Author Archive: Vince Chan

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By September 27, 2011 Read More →

Samsung shifts 10 million Galaxy SII smartphones

samsungSamsung’s Galaxy SII with a seemingly no-compromise spec sheet has drawn some big attention, and now Samsung have the numbers to prove it. Just in the last eight weeks, Samsung have enjoyed their sales double from 5 million to 10 million, a truly impressive milestone to say the least, especially when one of the largest markets, the United States, hasn’t even contributed. I know that the Galaxy SII really does deserve the huge sales numbers it has already achieved – I myself own one of the 10 million. If you haven’t read our glowing review of the GSII, check it out now!

Posted in: News
By September 27, 2011 Read More →

Monster BeKnown iPhone app now available

monster logoMonster announced European availability of an iPhone app for BeKnown, Monster’s professional networking application for Facebook. Joining the recently announced Android widget, this latest mobile app for BeKnown allows users to establish and manage a professional network on Facebook, seperate from social contacts, via their iPhone while on the move. Job seekers with other smartphone devices, including Blackberry and Windows Phone, can take advantage of the BeKnown mobile website without the need to use a desktop or laptop.

The Monster job seeking site has been around for a while but the new BeKnown application for iPhone lets users find jobs through their Facebook accounts, making it easier for employers and potential employees to connect together. The iPhone apps is now available for free in the App Store, and the widget for Android in the App Market.

Full press release is after the break.

Posted in: Press Releases
By September 26, 2011 Read More →

Huawei Honor Android smartphone unveiled

huaweiHuawei has shown off their brand new smartphone, marking their first attempt at a truly high end smartphone. Packing specs like a 1.4GHz processor, 4 inch FWVGA capacitive screen, and an HDR capable 8MP camera, this is set to be a pretty serious bit of kit. Other notable features include a sleek 10.9mm body which weighs just 140 grams. It runs the latest (at the moment) version of Android Gingerbread, and from the press images it also seems to have some kind of UI skin.

You may be able to find smartphones which are even more powerful, but I don’t recall any which claim to have a 3 day battery life with what Huawei calls ‘normal usage’. Given its monster 1900mAh battery, it does seem like it’s achievable in day to day use – we’ll be able to find out when it becomes available in the UK sometime in 2012.

The full press release can be found after the break.

Posted in: Press Releases
By September 26, 2011 Read More →

Samsung launches mango flavoured Omnia W

omniaw2011-08-03800pxThe Mango update for Windows Phone 7 has been on the cards for a while, but second generation devices which actually ship with the Mango update preinstalled are not available quite yet. The Omnia W from Samsung is their first Mango device, which also features some updated hardware. A 1.4GHz processor coupled with 512MB of RAM is under the hood, topped off with a nice 3.7″ Super AMOLED display. One of Mango’s headline features is support for video calling, so the Omnia W has a VGA front facing camera as well as a 5MP snapper on the back, all wrapped in a slim 10.9mm  casing – if you’re not one for the giant phones coming out lately then this may be worth a look, available later this year.

In case you’ve forgotten about what the Mango update brings to the Windows Phone table, take a read of this breakdown. The full press release is after the break.

Posted in: Press Releases
By September 19, 2011 Read More →

Acer beTouch E210 review

Acer beTouch E210 review There are plenty of phones on the market now with a keyboard, but surprisingly, in a market bursting with choice, there doesn’t seem to be many portrait qwerty devices running Android despite it being the world’s most popular platform. It seems like it isn’t the most popular form factor to say the least, but this hasn’t stopped Acer – they’re trying their luck with the E210.

Acer have previously dipped their toes into the mobile phone market, but, let’s be honest, their lack of advertising and support from networks means they’re a rare sight at best on the high street, be it in shops or in shopper’s hands – the first thing that many say when presented with an Acer smartphone is “Acer makes phones?!”. For Acer, that is a worrying thing. That level of brand and product knowledge is never a good start, so is the E210 good enough for a place in your pockets?

Posted in: Phones, Reviews
Tags: ,
By September 16, 2011 Read More →

Premium Samsung Apps Store for Android quick look

samsung appsNearly every manufacturer with Android smartphones in their stable have their own cultivated application store, or at least their own section of the official App Market. While Samsung’s application store isn’t new (Samsung Apps comes preinstalled on many Galaxy and Wave devices) it now offers paid apps as well as the free ones it used to offer. The UK is one of the first countries to gain access to this new store, with the main attractions being that there’s no pesky sign up process and, in the future, the ability to pay with credit cards or through your phone bill.

So, with Google’s own App Market already dominant offering thousands of apps, is there any reason to use Samsung Apps? Read on for an overview and some first impressions.

 

 

Posted in: Reviews
By August 30, 2011 Read More →

T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide review

MyTouch-Main T-Mobile’s ‘myTouch’ branding may be alien to us here in the UK, but for our friends across the pond, it is a common and successful line of consumer friendly Android devices. Some eagle-eyed fandroids might even recognise the roots of the myTouch 4G Slide in the form of the HTC Magic, one of the first Android hits in the UK. While it may not have evolved here to what the Yanks have with this 4G Slide, some of us may still be interested with it being more powerful than all other landscape qwerty device currently available in the UK.

The dual core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor and impressive 8MP camera brings this in line with the top Android smartphones around, while the bonus of HTC’s design and stellar build quality (and of course the sliding keyboard) might be the deciding factor for some.

So is it worth signing two or three years of your life away for? Could it even be worth importing from the States? Read on to find out.

 

Posted in: Reviews
By July 18, 2011 Read More →

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo review

XperiaNeo-Main Although this is the last of the three new devices launched at MWC in February, it doesn’t mean it’s an insignificant or ‘bad’ phone. Despite sitting below the Arc, the imaging capabilities headline the neo’s feature list along with all of the usual gizmos you’d expect from a reasonably high-end smartphone.

The Xperia Neo builds on from the success of the Vivaz, as well as Sony Ericsson’s new aversion to proper capitalisation. Even so, the neo is packed with features that make this a formidable all-rounded Android device – a Bravia enhanced 3.7 inch touchscreen borrowed from Sony TVs and an Exmor camera sensor borrowed from the Cybershot range gives it the credentials on paper, but how does it perform in real world use?

Read on to find out!

 

Posted in: Reviews
By June 14, 2011 Read More →

Android Gingerbread not coming to the HTC Desire

desiregingerbread1 copy

The title says it all, folks. For the thousands upon thousands of HTC Desire owners, the dream of 2.3 Gingerbread hitting their phone will have to continue to be just that. The HTC Desire was one of the most popular phones for HTC, and played an important role in really driving Android devices into the hands of general consumers. Not even 18 months old, HTC are already closing production of the Desire hardware. Now, software development has ceased too; Desires will have to stay on Froyo. Unless you want to explore the unofficial channels and flash a custom rom. Here is HTC’s excuse official statement:

Our engineering teams have been working hard for the past few months to find a way to bring Gingerbread to the HTC Desire without compromising the HTC Sense experience you’ve come to expect from our phones. However, we’re sorry to announce that we’ve been forced to accept there isn’t enough memory to allow us both to bring Gingerbread and keep the HTC Sense experience on the HTC Desire. We’re sincerely sorry for the disappointment that this news may bring to some of you.

Whether I believe them is questionable – after all, the Wildfire S for example, gets along with a slower processor, same amount of ROM, and less RAM, yet plenty of Gingerbread. Either way, at least HTC tried and perhaps it’s time to retire that Desire for something HTC thinks is a bit more sensational.

Post by: Vince

Posted in: News
By May 10, 2011 Read More →

Android Ice Cream Sandwich coming to all device types in Q4

ice creamThe pace of Google Android development won’t cease or slow down any time soon, and over at Google I/O there are some major changes being shown off in the successor to Honeycomb. First and foremost, the tasty new treat is dubbed “Ice Cream Sandwich”. It is a bit more of a mouthful than previous names, but it also comes with a slew of new features.

This version will run on both phones and tablets, intelligently scaling the UI for use on many different resolutions. This means that eventually we’ll see the same Android firmware across all types of devices, and not the phone or tablet specific versions we have now. Another major feature are the new camera functions, namely face recognition and tracking. For the homescreen, widgets are now resizable. USB host is now native, so USB devices from cameras to game controllers can be plugged in just like a traditional PC. Over in the US, film purchases and rentals directly from the Android Market is on its way, as well as cloud storage and playback for your tunes; it’s currently unclear whether these will be arriving at our shores here in the UK. Finally, the ‘Android Open Accessory’ program certifies Android compatible accessories from game controllers to exercise bikes. There’s even a demo of a real Labyrinth gameboard controlled by an Android device!

Perhaps one the most pleasing things Google is announcing however, are the new guidelines for post-purchase support. HTC, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and Vodafone are among partners in this scheme who will be committed to providing timely updates for at least 18 months after release (hardware dependant). This is huge news, giving consumers confidence that their device will be riding the newest OS for quite some time after purchasing.

Sounds super sweet to me!

 

Posted by: Vince

Posted in: News
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