waking up with 85-percent left over, and after which we still managed to get another 6-hours of usage. Of course, great battery life has a lot to do with NVIDIA’s new Tegra 3 processor, with its 4+1 cores: four primary cores, plus a fifth core that handles low level activities such as push email in the background.

Wrap-Up

There were four key areas the One X needed to excel at, if it was to stand a chance. First there’s the in-hand appeal, and the thin, lightweight phone certainly ticks that box. It’s closest to “sexy” that an HTC has managed in some years, and yet it still manages to tick box two, great battery life. Pushing over ten hours on a single charge with a lot of usage is no small feat, besting phones with lesser chipsets than the One X offers.

The Tegra 3 ticks the One X’s third box: awesome performance and a great user experience. The NVIDIA chipset is fast and capable, and Sense 4.0 returns HTC to its previous software form. Some users will no doubt prefer Ice Cream Sandwich untampered with, but Sense delivers a good balance of user-friendly customization without hampering speed. You may not know the difference between using a dual-core handset versus the One X until you’ve lived with it for about a week, and then switch back to something like the Galaxy Note, but it’s noticeable.

Finally, there’s the camera and multimedia, with the 8-megapixel BSI sensor, dedicated imaging chip, Beats Audio and bright, eminently watchable display earning the One X its final tick. That’s four serious criteria for success that last year’s HTC range failed at. It’s too soon to say whether the Galaxy S III and iPhone 5 will prove the One X’s undoing, but one thing is for sure: HTC has thrown down the gauntlet with its new flagship, and the One X sets the bar high.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : One X

Manufactuer : HTC

Carrier : NA

Announced Date : February 26, 2012

Release Date : TBA

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4.7 Inch
• Resolution : 720x1280
• Screen Type : S-LCD

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 5.29 Inch
• Width : 2.75 Inch
• Depth : 0.35 Inch
• Weight : 130 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1800 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 4.0.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• AMR
• MID
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Hardware

CPU : Tegra 3

CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz

Core : 4

Ram : 1000 MB

Internal Storage : 32 GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 8 MP

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 1080p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• GSM

GSM Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1800
• 1900

CDMA Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1900
• 2100

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• Compass
• GPS
• Cellular location
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

The REMXD headphones use an on-the-ear design; smaller than the “DJ” around-the-ear designs, but not anywhere near as portable as standard earbuds. All the controls rest on the left cup, with a combined Play-Pause button and another Answer-End button for calls. An old-school analog power switch sits next to s rocker that works for both volume and forward-back functions.

On the right cup sits only a 1/8-inch port, which rather cleverly combines charging (via USB cable) and standard audio. When the headphones run out of charge you can plug in an audio cable and keep going. I’ve seen this technique on other headphones, but it’s a nice touch. The construction is solid without being extravagant; the only method of adjustment are tension rods on either side.

Pairing is simple: just turn on the headphones and hold down the Play button to put them in pairing mode. Music functions are a little more tricky. To turn the volume up, you slide the volume knob up and hold, reverse to lower the volume. but to advance a track or go back, you have to tap and release the dial. This isn’t helped by the fact that the dial itself goes into the cup when you press it. Working these controls takes a lot of getting used to, especially when you’re wearing the headphones.

The audio quality is as good as I’ve seen for A2DP, which is to say, good enough. The Bluetooth streaming protocol isn’t really suited for high-fidelity listening, though it’s more than enough for podcasts or audiobooks. The nice thing about the headphone/charging port is that you can switch to wired listening at any time.

Once you do, the large drivers make for loud, clear listening that’s suitable for anything but the most demanding of audiophiles. Bass is a little flat, but at this price that’s nothing to complain about. Standard phone calls are clear through the headphones, though without a microphone boom, callers on the other end of the line may find you a little hard to understand if either of you has a poor signal. You can walk a solid 20-25 feet away from the source before seeing any sort of signal loss.

But easily my favorite feature of the REMXD headphones is the battery life. Bluetooth headsets and headphones generally have plenty of juice, but Tenqa’s choice of a larger form factor gave them plenty of space for a bigger battery. I’ve gone days between charges with constant listening. You could easily go an entire day with regular use, and used sparingly, two or three.

The Tenqa REMXD Bluetooth headphones aren’t amazing in any particular respect. They’re not overly hi-fi or particularly flashy, and the controls take some getting used to. But for forty bucks, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal with better sound. Awesome battery life and flexible audio options just sweeten the deal. The REMXD headphones are available in black and white options, from Tenqa’s website or online retailers.

Hardware

The Tablet P is entirely unique among current mobile products – not just Android tablets, but the entire mobile space. The closest mainstream device that it could be compared to is Microsoft’s cancelled Courier project, though various other folding designs have been tried (and usually failed) by smaller companies. In its primary design goal, the Tablet P succeeds: it’s a full-sized Honeycomb tablet that can fit into a large pocket or small purse easily. Folded up, it’s about the size of a big television remote or a fat checkbook. Completely expanded, it’s the size of a thick 7-inch tablet with an odd aspect ratio.

Closed, the Tablet P presents its Sony, PlayStation and AT&T emblems plus a hole for the 5 megapixel camera. The silver plastic encompasses most of the top and bottom, and both lids slide off to allow access to the SIM card and MicroSD card (2GB) respectively. On the bottom half of the right side sit all the connections and controls: power button an jack, MicroUSB cable (which unfortunately doesn’t charge the unit) and a tiny volume rocker. The rest of the exterior is bare, save a microphone/headphone jack on the bottom.

Unfold the tablet’s impressively strong hinge, and you’re greeted with dual 5.5-inch touschscreens on the top and bottom. That hinge is an important detail, by the way: you’ll be using this moving part every time you pick up the device, so it’s good to know that the part is stiff enough to hold the screens apart at any angle from 1-180 degrees. The screens (1024×480 each, for a combined resolution and size of 1024×960 and just over seven inches) are bright and clear, with plenty of response in their capacitive surfaces.

A note on ergonomics: they’re surprisingly good. Owing mostly to the cunning and natural curve of the outer case, the Tablet P feel extremely comfortable when held in two hands. Holding it with the upper screen angled towards you feels something like a Nintendo DS – or rather, what the Nintendo DS would feel like if it weren’t shaped like a box. Even holding the tablet fully open in a more traditional position is comfy, thanks to a good, solid grip at nearly every point.

Software

Regrettably the Tablet P comes loaded with Android 3.2, despite the fact that Ice Cream Sandwich was available months ago. Sony promises to rectify this, though there’s no hard information on when we’ll get the update except “after April” (allowing AT&T time to distribute it). That said, this non-standard form factor needs a considerable bit of software engineering, going far beyond the standard Android Manufacturer skin – which is nonetheless present.

The tablet runs on NVIDIA’s tried and tested Tegra 2 platform, with a gigabyte of memory to help it along. This makes it admirably responsive and much quicker than I was expecting. And that’s a good thing, since Sony’s custom skin pervades the interface everywhere. You’ll find Sony apps for music, photos, video, RSS, even for connecting to WiFi networks. Other extras include Evernote, Foursquare, and a pre-installed Flash player. Crash Bandicoot, one of many games available on the included PlayStation Store, is free.

The curious form factor that defines the tablet actually effects the software very little. Most apps adjust to the odd aspect ratio in one of two ways: they either fill out across both screens (most of the time) or use up all of the top screen (some of the time). Honeycomb’s built-in resize function for older Android apps is able to adjust the view to one or both screens. Sony’s apps in particular make good use of the split, with play or display functions up top and menu or keyboard functions on the bottom.

The problem comes with the apps that don’t quite work. The Android Market (which, interestingly, will not update to the Google Play Store) is chief among these, since it only ever uses the top screen and won’t work at all in portrait mode. Since I’ve found no way to correct this, I have to assume that the problem will persist with at least some apps, though there’s no way to know which. Benchmarks don’t inspire much confidence: Quadrant scored the Tablet P in the 1800 range, well below the norm for Tegra 2 devices.

Media

The split-screen design makes the Tablet P an interesting proposition for media. Movies and music, are artificially stinted since videos can only play on one screen or be bifurcated. Photo viewing is a problem for the same reason. (Regular web browsing isn’t really affected by the split.) Sound is a problem too, thanks to tiny speakers obscured by the plastic lids on either side of the case. To be blunt, video and audio just aren’t a good experience on the device. If you plan on listening to much music you’ll need both a bigger MicroSD card and a decent pair of headphones.

Oddly, the same things that cause problems for movies and music make the Tablet P nearly perfect for gaming, if you stick to Sony’s PlayStation Store. The form factor creates a natural controller grip with the huge bezel acting as a buffer for your fingertips. Gameplay above and controls below mirror the old Game & Watch toys, and it’s a surprisingly fun experience. The cameras are best ignored. Sure, you could take snapshots with the 5 megapixel rear, and you can video chat with the VGA camera, but the quality isn’t anything to write home about.

Battery

The 3,080mAh  battery on the Tablet P is well below average for Android tablets, probably due to the necessity of getting it all in one side of the device. Used normally it’ll last all day on WiFi, but you’ll need to keep a close eye on the bar for journeys out on AT&T’s HSPA+ network. Do a lot of gaming or streaming video, and you’ll need to keep the rather bulky laptop-style charger close at hand. Running straight through with basic web browsing and apps, you should get 6-7 hours of battery life.

Wrap-Up

The Tablet P is a novelty, and at certain tasks it excels. Those tasks are playing emulated PlayStation games, fitting into small spaces and making your friends go “oooh”. Unfortunately, there aren’t many use cases where its unique design comes in handy, and quite a few where it’s a considerable drawback. As much as Sony should be applauded for trying out new ideas, even executing them as well as could probably be expected, there’s not much to recommend here beyond some great ergonomic design and a compact size.

The Tablet P is, almost literally, less than the sum of its parts. Two 5.5-inch displays don’t make an 11-inch tablet, a clamshell design doesn’t make a a thick device thinner, and the addition of lots of Sony software and tweaks doesn’t make Honeycomb an easier pill to swallow. Combine that with a  $399.99 on-contract price at AT&T (and nowhere else, for the moment) and you’ve got an interesting experience that doesn’t justify a large cost and commitment. The one exception is if you absolutely love PlayStation games, and can live with the relatively small library in Sony’s PlayStation Store.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : Tablet P

Manufactuer : Sony

Carrier : NA

Announced Date : April 26, 2011

Release Date : TBA

Also Known As : Sony Tablet S2

Display

• Screen Size : 5.5 Inch
• Resolution : 1024x480
• Screen Type : TFT

Dimension & Weight

• Height : NA
• Width : NA
• Depth : NA
• Weight : NA

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Polymer

• Battery Capacity : 3080 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 3.1.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• MP3

Video Playback:
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Hardware

CPU : Tegra 2

CPU Clock Speed : Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : NA

Internal Storage : NA

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 0.3 MP

Camera Features:
• 720p Video Recording

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• GSM

GSM Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1800
• 1900

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Location Features:
• GPS
• Wi-Fi location

FM Radio :

NFC :

When you start Angry Birds Space, you’re presented with the familiar formula of slingsh0t-based carnage with only one twist: the playing surface is now an asteroid that curves aroung 360 degrees. No problem, right? Just aim for the prize and don’t overshoot, like always. Until the first time that you do overshoot, or zip right through the pigs’ hastily-built constructions, and keep going in a deteriorating orbit that slowly spirals down to the planetoid. This is a bird of a different color.

Through the various levels you’ll encounter pigs and obstacles free-floating in space, where a direct point-to-point trajectory can hit home on the first go. But there’s also free-floating debris, some of which generates its own gravity field (the white bubbles you see around the asteroids in the screenshots). You can use these bodies to curve your otherwise straight flight path, shoot down to the asteroid for some standard destruction, or bump the pigs’ flotillas into the nearest gravity field to give them an up-close and personal introduction to the ground. There’s a staggering array of ways to accomplish your goals, and the familiar methods aren’t always the best.

Then there’s the birds themselves. The red, blue and black birds behave pretty much as they always have, with the addition of straight flight in zero gravity. (Also they get some Buck Rogers in the 25th Century-themed costumes.) The yellow bird is now the “Lazer Bird” in a fetching shade of purple, and alters his path once during flight while speeding up. The Ice Bird smashes into any structure and turns a good portion of it to ice ( the Angry Birds Space equivalent of glass) and the the inexplicably named Terence (green bird) has a huge amount of mass for getting through multiple formations or big piles.

While the Space gameplay will be familair to anyone who’s played the original, there’s enough new material and flexible gameplay to keep even the most saturated of fans coming back for more. The gravity and physics makes new options possible, while creating an environment for puzzles and triggers that makes you want to play some levels over and over. This really is a significant addition to the simple game, enough that those who’ve skipped the last year’s worth of expansions will want to check out the differences.

It isn’t perfect. While playing on my Galaxy Tab 8.9 with its 720p resolution, the cinematic and field itself is shrunken somewhat; on Android at least, the UI needs a little tweaking to be ideal. Owners of 720p phones and tablets of any size should download Angry Birds Space HD. On more than one occasion I actually pushed pigs outside of the playing area without smashing them – presumably they were just hanging in space, awaiting bird-based death that never came. And for all the new gameplay tweaks and great sound design, the graphics still leave a lot to be desired – just about any Android device can handle the game, but it’s not pushing any boundaries in the technical department.

If you’ve got a Samsung Galaxy Note (which I don’t), you get access to 30 exclusive levels of the game that are off-limits to other Android devices. There may be even more than that – while playing through one of the Golden Egg levels I spotted an emblem with the Galaxy Note and its S-Pen, presumably a hidden treat for owners of the premium hardware.

The bottom line is this: if you love Angry Birds, you’ll continue to love Angry Birds Space. If you haven’t been impressed thus far, give it a shot – the regular Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Space HD are both free downloads in the Google Play Store. If you’re a regular player and don’t want to see the ads, spend a dollar on Angry Birds Space Premium.

The Galaxy S Blaze 4G could just be the perfect Spring and Summer smartphone from T-Mobile. Other than the HTC One S of course. With near top of the line specs and a great price this should be a popular phone for T-Mobile. Especially for the family or those not needing the best of the best. For starters check out our hands-on coverage and video here, then enjoy the full review below.

Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G comes in at a pretty unique spot for the market. It’s much better than the original Galaxy S, but not quite as big as the Galaxy S II — although the specs come pretty close to matching everything else. Powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm with 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage it definetaly has no shortage of power. The only downfall would have to be the smaller 4-inch 480 x 800 resolution display, although it is still a beautiful and vivid Super AMOLED. For those not needing or wanting a large device this is quite possibly one of the best devices T-Mobile will have to offer this summer.

To round things off the Blaze 4G has 4GB of internal storage, and a 4GB SD card that comes out of the box. For cameras we have a quite impressive 5 megapixel shooter on the rear and VGA for the front if anyone feels like a quick Skype or Gtalk video chat. It’s thin, lightweight, feels nice, and has great build quality. Samsung’s added a nice aluminum bezel that gives it a quality feel, but does look a little too much like a Blackberry if you ask me.

We have the long and easy to press power/wake button on the right, followed with the micro-SD port, around to the left is the volume rocker then the usual 3.5mm headphone jack up top, and micro-USB for charging on the bottom. The picture above you can see the aluminum bezel and how it curves around back with that Blackberry styling. It isn’t a bad thing though and I like the feel of the device during daily use.

Software
Under the hood is Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread with the usual changes from Samsung with their TouchWiz UI. Flicking back and forth from page to page seemed a little slower than some devices in the past, but nothing I’d consider a con. Android Gingerbread was fast, fluid, stable, and swift for me and that Qualcomm 1.5 GHz dual-core processor probably helps out here. This is basically a smaller, lighter, and cheaper Galaxy S II as it features the same processor as the original Galaxy S II from T-Mobile.

Games run great thanks to Gingerbread and the dual-core processor. There isn’t anything this phone wont be able to handle, except for some of those Tegra only games, so you wont have any limitations go as far as software and games. Playing Riptide GP was a great experience with the bright and colorful AMOLED display too. Other than the usual T-Mobile bloatware pre-installed apps included Netflix, Slacker Radio, Zinio reader, Lookout Security, and TeleNav GPS. So it’s pretty stock and doesn’t have much bloatware, unlike most AT&T phones.

We see no reason for the Blaze 4G to not get upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and hopefully once Samsung brings that update performance will be even better. Sadly they aren’t known for being the fastest when it comes to updates, especially with phones that aren’t their flagship devices.

Performance and Benchmarks
Like usual we ran a few benchmarks and just as we expected the Galaxy S 4G Blaze was extremely fast, efficient, and scored very high. The 1.5 GHz dual-core processor keeps things speeding along plenty fast, especially on this small of a display. Quadrant had no problem passing 3600, reaching Galaxy S II type scores with ease, and Vellamo blazed past most of the competition, especially in this price range.

For now, it’s safe to say the Galaxy S Blaze 4G is one of the better performing phones for the T-Mobile lineup, and wont be beat until the HTC One S lands, or they get some quad-core smartphones. For review purposes lets just call this a mid-sized device, because it definitely isn’t a mid-range phone with the specs on board. The only spec it actually is lacking is an HD display, and a quad-core processor but those are just making their way to the market.

Camera
Samsung’s cameras have continued to be one of their stronger suits and nothing has changed here. While we don’t have an 8 megapixel lens like the Galaxy S II the 5 MP camera seems to do quite well, even in a mildly lit room. Below is an example with a few close-up shots in the gallery below. The front camera is VGA so results are sub par at best, but at least the feature is still there for those that need it.

Battery Life
The Galaxy S Blaze 4G comes with a 1750 mAh battery and between the smaller screen size, and the AMOLED panel battery life seems better than most. Coming with the same size battery as many of the larger 4.3 and 4.5-inch phones from Samsung it offers better battery than all of them, and doesn’t have LTE sucking down the battery life either. T-Mobile’s HSPA+ works great and I’ve been able to stay on their “4G” throughout all of my city. The battery does feature NFC but the settings weren’t present on the phone to enable this feature, maybe we can get the developer community active here once Android 4.0 ICS lands for the Blaze.

I’ve had the Blaze 4G on for a little over 9 hours today. Using it for personal calls, browsing the web, Twitter and Gmail syncing every few minutes and played a few games and I’ve still got around 44% battery remaining. This will surely get you through an entire day of medium to heavy usage.

T-Mobile 4G HSPA+
The “faux” 4G that T-Mobile has been using for a while now is HSPA+ and works great. It rarely toggles from 4G to 3G and doesn’t suffer from the battery draining problems of AT&T and Verizon 4G LTE. It does tend to be less consistent with speeds throughout town but here in Las Vegas T-Mobile performs very well and I’ve achieved solid results around 9-12 MB/s download and 1 Up on average. I’ve tested this on multiple days and have been quite impressed although they still lack in upload speeds. Here is a good list of my results from multiple locations.

Wrap-Up
To wrap things up I’ll mention that call quality was great, as T-Mobile usually is. The speaker was loud and clear and the speakerphone got more than loud enough. Data speeds weren’t as good as I’ve seen before from T-Mobile, but impressed enough to keep me happy. There isn’t really anything lacking from the Blaze 4G other than possibly the screen size and camera quality. If you want the best of the best from T-Mobile look for the Galaxy S II, or the HTC Amaze 4G. For everyone else that wants a great and overall solid phone, and for a great price, the Galaxy S Blaze 4G is the perfect smartphone in the overall scheme of things.

The Galaxy S Blaze 4G can be yours starting tomorrow for just $149 with a new 2-year contract with T-Mobile. This is a promising phone and would make most users happy. If you aren’t in the need of a new phone this minute it might be worth waiting to see how the HTC One S with Android 4.0 ICS stacks up against it. In terms of what’s available now, this should be near the top of your list for T-Mobile.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : Galaxy S Blaze 4G

Manufactuer : Samsung

Carrier : T-Mobile

Announced Date : February 22, 2012

Release Date : March 21, 2012

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4 Inch
• Resolution : 480x800
• Screen Type : Super AMOLED

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 4.79 Inch
• Width : 2.48 Inch
• Depth : .44 Inch
• Weight : 127 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1750 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : NA

Software

Android OS:
• 2.3.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AAC+
• AMR
• MID
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• h.263
• h.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 (MP4)

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS
• IM

Hardware

CPU : Qualcomm S3

CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz

Core : 2

Ram : 1000 MB

Internal Storage : 8GB GB

Front Facing Camera :

Camera Resolution : 5 MP

External Storage:
• MicroSD

Camera Features:
• Auto focus
• Flash
• 720p Video Recording

Sensors:
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light
• Proximity

QWERTY :

Cellular Network

Network Technology:
• GSM

GSM Band:
• 850
• 900
• 1800
• 1900

Device Connectivity

Wi-Fi:
• 802.11a
• 802.11b
• 802.11g
• 802.11n

Bluetooth:
• Bluetooth 3.0

Location Features:
• GPS

FM Radio :

NFC :

The Sony Smartwatch comes equipped with a 1.3″ color OLED display with full touchscreen capabilities, and even multitouch like pinch-to-zoom gestures. Everything is controlled with the 1.3″ 128 x 128 resolution display and all we have is a single power button on the side. Thankfully this time around Sony gave us full multitouch control as the original, the LiveView, was only capable of single taps and had touch-sensitive buttons around the display, which also made it larger and hard to handle.

For those that aren’t too familiar it doubles as a watch, and defaults to watch faces that are user customizable. Once engaged the color touchscreen turns on and goes into a higher power state for full usage. Using Bluetooth 3.0 the watch receives email and call alerts, can control your music, or help the fitness fanatic track their workout. Whether this is something you’ll actually use on a day to day basis is purely up to the user, but head on over to our sister site SlashGear from the link below for their video demonstration. That should help any considering the purchase.

The Sony SmartWatch is small and made of plastic so is extremely lightweight. The included watch strap makes it easy to wear daily but can also be clipped to a bag, or shoulder strap. Tap, swipes, and pinches are used to navigate the menu’s, sync to twitter or your device, and answer calls although it has no speakerphone or microphone to actually take or communicate calls. If we had Google’s voice actions I could truly see this being an awesome accessory. Without it, it’s merely a tool to help users decide if a tweet, call, or email is worth pulling their phone out of a pocket or bag to save some time.

Obviously the usage scenarios are highly subjective and will vary from user to user. Hit the link below to learn more in the full SlashGear review. The Sony Smartwatch will officially be available sometime in mid-April for around $119 and works great with Sony smartphones.

[via SlashGear]

Hardware

If you’re looking for a phone that will wow onlookers with grace and style, the Rugby Smart isn’t it.  The outer casing makes it look like the illegitimate offspring of an LCD monitor and a hand grenade. But that’s kind of the point: the Rugby Smart is intended to be a phone that can take a beating without complaint. And on that point, it scores. Between impact-absorbing sides, a waterproof casing (it can handle up to 30 minutes submerged in a meter of water) and a completely enclosed design including protective tabs, a locking battery cover and sealed physical navigation buttons, this phone might very well survive in the middle of a rugby match.

All that being the case, it still hats all the checkpoints of a modern Android phone. The back case and battery are removable by means of a recessed lock, the charge and headphone ports are accessible (if not easily so) under plastic protectors. An empty MicroSD card slot is found directly under the battery, making it a bit of a pain to swap cards, but no more so than on many earlier Android phones. Even the ergonomics are preserved with Samsung’s standard power on left, volume on right button layout. As an added not to utility (and perhaps my favorite feature) holding down the Volume Up button when the phone is off turns on a the LED light for a quick flashlight. This is a popular modification, but Samsung includes it by default  - awesome!

Underneath the plastic and rubber, the Rugby Smart is a typical low-to-mid range Android phone. A 1.4ghz processor is quite speedy for a single-core machine, and 512MB is enough to run Android 2.3 and TouchWiz comfortably.  Just 4GB of storage combined with an empty and tough-to-reach MicroSD card means that this isn’t a media phone, unless you’ve already transitioned your music to the cloud. The rear camera is 5 megapixels (720p video recording) while the front-facing camera is 1.3 megapixels – impressive, since on a rugged phone it might not even be there. Samsung’s typically excellent Super AMOLED technology is in fine form, and if the resolution is low at 800×480, it’s only because the screen is relatively small – this is the same size and density of the original Nexus One and HTC Incredible.

Software

If you’ve used Samsung’s TouchWiz over Gingerbread, you know what to expect here. There’s nothing more or less than Samsung and HTC’s standard Android compliment. That said, the extra processor speed seems to handle is all with commendable speed for a mid-range device. TouchWiz is as it ever was, a mix of high-gloss additions that are either slightly hands or ignorable. I’m a big fan of the built-in screenshot feature, which isn’t a standard on Android phones, and the power menu embedded into the drop-down bar, which is so common among skins and ROMs that I’m amazed Google hasn’t already adapted it.

The rest, like the lockscreen and launcher, I could do without. At least in this version it doesn’t give an iPhone-style box to every icon. The abundance of widgets activated by default makes the launcher sluggish even the first time you turn it on. There’s a hearty amount of bloatware present, but anything that’s not made by Samsung or AT&T (about half of the included, non-stock Android apps) can be uninstalled. The rest, like the baffling AT&T Navigator and Featured Apps, will remain unless you root.

Oh, and the Rugby uses MTP instead of the standard USB mass storage, for some reason. Boo.

Battery & Phone

The Rugby Smart has a 1650mAh battery, a generous capacity perhaps made possible by a body that isn’t trying to be the thinnest around. AT&T claims 8 hours of talk time and a little over two weeks of standby time, and I wouldn’t dispute that. The little phone got through a full day’s use with 30% remaining, which is nice, but it doesn’t have a huge screen or an LTE radio bogging it down, either. The bottom line is that you won’t be searching for a charger unless you download gigabytes of files or talk for hours on end.

And speaking of talking: the reception on the Rugby Smart isn’t great. My house is in a 1-2 bar AT&T area, so it makes a perfect testbed for poor signal. The Rugby Smart would drop calls on a regular basis. However, once it found a stable connection the clarity wasn’t too far below the standard level of AT&T phones. If you live in a well-covered area, it should be fine. That said, if you’re prone to long, extended calls, there’s probably better options out there.

Media 

A 5MP camera isn’t the greatest out there today, but for a $100 phone, the Rugby’s sensor is pretty good. Even in indoor light it manages to be relatively clear. It won’t beat out the Galaxy S II any time soon, but then it doesn’t really have to. Snapshots and video are both above-average, even if it’s not as high res as some might like. The speaker on the back is surprisingly loud considering that it’s as waterproof as the rest of the phone, as is the earpiece. Those who use their phone as a speaker will be pleased. The hard-to-reach SD card is still a bit of a downer for those who constantly swap in different audio or video files.

Wrap-Up

For $99.99 on an AT&T contract, you’ve got a few options. If you want 4G LTE, the HTC Vivid is an excellent choice. Those who need more power can opt for the Motorola Atrix 2, and those who want a big, beautiful screen can choose Samsung’s own Galaxy S II. But for someone who wants a small and relatively cheap phone without dipping into the tiny and low-power sections of the market, the Rugby Smart is a good fit. Its compact size should suite plenty who want a middle ground, and the tough construction (while keeping a reasonable thickness and usability) make it an attractive choice for anyone who works or plays in an active environment.

There are a few downsides to this, most notably the technically accessible but hard-to-reach battery bay and SD card slot. And if you frequent low-signal areas, odds are you’d be better served by something else. But for those who want a small phone with decent power that’ll take a beating and still look good, this is it.