If only 14 year old me could see the world now. A wide-eyed teenager who was proud of his parent's 600MHz home computer and was, frankly, astonished when he realised that home computing had finally surpassed the 1GHz mark. Comparatively, Samsung Galaxy S II is a wonder of modern technology. With a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 16GB of internal memory and 1GB of RAM, it’s nothing short of incredible that Samsung managed to contain it to an astonishingly slender 8.5mm profile. However, it seems that out of all possible contenders for the title, NEC has released the Casio Media N-04C in Japan weighing in at just 7.7mm thick.
It seems that once Samsung churns out a great device the many international variations just don’t stop coming. Next in line to continue the trend are the Samsung Galaxy S II and, to a lesser extent, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 which Samsung has how confirmed will soon be available in LTE capable versions in the US.
Android Market has traditionally been somewhat insecure when compared to its iOS counterpart when it comes to direct access on your handset. While it’s true that having to enter a password every time you want to download a paid or free app from the Apple App Store can be annoying, there’s definitely something to be said for the security it brings. Android Market, on the other hand, has simply been an place from where apps of all prices can be downloaded without so much as a “are you sure?” from Google, if accessed directly from your Android handset.
LG has announced one of their next smartphones – the LG Optimus Sol. Hardware-wise the Optimus Sol is far from unimpressive. A single-core 1GHz CPU won’t turn too many heads, but it’s still a fast and solid processor for a smartphone. 512MB of RAM should be enough to handle most multitasking and a 5MP camera is pretty standard for today’s smartphone market.
The internet has gone crazy over Google’s recent announcement of its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility – the wing of Motorola responsible for the design and manufacturing of mobile devices. Despite being huge news, this move certainly raises the question: “why?”
The HTC Status (aka the HTC ChaCha outside the US) is one of the new breed of Facebook/Social Media centric phones we’re starting to see crop up around the place. Much like the INQ Cloud Touch, the HTC Status has a user interface (UI) experience based heavily around efficient Facebook navigation. However, unlike during the INQ Cloud Touch review we did a couple of weeks back, we were pleased to discover that HTC managed to not only make an easily navigable interface, but a responsive one as well.
If you haven't seen it for yourself, Facebook has been abuzz today with this viral status update: The cause of the concern being that many users have suddenly realized that their Facebook contacts now have ‘handy’ cell phone numbers attached to them, seemingly by magic. The way Facebook has achieved this is through the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry Facebook apps, which now use cell phone number information by default whenever you sync your phone with Facebook.
As part of the ongoing (and ridiculous) saga of what is fast becoming known as the Patent Wars, Apple has successfully blocked the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet in the European Union, with the Netherlands being the sole exception. Any violation of this ban carries a maximum penalty of over $350k and possible jail time for Samsung executives if they are found to be allowing the continuance of sales.
According to Microsoft’s official Windows Phone blog, Windows Phone 7 users are the 2nd happiest customers in the US when it comes to the mobile operating system (OS) experience. The graph provided shows that Apple iOS had the most “very satisfied” customers with 70%, followed by Windows Phone 7 with 57% and Google Android coming in at a surprising 3rd with 50%.
The first 4G LTE enabled smartphone on Verizon’s network, the HTC ThunderBolt, is soon to finally receive the Android Gingerbread update. The news comes as welcome relief to ThunderBolt users across the nation who have been waiting for the update since HTC accidentally leaked the information about a Gingerbread update around 4 months ago.
Hundreds of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.