Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Looks and Design

When we first looked at Galaxy S Blaze 4G, it looked like a mini version of T-Mobile Galaxy S II. At dimensions standing at 4.8×2.5×0.4 inches, Blaze 4G is smaller than Galaxy S II. It is also light as compared to Galaxy S II. The phone looks quite a lot like BlackBerry Torch 9860, thanks to the metal bezel on its top. Build quality of the phone is of top class as there is a mixture of high quality plastic and metal.

Just like all other Android smartphones made by Samsung, Blaze 4G can easily take the daily beating. The rear rubber panel of the phone helps us to easily grip the phone. Overall, the device is a solid one and is quite easy to operate. On the top of the phone, there is a headphone jack with microUSB port at the bottom. The power button and microSD port are on the right hand side while the volume rocker button is on the right.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Display

Galaxy S Blaze 4G features a 3.97 inches super AMOLED display which displays colors of resolution measuring 800×480 pixels. AMOLED display is featured in quite a few Samsung devices. The contrast ratio and the viewing angles of the display are quite good. The images looked quite crisp and though the resolution is not as high as HTC Sensation 4G, yet the viewing angles are better than Sensation 4G. We enjoyed watching a Youtube HD trailer; though in some cases it appeared to be a bit grainy. Overall the screen provided hassle-free one handed operation whenever it was required.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Keyboard

Blaze 4G is equipped with a stock Samsung keyboard whose keys are very big. The keyboard has great spacing in both landscape and portrait mode. In order to access special characters, you need to long-press a regular character. The phone also includes a Swype keyboard which allows you to quickly jot down any text or mail. Both the keyboard offer great haptic and tactile feedback.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Interface and OS

Without a doubt Blaze 4G showcases one the most up-to-date TouchWiz UI. The phone runs on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread but we were quite surprised to find that the static wallpapers were no longer scrollable. We were quite impressed by the 7 customizable home screens. There are several active widgets such as AccuWeather.com, T-Mobile Bonus Apps and T-Mobile MobileLife Organizer. When we swiped down the display, one got access to notifications shades which led to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS settings.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Apps

The notebook is equipped with a series of entertainment apps such as:-

• Samsung Media Hub
• On Demand
• Live TV

There are several in-built T-Mobile apps such as:-

• T-Mobile Mall
• MobileLife Organizer
• More for Me

Some of the third-party apps include

• Facebook
• Youtube
• Google Tags
• Yelp
• Qik

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Phonebook and Messaging

The phonebook offers an extensive range of features and has unlimited storage capacity. It offers Quick contacts features which allow you to tap the contact photo for a popup menu. The phonebook automatically merges contacts. Messaging is quite good as there is just a message button which lists all the messages. The messages are organized into threads.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Gallery

The phone uses standard Android gallery which automatically searches for the images and videos wherever they are stored. The gallery even imports online photos from Picasa web album. The gallery displays full resolution of images and it even supports pinch zoom and double tap. One can share the images through Bluetooth, email and even messaging.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Processor and Memory

The phone is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor along with a 1GB of RAM. The processor ensures that the device carries out operations smoothly. Whether it is scrolling the home screen or opening applications. The phone offers 1.4GB of internal memory and then there is another 1GB of memory for applications.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Camera Quality

The phone is equipped with a 5MP camera equipped with LED flash which captures photos of resolution 2560×1920 pixels. The interface looks very much familiar with a couple of shortcut bars on each side of the viewfinder. On the right side, you get a still camera switch and a shortcut to the gallery. Going by the quality of images, the phone has got lot of potential. The images produced are quite sharp with plenty of details. The colors were quite neutral and overall we were happy with the results of the photos clicked. The phone also has a 1.3MP front camera which captures images in 720p.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Video Recording

The interface of the video camera is very much the same as that of still camera. The camera is capable of shooting 720p videos at 30fps and the videos appeared to be quite smooth. The audio was crisp too.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Connectivity

Connectivity with Galaxy S Blaze 4G is of top class with the phone supporting quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band 3G with HSPA+. Bluetooth 3.0 is quite efficient in fast transferring of file and there is Wi-Fi b/g/n support along with Wi-Fi hotspot option. With the help of AllShare app, you can stream content to and from several devices over DLNA. There is no change in the interface of the Android web browser and the experience is quite good. The browser supports double tap and pinch zooming. The browser also has Flash 11 support which ensures that you can watch YouTube videos directly in the browser.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Multimedia

Galaxy S Blaze 4G is equipped with a touch wiz music player which Samsung has enhanced with DNSe technology. The tracks are sorted in four categories. The video player is quite nice and it offers a simple interface. The video files are stored in the phone and the video player also considers the last viewed position of the video.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Call Quality and Battery Life

The calls made to landlines and cell phones delivered sharp, loud and clear audio. But there were some echoes on speakerphone calls. The battery of Galaxy S Blaze 4G gave a great performance lasting for over 7 hours. This is 1 hour more than Android smartphone average category.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Price

The phone is priced at $149. It is a mid-range smartphone which delivers robust performance, great battery life and fast 4G speed. If you are looking for a pocket-friendly Android device with long endurance then Galaxy S Blaze 4G is just the right phone for you.

LG Connect 4G Design and Looks

When we first looked at LG Connect 4G, we felt that the phone has been designed for those who thought that LG Esteem was just too big. As far as smartphones are concerned, Connect 4G feels just right. At dimensions standing at 4.6×2.5×0.5 inches, the phone should fit into most pockets quite perfectly. The front is dominated by a glossy 4 inch touch screen and the top half of the phone is surrounded by a thick glossy plastic. The phone feels like a quality device and weighs 137 grams. The phone is lighter than LG Esteem which weighs 172 grams. Overall we were quite impressed by the looks and design of LG Connect 4G.

LG Connect 4G Screen

The phone displays a 4 inch NOVA display whose resolution is very low (480×320 pixels). But we liked the fact that the display is protected by Gorilla glass. The screen delivered vivid colors but we witnessed that the colors faded when we tilted the screen beyond 45 degrees. The screen uses IPS LCD technology similar to that of iPhone 4S. LG says that the phone is capable of displaying 700 nits of brightness, while iPhone’s display measured 541 nits. Sunlight legibility of the phone is quite good and we did not face much problems in reading the screen contents in bright sunlight.

LG Connect 4G Keyboard

LG Connect 4G for metro PCs come with a couple of virtual keyboards. We were quite impressed by the large white keys and their spacing in portrait and landscape mode. The keyboard also has the ability to access particular characters by extended pressing of a button. The phone is also equipped with a Swype keyboard which helps us for speedy texting and emailing.

LG Connect 4G Features

Software and Interface

LG Connect 4G runs on Android 2.3.6(Gingerbread). The lockscreen features a large digital clock with date shown below it. There is a large notification window which shows missed calls and messages. While we swiped the lock screen, then we got access to 7 customizable home screens. The apps page features four columns which are divided into a couple of sections.

Apps

Connect 4G is packed with robust set of applications such as:-

• Smartshare
• LG Wi-Fi Cast
• Loopt
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Windows Live
• MStudio
• Metro Navigator
• Metro411

There are several Yahoo branded apps too such as

• Answers
• Movies
• Sportacular

Third party apps include

• Google Talk
• Polaris Office
• Pocket Express
• Rhapsody

LG Connect 4G Specs

Here are some of the technical aspects of Connect 4G:-

• Carrier: MetroPCS
• OS: Android 2.3.6
• Network: 1xRTT; EV-DO Rev. A; LTE
• RAM: 1GB
• Internal Memory: 4GB
• Card Slot: MicroSD, up to 32GB
• Display: 4 inch
• CPU: Dual-core 1.2 GHz
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity
• Browser: HTML, Adobe Flash
• Java: Yes, through Java MIDP Emulator
• Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS

LG Connect 4G Camera Quality

The phone is equipped with a 5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash. The shutter speed was quick and the photos looked quite good. Both colors and details were decent and the camera should work fine while capturing quick pictures. The pictures captured offered good amount of details and brightness levels were also good. The camera quality of Connect 4G is quite decent. There is also a secondary VGA camera for video chat. During Skype video talk over 4G LTE, our callers complained about slightly grainy image with loud audio.

LG Connect 4G Video Quality

The camera of Connect 4G is also capable of recording 720p videos at a smooth 30fps per second both indoors and outdoors. The details of the videos however looked a bit smudged. Though we did not notice any white haze, yet there was a fair amount of graininess.

LG Connect 4G Multimedia

One gets a microSD card slot beneath the battery cover and the phone was able to play back music test files. The sound quality was also fine, though the performance of the speakers was not great. All the test videos played were quite good.

LG Connect 4G Call Quality

In order to test the call quality, we made few calls to landline and cell phones. We observed that landline calls were better than calls made to cell phones. While some of the callers reported a bit of echo, other reported loud and clear audio without any distortion.

LG Connect 4G Battery Life

In our laptop battery test, the battery of LG Connect 4G lasted for approximately 4 hours which is an hour below than an average Android phone.

LG Connect 4G Price

Price of LG Connect 4G is approximately $350 which is a bit steep.

LG Connect 4G offers great 4G LTE speed and overall the performance of the phone is quite good. If you are looking for a phone with no-contract route, then Connect 4G is a good deal.

Motorola Droid 4 Looks and Design

High end of smartphones by Motorola boasts of stylish design and looks and Droid 4 is no exception. With dimensions standing at 2.65 x 5 x 0.5 inches and a weight of 6.31 ounces Droid 4′s slide out keyboard makes the handset a bit chunkier than Droid Razr Maxx and Samsung Galaxy Nexus. When you look at the front of the phone, the phone looks very much like Droid Razr Maxx with glossy black bezel, curved rectangular shape and gun-metal gray accents. The back and sides of the phone are made up of matte gray plastic which gives the phone an elegant look. The textured surface on the back panel helped us to grip the phone well.

Motorola Droid 4 Keyboard

The sliding QWERTY keyboard of Droid 4 has a lot to like about itself. The five-row pad provides a devoted number row along with a tab key. The keyboard is backlit in nature. The keys are raised and provided a strong tactile feedback. The Enter key is large and it is quite easy to locate. However, the keyboard has its own set of flaws. We did not like the positioning of the Caps Lock key which appeared on the left of Z key. This made it to tap it unnecessarily when not required. The space between the keys was also not that great. Motorola also offers the option of using either stock Android keyboard or the third-party Swype.

Motorola Droid 4 Screen

Droid 4 has a 4 inch qHD display which displays pictures of resolution 960×540 pixels. The screen provided sharp and vibrant images and the brightness was also good. Though the screen does not have HD display like that of Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound, yet the performance of the screen is quite good.

Motorola Droid 4 Features

UI and OS

Just like recently launched Motorola Droid phones, Droid 4 is equipped with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. Motorola has promised that soon it will update the phone to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It has 5 home screens which are preloaded with useful widget which includes a contacts widget which shows faces of 4 contacts which you can tap to send messages. The My Gallery widget shows users the latest pictures from social feeds. One can also add a Social Status widget which displays one’s latest status and post updates on Facebook. At the bottom of the home screen, there are four shortcut configurable shortcut icons.

Apps

There are several in-built apps in Droid 4. There is Motocast which allows you to stream files from one’s PC when connected to the internet. With the help of this feature, you can play a whole of music from your laptop on your phone wirelessly. There is MotoPrint which allows user to send files to a common printer over Wi-Fi. One of the most inventive applications on Droid 4 is Smart Actions which changes the settings of the system on the conditions set by the user. The Motorola Messaging application integrates all your accounts creating a universal inbox. There are also several third-party apps such as:-

• QuickOffice
• My Files
• GoToMeeting
• Madden NFL
• Let’s Golf 2

Motorola Droid 4 Camera Quality

The rear 8MP camera of Droid 4 takes sharp and vibrant images in reasonable lighting conditions. The shots taken outside were quite crisp, though indoor shots taken appeared to be a bit washed out. The front facing camera has been upgraded from 640×480 VGA resolutions to 1.3 MP which comes in handy during video conferences. When we were talking with our friends using video feature of Google Talk, then the faces appeared very clear.

Motorola Droid 4 Video Quality

The phone is also capable of recording 720p videos to great effect. The videos recorded were quite crisp and there were no jitters.

Motorola Droid 4 Connectivity

Connectivity is seamless with Motorola Droid 4. The phone has support for 2G, 3G as well 4G network. With Verizon’s 4G LTE network, Droid 4 gave us an impressive range of download and upload speeds. Connectivity of the phone is further improved by features such as Wi-Fi hotspot, GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB 2.0. With remote support for phones becoming popular, you can view the screen of the phone on your PC through mobile remote support software.

Motorola Droid 4 Multimedia

Playing music on Droid 4 was quite snappy. If you have tracks uploaded to Google music then you can easily push them down to Droid 4. One can also download track from music store and sync your present music library on the phone on your PC. There are apps which allow you to stream music from MOG and slacker. Video content is also available in several flavors on Droid 4.

Motorola Droid 4 Accessories

Just like several Motorola Android phones, one can attach Droid to a variety of special accessories. Droid 4 can be attached to Lapdock 100 and HD Station.

Motorola Droid 4 Battery Life

Droid 4′s 1750mAH battery ran for over 5 hours which involved continuous surfing over 4G. This is more than Samsung Galaxy Nexus but less than HTC Rezound.

Motorola Droid 4 Price

Droid 4 price in the USA is approximately $ 200.

If you are looking for a 4G LTE smartphone with a real physical keypad then you can look forward to Droid 4. With a bright screen, fast processor and blazing fast 4G LTE speeds then Droid 4 is one of your best bet.

Nokia Asha 300 Looks and Feel

At dimensions standing at 112.8×49.5×12.7mm, Asha 300 is more compact than Asha 303. It weighs 85 grams which makes it pretty light. In terms of look, Asha 300 has nothing splendid to boast about itself. Just like most of the bar phones from Nokia, Asha 300 is made entirely out of plastic. The battery cover of the device feels a bit cheap and fragile as compared to the rest of the device and when we applied a bit of pressure, it bent slightly.

Most of the design aesthetics of Asha 300 has been derived from Nokia C3-01 and Nokia C5. The curvy lower end of the device reminds us of C2-01. The biggest assets of the phone are its simplicity and compact size. If you happen to be the one who does not like flamboyance design, then you are sure to be impressed with the looks and feel of Asha 300.

Nokia Asha 300 Display

The phone sports a 2.4inches resistive TFT touch screen which is a bit smaller than that of Asha 303, but it has the same QVGA resolution. The pixel density of Asha 300 is slightly better than that of Asha 303, but the image quality is quite disappointing. The touchscreen is resistive in nature which means that navigating the screen will not be smooth. The resistive touchscreen is a major drawback of the phone considering that there are several cheap phones available in the market which offer capacitive touch-screen.

The reflectiveness of the screen is another major drawback which makes it very difficult to view it outdoors in direct sunlight. However, the haptic feedback is quite good and when we tapped the screen, we felt slight vibration underneath our fingers. On the right side of the screen lies the volume rocker and the lock key while on the left side there is a lanyard eyelet. On the top of the screen lies the 3.5mm audio jack.

Nokia Asha 300 Apps

The phone is equipped with several in-built apps such as

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Calendar
• Wikipedia
• Calculator

Users can go to Nokia Ovi Store to download applications of their choice.

Nokia Asha 300 Features

Processor and Software

Asha 300 is powered by a 1GHz processor which makes operations in the device quite snappy. We found that apps opened pretty quickly and web pages loaded pretty fast. The phone runs on touch enabled series S40 Symbian software which only skin-deep changes. The clock is on the top of the phone while the two shortcut bars are at the bottom. Users get a couple of swipe gestures available on the home screen and though there is no D-pad on Asha 300 yet the soft keys are present. The main menu of the phone shows only two views – Grid and List.

Phonebook and Telephony

The phonebook of the phone is capable of storing about 2000 contacts. Users can display the contacts from phone memory, SIM or both. One can simply add a contact and each contact can be assigned several field. The reception of the phone is quite good and the in-call sound was quite crisp and clear.

Messaging and Emails

The phone comes with standard S40 messaging and is capable of handling all sorts of common messages such as SMS, MMS etc. Even though the keypad is alpha numeric in nature yet, the messaging is quite a breeze. The phone sets up mails quite easily and users can easily view their mails.

Nokia Asha 300 Gallery

The image gallery of Asha 300 is touchable and the photos apps offers a single viewing mode. It displays a grid of 12 pictures on the screen and the screen supports kinetic scrolling and zooming. There is a simple image editor with which users can crop/rotate images.

Nokia Asha 300 Camera Quality

Asha 300 has a 5MP fixed-focus camera which produces images of resolution measuring 2592x 1944 pixels. The interface of the camera has been updated to make it feel more like symbian.

Image Quality

The quality of image is quite good for a 5MP camera. The photos are quite noisy and the shadows have plenty of noise. The contrast and the color rendering is quite good and the amount of details are at par of a 5MP camera. There is no front facing camera in Asha 300.

Nokia Asha 300 Video Quality

The phone captures VGA videos at 15fps which is very poor. The videos are good for MMS only.

Nokia Asha 300 Connectivity

The phone offers quad-band GSM and UMTS support along with HSPA support with good download and upload speeds. Connectivity of the phone is also enhanced by the presence of Bluetooth 2.1 and A2DP. The phone has a microUSB port for both data connections as well as charging. One of the most interesting features of Asha 300 is that it can access USB flash drives. Users also get a 3.5mm audio jack which allows you to use plug in headphones but it does not have a TV-out functionality. The phone however, does not support Wi-Fi.

Nokia Asha 300 Multimedia

The music player of Asha 300 has got touch support. It looks quite decent and it includes a solid set of features which includes album art and support for a wide range of formats such as AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WMA etc. The phone is also equipped with an FM radio with RDS which helps the radio to scan the nearby available radio stations. The audio quality of the phone is also good.

Nokia Asha 300 Retail Box/ Accessories

While unboxing Asha 300 we found the phone to be equipped with the following stuffs:

• AC Adapter
• Headset
• Manual

Nokia Asha 300 Price

Nokia Asha 300 price in India is approximately Rs 5000.

There is nothing revolutionary about Asha 300. However, if you are looking for a cheap and simple phone with decent set of features then you can check out Nokia Asha 300.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Looks and Feel

The first thing users will notice about this phone is how slim and narrow it is. It is a bit smaller than Bold 9900 and is quite compact. At dimensions standing at 110x60x11.4 mm, the phone is quite slim and can easily slip into your pocket. It is bit heavier than Curve 9380 (98 grams) as it weighs 107 grams. The finish is quite pleasant and the phone is very comfortable to hold.

The black-and-chrome styling looks very classy and the build quality looks solid despite the handset being made of plastic. The edges are curved and the soft touch plastic on the back plate makes it easy to grip. The phone is quite compact and overall RIM has done a fine job in giving the phone a nice and classy look.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Screen

The phone comes with a 2.45 inches TFT capacitive touch screen which displays 16M colors of 480×360 pixels. The pixel density is a bit less than 250ppi and the images looked quite crisp and vibrant. Sunlight legibility is similar to that of Bold 9900 but viewing angles were not that great. Since the screen is quite small hence users might face problems in reading ebooks or contents of a website. It responded well to our touches and it supports multi-touch for easy scrolling and zooming. On the left side of the screen you get a 3.5mm audio jack while at the top there is the single lock key. On the right edge you get a couple of volume buttons while further down lies the camera button.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Features

Software and User Interface (UI)

Bold 9790 runs on BlackBerry OS 7.0 and overall the package of Bold 9790 is similar to that of Bold 9900. The OS is not quite new as it has been out for few months but it does perform the job well. The OS tries to look similar to that of Tablet OS. The icons have up modified to look like that of PlayBook, but the rest is very much the same. There is a loudspeaker icon at the bottom which allows you to change the currently active profile. There is also an application tray which consists of several tabs and for navigation there is a track pad which features sharp and precise controls.

Phonebook and Messaging

The phonebook is same as that before though the phone runs on the latest edition of the OS. The phone handles all kind of messages through nicely organized apps. Users get SMS, MMS and email support and there are few IM apps installed too.

Keypad

Bold 9790 features a QWERTY keypad and just like in 9900 the keypad is backlight in nature. The keys are quite flat and the layout is good too. We enjoyed typing on the keyboard and the QWERTY keyboard performs quite well and we were quite satisfied by its response.

Specs

Here are some of the important technical specifications of Bold 9790

• Dimensions: 110 x 60 x 11.4 mm
• Weight: 107 grams
• Internal Memory: 8GB, 768MB RAM
• OS: BlackBerry OS 7.0
• CPU: Marvel Tavor MG 1 1GHz

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Camera Quality

Bold 9790 is equipped with a 5MP camera which is still the maximum you get from a RIM smartphone. However, thankfully this time the camera is an auto-focus one. We were quite disappointed to find that the interface of the camera is quite unattractive and the camera key too is uncomfortable too. But the resounding factor is that the image quality of Bold 9790 is excellent and it offers plenty of details. The colors are quite lively and offer good contrast and we did not notice any kind of defects in them. Though the noise levels are quite high yet they are quite tolerable. Of all the BlackBerry phones we have reviewed so far this one is by far the best.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Video Quality

The phone captures VGA videos at 30fps and the videos are captured in 3gp format. The video quality is quite good and the frame rate is steady and high. The colors are quite accurate and the contrast is good too. Noise levels are quite tolerable.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Smartphone Connectivity

The smartphone gives you a wide range of connectivity options. There is quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support and quad-band 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 5.76Mbps HSUPA. The dual-band Wi-Fi too is a nice addition and Wi-Fi hotspot is also available. Wireless connectivity is also enhanced by the presence of Bluetooth with A2DP support. There is a microUSB port which is enabled for both data connections as well as charging. The phone is also equipped with NFC capabilities which allows one to connect it other NFC enabled devices and accessories. One can also use the microSD memory card slot for transferring files.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Multimedia

There are refreshed music player icons but they are styled very conservatively. One can quickly search tracks and the music player also supports custom playlists. The audio quality of the phone however is quite disappointing and even with an external amplifier the ride was not that smooth. Even with headphones plugged in, our experience was not that great. The video player of Bold 9790 does a pretty good job and the video player supports DivX, Xvid, H.264/MPEG-4 and WMV videos up to 720p resolution. The player also managed to play all sort of DivX files thrown at it. We were very disappointed to find that the phone lacks an FM radio.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Retail Package

During unboxing of Bold 9790 we found the phone to be stuffed with the following stuffs:

• Charger
• Headset
• MicroUSB cable
• User Manual

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Price

BlackBerry Bold 9790 price in USA is approximately $ 550 while price of the phone in India is approximately Rs 28000.

Bold 9790 is a solid smartphone from RIM which has nice features. The keyboard looks great and the interface is quite nice to use. However, users can be put off by the low quality of screen but overall BlackBerry Bold 9790 is a solid smartphone which gives you power-packed performance.

HTC Vivid Case/Design

When we first looked at Vivid, we were reminded of HTC EVO 4G, as the former bears some characteristic design similar to EVO 4G. Though the smartphone is not one of the best looking products you will find in the market, yet the build quality of the phone is solid. The phone is dressed in glossy plastic which easily attracts dust and fingerprints. This is a bit unusual for HTC as the company is always known to use impressive materials in designing its phones. At dimensions standing at 128.8 x 67.1 x 11.2 mm, Vivid is certainly not one of the most pocket friendly devices you will find in the market.

It is quite bulky too weighing a massive 177 grams. It is bigger and bulkier than iPhone 4S. It is also heavier than other two LTE phone’s of AT&T, Samsung Galaxy S II and LG Nitro HD. But weight has never been an issue with HTC lovers and hence we are not too concerned about the weight and dimensions of Vivid. Thanks to the stainless steel back cover, the phone feels durable and is quite nice when gripped. The power button and the headphone jack is at the top of the phone while on the right side, you will find the volume button and a microUSB port.

HTC Vivid Screen

Vivid is packed with a massive 4.5 inches LCD screen which has a familiar qHD resolution. Though in some of the sites, the colors appeared to be sharp, bright and crisp, yet it suffered from poor viewing angles and outdoor legibility. We found the Super AMOLED of Galaxy SII and AH-IPS screen of LG Nitro HD much better than that of Vivid. Details on Nitro HD’s screen were much better than that of Vivid. Colors, contrast and sharpness on the retina display of iPhone 4S was far better than that of Vivid.  Below the display you get the four-touch sensitive buttons while above the display you find the earpiece, ambient light and proximity sensors.

HTC Vivid Features

Vivid runs on Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) OS and is equipped with HTC’s Sense 3.0 interface.  This is similar to a number of HTC devices such as Sensation 4G and Evo 3D. Some of the other features of Vivid are:

Keyboard

Vivid sports a virtual QWERTY keyboard which is quite spacious and is easy to type on. The keyboard is good to use either in portrait or in landscape mode. It gave us a nice gentle haptic feedback. We also liked the trace keyboard which accurately predicted our words.

Memory

Memory is an important aspect for any smartphone and HTC has done a fine job in this regard. The phone offers internal memory storage of 16GB. The memory can be increased to 32GB. This is sufficient to store a large amount of data including photos, videos and contacts.

Apps

The phone comes with several pre-loaded apps and utilities. Among HTC apps, users get HTC Movies, HTC Watch, HTC Likes and HTC Hub. There are various third party apps such as Mog, Adobe Reader, Facebook, Twitter, Qik Lite etc. The carrier branded apps includes Code Scanner, Navigator and U-Verse LiveTV.

Phonebook and Messaging

Vivid has HTC’s all noteworthy phonebook which has deep social networking addition. The phonebook helps to keep all the things in order. When you select a contact, the basic details are displayed. HTC Vivid smartphone is capable of handling all sorts of text messaging – MMS, SMS and emails. When you receive an incoming SMS, the notification area will show a line. It is very easy to convert a SMS into MMS.

Processor

Vivid is equipped with a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 processor along with 1GB RAM. A third-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is quite competent to handle almost all the tasks thrown at it with ease.

Specs

• Dimensions: 128.8×67.1×11.2mm
• Weight: 177 grams (approx)
• Display 4.5 inches S-LCD capacitive touchscreen
• OS: Android OS 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support
• GPU: Adreno 220

Click here for full HTC Vivid specifications

HTC Vivid Email

Users get a couple of email options with Vivid. There is HTC mail and Gmail apps. While the HTC email app is capable of handling several accounts, the Gmail app supports batch operations. Both the mails are quite easy to set up and easy to operate.

HTC Vivid Camera Quality

Vivid is packed with an 8MP camera which clicks pictures of resolution measuring 3264x2448pixels. There is also a dual LED flash and the interface of the camera is very efficient. However, when we zoomed into the images, there was a significant amount of graininess. The photos captured are very nicely detailed and the colors are quite good. The quality of photos is at par with LG Nitro HD. But the sluggish shutter prevented us from taking quick shots. The dual-LED flash of Vivid helped us to click us photos in dim light. The phone also has a 1.3MP front facing camera which comes in handy while carrying out video chats.

HTC Vivid Video

The phone captures 1080p videos and the interface of the camcoder is very much the same as that of the still camera. The videos are shot in 3gp and we were quite pleased with the quality of videos. The videos are captured at 27fps and not 30fps. The colors are crisp though a bit dull. Videos are shot in 3gp.

HTC Vivid Connectivity and Multimedia

Connectivity set is great with HTC Vivid. There is a quad-band GSM/GPRS/ EDGE along with tri-band 3G. The greatest connectivity feature of Vivid is certainly its compatibility with LTE network. Local wireless connectivity in handled by Wi-Fi b/g/n, DLNA support and Bluetooth 3.0. DLNA connections are handled by the connected media app. With HTC Portable Hotspot the phone supports approximately 8 devices. The micro USB 2.0 cable and the 3.5mm audio jack further consolidate the connectivity of the phone.

The video player of the phone is quite good and we faced no problem while playing 1080p MP4 videos. It also handled 720p DivX or XviD. The music player is quite sensational and the SRS sound enhancement improves the listening experience of listeners. The equalizer settings can be changed by plugging in headphones. HTC Vivid also has an FM radio whose interface is very simple and it automatically searches for the nearby radio stations. But the radio took some time before to start.

HTC Vivid Call Quality

Vivid provided robust call quality. Be it incoming call or outgoing call, we never faced any distortion in calls and our listeners could hear us very clearly.

HTC Vivid Accessories

The phone has the following accessories

• HTC Vivid
• MicroUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• User Manual

Download HTC Vivid user manual

HTC Vivid Battery Life

The phone is equipped with a standard Li-Ion 1620mAh battery which offers a talk time of around 7 hours.

HTC Vivid Price

On contract price of Vivid is approximately $ 200 while price of the phone in India is around Rs 10,000.

HTC Vivid offers a good value for money. It offers great speed thanks to AT&T’s 4G LTE network and dual-core processor. If you are an Android fan looking for nice 4G LTE phone, then you can look forward to HTC Vivid.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Looks And Design

The form factor of Curve 9380 is very much the same as that of BlackBerry Torch 9860. In fact Curve 9380 looks like the smaller version of BlackBerry Torch 9860. With dimensions standing at 109x60x11.2mm, Torch 9860 is quite a pocket friendly device. It is very light weighing just 98 grams. The light weight of the phone is because of the fact that it is made out of plastic. The plastic is glossy in nature which easily attracts unpleasant marks on the device. BlackBerry Curve 9380 is a compact and pocket-friendly device. The design has nothing new to boast about and the materials used are also not unique. We felt that the design could have been made better. Anyways most of the mid-rangers will find the design of Curve 9380 cool.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Display

The front of the phone is dominated by a 3.2 inches HVGA capacitive touch screen with a 188ppi pixel density. The display is quite good. The colors are quite vibrant, sharp and crisp. The contrast is quite good and the viewing angles are also quite good. Sunlight legibility is quite good and once again we were disappointed to find that the touch screen lacked haptic feedback. Beneath the display you will find the call, menu and back buttons which are large and comfortable to use. The volume keys are on the right side, while the lock button is placed at the top.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 User Interface

BlackBerry Curve 9380 runs on BlackBerry OS 7 which has improvements over OS 6. OS 7 is more friendly and colorful than the previous versions. There is a speaker symbol on the top left by tapping which you can switch profiles quite quickly and you can also perform voice searches. The track pad is quite sharp and the control is quite precise. Users get to know about the missed events by pressing the bar between the search and profile icons.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Features And Apps

When it comes to apps on BlackBerry phones, OS 7 does not have much to offer. However still you get dedicated Facebook and Twitter clients. Apart from it, you get the calendar application which integrates Facebook and Google calendars. RIM however, has a long way to go before it can catch up with Android Market and Apple App store in terms of apps. The phone is quite similar to that of previous BlackBerry devices and the contacts get listed alphabetically and the phone allows you to put contacts in two categories namely and personal and business. The phone handles all kinds of messages and there are few IMs installed in the phone. The memory of the phone can be extended up to 32GB.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Keyboard

Curve 9380 does not have a physical QWERTY keyboard which is the hallmark and one of the major USPs of BlackBerry devices. Curve 9380 has a virtual QWERTY keyboard which does a good job in landscape mode, but in portrait mode, we encountered some problems because of lack of space. So while using the keyboard in portrait mode, you need to be extra careful while typing messages or composing mails.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Camera Quality

BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone is equipped with a 5MP fixed focus camera which is the highest you get in a RIM smartphone. The camera has a single LED flash and the image quality is quite average. Though there is good amount of resolved details, yet we felt that it could have been made better. The contrast is good but noise levels are way above average. Though the shutter key is a bit unusually shaped yet it is quite comfortable. The phone allows you to choose from a wide range of scene modes such as portrait, landscape, night etc.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Video Recording

The phone is not capable of recording HD videos. The best it can capture is to capture VGA clips at 30fps which surprisingly is good. The frame rate is good and the resolved details are quite good. The colors are quite accurate and the contrast is also fine.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Connectivity

Curve 9380 offers you a broad range of connectivity options which is expected out of a smartphone. You get a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 3G. There is dual band Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspot is also a nice addition. Connectivity of the device is also enhanced by the presence of NFC which means that you can pair Curve 9380 with other enabled devices. You also get a micro-USB port which is enabled for both charging and data connections.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Multimedia

Users get new Music player icons and you can quickly search tracks by artists, album or genres. The video playing capabilities are quite good and the screen is quite good for decent video playback. Youtube videos played quite well on Curve 9380. The video player is quite capable of playing videos of DivX, XviD, H.264, MPEG 4 and WMV formats up to 720p. The audio output is also not good and we were highly disappointed to find that the phone lacks FM radio.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Release Date

The phone has been released in December 2011.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Accessories

The phone is stuffed with the following accessories:

• USB cable
• Charger
• Headphones
• 2GB MicroSD card
• User Manual

Download BlackBerry Curve 9380 user manual.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Battery Life

The battery life of curve 9380 is pretty good. The battery gave us a runtime of approximately 5 hours.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Price

Price of BlackBerry Curve 9380 in India is approximately Rs 20,000.

Curve will surly attract you with its good quality screen and decent set of features. There is an uncanny resemblance between Curve 9380 and Torch 9860. If you are a BlackBerry lover, then you can give a look to Curve 9380.

HTC Titan Design and Feel 

Titan means big and very true to its name, the phone is gigantic in size. With Titan’s dimensions at 131.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm, the phone is indeed large. It is quite hefty too weighing 160 grams. This ensures that when you put the phone in your pocket, you are sure to feel its weight and feel. HTC is known to give its product a neat and elegant look and Titan is no different. With a sturdy metal casing the phone looks really elegant and the chassis is quite flat. You will find a lot of similarity between Titan and Samsung Galaxy S2. It feels great to hold Titan and thanks to HTC’s clever craftsmanship across the display, the phone is really comfortable to handle. We were quite impressed by the looks and design of Titan.  

HTC Titan Display 

The gigantic display of Titan will surly attracts any users. The 4.7 inches S-LCD capacitive screen displays vibrant colors of resolution measuring 480×800 pixels. The images are sharp and crisp and because of the sheer size of the screen, you can easily browse and read text. Contrast and brightness levels were quite good and thanks to the wide viewing angles, two persons can easily sit and enjoy watching videos. We were also quite happy to find out that even in direct sunlight, one could easily read the screen’s contents. The volume rocker button is located on the right side of the screen while the camera shutter button is located at the bottom of the screen. Most of the users will be pleased with the screen performance of Titan.

HTC Titan Specs 

A phone of Titan’s magnitude is sure to be equipped with robust specifications. Let us take a look at some of the technical specifications of HTC Titan.

• Dimensions; 131.5×70.7×9.9mm
• Size: 160 grams
• Display Size: 4.7 inches
• Internal Memory: 16GB
• OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
• Processor; 1.5GHz Scorpion

HTC Titan Keyboard 

Titan is equipped with a default QWERTY keyboard. The layout of the keyboard is very much the same as that of other phones running on the Windows platform. The keyboard is quite comfortable to use and though it lacks haptic vibration feedback, it is quite comfortable to use. The keys have enough space within themselves and because of the large display, the keys are pretty comfortable to use.

HTC Titan Features 

Let us take a look at first the OS of the phone. It runs on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and the UI of the phone is quite eye catching because of the integration of the social networking sites and multi-tasking elements. Users also get a great messaging experience, because of the large display and with 16GB of memory one can store a large amount of contact, photos and videos. User experience is also enhanced with several in-built apps such as

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Document Viewer/editor

The 1.5GHz scorpion processor performs pretty well and it carried out most of the work at ease.

HTC Titan Camera 

The phone is equipped with a 8MP autofocus camera which is capable of clicking pictures of resolution measuring 3264×2448 pixels. One also gets a 1.3MP front facing camera which facilitates video calling. The UI of the camera is quite simple and camera performance is upped by a 28mm wide angle F2.2 lens which is accompanied by a BSI sensor. With dual-LED flash, you will have no problems clicking pictures in the dark and the photos captured offer a great amount of details.

HTC Titan Video 

The phone is capable of capturing 720p HD videos which is pretty good. The video camera interface is very much the same as that of still camera and it has plenty of features. But we were disappointed to find that the videos were unable to capture enough details.

HTC Titan Connectivity 

Connectivity is seamless with Titan with the phone offering support for both 2G as well as 3G. It also supports GPRS and EDGE and thanks to Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, local connectivity gets a boost. Connectivity is also enhanced by the presence of 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB 2.0. With fast HSPA+ speed, web browsing experience gets a boost. The mobile hotspot too plays a role in boosting connectivity of the device.

HTC Titan Multimedia 

The Zune experience enhanced the music quality of the phone and the dolby and SRS sound enhancement further boosted the music experience of the phone. We were quite delighted with the Youtube experience on the phone and in our video test we were played DiVX videos of resolution measuring 1920×1080 pixels. The playback was also smooth and the rich visuals made it further enriching.

HTC Titan Accessories 

During unlocking with HTC Titan we found the phone to be equipped with the following accessories

• USB Cable
• Earphones
• Charger
• User Manual

Download HTC Titan Manual

HTC Titan Battery Life 

Titan is powered by a 1600mAh battery which gives a decent talk time of around 410 minutes. Battery life depends upon many factors and the battery life will depend as to where and under which conditions you are using the phone.

HTC Titan Launch Date 

The phone has been released in October 2011.

HTC Titan Price 

HTC Titan price in the USA is approximately $ 500 while the price of the phone in the Indian market in yet unknown.

HTC Titan has the potential to become a great Windows phone as there is a limited availability of second generation Windows phone in the market. It is a great handset equipped with great features and if you are looking forward to purchase a Windows phone, then you can surly bet upon HTC Titan.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Looks And Design

The design of the phone is certainly not industrial and with its dark color scheme, the device looks a bit dull. We found the back of the phone more impressive than its front. The battery cover has a nice looking texture and the tiny metal bezel gives you some sort of an upmarket feel. With dimensions of the phone measuring 115 x 60 x 11mm, the device is extremely pocket friendly and it weighs just 116 grams. The phone is carved entirely out of plastic, but despite that it did not give us a cheap feeling. Overall it is a very compact device which can be easily slipped into the pocket. Thanks to textured plastic on the back of the phone, prevents it from accidental drops.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Display

The 3.7 inches screen of the phone does a pretty decent job. The screen is not AMOLED in nature, but then it has better viewing angles and sunlight legibility than its competitors. The images rendered were sharp and crisp and they offered good amount of details. The screen is capable of producing 16M colors of resolution measuring 480 x 800 pixels. On the left side of the screen, you will find the volume rocker button while the power key is on the right side. On the top of the screen you will find the 3.5mm audio jack. At this price point, we were impressed by the performance of the screen of Exhibit II 4G.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Specs

Here are some of the technical specifications of Samsung Exhibit II 4G mobile phone

• Dimensions: 115 x 60 x 11 mm
• Weight: 116 grams
• OS: 2.3.5 (Gingerbread)
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
• CPU: 1GHz Scorpion
• GPU: Adreno 205

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Features

The phone covers the lack of its look in its software department. It runs on Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) and is equipped with the most recent of the TouchWiz launcher on board which gives you a great experience. The smartphone is also equipped with several applications such as

• Image/Video Editor
• Document Viewer
• Google Search
• Gmail
• Maps

Users can download their favorite applications from Android market. You can easily create folders in the phone. The task manager also offers a lot of functionality. With an internal memory of 512MB which can be extended up to 32GB, the phone allows you to store a large number of contacts and details.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Keyboard

For inputting text, the phone offers you two type of keyboard – Standard Samsung Keyboard and Swype. Users can find more options in the Android market.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Gallery

The phone uses the standard Android gallery which automatically locates images and videos wherever they are stored. The gallery also imports photos from Picasa Web Album. The gallery also supports double tap and pinch zoom facilities.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Camera

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Android phone is equipped with a 3.2MP camera which is accompanied by a LED flash. The images produced offer nice details for a 3MP snapper. The camera is also equipped with features such as geo-tagging and face detection. For a phone coming at this price point, we did not expect an outstanding camera performance. We were quite satisfied by the camera performance of Exhibit II 4G.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Video

The interface of the video camera is very much same as that of the still camera and the videos recorded are in VGA format which are far from impressive. Though VGA format videos are in adequate for a smartphone of this century, yet we must not forget that Exhibit II 4G is a budget device.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Connectivity

Connectivity is abundance with Exhibit II 4G. It supports quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. The phone also supports HSPA+ which provides downlink and uplink of 14.4Mbps and 5.76Mbps. Connectivity is also enhanced by the presence of Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi support. The Android web browser is also same. It has hardly changed and the browser supports both double tap and pinch zooming. It also enables multiple tabs, text reflow etc.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Multimedia

The media hub of Samsung helps you to rent or purchase movies and TV shows. You can start watching content immediately and the entire media hub can be shared. Thanks to the pre-loaded T-Mobile TV apps you can access live and on-demand mobile HDTV.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Accessories

While we unlocked Samsung Exhibit II 4G, we found the phone to be equipped with the following accessories

• Charger
• USB cable
• Battery
• User Manual

Download Samsung Exhibit II 4G Manual.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Price

Without contract, Samsung Exhibit II 4G price is approximately $ 200.

Samsung Exhibit II 4G looks a very simple phone with simple specifications and decent features. The phone has nothing extraordinary to boast about itself, but you are sure to get a decent performance out of this.

Nokia Lumia 800 Looks And Design

It is very easy to spot Lumia 800 in the crowd. You can easily mistake Lumia 800 for Nokia N9 because of its polycarbonate unibody combined with combination of curves and straight line. It is very sleek measuring just 116.5×61.2×12.1mm which is very much the same as that of N9 and weighs 142 grams. The phone feels quite sturdy and the polycarbonate body is colored rather than being painted. The top and bottom edges of the phones have flat surfaces and the top of the phone has headphone jack covered with microUSB and microSIM card slots. Thanks to the curved edges of the phone it is very comfortable to grip. Overall we were quite impressed with the looks and design of Lumia 800.

Nokia Lumia 800 Screen

Even though the screen is not as big as Samsung Galaxy S II’s one, the 3.7 inches AMOLED capacitive touch-screen of Lumia 800 is really gorgeous. The display of the phone is made up of gorilla glass which means that it is resistant to scratches. Indoor viewing angles are great and the pictures displayed are quite sharp and vibrant. Thanks to the ClearBlack technology, the outdoor performance of the screen was also very good and even in direct sunlight, the colors remain very much visible and because of the anti-glare polarizer, the screen is not that reflective. The touch-screen is quite responsive and as far as brightness goes, the AMOLED screen of Lumia 800 fell a bit short of our expectations. The screen can be compared to the Super AMOLED screen of Omnia W. Below the screen of the phone, you get the three Windows Phone keys- Back, Menu and Search. On the right side you get a volume rocker button.

Nokia Lumia 800 Keyboard

The phone is equipped with a standard Windows Phone keyboard which is very much comfortable to use. However, we wished that the landscape keyboard could have been a bit larger and it used the full width of the screen. But the screen is very much comfortable to use and it facilitated typing texts and mails.

Nokia Lumia 800 Specs

Let us first start with the software of Lumia 800. The phone runs on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, the interface of which is very clean and simple. The OS has been upgraded considerably and the Live Tile interface shows updates and alerts. This is quite attractive and informative. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8255 snapdragon processor and offers 16GB of robust internal storage. But we were a bit disappointed to discover that there is no way to expand the memory as there is no card slot.

Nokia Lumia 800 Features

Nokia Lumia 800 mobile phone is equipped with several in-built applications. Some of the pre-installed apps in the phone are

• Internet Explorer
• Mobile Office
• Xbox Live Games
• Zune Music and Videos
• Nokia Drive
• Nokia Maps

Applications are broken into categories such as Foodies, Health+, Addictive etc. Though the Windows Market Place may not be as populated as the stores of Apple or Android, yet it does not mean that you cannot find apps. Messaging has been revamped in Windows 7.5 and messaging has been divided into a couple of tabs- threads and online.

Nokia Lumia 800 Camera

A Carl Zeiss Tessar lens on a 8MP sensor gives Lumia 800 one the best cameras which you will find on an Windows Phone. The camera interface is quite simple and the camera apps offers great settings ranging right from screens and effects to white balance, sharpness, ISO etc. The photos clicked were quite sharp and clear. The images captured offered great details and because of the HDR features, it adjusted a great deal to various lighting variations. With the help of the camera application, you can easily share the photos in social networking site such as Facebook.

Nokia Lumia 800 Video

Videos shot in Nokia Lumia Windows Phones were shot in 1280×720 pixels and offered deep and sharp details. While recording continuous autofocus is available. The video quality is quite good and the images looked crisp and sharp.  Youtube videos played were quite good and it offered a great amount of details.

Nokia Lumia 800 Music And Multimedia

Multimedia and music experience was great on the phone. Nokia has its own pre-installed apps called Nokia Music and shows your music along with local concerts. The music section is made up of various sections such as albums, songs, artists etc and the interface of the music is quite simple and straight forward. However, we were disappointed to find equalizer missing and the phone is also equipped with a stereo FM along with RDS.

Nokia Lumia 800 Connectivity

The phone offers a decent set of connectivity options. There is support for both 2G as well as 3G network. There is also support for GPRS, EDGE, WLAN and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and EDR. Connectivity of the phone is also enhanced by the presence of USB 2.0 and 3.5mm audio jack.

Nokia Lumia 800 Battery Life

The phone is equipped with a 1450mAh battery which offers a talk time of around 9.5 hours which is quite impressive. We were able to carry out web surfing and take pictures without requiring to charge the phone.

Nokia Lumia 800 Price

Price of Nokia Lumia 800 in India is approximately Rs 28,000 while price of the phone in USA is around $ 350.

Lumia 800 is a great device and is one of the robust smartphones you will find in the market. The great design of the phone along with a solid camera and the curvy polycarbonate body makes Lumia 800 a decent purchase.