Posted by wicked March - 28 - 2013 - Thursday Comments Off
Samsung’s line of Galaxy Tabs are pretty nice, but only one rocks their impressive Super AMOLED technology. That being the Galaxy Tab 7.7 that has been available for some time. However, multiple reports have surfaced over the past few weeks suggesting Samsung is preparing to offer those same beautiful displays in full 1080p HD on an array of tablet sizes.
All their tablets but the one mentioned above have been LCD displays, but that will soon be changing. Last week we reported on a possible 11.6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED tablet in the works from Samsung with blazing high retina resolution like the Nexus 10, and now it looks like those same panels will be coming to smaller slates.
According to SamMobile Samsung is getting ready to start manufacturing full 1920 x 1200 full HD Super AMOLED panels for use in multiple upcoming tablets. In particular they mention the Galaxy Tab 8 (not a note) that will take on the next generation iPad mini, as well as Google’s rumored second-gen Nexus 7.
They go as far as to state this will be unveiled at IFA in late August at the Samsung Unpacked event, which will be Unpacked Episode II of the year. First being the GALAXY S 4 event. This means Unpacked could have Samsung pretty busy with the rumored Galaxy Note III, the Galaxy Tab 3 (10-inch) as well as this 8-inch slate mentioned today. It’s about time Samsung refreshes their tablet lineup, as they’ve been focusing all their attention on the Note devices as of late.
If they can deliver a Galaxy Tab 8 with a full HD AMOLED panel, Exynos 5 Octa 8-core processor, front facing speakers like current tablets and Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie all for a good price – I’ll take two. Stay tuned, it will be a busy summer for Samsung.
Posted by wicked March - 21 - 2013 - Thursday Comments Off
We’ve been hearing all sorts of rumors out of the Samsung camp lately, but this is a juicy one we had to share. Most likely they have an array of tablets coming soon to compete with the Xperia Z and other high-end Android tablets, but imagine one with a Super HD AMOLED panel. Samsung’s best display that isn’t offered on their tablets. Well that’s where this rumor is headed.
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 was Samsung’s first tablet with their Super HD AMOLED technology used on their smartphones, and apparently Sammy is preparing to offer that same stunning display in full HD for a 10.1 or 11.6-inch Android tablet. Rumors and insider information provided to SamMobile appears to back this up.
According to their sources Samsung is preparing a 10 or 11.6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED tablet that will have all the bells and whistles. Their latest Galaxy Tab 10.1 2 is nice, but certainly doesn’t have a fast Exynos 5 quad or Octa-core processor or an AMOLED panel. Their Samsung Nexus 10 has a retina blasting resolution, but it isn’t AMOLED. It’s a TFT LCD display.
The insider claims Samsung’s latest Exynos processors will power these slates, and hopefully Android 4.2 or 5.0 Key Lime Pie will be under the hood. Then of course they also claim a Galaxy Tab 3 Plus and the Galaxy Note III are all on the way and should be unveiled at IFA in Berlin, or at a Samsung Unpacked event. We’re guessing right around the end of August or early September. We’ll be live in Berlin for IFA so stay tuned.
Posted by wicked March - 5 - 2013 - Tuesday Comments Off
Android is great on screens of all shapes and sizes, but how about enjoying some Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Angry Birds on a 84-inch 4K (Ultra HD) touch display? That’s exactly what we have for you below. At this years CeBit show MyMultitouch is showing off their new tablet – if you can call it that – and this 3,840 x 2,160 Ultra HD resolution screen called the Alvaro GIANT is capable of running Android, Windows, or almost anything else.
Now we’ve seen massive screens before, and multitouch displays of this size were widely on display at CES 2013 this year in Vegas too. However this thing runs nearly any OS, works wonderfully, and is the first commercially available model with an actual price tag. You won’t want to see how big that price is, but it sure is neat. MyMultitouch is stating the price will be reasonable coming in roughly at $43,000 for retail. Of course this is something for ESPN or news outlets and not the average consumer, but I sure want one.
If you thought the upcoming 6.3-inch Galaxy Note III was big – check that thing out. Running Windows 8 with ease as well as our personal favorite, Android, this is quite the display. The pictures don’t do it justice and that 4K resolution is impressive – even though Android doesn’t support it. With support for over 30 touch inputs at a time, yet lets us play Angry Birds Space. How about that?
Running off a simple thumb drive with Android the display worked with ease, but had to scale down the resolution a little. You can see from the video above some gameplay and all. Obviously the Alvaro GIANT is aimed at retail and industrial markets, it’s still fun to check out. MyMultitouch tells us the display is protected by hardened glass, has a coating to help with fingerprints, can tell if you’re using a finger or a fist, and even works with gloves.
Posted by wicked January - 29 - 2013 - Tuesday Comments Off
If you’ve been following Android news over the last few years then you’ve undoubtedly noticed the advances in hardware. Indeed, processors are getting faster and phones are getting lighter, but there’s another component that has evolved over time. We’re talking, of course, about the display sizes and resolutions.
Posted by wicked January - 26 - 2013 - Saturday Comments Off
Today we have a new phone from the folks at Pantech to share with everyone. They’re usually known for their low priced cheapo phones but the new and improved Pantech Discover looks to shake them of that reputation. This device comes with a 4.8-inch HD screen and more than enough power under the hood to get the job done. All of that is just $49 from AT&T too. Read on for our full rundown on why this could be one of the best budget handsets on the market.
Hardware
The Pantech Discover is actually extremely well rounded and certainly more than adequate to get most jobs done. While the design may be a bit odd to say the least, it helps the device seem sleek and low profile. Now what will you be working with for just $49.99 and a new 2-year contract? A pretty decent phone. The Pantech Discover comes equipped with a 4.8-inch 1280 x 720p HD display. And while it’s crisp, bright, and vivid, the touch sensitivity gave me an issue once or twice but nothing one can’t overcome.
Made of a durable lightweight aluminum and hard plastic the build quality is by far one of Pantech’s best yet. They’ve added stereo speakers and one of the better cameras I’ve seen in anything under $200. This enjoys a 12.6 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front for video chat and self portraits. 1080p video was actually rather decent (as was the sound) and you can see more on that below. Under the hood we have a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 1GB of RAM to keep things smooth, 16GB of internal storage and micro-SD for added options, then one of the only downsides is the 2,100 mAh battery could be a bit bigger.
With on-screen navigation buttons, a thin bezel, and a sleek and thin profile this phone actually feels smaller than a 4.8-inch handset like the Galaxy S III. Phones will smaller screens like the 4.5-inch RAZR HD are actually larger in size, so Pantech gets added points for that. To take you around the hardware we have micro-USB on bottom, the volume up/down rocker to the left and a stereo speaker grill. Up top is the 3.5mm headphone jack and a nicely placed power button. Then the right edge is graced with the second quality sounding stereo speaker. It looks odd from the side but this handset is actually really clean and sharp looking. I’m diggin in.
Overall the hardware is extremely well built for Pantech, especially for a $50 device, and had no issues or creaks from our limited time with the phone. In general Pantech’s certainly stepped up their game and we hope more like it are coming soon.
Software
We really are enjoying the camera and hardware of this device, but the one area it really is lacking is the software. Sadly Pantech managed to only toss this onto the market with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. No Jelly Bean here sadly, but hopefully it’s coming soon. The other negative with software is their awful user interface over the top of Android. If this was stock Jelly Bean I’d love it, but sadly that isn’t the case.
Pantech’s added some great value and nice UI improvements to enhance usage, but their skin could use some work. I might have been a bit harsh above. It’s certainly manageable and decent to work with but we’ve seen better. Their colors were odd with different shades of Grey (no 50 shades of Grey jokes please) Orange, some occasional teal greens and more. It doesn’t feel very uniform would be a good way to describe it. That aside, they have pup-up play features for dual-screen video watching, or note taking. They’ve added multiple shortcuts for extra icons on the app drawer, and the same shortcut icons are on the bottom of the web browser. Here’s the pop-up feature we mentioned:
You can move it wherever you’d like but sadly we can’t re-size it. If they enable resizing with the Jelly Bean update, we’d really be happy. We have the usual AT&T bloatware everywhere, and they even have their own folder full of bloatware apps right on the home screen. Delete that right away. Here’s some screenshots of the UI for a better idea of what to expect.
Another unique and nice idea is the notification bar. We have the usual quick toggles, but an advanced screen can be opened for more settings and options. Sadly the button to open that or clear notifications are too close together and I found myself hitting the wrong one. Same thing can be said about the settings button. It’s oddly shaped and crammed up top and hard to hit at times. I don’t want to focus so much to do simple tasks. Is that too much to ask?
In the end the software is quick, stable, fluid, and runs surprisingly well being Ice Cream Sandwich riddled with an overlay on top. The video below will give you a better idea of hardware, software, and everything else so take a peek.
Benchmarks
Enjoying a 4.8-inch HD display and the same 1.5 GHz dual-core processor as the US Galaxy S III, we were hoping for similar performance. While Quadrant offered a strong showing, AnTuTu put this phone to its knees for some reason. Daily usage, apps, multi-tasking, and gaming had absolutely zero issues though. As usual here’s a few benchmarks just for good measure.
Performance was swift and speedy, and an update to Android 4.1 (or hopefully 4.2) Jelly Bean should improve the overall usage, but we had no complaints from day to day.
AT&T 4G LTE Speedtest
Rocking AT&T 4G LTE under the hood we had to give Speedtest a try to see just how things were holding up. And as expected, this thing was quick. AT&T’s LTE rollout hasn’t been as fast as Verizon but it’s catching up and doing just fine. Here in Vegas I averaged speeds topping 20 MB/s and nearly the same for uploads. These quick speeds seemed more stable than Verizon’s LTE around town too. I didn’t think I’d be saying that this early into 2013.
Camera
The Pantech Discover comes with a 12.6 megapixel rear camera which adds a slight hump to an otherwise sleek handset, but the camera was solid. Sadly the zoom and autofocus has an obnoxious old zoom sound which I could do without, but the results were enough to overlook that. Photos were decent and nothing groundbreaking, but their 1080p video recording was better than expected. Another bright side of the recording was audio quality. The 1080p sample below is a good idea of what to expect and what we mean.
We snapped a few photos throughout the house and outside with this overcast weather and rain in Vegas, but images turned out crisp and not too grainy. Low light could use some help, but otherwise this will handle daily pictures and your average quick shot with ease.
Phone & Speakers
A big part of the design is the speakers on both sides. Rather than a tiny tin-can sounding rear speaker that gets muffled with almost any circumstance, the Discover rocks stereo speakers that are loud and crisp. I was extremely impressed with audio quality and no matter how you hold the phone the sound will still be loud and easy to hear. I really wish all smartphones and tablets used a better speaker and placement, and Pantech nailed it with this one.
Using the actual phone function – yes like for phone calls – the Pantech Discover was pretty stellar. The earpiece was loud and crisp, almost too loud, and of course speakerphone was top notch. AT&T call quality is always good so we had no complaints. For $49.99 this is as well rounded as it gets.
Battery life
As far as daily usage and battery life the Discover was a mixed bag of potatoes for us. Having a huge display and only a 2,100 mAh battery had us concerned, but overall it handled its own quite well. With light usage the phone should last well over 24 hours and make it through a days work. However if you’re like us and constantly enjoying a YouTube video, getting multiple emails and Twitter notifications, and play a game or two you’ll be reaching for a charger before days end. On a heavy heavy day I got just 7 hours and 12 minutes from a full charge, but that wasn’t the usual usage scenario. It’s safe to say the average to moderate user should have no concerns.
Wrap-Up
In closing, we’re a little torn on what direction to take with this smartphone. On one hand this is by far one of the absolute best budget handsets on the market, and easily will make almost any user happy. For $49.99 the Pantech Discover delivers HD visuals, dual-core speed, impressive camera capabilities and 4G LTE. On the flip side the screen is a little washed out, touch sensitivity could use a little improvement, and the UI needs some work and uniformity. Then again, this is only $49.99 and made me happy for a week – so we expect most will love it.
AT&T does have the HTC One X which offers a similar package, better display, and a UI that certainly has a little extra polish around the edges with Sense UI. Or you could spend the extra $100 and grab the Samsung Galaxy S III. To end we’d have to say you’ll need to hit a store and see for yourself. If you’re on a budget and want one of the best phones for the price, the Pantech Discover is it. If you can manage a little extra surely go with another option, but for $49.99 this can’t be beat. We’ll say it again. For $49.99 the Pantech Discover is as well rounded as it gets! Enjoy the rest of the pictures below.
Posted by wicked January - 21 - 2013 - Monday Comments Off
Some new reports have surfaced that the folks over at Sony are preparing more than just a few Xperia Z products for 2013. We’ve already seen their new 5-inch 1080p powered smartphone at CES, but now we’re seeing some leaked components leading us to believe Sony is cooking up a 6.44-inch powerhouse. Read on for more details on what’s coming next.
Sony hasn’t had the best luck so far in the US markets, but it’s safe to say they’re still doing relatively well in other markets. They’ve continued to push out quality smartphones and their new Z is looking rather nice itself. Today reports have arrived from The Verge showing a new 6.44-inch 1920 x 1080p smartphone. Maybe it’s a phablet, or maybe just a media player or gaming device. We’re not too sure yet.
With companies such as Samsung preparing a 6.3-inch Note III and Huawei releasing an Ascend Mate with a 6.1-inch screen, we guess it makes sense for Sony to do the same. We’ve seen multiple leaks suggesting LG and others have larger than usual devices coming soon, and now it appears that Sony is joining in on the phablet fun.
The image above was leaked by Digi-Wo and shows a massive smartphone complete with SONY branding up top. Looking at the Xperia Z hands-on from CES the panels look extremely similar, only this one is much larger. This could just be a prototype but either way we’ll be finding out more of Sony’s plans next month for MWC. Who thinks 6.44-inches is too big for a smartphone?
Posted by wicked January - 10 - 2013 - Thursday Comments Off
While we’ve all been busy at CES, including the folks from Pantech and Verizon, somewhere a nice new image has leaked to our friend at @evleaks showing an impressive new smartphone coming soon. A new device being called the Pantech Perception leaked this week complete with Verizon branding so should hopefully be coming soon. Read on for more details on this budget phone.
The Pantech Marauder on Verizon isn’t quite a top tier device, but this new phone in the works is certainly a step in the right direction. Like the recently released Pantech Discover HD on AT&T, the Perception rocks a 720p display. This is just their second HD powered smartphone to grace the US market and we have all the details.
According to the leaks provided the Pantech Perception is paired with what we’re hearing is a 4.8-inch display with a 1280 x 720p HD display, a powerful 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor from Qualcomm, 1GB of RAM, and that’s all we know at this point. Internal storage, battery and camera specs, as well as final version of Android is still up in the air.
The other important part of this leak is the price, as we still don’t know what it’ll be. Hopefully Pantech isn’t going away from their usual pricing and this quality device with near top end specs will match previous devices. The Discover is just $49 with a new 2-year contract, and we’re hopeful for the same low price once the Perception arrives for Verizon Wireless. Stay tuned for additional details coming soon.
Posted by Kellex December - 31 - 2012 - Monday Comments Off
According to a report out of GSMArena, LG has some major things planned for CES, next week. In the past year, CES took a back seat in the mobile world to other  conferences like MWC or to companies deciding to hold their own solo press events. But if this rumor becomes a reality, LG may [...]
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Posted by wicked December - 20 - 2012 - Thursday Comments Off
While news from those Chinese companies like ZTE might be few and far between, they’ve still been busy working on their own flagship powerhouse smartphones to take on the competition. Today we’ve learned that ZTE’s new quad-core 5-inch 1080p flagship smartphone is launching in China today, and looks pretty promising.
We mentioned ZTE’s new 1080p HD phone a few weeks ago, but now it’s official and starting December 21st it will be available for all. Being the 21st at the moment in China, you can grab this flagship smartphone phablet right this minute if your interested. Most likely this impressive phone won’t sell outside of China, but we’re hoping it will.
So what will about $400 get you in the ZTE Nubia Z5? a 5-inch 1920 x 1080p full HD display, a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and more. They’ve also equipped this phone with a 2 megapixel front and 13 megapixel rear camera, 2,500 mAh battery, dual speakers and a unibody design all coming in at 7.6mm thin. ZTE might have been a budget brand before, but this is certainly a top-tier smartphone.
ZTE announced the device would be available in China starting December 21st (has the world ended yet?) so starting today you’ll be able to pick up this new phone if you’re interested. Hopefully we learn more about Huawei’s upcoming 1080p phones for China too. Competition is always good.
Posted by wicked December - 14 - 2012 - Friday Comments Off
When it comes to an actual smartphone, how big is too big? All jokes aside today we are seeing a brand new device from Huawei that can only be described as ridiculously large. The unknown 8.5-inch prototype smartphone has surfaced in the flesh over on Twitter, and appears to be a working device. Eldar Murtazin himself posted a picture of the image, and we have additional details below.
What you see above is a massive smartphone, yes smartphone, and not a tablet, from Huawei that is actually a working unit. At first glace I was a bit concerned and debating as to whether the image was real. Clearly looking just like the Ascend P1 (which is also listed behind) only that phone is 4.3-inches. Later Eldar tweeted the same image as you see on-screen, which is an image taken with this device to his Twitter too. Seemingly confirming the device is indeed real and working as expected.
Now we don’t know much here but the size was mentioned as being 8.5-inches. Imagine something larger than your Nexus 7 sitting next to your ear while having a conversation. You’d look a bit ridiculous. Later he mentions in fact that 8.5-inches could be from edge-to-edge of the entire device and that 6.5-inches or so for the actual screen is more realistic. Either way we’re a little skeptical and this should be taken with a grain of salt.
While the details remain thin on this device, Huawei’s own exec confirmed a 6.1-inch 1080p phablet last week. We’re hearing Huawei has a 6.1-inch 1080p quad-core smartphone powered by Jelly Bean in the works, and the device we’re seeing today could in fact be exactly that. Called the Huawei Ascend Mate. We’ll report back once we receive additional details. As a comparison we’ve been hearing Samsung is preparing a 6.3-inch Galaxy Note III, so these huge devices could indeed become a reality.
