9 Great Phones At CES 2012 - Part 2

9 Great Phones At CES 2012 - Part 1

Sony Xperia Ion (AT&T)

The first Sony-branded smartphone, the Xperia Ion offers a stunning 4.6-inch, 720-by-1280-pixel (720p) glass screen and a 12-megapixel camera. Under the hood is a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that can handle PlayStation-caliber games in addition to music and video. Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) is the unfortunate default OS, but Sony is promising an ICS upgrade later this year. Sony is still sorting out just which PlayStation games will work on this thing (PS1? PS2? Xperia Play? Tablet?), but it's clear the Xperia Ion will be a serious competitor on its arrival in the second quarter.

HTC Titan II (AT&T) 

America's first 16-megapixel camera phone is here, and it's a doozy. The massive HTC Titan II sports Windows Phone 7.5, LTE data speeds, and a 4.7-inch screen, and can snap photos with a resolution of 4,640-by-3,840 pixels. The rest of its specs aren't as impressive, thanks to some leftover Microsoft-specified restrictions, but you still get a fast (single-core) 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 processor, 480-by-800-pixel screen resolution, 720p camcorder, and 16GB of internal storage (albeit with no memory card slot).

Nokia Lumia 900 (AT&T)

Now this is what we were waiting for. Nokia finally shows off its first high-end Windows Phone 7 device, as the preceding Nokia Lumia 710 was too budget-oriented to inspire much buzz. The LTE-equipped Lumia 900 packs an 8-megapixel-camera, Carl Zeiss optics, and a 4.3-inch AMOLED Clear Black display. As part of Microsoft's last CES keynote, the powerful Nokia Lumia 900 may be a fitting sendoff.

Huawei Ascend P1 S (Carrier TBA)

Who would have expected the world's thinnest smartphone to come from Huawei? The Ascend P1 S is just 0.26 inches thick, which is two hundredths of an inch thinner than the Motorola Droid RAZR. The Ascend P1 S impresses in other ways too, with a 4.3-inch, 540-by-960-pixel Super AMOLED display, a 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4460 dual-core processor, a pair of cameras, and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) preloaded. No word on a carrier yet for this one, though.

Lenovo K800 (China's Unicom)

Intel's Atom chip was fine for low-power netbooks, but it has traditionally been too power-hungry for smartphones. The Lenovo K800 could change that, at least in China—and, if successful, finally brand Intel as a player in the smartphone market, after years of empty promises and false starts. The K800 is no slouch otherwise, either, with a 4.5-inch, 720p multi-touch screen, Wi-Di, and a massive battery. We're keeping a close eye on this one, as well as Intel's other deal with Motorola, which could bring us a U.S. device sooner rather than later.

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9 Great Phones at CES 2012 - Part 1

This has been a heck of a year for phones. We're fast approaching the point where smartphone users outnumber regular cell phone users here in the U.S. Consequently, we expected big things out of CES 2012—and it looks like we got them for the most part.
In fact, many of the best announcements at CES 2012 happened either just before or at the start of the show. This year's lineup of goodies includes a heavy focus on next-generation 4G LTE data networks—including from Sprint, in a marked shift away from 4G WiMAX—plus plenty of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)-powered phones, NFC chips, dual-core processors, and even 12 and 16-megapixel camera sensors all vying for the spotlight.

Apple wasn't at the show as usual. But the story still centers around iOS and Android, as those are the top two smartphone platforms now. HP killed off webOS this year. Research in Motion was a non-factor and only showed off more of the same, albeit with a few significant OS revisions. The real comeback story could lay with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5, a slick OS that's getting a big push thanks to more advanced hardware, Nokia's return to the U.S. market, and a vast increase in the number of third-party apps available. Still, it's a steep hill for Nokia and Microsoft to climb.
With all that in mind, here are the coolest, most significant phones announced at CES this year. Many of these should hit stores by the second quarter, so get ready to count off the remaining months on your current two-year contract.

LG Spectrum (Verizon Wireless)

High-definition phones are beginning to appear in earnest. The LG Spectrum sports an ultra-sharp 720p screen in a slimmer, lighter form factor than the existing (and also 720p) HTC Rezound. In addition to 720-by-1280-pixel resolution, the screen is "advanced high-def IPS," which to our eye looks brighter than other phones we've seen at least on the show floor. Text appears stunningly crisp even at tiny font sizes. It also packs a video editing program and an HD-specific app store, which the Spectrum should handle easily thanks to its 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 4G LTE network support . No Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) out of the box, but LG is promising an update by June 2012.

Motorola Droid 4 (Verizon Wireless)

The Motorola Droid 4 may be the nicest QWERTY Android phone yet, with a sleek slider design, a laser-cut five-row QWERTY keyboard with sharp edge lighting, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and (finally) 4G LTE data speeds. It also works with Motorola's array of Webtop mode accessories, including 10- and 14-inch Lapdocks, an HD Docking Station for the living room, and a Vehicle Navigation Dock. This one could push the remaining BlackBerry users—the ones dedicated to their hardware keyboards—over the line to Android if RIM doesn't right its ship soon.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Sprint)

The first flagship Ice Cream Sandwich phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, jumps over to Sprint, adding back the Google Wallet capability that Verizon Wireless had disabled along the way. The oversized 4.65-inch Super AMOLED screen and dual-core processor are impressive, but in this case take a back seat to LTE—Sprint's brand new, next-generation 4G network that it's powering up in 10 cities by the middle of this year.

LG Viper (Sprint)

The Galaxy Nexus may have the spotlight, but the LG Viper could be Sprint's Q-ship for 2012. It may snag even more buyers, thanks to its more manageable 4-inch screen size, brushed metal back panel, and lower price than the Galaxy Nexus. It only runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) out of the box, but its LTE radio, dual-core processor, and NFC compatibility mean it still has the future in mind.

9 Great Phones At CES 2012 - Part 2

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Review : HTC Sensation XL

HTC has launched their new Sensation XE, which was soon followed by the pricier HTC Sensation XL. Considering that there is no dearth of high-end smartphones, these days, HTC will have to try hard to impress people with the new XL model, which rivals the iPhone 4S in terms of pricing. With a price of nearly Rs. 40,000, there are a lot of expectations to be met.

Form Factor
The HTC Sensation with its 4.7-inch screen is larger than the XE, by quite a bit. It is also larger than the iPhones, by far. The Sensation XL uses S-LCD, 480x800 resolution screen, which is smaller than the XE’s 540x960. This is obviously a little odd, considering you are paying a lot more for the Sensation XL. The density of the screen is a bit less than the Sensation XE. The screen is bright and vibrant and the viewing angles are great, too. Even though the display has a slightly denser screen, it is still very detailed.

The look and the feel of the phone is very sleek. The front of the phone has a bright white panel, while the back has a light grey, almost silver panel with a large HTC logo blended into it. The rear panel, like some of the recent HTC phones looks like two separate pieces but in fact, is just one piece. It has two elements in it - one plastic and the larger piece that feels like metal. The panel fits in neatly and is released by pressing a slim button positioned at the base of the phone. On the inside, the battery sits beside the SIM card and there’s no way to pull out the SIM without removing the battery. There’s no sign of a memory card slot, either.

On the outside, the phone feels great but the rear panel makes it a little slippery, so if you have to be extra-grippy while holding the phone in your hand. The larger screen makes it heavier than the XE with a weight of 162g as compared to the XE’s 151g.

Features and Performance
Interface
The Sensation XL runs Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) and features HTC’s own custom Sense UI 3.5 interface. ICS should be hitting the phone as well. Development on ROMs and rooting apps have already begun over at XDA Developers. The phone runs a 1.5GHz processor with 768 MB of RAM. Now, the Sensation XE, the cheaper of the two runs a 1.5GHz processor as well, but that’s a dual-core. When you use the interface, there are no signs of slowdown and it runs perfectly fine. Let’s keep in mind that the majority of Android phones running Gingerbread still run hardware, which is slower than 1GHz. Animations and the transition effects are smooth. File transfer rates to the phone are decent at around 8 MB/s - this was using a simple file copy operation. AnTuTu recorded a write speed of 7.1 MB/s. Read speeds are way more impressive reaching 34.5 MB/s - reaching the peak performance limit of USB 2.0.

The main apps menu shifts in pages, instead of a non-stop flowing interface. Press the back key and you’re back to the app menu, instead of the home menu.


Media
Media playback is fine. Use a third-party media player and you’ll face no problems playing back HD content on it. Switch to the default player and you’re bound to run into issues playing some formats. HTC bundles a pair of Beats Audio earphones with the phone. This is the same one that we used on the Sensation XE. The quality of these earphones is decent, but it’s not worth the premium HTC charges for the phone.The earphones emphasize the bass a bit and the highs aren’t too bright at the same time. The beats audio enhances the bass, the moment you plug-in the earphone. Personally, I’m not very impressed by the detail or the sound signature. FM radio is also present on the phone.

Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, the Sensation XL is similar to the XE - a quad-band phone with 3G support. The usual Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11n standards are also supported. The Sensation XL has no memory card slot, which is unfortunate, since you won’t be able to upgrade to a larger 32GB storage space using a memory card.

A little more than 12GB of memory is available to the user, but the entire device has 16GB of memory, which is shared with the operating system. This kind of space should be enough to install a whole bunch of apps and store media.

Misc Features
The usual set of apps are bundled with the phone. HTC’s set of customized apps that come bundled with the HTC Sense UI are all present. The notifications bar acts as a task manger and lets you quickly switch between apps. Switch to the Quick Settings pane and you get the menu to quickly switch key components of the phone on or off - Mobile Network, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth, etc. There’s even a small mention of how much free memory space is available on the phone.

Customizing the interface and look of the phone is also easy. The customization feature allows users to quickly add widgets, apps, shortcuts and folders through a single app. There are even tabs for the display style and also sound themes, something like you would on a desktop OS. There’s a flashlight app that lets you use choose from different levels of intensity for the rear flash. Polaris Office - an office suite and Reader - an eBook reader are just some of the apps bundled along with a game or two. Personally, we’d recommend going all out and installing a whole bunch of third-party Android apps from the market.


Camera
The camera on the HTC Sensation XL is a large 8MP one. There are two LEDs at the rear that act as the flash. The camera outputs images with resolution spanning 3264x1952. The quality of the images is good in outdoor conditions - Despite, some visible noise, there was a good bit of detail.

This is due to use of smaller sensors on mobile phone cameras. Overall, the quality of the camera isn’t mindblowing, but it is good. Exposure metering is a little off and images with bright and dark regions can appear very contrasting. Colours are fairly natural. The forward facing 1.3MP camera produces average quality images, especially in low light areas.


There are a whole bunch of tweaks that can be done as well. The interface of the camera makes it very easy to make these adjustments quickly.


Battery
The battery on the Sensation XL is a 1600mAh one. The XE in comparison comes with a larger, 1730 mAh battery. We ran our usual battery drain tests. We started by first running a movie clip non-stop, till the battery had no juice left. The battery lasted 6 hours and 6 minutes. The second battery test that includes running the phone for an hour and a half on a voice, then playing music for two hours, then streaming music over Wi-Fi for two hours, finally followed by playing two and a half hours of video. Under this test scenario, the battery gave up after around 8 hours of usage, which is pretty good. Under everyday use conditions, this phone will last you for roughly a day, before you’ll need to recharge it.

Verdict
The HTC Sensation XL is both good, yet disappointing. On one hand, it’s a great looking device, which does everything you want it to. The issue is with its price and what it offers for that price. HTC sells the Sensation XL in the market for around Rs.38,799 (MRP of Rs. 39,990).

The cheaper Sensation XE offers a smaller screen, but it’s denser - which means more workspace, it has a memory card slot, which means one can upgrade the storage capacity by a lot and it has a lot more power - a dual-core processor. You get all for roughly Rs.5,000 less. If you’re looking for a large screen device, we’d recommend the Samsung Note. If you’re looking for something smaller and affordable, the Sensation XE is an excellent buy.

via Tech2

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HTC Sensation XE

HTC’s Sensation XE is the latest smartphone to hit the market, and although it’s not targeted directly at business users, it has one or two tricks up its sleeve. As such, it’s actually a very capable handset. Read on to find out all you need to know about the HTC Sensation XE, and why it’s good for business.

The HTC Sensation XE is the result of a partnership between HTC and Beats Audio. This handset comes bundled with an impressive set of earphones and a smart design, and although it’s ideal for entertainment on the way to work, it’s also a pretty good solution for your office activities as well.

HTC Sensation XE: Display
One area that the HTC Sensation XE excels in is the display. It measures in at a chunky 4.3-inches, and offers a stunningly crisp 540 x 960-pixel resolution, making it one of the sharpest screens currently on the market.

This is perfect for web use, and you’ll find pages are rendered beautifully, with no sign of pixelation or blurry text. It’s also large and sharp enough to read even the smallest of text, and it makes for a great media player when you’re on the train home.

HTC Sensation XE: Storage
At 4GB the internal storage space is pretty average, but the Sensation XE also comes with a 16GB microSD card as standard. This means it’s easy to transfer any of your business files, and you’ll also be able to use cards with capacity of up to 32GB.

HTC Sensation XE: Processor
Another feature that makes the HTC Sensation XE a great choice for business users is the inclusion of a 1.5GHz processor. A dual-core chip, that’s paired with a fast GPU, it makes light work of powering the Android operating system, and there’s no sign of lag even when there are lots of apps running in the background.

HTC Sensation XE: Camera
The camera on the HTC Sensation XE may not be particularly useful to your business, but it’s still a nice feature to have, and offers an 8-megapixel sensor. Coupled with a dual-LED flash, autofocus and 1080p video recording, it’s a great solution, and makes decent photographs a realistic proposition.

Overall then, the HTC Sensation XE is a surprisingly good business handset. Sure, there’s no QWERTY keypad for longer emails, but the large, sharp screen makes light work of most text input, and it’s easily as good as any other touchscreen handset on the market. In conclusion, it’s a great all-round package.

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HTC Rhyme smartphone comes to India

This new HTC smartphone was released by Verizon for US market almost two month ago, while in the UK has launched by O2 last month. New HTC Rhyme is aimed to women users, which is brings several accessories for ‘beauty’ such as a Charm light indicator.

HTC Rhyme is powered by 1GHz processor and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

HTC Rhyme features Android 2.3.4, 5MP rear camera, 0.3MP front camera, 3.7 inch display, 1GHz single core processor, 768MB RAM, 1GB Internal storage, 1600 mAh battery, FM Radio, DLNA, and ANT+ support.

The HTC Rhyme smartphone will be available in India soon for cost 24,800 INR (about $506). It is probably at same time with availability of the HTC Sensation XE to India.

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Verizon HTC Rhyme smartphone

The new women-focused smartphone, the HTC Rhyme is currently up at Amazon for just $79.99 with a new two-year service agreement from Verizon.

This HTC phone was officially announced last month and already available late last month, which is selling for $199.99 on a new 2-year term.

Running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, the Verizon HTC Rhyme has a 1GHz single-core processor, 768MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage.

New HTC Rhyme smartphone is also providing a 3.7-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixel, a rear 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recording, a VGA front-facing camera, a microSD card slot, GPS, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 1,600 mAh battery.

In term of connectivity, the HTC Rhyme smartphone is brings 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 3.0.

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HTC Explorer smartphone in the UK

The HTC‘s most affordable smartphone will be available in the UK on October 31st, 2011. New handset is known as the HTC Explorer and should be offer to the British customers via Clove for price of £192 (about €223 or $297). The HTC Explorer was official announced by HTC last month.

Running on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS along with HTC Sense UI 3.5, the HTC Explorer smartphone is sports a 600MHz processor, 512MB of ROM, and 384MB of RAM.

New incoming HTC Explorer has features a 3.2-inch touchscreen display with HVGA 320 x 480 resolution, 3.2MP camera, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth 3.0, HSDPA, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n.

Dimensions of HTC Explorer are 102.8 x 57.2 x 12.9 mm and weighs 108 grams. Its 1230 mAh Lithium-ion battery is enabling up to 460 minutes of talk time, up to 485 hours of standby.

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Wallpapers (240×320) SET-1

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