We first heard about the Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim way back in February when Gareth was treated to a sneaky demo in Barcelona. Ever since the event we’ve had promises of a review unit but we’ve only just been able to get hold of one some 9 months after our first hands-on.
The S7 Slim builds upon its bigger brother, the S7, in terms of spec. You may recall our IDEOS S7 review from almost a year ago. We concluded that the S7 was a decent, inexpensive alternative to many of the more pricy tablets out there and more refined than the raft of sub £100 tablets hitting the market.
Currently the S7 Slim is shipping with Android 2.2 Froyo, hopefully an update soon will take it to Gingerbread also.
This week we have another HTC handset in for review, and it’s another with the Sensation name on it. This time it’s the Sensation XL’s turn to be put though the the tracyandmatt boot-camp.
As I mentioned last week, HTC have used the Sensation name on a number of handsets recently and this one, as the XL suffix suggests, is the largest of them all and is in fact one of the largest handsets that HTC have produced. You may argue that the XL really is one of those handsets that bridges between phone and tablet.
The XL screen is 4.7″ which will be great for web browsing and video watching but it’s a shame that HTC couldn’t make it qHD as it is WVGA instead. A 4.7″ qHD screen would have been great.
Performance is pretty good as you’ll see from the benchmark score in the unboxing and demo video below. Looking forward to the review of this one! 🙂
Announced earlier this week the BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first touch screen Curve to grace us with its presence. While not having a hardware keyboard this new Curve will appeal to many.
Running BlackBerry 7 and all the usual features you would expect such as a 5 megapixel camera, NFC, GPS and a 3.5 mm headset jack, the Curve 9380 seems to do most things pretty well.
If you are after a touch screen device which is great for viewing photos, watching video and playing music, along with the bonus of push email and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) the Curve may be right up your street.
You can see our hands on video below where we run through the hardware and software and of course you can expect a full review to come in the next couple of weeks.
With the Galaxy Nexus hitting the high street today I thought we had better post the specifications online for those of you that are thinking of picking the device up. If you are not in the market for a new contract, which is the only way you can get it at the moment, the device will be available to purchase sim free very soon.
Although I have not used the device myself it does look a real beauty and for the first time with Android I feel pretty excited about Ice Cream Sandwich.
You can check out the devices full specs below along with some rather nice images of what may well be one of the best selling phones in the world over the next six months.
We mentioned rumors of the Orange San Francisco II just last week. The network has today confirmed the ZTE made device will be hitting the shops towards the end of the month.
Orange had massive success last year with the original San Francisco and I don’t see any reason why things should be different this time around. The device is fantastic value for money and will set you back only £99.00 plus a £10.00 top up or from free with a contract.
The device is running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, has a 5-megapixel camera, 3.5-inch WVGA screen and an 800MHz processor. The Orange HD voice service and Signal Boost are also supported.
You can see more in the video below that Orange have released. Continue Reading »
Phones 4U have today started selling the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first device to run the latest version of the Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich. You can pick up the device from free with a £36 per month contract (24 month).
- Android Platform: The new Android platform has a redesigned user interface, allowing for better multitasking and more attractive visuals. New functionality includes Android Beam, a unique way to share and send content and Face Unlock, allowing you to access your phone with your face.
- 4.65-inch HD Super Amoled Touchscreen: The buttonless design features software navigation buttons, boosted by a resolution of 720p giving you ultimate viewing clarity. The large vivid display means you can play games or watch videos in swanky high definition.
- Dual-Core 1.2GHz CPU: The dual-core processor makes the handset powerful and super-speedy. It also works with HSPA+ to deliver high speed web browsing and it also ensures that video playback and game play is without lag.
- 5 Megapixel Camera: The 5 Megapixel low light optimised camera on the back of the phone lets you capture beautiful landscapes using the panoramic mode, records video at 1080p and introduces a new time lapse video mode. The Galaxy Nexus also features a front facing 1.3 Megapixel camera allowing you to video chat with friends wherever you are.
If you manage to pick one up please let us know your thoughts.
Posted by: James
I’m sure that most of you know that drill by now, we get a new product in to review and the first thing we do is record an unboxing video of the things and go through a short demo of a couple of key areas.
But “wait!” I head you cry, “You’ve already reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Note on the site.”. True enough we did review the Note about a week or so ago and we’re only now getting to the unboxing video. The reason for this is that our review unit came from Samsung in a simple envelope without any or the retail packaging.
Fortunately it’s Clove to the rescue with a fully boxed model for us now so it’s time for the unboxing.
As we said in the review the Note has a truly awesome screen the definitely sets it apart from other small tablets out there. Despite having only a 5.3″ screen it crams in 1280×800 pixels!
So you can check out the unboxing video below for a little more on this bad-boy and then head back to the full review after.
Motorola Mobility announces the availability of the new iconic Motorola RAZR in the UK on contract from £31 per month at Phones4U, in selected Carphone Warehouse stores and at www.carphonewarehouse.com, and Amazon (SIM-free) amongst others. The impossibly thin and lightweight smartphone is loaded with sexy curves and is the most captivating Android-powered smartphone on the scene – get the perfect Christmas gift now!
Motorola RAZR highlights include:
Jaw-dropping design:
- Ultra thin: 7.1 mm thin, with a design that encompasses sculpted glass and diamond spun cut aluminum accents
- Sports KEVLAR fiber and Corning Gorilla Glass to help the screen stand up to scratches and scrapes
- Splash-guard coating nano-coating: every part of the Motorola RAZR is protected which protects the smartphone against spills
Close to home, wherever you go:
- Rock your playlists while you check your email, breeze through photos-all at the same time, without delay. Comes preloaded with the Motorola MotoCast app which provides the power to stream or download content from a home or work computer straight to the device.
Today may well be the day you have been waiting for. The Nokia Lumia 800 is now available so you had better get in quick. Most UK carriers will be supplying the new Windows Phone although Vodafone sent me a reminder email today so they get the plug here. They have an intro deal for the first 10,000 buyers which you can see below.
The black Nokia Lumia 800 is now available to buy from Vodafone, while the cyan version can also be pre-ordered from today on the same price plans.
The first 10,000 people to buy the Nokia Lumia 800 from Vodafone will receive £60 worth of vouchers to use over the first six months, including a case for their new phone, coffee at Starbucks, music from Zune or to put towards any purchase from Amazon.co.uk.
As the first Nokia handset to feature the Windows Phone operating system, the Nokia Lumia 800 gives users access to some amazing services, including Zune for music, Xbox LIVE for gaming and SkyDrive for online storage, with 25GB of capacity available as standard.
The Nokia Lumia 800 combines easy social networking, fast web browsing and a high-quality camera, as well as some unique Nokia services to further enhance the Windows Phone experience, including Nokia Drive and Nokia Music.
It’s Gareth and James this week as Matt and Tracy are off, well you’ll have to listen to find out why. Covering the biggest and most exciting news of the week the guys actually have a few exciting exclusives from HTC and Orange for you. Prepare yourself!
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