Review Gadget : Sony Xperia S review

Has spring 2012 brought a rebirth to the Xperia range, or just a rebranding? On the face of it, that's an easy one. The Sony Xperia s  is the first handset we've reviewed in the post-Ericsson era and you only have to glance at its spec sheet to see that more has changed than just the logo. The 4.3-inch LCD display outguns older Xperias with a bright and contrasty 1280 x 720 resolution. This feature alone helps the device to sit more snugly on the Sony family sofa, where it can share popcorn with the tablets, PCs and TVs that Kaz & Co. want to merge into a seamless media-munching ecosystem. The Xperia S' camera pushes in that same direction, shooting 12-megapixel stills and 1080p video and then streaming its creations to other displays over HDMI and DLNA. Rounding it off, you get quirky features like NFC and a distinctive, Bravia-like physical design. But not everything here is so fresh and spring-like: other aspects of the device are still tinged with winter, as you'll discover if you read on.

Review Gadget : AT&T Galaxy Note review

It was once said that if a phone or tablet used a stylus its hardware designers had blown it. It was also said that if the software on that device contained a task manager that coders had similarly missed the mark. The Samsung Galaxy Note on AT&T contains what many would consider a stylus and, if you hold down the Home button, you're presented with what can only be described as a task manager.

So the Galaxy Note, Samsung's massive 5.3-inch "superphone," is critically flawed then, right? No. It is, in fact, one of the best phones to hit the market since another Samsung powerhouse -- the Galaxy Nexus. It's a device with a lot to love and is the kind of phone that would make almost every Android aficionado swoon. However, with its massive 5.3-inch display and generally understated styling, it isn't for everybody. We reviewed it before in European guise, but now read on to see if AT&T's $300 LTE version of this big brute is just right for you.

Review Gadget : Ainovo Novo 7 Basic review

It's a world's first coming from a company you've never heard of -- if you live outside of China, anyway. Taking Google's newly minted OS and slipping it into an affordable chassis, Ainovo's Novo 7 Basic could very well be a sleeper hit among the tech-obsessed masses. Sure, it may lack the brand equity and tidy content ecosystems that are part and parcel of Amazon and Apple's offerings, but thanks to that $99 price, users may find themselves seduced by the temptation of Ice Cream Sandwich alone. Apart from a small fraternity of devices including the Galaxy Nexus and ASUS Transformer Prime, few devices have officially played host to Android 4.0, lending this 7-inch tab a distinct advantage over the more expensive, Gingerbread-packing Kindle Fire. With a 1GHz Ingenic JZ4770 mobile applications processor based on a MIPS XBurst CPU, an 800 x 480 LED display and VGA front-facing / 2-megapixel rear cameras, this no-frills slate could blaze a bargain trail past Bezos and Co. So, does it manage to hold its own against its well-known competitors? Or will all that corner-cutting reveal this low cost tablet to be just another below-the-bar offering? Follow on past the break as we deliver the answers to these and other burning questions.

Review Gadget : Sony Z Series Walkman Player review

Since it was announced last August, we've anxiously been waiting for Sony's flagship Walkman Z (the first to feature Android) to hit US shores. (It made it here well after the holidays passed. Better late than never, right?) While Sony is billing the Z as a Walkman first and foremost, its spacious 4.3-inch display and 1GHz Tegra 2 SoC ensure it's powerful and well-sized for playing games and generally making the most of Gingerbread. The device will be available in a variety of flavors, with up to 32GB of storage ($330), though for the purposes of this review we've been rocking the entry-level 8GB model ($250). Although we haven't exactly been charmed by similar devices vying for a piece of the iPod Touch's market share, the Walkman Z has plenty of promise. The question is, does it deliver? And does it deserve your $250 when it goes on sale in March? Let's find out.

Review Gadget : Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 review (global edition)

Within an 11-day period last fall, Engadget published reviews of two different Samsung Galaxy tablets. At the time, we felt the company was turning into a caricature of itself, with slates in every conceivable size, including 10.1, 8.9 and 7 inches. Mostly, though, if we sounded exasperated with Sammy's "see what sticks" strategy, it was because the outfit unveiled not one, but two 7-inchers over the course of a month. One of these, the 7.0 Plus, went on sale in the US back in November, with mid-range specs and a mid-range price to match its in-between size. But that tablet always felt like a consolation prize next to our second contender, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, which brings a brushed metal back, 10-hour battery and Super AMOLED Plus, 1280 x 800 display. Even on paper, it always seemed promising. Special.

Maddeningly, though, those of us here in the states still can't buy one through the likes of Best Buy and Amazon, and though Verizon Wireless plans to sell an LTE-enabled version, we know scant few details about when it will arrive, how much it will cost or whether there will be an off-contract option. Luckily for us, our friends over at Negri Electronics hooked us up with an international model, one with 16GB of internal storage and WiFi, HSPA+ and EDGE / GPRS radios -- a doozy of a tablet that would cost you $668.50 if you were to import it to the US. (You can buy it domestically if you live in select markets like the UK.) So is the product novel enough to warrant that novelty price? Find the answer to that question and more after the break.

Review Gadget : Huawei Honor review

Phone makers love to take pride in the extravagant names they give their products, but it's likely that the Huawei Honor is more to its creator than just a decently-specced handset. After all, the introduction of the Honor -- followed by last week's announcement of the super-slim Ascend P1 S -- appears to represent a shift in the OEM's overall product placement strategy. Huawei has done a great job finding customers in emerging and prepaid markets, but now it has its sights set on cranking out noteworthy phones that will gain the attention of anyone looking for a high-end device.

Based on its laundry list of specs, the Honor isn't a high-end handset compared to some of its LTE and dual-core competitors. And yet, it's still the best device Huawei's offered to date, and it's clear the company's upcoming phones are only going to get better. So we're really eyeing the Honor as a step closer to the OEM finally realizing its ultimate goal. Does it live up to its name? Can the Honor play with the big boys, or is it nothing more than just an outward indication of the company's future? Read on to find out.

Review Gadget : Kyocera Echo review

It's not exactly difficult to put into words what the Kyocera Echo is -- it's a dual-screened Android phone, after all -- but it's a wee bit more challenging to wrap your head around who exactly it's for. The hardcore gaming contingent already has Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play, and those obsessed with screen real estate have options spanning the gamut -- everything from Dell's 5-inch Streak to a veritable cornucopia of choices in the 4- to 4.3-inch range. So, where exactly does this oddball fit in? Quite frankly, we get the impression that it's doing its darnedest to carve out a market of its own, a thought that's reinforced by Kyocera's dedicated app development space and two-faced Simul-Task mode. Early critics (read: us) railed on the fact that double the screens meant double the trouble in terms of battery life, and there's no question that a second cell was included with our test unit. But are the advantages of having a second 3.5-inch WVGA touchpanel enough to overshadow the obvious pitfalls? Join us as we do a little soul-searching in our full review, hosted up just past the break.

Review Gadget : Samsung Captivate Glide review

The QWERTY slider hasn't exactly gone the way of the dinosaur, but it's definitely approaching giant panda status. That is to say, it's become rare for a major device manufacturer to output anything other than candybar touchscreen smartphones. And why not? Slimmer, faster, beastlier is the mobile motto as of late and that's precisely what consumers seem to gravitate towards. But for diehard fans of tactile feedback, Samsung's birthed the Captivate Glide, a handset that marries the best of both form factors. Sitting just below its high-end brethren, Sammy's 4-incher runs along AT&T's 21Mbps HSPA+ network and bundles an 800 x 480 Super AMOLED display with a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a 1,650mAh battery, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, a 1.3MP front-facing camera and an 8MP rear camera capable of 720p video capture. At $150 on a two-year contract, it's just half a Benjamin short of the top-tier, LTE-capable HTC Vivid. With that small of a price divide, you have to wonder: is the downgrade really worth it for the Captivate Glide's (comparatively) slower speeds and physical buttons? Are you willing to trade-in thin and sleek for messaging convenience and a bit of bulk? Follow on past the break as we deliver the answers to those burning questions.

Review Gadget : Samsung Stratosphere review

Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, Verizon was still in phase one of its LTE lineup, which consisted of nothing but 4.3-inch slate phones with questionable battery life and very little to stand out from the rest of the competition. Now that we're seeing the second generation of devices coming into the 4G fold, Big Red appears to be pushing choice -- not just in terms of size and feel, but price as well. The Pantech Breakout was the first to, well, break out of the mold, offering a smaller form factor for a much more reasonable cost. It was nothing to write home about, but the fact that it existed gave us hope that we'd see a slew of phones in the same price range, finally making high-speed connectivity a more affordable option.

Review Gadget : Verizon Galaxy Nexus review

It's the Galaxy Nexus. It has LTE. It's the phone we've been waiting (and waiting) for. Sure, some of our more globe-trotting members of the staff were suitably sated by the HSPA+ version that shipped a few weeks ago, but the rest of us domestic types simply need more bandwidth. Or, at least, we like to think that we do, and this $300 (on-contract) Verizon release certainly has that in spades.

However, there's something missing :  Google Wallet. That company's attempt at reinventing commerce isn't here and, while nobody's saying for sure, it surely has something to do with Verizon not wanting to kneecap the Isis payment service it has invested in. That leaves us wondering: with restrictions on what apps can be installed, and some rather prominent carrier branding on the back, is this really a Nexus device at all? And, more importantly, is it a good phone? Those answers and more wait for you below.

Concept HTC Zeta rendered, rumored And Spec to pack 2.5GHz quad-core CPU and Ice Cream Sandwich

 


The HTC Zeta mystery phone on paper is more intriguing than the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, this one if true and of course this is where we get that pinch of salt could be very interesting to say the least.
Ready for today's grain of salt? We just got handed imagery and specs of a possible HTC device in the works codenamed the Zeta. It's a quad-core handset, much like the Edge that was leaked last week, but it has a much faster 2.5GHz APQ8064 CPU along with 1GB of RAM running the show, on a 4.5-inch 720p HD display. 

Review Gadget : Review Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S

It seems like nearly all the phone makers are doing it. Take the latest flagship release, add some welcome (but relatively minor) technical tweaks, slap an extra S on it and release to an adoring public not much more than six months after the original hit stores. Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc is the latest (but certainly not the last) to undergo said refresh. The new Arc S appears identical on the surface, still carrying the stylish curvature that wooed us the first time round. Internally, most of the parts remain the same as its predecessor, aside from a bump to a new CPU, a 1.4GHz Qualcomm chip. Alongside the minor hardware change, this is the first Xperia handset arriving with Sony's 3D sweep panorama feature, capable of creating 3D stills for consumption on your compatible TV back home. Does the extra 400MHz make enough of a difference? Are sweeping panoramas enough to warrant a phone refresh at a time when dual-core, big-screened Android phones are the high-end standard? Read on to get the full picture.

Review Gadget : Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on

Remember the Droid RAZR? That's so yesterday. Or, earlier today. Whatever. The point is, Samsung's just busted out the planet's first Ice Cream Sandwich-based smartphone here in Hong Kong, a few days late but hardly worse for the wear. The Galaxy Nexus (formerly referred to as the Nexus Prime) carries on the Nexus torch in spectacular fashion, and we've just spent a few quality moments with one here at the launch event. Design-wise, it's clear that the Nexus S DNA is here, though the rear reminds us most of the Galaxy S II. Those who abhor physical buttons will also be delighted, and while we'd gotten used to the whole Power + Home for a screenshot on the GSII, Power + Volume Down works just fine on this fellow.

The 1.2GHz dual-core processor was startlingly fast. It actually felt a wee bit quicker than our Galaxy S II, and given that Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus were apparently built for one another, we're assuming there's some deeply ingrained optimizations to thank. Swiping from pane to pane was faster than its ever been on Android, and the new Roboto font actually is super eye-pleasing. The touch response of the capacitive buttons -- much like those on the original Nexus One -- take a bit of getting used to, and we had to mash 'em just a touch harder than we anticipated to elicit a response. [Update: turns out our demo phone was a bit of an early build; we touched another model later in the day, and our response gripes were gone. Perfectly responsive. Hopefully that's the one that'll ship out.] Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing worth noting. We've built our impressions after the break, replete with a video. Enjoy!

The Android era: From G1 to Ice Cream Sandwich (and beyond)

Whenever I think about Android 4.0, better known as Ice Cream Sandwich, I'm amazed at how far Google has come since the early days, when it was trying to convince the world that phones with the friendly green extraterrestrial could make applesauce of the revolutionary iPhone.

The skepticism was well-earned. Google's first Android phone, the HTC-made T-Mobile G1, wasn't much to look at when it debuted in October 2008, with its trough for a keyboard and its bizarrely jutting chin (we even thought we might be getting a single Google Phone!). Yet the G1 kicked off an Android avalanche just the same.