Archive for January 10th, 2011

Verizon 4G Motorola Droid Bionic

I think I’ve proved it on a lot of occasions that I’m a Motorola fan boy. I loved the Droid when it first came out (or the Milestone for those who don’t know which one I’m talking about) for its sturdiness, for the great build quality, for the fact that you could easily over clock the processor and hold it at 900Mhz with minimal threat to its safety. I loved the Milestone 2 which took all of those good things about the first one of the series and improved on them. I enjoyed the first few looks at the Motorola tablet running Honeycomb (which I will take a look at in the near future) so I might be a touch biased when taking a look at Verizon’s Motorola Droid Bionic.

But then again who cares if we are biased when it comes to products we enjoyed in the past and still enjoy, right? Without prolonging this too much let’s get to it. This latest addition to the new upcoming Verizon 4G Android Smartphone line comes with the same 4.3 inch screen as the previously presented smartphones from LG, Samsung and HTC. At the first few looks Motorola seems to have moved away from the almost industrial look of the Milestone to a more sleek design with the Bionic. As such the harder corners and edges have been rounded off to give a more pleasant look to the handset when compared to the Milestone series which almost had a rugged feel about it.

As we look around the device we get to see all the standard ports, mini USB, HDMI port, 3.5 mm audio jack at the top, volume rocker on the side. The overall feel of the phone brings back good memories, as this Motorola smartphone just feels great in the hand. Despite the rounded off edges the phone still has in my eyes a rugged way of introducing itself. Still considering the huge 4.3 inch display it boasts at the front I can safely assume that once it will be launched it will make some waves. This device is however the one which come out most likely the latest of the 4 devices previewed today as launch date is set towards sometime the mid of 2011. It’s also the only one (as far as I know) of the 4 which comes equipped with a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and this shows.

Navigation through the menus is blazing fast and video playback and program loading times are close to zero. The dual-core processor really knows how to flex its muscles as there was no delay what so ever while performing any tasks and to combine this with great speed, just think of a dual-core device with a 4G internet connection. Result? Blazing fast performance. Still I don’t want to swallow my words when this will indeed come out so I’ll stop. All in all the handset promises a whole lot and considering how well Motorola works, I am pretty sure it will deliver as well. Until next time, I’ll be busy playing around with the over clock on the Milestone 2.1

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January 10th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News, Android Phone

Verizon 4G Samsung Inspiration

By the looks of it Verizon is really launching a full out attack on the smartphone market. We have already taken a quick look at what LG and HTC bring to the 4G Verizon Android smartphone table and the only thing I can say that it’s impressive to say the very least. But considering that Samsung is also one of the large players on this market, and considering the past year, probably one of the best electronics and telecommunications company out there. Their impressive sales of the Galaxy Tab and the Samsung Galaxy S line showed anyone that their products are truly top notch and that they still plan on improving a huge variety of products.

Anyway, without losing too much space talking about this and that let’s get right to it, let’s get right to the first preview of the upcoming Verizon Samsung Inspiration. The name is really well picked as it’s probably one of the smoothest phones introduced this year at CES. When we look at the device from a design point of view we can safely say that the experience gained when setting up the Galaxy S comes into play here. The rear of the device is very smooth and very slick. Probably the biggest surprise was that despite being glossy the rear does not leave finger smudge marks, so props to Samsung on doing so well when choosing the material for the rear.

Just like with the previously previewed devices by LG and HTC, the Samsung Inspiration is also boasting a 4.3 inch display and as I was impressed when first time laying my eyes on the Galaxy’s Super AMOLED display, this new 4.3 inch display got the same reaction. Colors look brilliant and the whole image quality on the Inspiration is top of the notch. The front features a 1.3 MP VGA camera for video calling or conference, the proximity sensor and the front speaker. The sides have all the standard options rolling on them, volume rocker, screen on/off button, 3.5 mm audio jack and a HDMI port along with the charger port.

The Verizon 4G Samsung Inspiration glides through menus seamlessly and there is absolutely no delay when accessing any apps or any web pages. This is mainly thanks to the fact that Verizon’s 4G is truly blazing fast. Samsung’s Inspiration is running Android 2.2 Froyo at the moment and for now there aren’t any news that it will get 2.3 once it will be launched, yet even so the device with the custom Samsung UI works great and I can’t wait to get this one reviewed. One thing which I failed to mention previously is the fact that this smartphone does come with a 8 MP camera on the rear so most likely we will have 720p and maybe 1080p video recording.

No matter what will turn out once the device is launched, after these short few looks Samsung have truly outdone themselves and I can’t wait to get my greedy little hands on it. Until next time, keep playing with the Galaxy S and know that the upcoming Samsung will be up to level of its ancestors :) .

— Images via www.talkandroid.com1

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January 10th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News, Android Phone

Verizon 4G HTC Thunderbolt

Well it’s time to get back to CES again and take some more looks at some of brand new smartphones which are announced for the following few months. This time round we will still hang around Verizon Android smartphones because the upcoming lineup for their high end line sure is impressive. As I previously took a look at the LG Revolution, now it’s time to move on with the list of epic devices coming to the shops in the near future. As such the next on our list of Verizon Android smartphones is the HTC Thunderbolt.

Just like the previously previewed LG Revolution, the HTC Thunderbolt looks great. I know that some people might ask that “what’s the difference” since most Android smartphones have the same old black slab design. Well it’s simply how you take that design and improve on it. The first few images of the HTC Thunderbolt really showed users how a premium device is supposed to look like. Besides the stylish and great design there are some great little touches added to the device. As such one of these little things which have been added is a kick-stand at the lower back of the device which covers a digital stereo speaker. This is something quite a lot of users have been requesting from HTC  so it’s good to see that they did listen to the end-user.

The large issue I have really is that even after some hands-on there still aren’t that many details regarding the specs of this newest HTC offspring. The display is a beautiful 4.3 inch which supports resolutions of 480 x 800 most likely. The rear shows of a 5 MP camera with dual LED flash, while the large part of the back is covered by a rubbery material which gives off a great feel. The device feels good in the hand and thanks to the rubber on the back you don’t feel like you will be dropping it any time soon (unlike the Galaxy S which for me at least seemed like an oiled up monkey in mud wrestling, but then again, maybe I’m just to sensible :) ).

On the sides we see the volume rocker, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and the screen on/off button at the top. The only issue I have when it comes to this is the fact that the charger slot is not covered which will allow lint and dirt in general to get in there so I’m a bit unsure why HTC couldn’t bother with a small piece of plastic at least to cover that one up.

All in all this latest addition to the Verizon 4G lineup is great. HTC have again outdone themselves as the devices moves swiftly through the menus with absolutely no delay what so ever, the quality of the display is top notch (and remember it’s a 4.3 inch display) and the feel of the phone is great again as build quality is defiantly premium. Until next time, I’ll be busy playing with my Legend.1

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January 10th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News, Android Phone

Verizon 4G LG Revolution

This year at CES we got the chance to see a huge invasion of brand new Android products getting ready to hit the market. Amongst the large base of Android smartphones hitting the market I’ll try and take a look at some of the most impressive devices and give a small preview to what will be arriving in stores in the following few months.

As such we’ll kick it off with LG’s Revolution, one of the 4 new devices sporting 4G which will be available through Verizon within the following months. This newest Android smartphone by LG is probably one of the prettiest smartphones I got a chance to look at mainly because of the nice and stylish design LG used when setting this device up. Still the Verizon 4G LG Revolution isn’t all just looks but it still packs a punch under that nice hood.

The first thing to hit the eye of any beholder when talking about this newest device by LG for the US market is the fact that it’s boasting a huge 4.3 inch display. The display is beautiful and the color scheme is brilliant. Quality when viewing any pictures or playing back video is top of the notch and thanks to the 4.3 inch display everything looks bigger. The native resolution for this device is 480 x 800 pixels, so not a step up from any of our high end devices with 4 inch displays yet the 0.3 inches extra sure add to the overall premium feel of the device. Props to LG for pulling this one off.

One of my greatest concerns when a new device hits the market is to see how it handles itself. How does this latest Verizon Android phone handle itself. Browsing through the menus is swift and seamless with no lag present at all. Videos and applications are loaded quickly thanks to the 1 GHz processor. So far I can’t say anything more on the performance part as neither Verizon nor LG  announced any of the other specs ( and I’m mainly thinking here about RAM or on-board storage ). The smartphone is equipped with a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash. On the front a 1.3 MP VGA camera will make video conference available, while the devices itself has support for playing back 720p videos, DivX compatibility and Bluetooth 3.0. On the side we see a HDMI port which enables you to connect your handset to a TV with a HDMI output and one of the smaller features which I really enjoyed was the fact that on the back near the camera we have a small mic which enables noise canceling thus increasing call quality yet this will be seen in the near future only.

All in all the device has a nice premium feel about it, the rear gives off a metallic feel to it and everything seems nice and solidly put together. Again kudos LG on making a new high end device. The only “bug” I’d see for the Revolution is the fact that it’s not powered by a dual-core CPU but then again, considering how well this device works with its 1 GHz processor, I wouldn’t say a dual-core would be mandatory. Until the next time we might get to review this device, keep an eye on LG cause lately they have been releasing great products one after another.1

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January 10th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News, Android Phone
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2013-05-26 04:28:57