Samsung Galaxy Q | Black

3.2" full touch screen with slide-out QWERTY keyboard
Faster and more powerful connections with Android™ 2.2
3 MP camera with 3X zoom and flash.
Rich messaging with text, picture and video messaging
Stay connected in style with the sleek new Samsung Galaxy Q™. Powered by Android™ 2.2, this standout slider makes social networking faster and easier than ever. With a full touch screen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3 MP camera, group messaging, and Social Hub™, the Galaxy Q™ is designed for what matters most—staying at the centre of it all.
3.2" full touch screen with slide-out QWERTY keyboard
The brilliant, easy-to-use 3.2” touch screen is perfect for browsing, posting updates, and video messaging. And with both an intuitive onscreen keyboard and a handy slide-out QWERTY keyboard, you get the best of both worlds. Texting, instant messaging, and email are simpler than ever.
3 MP camera with 3X zoom and flash.
Snap amazing pictures anytime, anywhere with a 3-megapixel camera with zoom. The Galaxy Q™ comes with a built-in flash so you can easily capture every memory, even if you're under the stars or inside a club. And with picture and video messaging, you can share your shots in seconds.
Stay Connected with Social Hub™.
No matter how fast life moves, keep up-to-the-second tabs on everyone who matters. Just tap a name in your contact list and instantly see a total, real-time view of what they're up to, including recently shared texts, IMs, emails, and Facebook and Twitter updates. Plus with push email and a synched, easy-to-read calendar, you'll never miss a message - or a party.
Faster and more powerful connections with Android™ 2.2
Running on the super-speedy and easy-to-use Android™ 2.2 platform, the Galaxy Q™ lets you browse and post on the fly. It also gives you access to thousands of fun social networking, entertainment, and gaming apps. And Android™ 2.2 is incredibly customizable, so it's easy to make your phone as unique as you are!
Rich messaging with text, picture and video messaging
The Galaxy Q™ takes staying in touch as seriously as you do. With text messsaging, instant messaging, group messaging, and email, communicating with friends and family is fast, easy, and convenient. And because sometimes words just aren't enough, the Galaxy Q™ also lets you express yourself with picture and video messages.
Carrier
Galaxy Q is available at Rogers, Videotron, Mobilicity, Wind Mobile and Fido.

Platform

Android 2.2 Operating System
Android Browser

Display

16 M HVGA Display
320 x 480 Display Resolution
3.2" Display Size

Video

Slide with Touch Input
MPEG4, H.263, H.264 Video Player Format Support
H.263, MPEG4 Video Recording Support
Video Messaging (MMS Only) Available

Memory

173 MB Internal Memory Available
External Memory up to 16 GB MicroSD
SMS Available

Personal Information Management

Calendar Available
Clock Available
Calculator Available
Memo Book Available

Physical Specifications

135 g Weight

Battery

1500 mAh Standard Battery
Up to 4 H HSPA Talk Time and up to 5 Hours GSM Talk Time
Up to 300 H Standby Time

Music & Sound

MIDI / MP3 / AAC / AMR / IMY / WAV Music Player Format Support
Polyphonic Ringtone Available
MP3 Ringtones available
Music Library Available

Messaging

SMS and MMS Available
XT9 Predictive Text Input Available
Email Available
Instant Messaging Available

Call Function

Speakerphone Available
Video Caller ID Available
Multiparty Calling Available
Dialed / Missed / Received Calls Available

Size

113.9 x 58.7 x 13.9 mm Device Size

Camera

3.0 MP Camera Resolution
3x Digital / Optical Zoom
9 Brightness Levels Available
Multi-shot Mode Available
4 Photo Effects Available

Business&Office

Offline Mode (Airplane Mode) Available
Voice Memo and Voice Mail Available

Connectivity

Bluetooth® 2.0 and EDR Available
USB 2.0 Available
WAP 2.0 Available
WAP 2.0 Browser Available

AMOUNT #100,000.00K
AND ALSO CALL 08188007427 FOR MORE DETAIL ON HOW TO PAY AND DELIVERED IT TO YOU

Samsung Focus 2 SGH-I667 - 8GB - White (AT&T) Smartphone

Description

Item specifics
Condition:
New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is ... Read moreabout the condition
Brand: Samsung
Camera: 5.0 MP Model: Samsung Focus 2
Cellular Band: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) WCDMA (UMTS) 850/1900/2100 Carrier: AT&T
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Storage Capacity: 8 GB
MPN: SGH-I667UWAATT Color: White
Contract: Without Contract UPC: 635753498066
Detailed item info
Product Information
Be it staying in the loop with email or chatting with friends on WhatsApp and Facebook, the Samsung Focus 2 SGH-I667 smartphone has it all. The Samsung Focus 2 SGH-I667 phone�s powerful Windows 7.0 OS lets you switch between applications or pause your game to attend that important call. Thanks to the 4-inch Super AMOLED display of this smartphone, you can easily navigate your way through its highly versatile options. Plus, this Samsung cell phone�s 5 MP camera lets you capture your memorable moments on the spur. The Office mobile and Microsoft SharePoint applications in this Samsung cell phone make it ideal for professionals who need to work while on the go. At full charge, this Samsung cell phone gives you a talk time of up to 6 hours.

Product Identifiers
Brand Samsung
MPN SGH-I667UWAATT
Carrier AT&T
Model Focus 2 SGH-I667
UPC 635753498066
Type Smartphone

Key Features
Storage Capacity 8 GB
Color White
Network Generation 4G
Network Technology HSPA+
Band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) WCDMA (UMTS) 850/1900/2100
Camera 5.0 MP
Operating System Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5

Battery
Battery Capacity 1750 mAh

Display
Display Technology Super Amoled
Diagonal Screen Size 4 in.

Other Features
Touch Screen Yes
Bluetooth Yes
Digital Camera Yes
GPS Yes
Email Access Yes
Internet Browser Yes
Speakerphone Yes

Asus Fonepad Note FHD 6

One of the biggest smash hits of this year's Computex fair was Asus' phablet, the Fonepad Note FHD 6, which I recently had the opportunity of trying at the Asus headquarters in Hong Kong.

Asus Fonepad Note FHD 6When it comes to its appearance, the Fonepad Note FHD 6 is reminiscent of Samsung's Galaxy Note II, however, of course, it is significantly bigger with its 6-inch display. It is this dominating screen that can be credited for the good impression Fonepad Note FHD 6 leaves at first glance, given that this is a Super IPS+ LCD display with Full HD resolution, resulting in great pixel density: 367 ppi. Regardless of the viewing angle, the imaging always looked exceptionally sharp with precisely saturated colors and a great level of contrast, though the screen's brightness was lacking.

The device comes with a stylus (Asus has not made it clear which type it is), however, once again, it is almost identical to the S Pen offered by Samsung with its flagship phablet. Still, the greatest peculiarity of the Asus offering is that it comes with a dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 running a 1.6 GHz clock, securing above average performance, but not economic enough or optimized for Android OS 4.2 as offered by Qualcomm and Samsung's processors. Due to the usage of the Intel hardware, this phablet does not support LTE, but HSPA+ radio is here as a "compromise", offering speeds up to 42 Mbps in downlink.

The final impression after trying Asus' unusual copy of the Galaxy Note II is that this is not a precisely planned product that still offers plenty of room for improvement, even though many will find it interesting and it might still take Asus into the big leagues of mobile devices.

LG Optimus G Pro

LG's best mobile device, the Optimus G Pro, was initially revealed at MWC in Barcelona this year and was presented at special events later on in New York, London, and several other cities, which helped spread interest. And after a few months of being on the market, it seems fair to conclude that this is the most successful phablet on the market behind Samsung's Galaxy Note II. We wrote a review of this device in great detail, so here is just a brief summary of the Optimus G Pro's pros and cons.

The biggest deal-makers of this mini-phablet are its exquisite display and great performance. The 5.5-inch Full HD IPS Plus LCD screen with a pixel density of 401 ppi offers unprecedented imaging sharpness, exceptional dynamic range and color vivacity, and imaging sharpness. With 2 GB of RAM, the quad-core Snapdragon 600 offers multitask options that have not yet been implemented on any other mobile device in the world, and the quality of photographs taken by the 13-megapixel back-facing camera are praiseworthy.

What I did not like, however, is its highly unimaginative design, contrast sustainability while being exposed to direct sunlight, and poor video recording quality.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

I had the opportunity of testing what is convincingly the most beautiful phablet after its premiere last month in London. The 6.4-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra, a device that is almost identical to the 5-inch smartphone Xperia Z, is exceptionally elegant (it is just 6.5 mm thick) and features impressive artisanship. It weighs only 212 grams despite its front and cover being made out of glass and, just like Sony's flagship smartphone and tablet models, the company's phablet is waterproof, which gives it a significant advantage over the competition.

Sony Xperia Z UltraThe resolution of the 6.4-inch screen is 1080 x 1920 pixels, resulting in an exceptionally great pixel density of 344 ppi. Imaging on the display is therefore splendidly sharp and individual pixels cannot be recognized by the naked eye, even while looped straight lines are being animated, which is an impressive achievement for such a big screen. Still, I did not care for the contrast. Just like with Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z, black tones could be darker and white tones could be brighter, which would make other colors appear more realistic.

Compared to the smartphone and the tablet, the viewing angle of the Xperia Z Ultra is significantly better and contrast sustainability cannot be objected to, such as it is. It is evident that Sony is progressing where display craftsmanship quality is concerned. That said, even though one can sense that the phablet is a newer device than the smartphone and the tablet, there is still room for catching up with the competition.

This is the first Snapdragon 800 device I have had the opportunity of trying in my hand. This chipset comes with four Krait 400 cores running a 2.2 GHz clock with Adreno 330 graphics and 3 GB of RAM with LTE support. As such, the phablet's features are above average in terms of speed and lag cannot be felt even while performing the most demanding tasks. It would have been great, though, if Sony had managed to include a battery in such a device that had a greater capacity than 2050 mAh.

The idea of combining a smartphone with a tablet isn't a new one (see: the Asus FonePad), but it's also a product that hasn't been attempted a number of times.

There's a reason for that.

It simply isn't practical. Most people aren't so desperate to consolidate their mobile devices that they're willing to hold a (at least) 7-inch slab against the sides of their heads when they make a phone call. Regardless, Huawei has taken another swing at the smartphone/tablet with its recent MediaPad 7 Vogue (priced at $300), but unfortunately its whacky concept isn't the device's only flaw.

Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue EarpieceBuild and Design

The Vogue's design just might be its greatest strength (though everything is relative here). It's not super sleek and sexy, but it's also not ugly; the silver and white mix of colors on the device's back is easy enough on the eye. And while it's a little on the heavy side for a 7-inch tablet at 335 grams, it's not overwhelming. If anything, the weight is simply a byproduct of solid construction.

Measuring 9.5mm thick, the Vogue is actually a little thinner than, say, the Google Nexus 7, which is 10.45 mm thick, so it's definitely not too clunky. In fact, the device is generally comfortable to hold (just not against your face), even one-handed, and the buttons are nice and chunky and stick out far enough for easy pressing. That was more than I could say about the annoying low-profile controls of the Nexus 7, which were flush with the curved side of the device and were not raised enough to be pushed comfortably.

The only downside to the design of the Vogue is the bezel, which is so thick that it borders on goofy. A slimmer bezel -- which, in turn, would have allowed for a slightly more compact bezel -- would have given the device a more premium look.

Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue BottomDisplay

The display on the Vogue is just plain bad, no two ways about it. The 7-inch, 1024 x 600 display lacks sharpness to the point that it looks almost looks like it's out of focus at times. It's also not terribly difficult to see individual pixels on the screen, even when it's not all that close to your face. The brightness isn't awful, but even when it's cranked up to its maximum, it's unlikely to impress.

Above all though, the biggest issue with the display is its color saturation, or lack thereof. Colors look painfully bland, so much so that they look washed out. I was shocked, for example, to see how noticeably different Temple Run 2 looked on the Vogue compared to how it looked on the Samsung Galaxy S IV's Super AMOLED display; it was almost like the colors on the Vogue had been filled in with weak pastels or watercolors, they looked so faded.

It also doesn't help that the screen sensitivity is sorely lacking. It typically took me at least three or four taps on an application link on the home screen before one of them finally registered.

Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue Card Slots and ButtonsOther Buttons & Ports

Aside from the earpiece located at the very top of the device above the display, button and port location on the Vogue is pretty much what you would expect. The power button and volume rocker adorn the upper right edge, while a single cover conceals the SIM and microSD card ports on the lower right. That just leaves the micro USB charging port and 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom, and a small rear-firing speaker on the back located directly below the device's 3.1-megapixel camera.
Performance

Despite the fact that the Vogue is equipped with a quad-core processor, it only has a 1.2 GHz clock and 1 GB of RAM, and the weaker specs really show. Lag abounds when running even moderately intensive tasks or apps; even framerates for something as simple as Fruit Ninja were painfully low. Load times are brutal as well, with the same app being launched at the same time on a Galaxy S IV loading noticeably faster than on the Vogue.

To paint a clearer picture of just how much the Vogue's performance lags behind that of the competition, I ran Quadrant to get a benchmark. The number was so low (4,068) that the Vogue ranked well below the HTC One X (nearly 4,750), a smartphone that was released over a year ago and the North American version of which runs on a dual-core processor. Needless to say, this thing is slow.

And finally, there's the rather frustrating fact that the Vogue only comes equipped with 8 GB of onboard storage. In the Vogue's defense, it is equipped with a microSD card slot so expansion is an option, but it's an unfortunately low spec nonetheless. It's especially problematic given that, out of the box, the usable total after the OS and preloaded software are accounted for is only around 6 GB of space.

Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue FrontSoftware

Huawei deserves credit for not weighing down the Vogue with an excessive amount of preloaded software. Aside from the requisite suite of Google apps, the device comes out of the box loaded only with a single widget on the home screen, a few basic apps (email, browser, media options, calculator, calendar, etc.), and a couple of more unique (but equally useful) pieces of software.

Some of these include an app installer for sideloading apps of the microSD card, cloud services, voice-enabled features (phone dialing, search), video editing software, and DLNA. The only thing I could have done without was Huawei's HiSpace app store front. I always find these to be useless, and Huawei's is especially bad given that most of the apps are native tablet apps and either don't work properly or fail to resize correctly. Stick to the Google Play Store which, thankfully, the Vogue does have access to.

Camera

As one would expect from a 3.1-megapixel camera on a device that places virtually no emphasis on its imaging capabilities, the camera on the Vogue is pretty much useless. Users shouldn't plan on taking even remotely important pictures with this device, as they will be completely lacking in sharpness. White balance and colors aren't offensively poor, but users can forget about taking any shots in anything other than the brightest-lit environments. Graininess and noise abounds in low-light scenarios.

Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue CameraOne other issue with the camera was the software, which had a funny quirk where it would appear to have taken a picture, only to continue processing it for a second or two after sliding the image away as if it were finished. If the Vogue was moved at all while it was still processing, it would result in a blurry/ruined photo. Aside from the fact that it takes getting used to holding the camera still even after it's apparently finished taking the picture, it simply processes pictures too slowly (or perhaps it's a shutter speed issue) to be considered acceptable.

There's also a front-facing VGA camera, but obviously that's only meant for video chatting and little else.

Battery Life

Like the device's decent build, the battery life of the Vogue is one of the few things it has going in its favor. Granted, a big part of that likely has to do with the relatively dim, low-res screen and only 3G connectivity; if it was 4G LTE, the drain would be a little harsher. Nevertheless, the Vogue could last for a week in standby, or a healthy three or four days based on how heavily it was used. Given that I always had it connected to some sort of network (typically Wi-Fi), kept the dismal screen on maximum brightness (for obvious reasons) and kept as many battery-draining features on as possible, like email push, I found the results to be impressive.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 (and 5.8)

Just a few days after presenting the Galaxy S4, Samsung revealed two phablets that are reminiscent of its flagship smartphone when it comes to appearance, but are intended for less demanding users when it comes to hardware. I am, of course, referring to the 6.3-inch and 5.8-inch Galaxy Mega models, which have different display resolutions, processors and dimensions. I tested them both with Samsung's European representatives, and the bigger 6.3-inch model made a better impression.

This bigger and more powerful Galaxy Mega does not really offer many differences compared to Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy Tabs (the difference in size is almost insignificant) and many will surely see it more as a tablet than a cheaper (and bigger) alternative for the phablet godfather, Samsung's Galaxy Note II. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has no S Pen, but it still has the option of making phone calls. However, what is most impressive about it is its elegance and small mass: it is only 8 mm thick and weighs 199 grams, which is an outstanding accomplishment for a device of such size. Thus, despite its size, holding Galaxy Mega 6.3 in hand for a long time is not a problem, even for hours, while the luxury provided by the HD SC-LCD screen will please any purchaser as it offers a pleasant 233 ppi pixel density.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 and 5.8Still, compared to Super AMOLED screens, which Samsung includes in its most powerful smartphones and phablets, the difference in display sustainability, sharpness, brightness, and color saturation is evident. The screen provides quite a lot of comfort while working with it, but those who have tried better models will feel a bit let down. With the speed of a dual-core Snapdragon 400 with Krait cores running a 1.7 GHz clock and Android OS 4..2.2 (Jelly Bean), 1.5 GB of RAM, and a battery of 3200 mAh, the device offers exceptionally good performance and no real objections can be made.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 is, on the other hand, a much weaker device. It has a smaller screen size, but it's thicker (9 mm) and just slightly heavier (182 grams). It has a dual-core processor running a 1.5 GHz clock, 1.5 GB of RAM as well, but its screen has 'just' 540 x 960 pixels of resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 190 ppi. In practice, these differences, especially those regarding the display, are evident at first glance, making this a phablet for less demanding users.

Huawei Ascend Mate

With a 6.1-inch display, the Huawei Ascend Mate is a mid-sized phablet and offers a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, resulting in a relatively good pixel density of 241 ppi. It is equipped with the same Huawei quad-core chipset as the current flagship smartphone by the same manufacturer, called the K3V2, running a 1.5 GHz clock. I tested it at CES 2013 first and later in great detail.

The Ascend Mate is slightly heavier than the token phablet, Samsung's Galaxy Note II, weighing in at 198 grams (compared to 183 grams of the Samsung model), but these two devices are equally thick at 9.5 mm. Another important difference in relation to the Samsung model is that the Huawei tabphone comes with pure Jelly Bean, without any user interface modifications. Of course, the Ascend Mate has no S Pen. It really does seem huge when held in hand and only those with big hands will be able to use it with just one hand. Furthermore, it looks rather odd when pressed against the ear, however, working on its luxurious screen is a real pleasure, just like owning a tablet. In the end, the difference between 6.1 inches and 7 inches (which is the diagonal of many tablets today) is quite small.

The Ascend Mate's viewing angle is average and the same thing goes for contrast sustainability when used in various situations. Taking its appearance into account and my impressions when held in hand, the Ascend Mate looks like a blown-up version of the Ascend P6 smartphone. However, after using it for some time, it can be sensed that this device has been made several months before the Huawei flagship smartphone. The colors are not as saturated as on the smaller device and its display brightness is something that requires more work.

With their size being somewhere between the smallest tablets and the biggest smartphones, so-called "phablets" have found their way to many purchasers. These mobile devices typically have screens with a diagonal greater than 5 and smaller than 7 inches, providing the functionality of a tablet and a smartphone at the same time.

At first glance, it may seem unnatural to many to use a device with a 5.5-inch display -- or even greater -- especially for making calls, thus initial attempts of producing such gadgets were not welcomed by the market at first. Then, things changed precisely two years ago, when Samsung premiered its first Galaxy Note at IFA in Berlin. With a 5.3-inch display, this device seemed enormous at the time, meaning unpractical. However, the exceptionally practical S Pen that was delivered with it gave it functionality no other smartphone or tablet has had before, regardless of its size, and the Galaxy Note succeeded astonishingly, selling over 10 million units in just several months.

PhabletsA year later, Samsung presented the even more successful Galaxy Note II (at IFA again), which had an even bigger diagonal of 5.5 inches. IFA will be held in a few weeks' time in Berlin and Samsung has already announced its new spectacular premier, at which it will, no doubt, present the Galaxy Note III. Still, this time Samsung's phablet will arrive on the market with serious competition gathering, surely stimulated by the success of the previous two Note models, surprising everyone (probably including Samsung).

Over the last few months, Samsung's biggest rivals have revealed phablets, usually using stages and garnering signficant media coverage. Huawei presented the 6.1-inch Ascend Mate at CES, LG revealed its flagship device, the 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro, at MWC in Barcelona, and Asus stole the Computex show with its 6-inch Fonepad Note FHD 6. Meanwhile, riding the success of its own Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z, Sony has since hosted an event in London presenting the 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra and Samsung has decided to improve its phablet offer with Galaxy Mega models, available with 5.8 and 6.3-inch displays.

There is a whole lot more of phablets, but the mentioned models drew the most attention of potential users over the past few months and those who are already on the market have scored. I had the opportunity of trying all these devices and I'm now bringing you my impressions. The general conclusion is quite clear: phablets are a category of devices which, despite looking "funny", have plenty of potential that grows by the day. According to their specifications, all phablets can be compared to a higher smartphone and tablet category and quite often match up to flagship models; there are simply no cheaper, entry-level phablets. It is clear that the most demanding users go for phablets.

It is those users who love the fact that they get two devices for the price of one and this has made mobile gadget manufacturers raise the bar pretty high for each other before the upcoming IFA -- Samsung above all. The Samsung Galaxy Note III (if it will be named that) will surely be the most powerful mobile device this fall, hardware-wise, but it is equally likely that we will not have to wait long for an similarly impressive response from the competition.

Apple iPhone 5S and 5C to Go on Sale September 20

Though Apple will be holding a press conference on September 10 to unveil its next-gen iPhone 5S and the more affordable iPhone 5C, there hadn't been any word as to when the phones would actually be available for purchase. But if a recent report from Japanese news outlet Nikkei is any indication, we can expect the phones to hit the market less than two weeks later.

The report claims that both the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C will be available in initial markets starting on September 20, including on the Softbank and KDDI networks in Japan. As has been the case previously, the US (and other markets) will likely be among the initial markets along with Japan.

The iPhone 5S is expected to have a virtually identical appearance to that of its processor -- with the exception of the heavily-rumored "gold" casing option -- with the major changes being made under the hood. The iPhone 5S is expected to have a faster processor, an improved camera with a dual-LED flash, and a fingerprint scanner.

Specs on the iPhone 5C, meanwhile, have been a bit more scarce, with the only information on the device being that it will have a plastic casing that will be available in a number of different colors. It will also have slightly more modest features given its more affordable price tag, which is expected to fall somewhere between $400 and $500 off-contract.

Sources: KDDI via BGR

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Nokia Asha 501

General 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 - RM-899
850 / 1900 - RM-900
GSM 900 / 1800 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 - RM-902
SIM Optional Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
Announced 2013, May
Status Available. Released 2013, June
Body Dimensions 99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm (3.91 x 2.28 x 0.48 in)
Weight 98.2 g (3.46 oz)
Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 3.0 inches (~133 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Up to 2 fingers
Sound Alert types Vibration, MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB, 4 GB card included
Internal 128 MB, 64 MB RAM
Data GPRS Up to 85.6 kbps
EDGE Up to 236.8 kbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with EDR
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
Camera Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, check quality
Video Yes,QVGA@15fps
Secondary No
Features OS Nokia Asha software platform 1.0
Sensors Accelerometer, proximity
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Radio FM radio
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.1
Colors Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black
- SNS apps
- MP4/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/AAC player
- Photo editor
- Organizer
- Voice memo
- Predictive text input
Battery Li-Ion 1200 mAh battery (BL-4U)
Stand-by Up to 1152 h
Talk time Up to 17 h
Music play Up to 56 h
Li-Ion 1200 mAh battery (BL-4U) for dual-SIM model
Stand-by Up to 624 h
Talk time Up to 17 h
Misc SAR US 1.41 W/kg (head)
SAR EU 0.96 W/kg (head)
Price group [About 80 EUR]
Tests Display Contrast ratio: 947 (nominal)
Loudspeaker Voice 73dB / Noise 68dB / Ring 78dB
Camera Photo

Nokia Lumia 928

General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
CDMA 800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
4G Network LTE 700 MHz Class 13 / 1700 / 2100
LTE 800 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600
SIM Micro-SIM
Announced 2013, April
Status Available. Released 2013, May
Body Dimensions 133 x 68.9 x 10.1 mm, 92.8 cc (5.24 x 2.71 x 0.40 in)
Weight 162 g (5.71 oz)
Display Type AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 768 x 1280 pixels, 4.5 inches (~332 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 2
- PureMotion HD+ ClearBlack display
Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
- Dolby Headphone sound enhancement
Memory Card slot No
Internal 32 GB, 1 GB RAM
Data GPRS Yes
EDGE Up to 236.8 kbps
Speed EV-DO Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps; HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP, EDR
NFC Yes
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
Camera Primary 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, autofocus, xenon flash
Features 1/3.2'' sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, PureView technology, geo-tagging, panorama
Video Yes, 1080p@30fps, video stabilization, stereo sound rec.
Secondary Yes, 1.3 MP, 720p@30fps
Features OS Microsoft Windows Phone 8, upgradeable to WP8 Amber
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon
CPU Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait
GPU Adreno 225
Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML5
Radio FM radio
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
Java No
Colors Black, White
- Wireless charging
- SNS integration
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- 7GB free SkyDrive storage
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA player
- MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player
- Document viewer/editor
- Video/photo editor
- Voice memo/command/dial
- Predictive text input

Network/Bearer and Wireless Connectivity

TAB DATA ONLY
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4+5GHz
Wi-Fi Direct available
Bluetooth Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, OPP, SPP, HID, PAN
MHL 1.2 support
KIES, KIES Air support

Chipset

Dual Core Application Processor
1.6GHz CPU Speed

Sensors

Accelerometer, Geo-magnetic, Light Sensor available

Connectors

USB v2.0
3.5mm Stereo Earjack
microSD External Memory Slot (up to 64GB)
Micro USB (11pin) available
MHL available

Services and Applications

Samsung Apps available
Readers Hub available (*depends on countries)
Game Hub available
ChatON available
ActiveSync available
B-to-B Compability: ODE, EAS, MDM, VPN, CCX


OS

Android 4.2

Memory

16GB / 32GB Memory

Physical Specification

176.1 x 243.1 x 7.95mm Dimension
510g Weight

Battery

6,800mAh Battery
Up to 9h internet usage time
Up to 9h video playback
Up to 140h audio playback

Audio and Video

Video Format: 3gp, wmv, avi, mkv, flv, webm, mp4
Full HD (1080p) Video Playback available
Recording up to 30fps
Audio Format: MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, M4A, 3GA, OGG, AMR, WAV, MID, XMF, iMelody, SP-MIDI, RTTTL / RTX, OTA, MP4, 3GP, OGA


Display

TFT Technology
16M colours Depth
10.1" Size
1280 x 800 Resolution

Camera

1.3 Megapixels Camera Resolution (Front)
3 Megapixels Camera Resolution (Rear)

Colour

White

Location

Assisted GPS / GLONASS available

NOKIA E7

NOKIA E7

Introduction

Business as usual for the Eseries is a cliché – thank you very much. But the kind that makes the world feel right. The Nokia E7 could’ve been just another Eseries phone. Oh well, that wasn’t meant to be. The latest is implicitly the greatest but, in the case of the E7, the latest may simply be the last



Symbian is just about to be knocked off the top-spot as the market-leading smartphone platform. Worse yet, while loyal users are still sitting on a fence about replacing their E71/E72s Nokia is deciding whether to euthanize Symbian. Question marks have been hanging over the platform’s approach to touchscreen since day one. And now it’s got WP7 at its very doorstep. It’s the worst of times for the Nokia E7. But it’s up to it to show that the Eseries are still open for business.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA
Anodized aluminum unibody
4" 16M-color ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display
8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash
720p video recording @ 25fps
Symbian^3 OS
680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
microHDMI port 720p TV-out functionality
GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
Digital compass
16GB of on-board storage
Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
DivX and XviD video support
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM Radio with RDS, FM transmitter
microUSB port with USB On-the-go
Flash and Java support for the web browser
Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
Good quality audio
Smart and voice dialing
Office document editor preinstalled

GALAXY STAR

GALAXY Star sparkles up your smart life with exceptional performance and Dual SIM usability. Fast processing power enhances all tasking, apps enjoyment and content sharing possibilities.
Great connectivity, large capacity memory and rich Android experiences including Google Now interface.
Incorporates intuitive motion UI and smart multimedia features for the ultimate in easy control and flow, the utmost in everyday pleasure.



The Galaxy Star Boasts the following irresistible features:

- Speedy, powerful CPU provides enhanced computing power for exceptional all-round performance
- Fast connectivity, Wi-Fi access and BT 4.0 enable quick downloading of apps, easy content sharing
- Generous memory (4GB + 512MB RAM) amply accommodates the most vigorous smartphone usage, vast apps and content storage




General Features
OS: Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 -
SIM: Dual SIM
Business Features: Document viewer, Predictive text input, Voice memo/commands, Organizer, SNS integration
Color: Black
Dimensions
Height: 105mm
Width: 58mm
Depth: 11.9mm
Weight: 100.5g
Display
Size: 240 x 320 pixels, 3.0 inches (~133 ppi pixel density)
Type: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 65K colors
Primary Camera: 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
Secondary Camera: No
Video Recording: Yes, QVGA@15fps
Battery
Type: Li-Ion 1200 mAh battery
Standby: Up to 320 h
Talk Time: Up to 14 h
Memory
Card Slot: microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal: 4 GB, 512 MB RAM
Audio/Video
Music Formats: MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
Video Formats: MP4/WMV/H.264 player
Other Features: Image/video editor, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa
Connectors
Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0
USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0
Internet
WiFi: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot

Galaxy S4 Zoom Samsung

With the further blurs the line between a phone that thinks it's a camera, and a camera that thinks it's a phone. So which is it?

It's on sale now for around £450.

Design
With its relatively heavy body (208g) and chunky dimensions, not least due to the extendible lens that whirs into action as soon as you activate the camera, the S4 Zoom certainly seems more camera than phone. It won't nestle easily in your pocket and it feels a little odd when you lay it on a table -- place it with the lens down and it seems unbalanced, but lay it screen down and the weight makes it feel vulnerable. With smartphones becoming ever more sleek and svelte, the S4 Zoom looks and feels like a clunky, overweight hybrid that can't quite decide what it wants to be.
Samsung

On one side there's a volume rocker and power/sleep button as well as a large shutter button. On the other is a microSD card slot beneath a plastic cover and a tripod socket sealed with a plastic gromet. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB power/sync port and a large covered slot for the battery. On the front there's a single hard home button beneath the screen, flanked by touch-sensitive back and menu buttons.

More pressing, the screen, and it's a decent one by mid-range phone standards (and this is a mid-range phone -- don't be fooled by the S4 in the name). It's a 4.3-inch Super Amoled model that offers a resolution of 960x540 pixels. That boils down to 256ppi, which may be quite a few steps down from the original S4's 441ppi but it still looks beautifully bright and vibrant, if not quite as pin-sharp as the very best. Still, you won't be disappointed with its rendering of hi-res movies, or the small text on busy web pages.
Samsung

Android, software and performance
It's running the very latest 4.2 version of Android Jelly Bean, so it's up-to-the-minute for updates. On top of that is Samsung's TouchWiz interface, which is packed with distinctive-looking icons and widgets. These include Story Album, which lets you create slideshow photo albums for your homepage, and the Samsung Hub, which gives you access to Samsung's online media content including games, music, films and books.

It features some of Samsung's Smart Screen features too, which uses the device's 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera for Smart stay, which switches off the screen when it detects you haven't looked at it for a while, and Smart rotation, which makes sure the screen aligns itself to the orientation of your face, so if you're reading a page of text in portrait mode and decide to lie down on your side, it won't automatically switch to landscape mode.

The dual-core processor is clocked at 1.5GHz and backed by 1.5GB RAM, which seems pretty good on paper but appears surprisingly sluggish in use. Apps open smoothly but at a more leisurely pace than you'll find even on some other dual-core handsets, let alone the quad-core powerhouses. It recorded an AnTuTu performance benchmark reading of 10,872, which puts it behind some dual-core handsets like the Sony Xperia XP and the HTC One mini, but well ahead of others like the Motorola Razr HD.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom test photo Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom test photoDave Oliver

Photography
And so to the camera. It has 16 megapixels, autofocus, a bright LED flash and a whopping great 10x optical zoom lens. The physical zoom is powerful and much more effective than the digital zoom you'll find on most camphones. The optical zoom changes the focal length of the lens, allowing you to use the same number of available pixels for a closer shot of your subject without any loss of detail.

Don't miss: Gallery of photos taken on the S4 Zoom

You can use the on-screen zoom controls or the twist ring around the lens to operate the zoom, and sure enough, it's streets ahead of any digital zoom you'll find on a camphone. When you need to get closer to your subject, it's the zoom that really makes the difference, but the extra bulk it adds to the device means you'll need to be sure of using it a lot to make it worth your while.

Automatic focus is welcome though it's perhaps not as quick as you'd expect from a quality camera -- there were many instances when we were faced with a time-sapping red square while the camera struggled to find the range. It always got there in the end, but sometimes it took a while, so you could be taking a chance if you're after quick snaps.

It's packed with extra features too, including touch focus, face and smile detection, optical image stabilisation, HDR and a panorama setting. Picture quality is very good compared to its camphone rivals, with good levels of detail and reliable colour balance, though it starts to struggle a little in comparison with similarly specced dedicated cameras. For instance, there's a tendency towards overexposure on the automatic settings that we could have done without. You can get around it by adjusting the exposure settings but on this type of point and shoot device we'd be much more comfortable letting the camera do the work.

There's only 8GB of memory on board (of which you can use only 5GB) but you can add up to 64GB via microSD card. Chances are you'll need it.

There's a sizeable 2,330mAh battery on board, which comfortably delivered a day and more of fairly heavy use.

Conclusion
Let's be clear, while it has all the power and features of a decent midrange Android smartphone, the S4 Zoom is more of a camera with phone features rather than a phone with enhanced photo ability. It's shaped and weighted like a camera, and isn't very practical for slipping into your pocket.

As a camera however it's pretty good, and several steps ahead of any that you'll find on a phone, with the exception of some in Nokia's Lumia range, notably the 41 megapixel-packing 1020. So think of it as a camera first, but with all the additional media-sharing opportunities that come with a quality smartphone, and for some, that's a beautiful picture indeed.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mega Samsung Galaxy S4 MegaSamsung

Samsung has so far unveiled a total of five handsets based on its S4 high-ender. The Mega, unsurprisingly, is physically the largest, with an almost tablet-sized screen, but does the rest of the spec match up to its larger than life size?

It's on sale now for around £500.

Design
Style-wise, the Mega looks like an S4 seen through a zoom lens, with its slim, plastic-backed casing and hard home button flanked by touch sensitive back and menu buttons beneath the screen.

At 6.3 inches the screen is an inch bigger than the S4's and a full two inches bigger than the S4 Mini's, but unlike either of those, it's not Amoled, it's "Super Clear" LCD. Its resolution isn't as high as the full HD S4's, though it does manage a resolution of 1,080x720 pixels. On paper, it may not be quite as sharp, the colours may not be quite as vibrant, but the extra size goes a long way to impress, and it's still extremely bright and clear -- a joy to watch movies or play games on.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mega Samsung Galaxy S4 MegaSamsung

Nice to see that the extra screen acreage means you get a more complete onscreen keyboard, with all the numbers and more symbols available without having to click onto an alternative keyboard layout.

Android, software and performance
The Mega has the same 1.7GHz processor backed by 1.5GB RAM as the S4 Mini, but with the larger, higher-res screen that engine has a lot more to do. It's not slow exactly, but despite a perfectly respectable AnTutu benchmark rating of 14,083 it operates at a noticeably more relaxed pace than any of the other phones in the S4 family that we've seen. Apps hesitate for a fraction before opening and busy web pages take a fraction longer to load, though HD games don't appear to suffer any gameplay issues.


The Mega is running the very latest 4.2.2 Jelly Bean version of Android, so it feels bang up to date. It also has Samsung's TouchWiz interface, a movable feast depending on which handset you're using, but which always offers a distinctive appearance and unique set of widgets.

It's shed some of the smart screen gimmicks from the S4, like Smart Scroll, which uses the front-facing camera to monitor your peepers and automatically scroll through a page of text without having to swipe. It's retained Smart stay though, which uses the same technology to check if you're still looking at the screen and allow it to stay on even if you've set an automatic time-out. It also has Palm motion, which offers a few extra hand gesture controls, such as taking a screen shot by swiping your hand across the display.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mega test photo Samsung Galaxy S4 Mega test photoDave Oliver


The rear camera is the same as the one on the S4 mini -- eight megapixels and a good range of Samsung photo features, plus pretty good photo quality overall.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that a big screen needs a big battery and fortunately the Mega comes with a hefty 3,200mAh model that managed to keep it running for a little over a day of heavy use.

Conclusion
It's bigger than the S4, and comes with a lower spec. It's also a little bigger but not as versatile as the Galaxy Note 2 and doesn't have that capable phone's stylus, so the Mega is a device that's too big to be a standard phone and not quite big enough to pass muster as a tablet. It's a solution in search of a problem and while it does everything it's supposed to passably well, it remains to be seen just who would want it.

Huawei Ascend P6 review

For its latest assault on Android smartphone norms, Chinese manufacturer Huawei has gone slim -- very slim.

It's on sale now for around £350.

Design
At just 6.18mm the Ascend P6 is the slimmest smartphone we've ever seen. That's nearly 1.5mm thinner than the 7.6mm iPhone 5 and the difference is definitely noticeable. As soon as you pick it up you know you've got something that's vanishingly different -- if you get this phone, strangers will want to pick it up and hold it, get used to it.

It feels sturdy though, and the 4.7-inch touchscreen is protected behind Corning Gorilla Glass. It offers an HD resolution of 1,280x720 pixels (312ppi) -- not the very best in class perhaps, but more than acceptable. It looks luscious, with bright colours and deep contrast -- more than good enough for browsing or watching movies.
Huawei Ascend P6 Huawei Ascend P6Huawei

Android, software and processor
Nice to see that it's running the latest version of Android, 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, so you won't feel the need for an update for a while. Running on top is Huawei's Emotion 1.6 user interface which is perfectly fine, but doesn't offer much improvement over the standard Android UI.

That powerful 1.5GHz processor is backed by a full 2GB RAM, which really helps it to ramp up the speed. Apps open and switch at lightning speed, and there's never any sense that the P6 is hanging back. Performance-wise it feels like a considerably more expensive phone, and in our book it's the performance that counts more than appearance -- looks get tired after a while, but you'll always appreciate a hard-working processor that makes performance-hungry apps look easy. Our AnTuTu performance benchmark test gave it 14,212, behind the quad-core big boys like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One, though in truth it didn't really feel any slower, not even when playing HD games like Riptide.

The Ascend P6 offers a sleekly skinny alternative to the Google Nexus 4

Photography
The eight-megapixel camera is a step higher than we'd expect at this price and it's a pretty good one too. It offers plenty of extras, including autofocus, LED flash, touch focus, HDR, Panorama, object tracking, smile capture and geotagging. Picture quality is nothing to be ashamed of, and it delivers accurate colours and sharp edges with a good amount of detail. Surprisingly, the front-facing camera offers five megapixels of resolution, delivering just about the best quality video calls you'll find on a current smartphone.
Huawei Ascend P6 test photo Huawei Ascend P6 test photoDave Oliver



The 8GB of onboard memory storage isn't exceptional these days, but fortunately you can beef it up with a microSD card.

Despite its skinniness, there's still room for a 2,000mAh battery which will do a decent enough job of getting you through a solid day or so of steady use. Just as well, since the unibody design won't allow you to take it out and replace it with a spare.

Conclusion
Given its midrange price, the Ascend P6 isn't really in competition with heavyweights (not literally) like the Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One. Still, it gives both a run for their money and offers a sleekly skinny alternative to the Google Nexus 4 which retails for a similar price, as is a very good, solid midrange phone, but without the P6's panache.

Samsung Galaxy Note III hits the benchmarks, confirms specs

There's been no shortage of leaks and rumors on Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note III, some of which quite wild (flexible display, we mean you!).

With that in mind, we think we have a rough idea of what to expect, including the device's diagonal and most of the internals. What we didn't know, though, was how the device would fare in benchmarks, especially against similar devices.

This has, possibly, been resolved, for an alleged benchmark showing us two variants of the Note III has been spotted on GFXBench's site. The first version carries a model number SM-N900S and is supposedly coming to South Korea's SK Telecom. The second one, SM-N900L, is headed for LGU+, another South Korean carrier.

Motorola Moto X: All coverage

The much-anticipated Moto X is here, and boy did it make a splash! Well, at least across the tech media, that is... But it does look like Motorola has something serious up its sleeve. The new smartphone, which is going to hit each and every major US carrier, doesn't seem to be particularly promising in the specs department, but aims to compensate by enhancing various important aspects of the end-user experience.

So, for lack of better things to do, we decided put together a few stories about that sizzling-hot handset. Want to know more about the Moto X? Feel free to check out the posts below!

Retail packaging for Apple iPhone 5C leaks

A picture showing a number of plastic retail boxes with an Apple iPhone 5C insignia printed on the side indicates that Apple could be using the letter "C" to differentiate the low-cost version of its smartphone with the next full-priced version of the phone. The next "premium" varaiant of the device is rumored to be called the Apple iPhone 5S. With the multi-colored plastic shells that have been floating around lately, purportedly for the low-cost iPhone, the "C" could stand for "color".

While we have to look at the photograph with a skeptical eye, the plastic packaging in the photo does resemble the way that the Apple iPod touch is currently sold. The 5th generation Apple iPod touch is sold in a similar plastic container with the device inside the container, covered with a transparent top.

The latest word we have is that Apple will introduce the Apple iPhone 5C and Apple iPhone 5S on September 18th with the actual launch taking place on September 27th. The Apple iPhone 5C will allegedly be similar to the Apple iPhone 5 but with a plastic shell and other key parts made from plastic to lower the build cost. Those buying the iPhone 5C will be able to select different from different colored shells. The phone is expected to help Apple compete in emerging markets with low-cost handsets like the Nokia Lumia 520.

Apple iPhone 5C gallery of high-res images, price surfaces

The Apple iPhone 5C is not yet official, but judging by the overwhelming number of leaked images, videos and whispers, the device is coming soon and now we get a ton of high quality images of its back housing as well as some additional info on the price.

The iPhone 5C originally surfaced as the ‘affordable iPhone’, a device that came with a single goal in mind - offer the Apple experience at a lower price. How low can Apple go, though? The company is well known for maintaining a huge profit margin on its products, and now rumors from China say the iPhone 5C would be cheaper, but not cheap.

The starting price for the iPhone 5C is said to be 3000 yuan off contract, the equivalent of $490. This would make it actually more expensive than the iPhone 4, and closer to high-end phone pricing than to the mid-range.

For Apple, the iPhone 5C might turn out to be a crucial launch. The company is losing market share in various markets across the globe as Android continues its explosive growth, and is now dominating European and Asian markets.

LG Optimus L5 II review

LG Optimus L5 II review

Towards the lower end of LG's Optimus range, the L5 II steps up some important specs from last year's L5 and aims to deliver quality smartphone features at a budget price.

It's on sale now for around £115.

Design
From the front, the L5 II is standard smartphone glossy black with a single hard home button flanked by touch-sensitive back and menu buttons. But that home button is surrounded by LED lighting that glows in different colours depending on function -- blue for calendar alerts, green for alerts etc. There's also a programmable function button on the side and while the rear casing looks like classy brushed aluminium it's actually very thin and lightweight plastic -- still, if you don't tell anyone...

Busy web pages can take a little longer to process than feels comfortable

The four-inch touchscreen screen offers a resolution of 800x480 pixels, which boils down to 233 pixels per inch -- a far cry from the retina-popping delights of the HD high-end, but it still manages to look bright and vibrant, and much better than the original L5's 320x480-pixel resolution, even if it's not quite as sharp as the best.

Features and performance
It's running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, so one step behind the very latest 4.2 edition, which is what we'd expect at this price. Beyond a light skim over the icon design and some basic transition animations, LG seems to have left Google's OS more or less alone with no unique widgets available, though there is a Polaris Viewer on board for looking at (but not creating or editing) Word and Excel docs.
LG Optimus L5 II LG Optimus L5 IILG

Interestingly, LG has also added Safety Care, an app designed for the vulnerable or elderly, which sends out alert texts if you call an emergency number and can be set to send out an alert if the phone hasn't been used during a set period.

The original L5's 800MHz processor has been bumped up to 1GHz with an attendant increase in speed, though it still tends to typically experience a brief delay when opening apps and busy web pages can take a little longer to process than feels comfortable. Our AnTuTu performance benchmark test delivered a score of 4,936, which puts it a little ahead of the Samsung Young and Fame -- it's not exceptional, but it won't embarrass you with its tardiness either.

The battery life held up for close to two full days of busy use

Photography
The five-megapixel camera includes autofocus and an LED flash, plus a few extras like voice control -- you can take a picture by saying "Cheese, "Smile", "Whiskey", "LG" or "Kimchi". And why not? Unfortunately, picture quality isn't really up to the mark, with washed-out colours, all too frequent blur and a paucity of detail. It will record VGA quality video at 30fps but unfortunately there's no front-facing camera for video calls, which seems like a trick missed.
LG Optimus L5 II test photo LG Optimus L5 II test photo

Test photo taken with the LG Optimus L5 II
Dave Oliver

More worryingly, there's less than 2GB of memory available for storing your apps so you'll almost certainly need a microSD card for your tunes and vids which may or may not be provided by the network you buy the phone from (LG doesn't include one as standard). You can't store apps on the memory card though, so if you like to have lots of apps, this isn't the phone for you.

The battery life held up pretty well though, coming close to two full days of busy use.

Conclusion
The LG Optimus L5 isn't going to set any records, or help LG to distinguish itself among the smartphone glut. It's a shame, because it's a decently solid smartphone at a competitive price.

Nokia Lumia 1020

hands-on with the

The upcoming Nokia Lumia 1020 debuted on 11 June at a press event in New York City, and the presentation focused almost entirely on the phone's massive camera. The phone shares many of the camera features introduced with the Lumia 920, but it brings the PureView 808's huge 41-megapixel sensor into the equation. This makes for a camera that not only adapts to a variety of situations; it also accounts for a lot of human foibles and gaps in the average user's photography knowledge (and equipment set). Physically, the Lumia 1020 is as near to the Lumia 920 as can be, save for the camera housing that juts out of the back of the phone. The phone doesn't feel significantly heavier than a Lumia 920, nor does it feel unbalanced. Resting on a table, the sensor plateau in the back will also keep the lens off the table, which we appreciate (and don't always see prioritised in smartphone body design). By pulling out the shutter button on screen, you get a translucent overlay of manual settings like ISO, aperture, and shutter speed Unfortunately, a camera with the breadth of features and capabilities of the Lumia 1020 is hard to review in full on a show floor. The photos we took with the camera itself were compressed either when they were emailed or stored (they averaged 400-600 KB in size, compared to iPhone 4S photos at 1-1.2 MB). But we gave a handful of features a try and came away fairly impressed with what we saw. The Lumia 1020 continues the Lumia tradition of great low-light photos, but it adds the ability to capture good photos even when the subject is moving. One demo room featured a breakdancer just doing his thing in a near-pitch black room. "This is one use case: people dancing in the street at night," the presenter said. (The Lumia 1020: for when you're on a moonlit stroll and become just overwhelmed with the urge to pop and lock because this isn't real life and you are on the set of Step Up 2: The Streets.) The presenter invited a group of us to do our best (worst) trying to take photos of the moving dancer with flashes on. We performed the photography equivalent of swinging a bat at a ball and hitting nothing but air. When the presenter tried with his Lumia 1020 (flash on), he was able to capture a fairly crisp, in-focus shot of the man as he left it all on the dance floor. Wider shots of the show floor didn't come out like we expected, but we attribute most of the quality issues to compression. Nokia has said little about how the Lumia 1020 compresses or stores its 41-megapixel photos -- whether it can store all of that information raw, for instance, or whether the oversampling and processing is done pre-storage. In the former case we expect people would run out of storage space fairly quickly, so there had better be settings to control that. Photos can be taken zoomed in, but the camera will still capture the full scene The best part of the camera is a bevy of manual controls within the Pro Cam camera app. By pulling out the shutter button on screen, you get a translucent overlay of manual settings like ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. The app will auto-adjust one or a few of the other settings if you change one (upping the ISO increases the shutter speed and so forth), so it will continue to self-balance the other settings for the scene unless you change them yourself. The overlay design allows you to see how the lighting dynamic is shifting for your photo in real time as you play with the settings. This is incredibly handy and a better setup than letting all the little toggle-menus take up screen real estate. If you pull the shutter button back to where it was, the settings you changed will be locked. Holding a finger down on the screen locks the focus and exposure, which is a welcome feature. Nokia heavily emphasised the quality of the photos even when they are zoomed in. The company's claims appeared to hold up pretty well in practice during our short time with the phone. Photos can be taken zoomed in, but the camera will still capture the full scene, so it's possible to zoom out on a zoomed-in photo once it's stored in the photos app. When we saw this demo on the phone, the zoomed-in photo was not identifiable as such until the presenter pinched the screen together to reveal the surroundings. In addition to the Pro Cam app, the Lumia 1020 will also come with Nokia's Smart Cam app, which offers a number of features based on a long, swift capture of a series of photos. There is a "best photo" option, as well as one that can amalgamate all the photos together to either focus on the moving objects and blur the still ones, or vice versa. There are features aplenty that we have yet to test -- we'll evaluate them all when we get the phone in our own hands, on our own time. In other words, stay tuned for our full Nokia Lumia 1020 review.

BlackBerry Q5 review

BlackBerry Q5 review No-one will deny that BlackBerry's in a rut. The onetime cock of the office power walk has been laid low by other, faster moving, higher investing smartphones, and now it really needs to come out with something superior to keep in the game. But can that something really be the Q5, a dowdy, retro-look return to classic BB styling? It's on sale now for around £330. Design The Q5's casing is very old-school BlackBerry -- all black plastic, with nary a nod to the metallic elements we've been seeing from the iPhone and indeed other recent BlackBerrys. It feels solidly built, but the flat front and broadly curved back, not to mention the relentlessly black colour scheme (or white, or pink) don't allow any design elements to lift it from the banal -- it looks and feels like a solid workhorse rather than a must-have pocket pal. There must be some reasoning behind the Q5's dowdiness, but it's not immediately apparent and it seems an unnecessary concession to make when it comes to knocking a couple of hundred quid off the considerably more stylish Q10's asking price. The casing is sealed, so you can't get at the battery, but there's a flap at the side for swapping your SIM and microSD cards. The volume buttons on the side flank a button that activates voice control (it seemed a little slow on the uptake, but it didn't seem to have any trouble deciphering our demands). There's also a power/sleep button and 3.5mm headphone jack on top and a microUSB power/sync port on the side. BlackBerry Q5 BlackBerry Q5BlackBerry View Gallery 3 items The 3.1-inch Super Amoled touchscreen offers a resolution of 720x720 pixels, which amounts to 329ppi. That's not in the same league as the high-end likes of Samsung's Galaxy S4 441ppi but it's still plenty sharp, especially on a relatively small screen like this. In fact, it's unusual to see a screen like this anywhere else -- it has a 1:1 aspect ratio, square in other words, and while that's fine for browsing web pages, it doesn't really do best service for movies, which end up being cramped between black bars like an old-style telly. Incidentally, there's 8GB memory on board for storing films and music, though you can add up to 32GB via microSD card. Keyboard The hard keyboard won't necessarily convert anyone whose fingers are already comfortable on glass, but it does allow for a few more quick keys and shortcuts to be instantly at your fingertips. Going back to a hard keyboard after being accustomed to glass actually takes a bit of getting used to, but the keys are well spaced, offer a good level of feedback and can be easily used with either the tips or the pads of your fingers. The BlackBerry World app store remains a bit of a disappointment and that's unlikely to change any time soon Features and performance The dual-core processor is clocked at 1.2GHz, back a bit from the Q10's 1.5GHz. It's supported by a generous 2GB of RAM which looks pretty good on paper but it still feels a little sluggish in general use, which was a bit disappointing. Not enough to feel like you're missing out, but considering the price we'd have expected something a bit nippier. BlackBerry 10 is a sleek interface, and only requires a gentle learning curve to get the hang of it if you're moving over from Android or iOS. Swiping your thumb down from the top of the screen gives you your notifications menus, Android-style, but swiping up takes you out of an app, and displays those that are already open. Swiping to the right within an app brings up additional menu options in some apps. The BlackBerry Hub combines your social networking updates in one place and the Universal Search function comes in handy too -- you just start typing from the home screen and you're immediately searching files, messages, contacts, settings, BBM, Twitter, Facebook and help. You can also send messages without having to open the relative app -- just type "tweet" or "sms" at the top of your message and the OS will open the relative app for you. It's not long before you're taking this for granted. Apps and photography The BlackBerry World app store remains a bit of a disappointment however, and that's unlikely to change any time soon. There are more than 120,000 apps there now, which seems like a goodly amount, but that includes a lot of rubbish and you won't get all the latest faves or raves that you'd expect from Apple or Android. So while Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all present, other essentials like Spotify, Netflix or iPlayer are not. The five-megapixel camera drops the quality from the Q10's eight-megapixel number, but it still includes a large four-element F2.4 lens, autofocus and an LED flash. There are a few tweaking features to play with, though nothing like the multiple playthings you'll find on many recent Samsung or Nokia models and it can handle 1080p HD video recording too. Picture quality is okay, but not quite as naturalistic as we'd like. Colours can look a bit saturated, though there's a decent level of detail available, even in comparatively low light. Test photo taken on the Q5's rear camera Test photo taken on the Q5's rear cameraDave Oliver The two-megapixel front-facing camera can record video at 720p HD resolution, so your video calls look pretty good too (Skype's available in BBW). For a phone this size, it's surprising to find a large 2,100mAh battery packed in there. It's welcome though, and we found it easy to get a couple of days' worth of steady, if not particularly hardcore use out of it. Conclusion The BlackBerry Q5 is a pretty decent handset overall. The screen is sharp and sensitive, even if it's an unusual shape. The keyboard is excellent for messaging and the BlackBerry 10 OS is fast, slick and easy to get the hang of. It's a shame that developers are holding back on the app store since that's the only thing that really lets the Q5 down. Perhaps it could have been a bit cheaper to try to entice a few Android or Apple fans over, but it still probably offers the best value for money of any BlackBerry at the moment and this is a solidly decent workhorse of a handset that deserves consideration.

new on board

HTC One mini review

The HTC One was a landmark handset, pretty much the best that HTC could produce at the time. But it's quite a handful, and it made sense to shrink it down a little for those who value comfort and usability over bleeding edge tech.

That's what the HTC One mini aims to be and it's on sale now for around £380.

Design
It's called the One mini, but it's actually only a wee bit smaller than the original full-fat One, measuring 132x63x9mm (as opposed to 137x68x9mm) and it's dropped the weight from 143g to 122g. The screen has taken a similarly light shaving, so it now measures 4.3-inches rather than 4.7-inches. That may not sound like a lot, but it does actually make quite a difference when it comes to stretching your thumb across the keypad when you're trying to operate it one-handed.

HTC One mini beside the HTC One
HTC

It's still a goodly size though, well up to the task of delivering HD movies with its screen resolution of 1,280x720 pixels, which amounts to 341 pixels per inch (ppi), although that's dropped from the One's full HD 1,080x1,920-pixel 469ppi screen. That puts it a smidgeon ahead of the iPhone 5's 326ppi and well in front of the new Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini's 256ppi. Movies sound pretty good too thanks to the extra oomph provided by the twin HTC BoomSound speakers on the front and the option of and Beats Audio sound processing.

It's still fast, whipping through the apps with ease, and with no obvious delay when rendering busy web pages

Like the One, the screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, but this one is version 3, promised to be tougher than the version 2 on the older phone -- one of the very few improvements the mini can deliver over its predecessor.

That slimline aluminium casing with its gently curving back now augmented by white plastic trim to distinguish it from the original One looks and feels extremely classy by the way, and in no way reflects the price drop of well over £100. There's a slot in the side for your micro SIM card but you can't remove the battery and there's no option to boost the memory with a microSD card -- so you're stuck with the 16GB it comes with.
HTC One mini HTC One miniNate Lanxon
HTC One mini HTC One miniNate Lanxon

Android and software
Like its big brother, the One mini comes with the very latest Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system. It's not a huge advance on the more common 4.1, but it's nice to know that no compromises have been made and that you won't be lagging behind the curve (at least until Android 4.3 is available).

HTC's Sense 5.0 user interface means a slightly different look for the homescreen and Android icons, but also incorporates some different menus and widgets. BlinkFeed is one such, a full-screen app that pulls together your chosen news and social networking updates into a magazine-style format, a bit like Flipboard. It works pretty well but unfortunately you're limited to a particular selection of news feeds and if you don't want it, you can't remove it from your home screen.

Performance
The processor has been downgraded from a quad-core 1.7GHz to a dual-core 1.4GHz version backed by 1GB RAM rather than 2GB. That's potentially quite a drop, but it's still fast, whipping through the apps with ease, and with no obvious delay when rendering busy web pages. Our AnTuTu performance benchmark test delivered a score of 11,251, which compares well with other dual-core beasts like the Sony Xperia SP and well ahead of the Motorola Razr HD.

It's ready for 4G too, so you can make the most of it with EE, or hang on until other 4G networks begin to make their appearance later this year.
HTC One mini test photo HTC One mini test photoDave Oliver
HTC One mini HTC One miniNate Lanxon

Photography
HTC describes the camera as "UltraPixel". It's got four megapixels really, like the snapper on the One, but HTC reckons the pixels are larger than usual, letting in more light. It also has a large F2.0 aperture and 28 mm lens, plus an illuminated sensor for improved pics in low light. There are settings galore, including anti-shake, sweep panorama, HDR, touch focus, face detection and smile capture. There's also HTC Zoe, which allows you to take multiple pics (up to 20, depending how long you press the onscreen shutter button) and shoot a three-second video, just to make sure you don't miss the moment as well as animating pictures in your gallery and set them to music.

The battery has shrunk considerably from the large 2,300mAh model to 1,800mAh and it shows

All of which makes it a fun camera to use, but it's a shame that the pictures aren't better quality. Sharpness isn't up there with the best, detail can be lacking and the automatic settings can struggle with light levels. However, it's worth noting there is absolutely no difference between this lens and the one on the full size HTC One -- it's identical.
Test photo taken with the HTC One mini's rear camera Test photo taken with the HTC One mini's rear cameraDave Oliver


The front-facing camera is a step down from the One however, offering 1.6 megapixels instead of 2.1 and allowing you to record in 720p HD rather than full HD 1,080p.

Some perhaps less obvious compromises include the lack of NFC for touch payments or easy swapping of content with other phones and there's no infrared sensor that would allow you to use your phone as a universal remote.

As with other HTC One phones though you'll get the option of 25GB of free online storage via Dropbox but it's only for two years -- after that you'll have to pay.

The battery has shrunk considerably from the large 2,300mAh model to 1,800mAh and it shows -- you'll be lucky to get a full day's worth of heavy use out of it.

Conclusion
The HTC One mini makes some sensible compromises to bring down the size and price of the original One. The screen's a bit smaller (but not too small) and while the processor has a lower spec, it isn't obviously much slower in practise. Thankfully, the "UltraPixel" camera is the same (we're not big fans, but we'd have been disappointed if they'd dropped its already so-so quality) and the unibody casing is just as classy.

However, the reduced battery life doesn't impress, and being stuck with half the amount of memory storage may be a deal-breaker for some, but if you can't quite justify the high-end price of the One, the One mini is a very worthy compromise.