Netflix has released an ISP Speed Index outlining what providers offer the best connections to its services and where. The popular video-streaming company compared 17 broadband network carriers in the US and ranked them according to their average speeds when streaming Netflix videos.
With the Samsung Galaxy SIV launch just one week way, we thought it wise to revisit some of the rumors that are circulating about it, as well as the (apparently) ‘real’ leaked specs that have cropped up recently and what those mean for Samsung, the GSIV and how they reflect the current smartphone market.
The Sony Xperia Z is Sony’s first big entry to the quad-core Android wars that are sure to hit 2013 with more power than they did 2012. Encoragingly, the Xperia Z represents an almost new era for Sony. This new flagship smartphone really does sport modern hardware and a new UI skin.
The HTC One SV is a mid-range 4G LTE smartphone that, despite it’s confusing name, really has nothing to do with the HTC One V. More accurately, it’s closer to being an upgraded version of the HTC One S. While it’s true that HTC we expect HTC to unveil some shiny new gadgetry on February 21st (three days hence), we still thought that we’d grab ourselves a One V and take it for a test run.
The Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 were announced at the MWC event in Barcelona yesterday and, while the Lumia 620 isn’t really ‘news’, we haven’t given it too much love either so we thought that now was a good time to rectify that. The Lumia series has been doing fairly well overall and, since the launch of Windows Phone 8 (WP8), we’ve noticed a marked increase in our personal observations of people walking around with a brightly colored Lumia in public and even in the general public’s awareness of Nokia’s growing presence as a brand.
Both Virgin Mobile and Boost have just released new 4G LTE coverage via the Sprint network and new phones which can access the 4G LTE speeds. Both the brands had previously offered 4G via WiMax with the flagship phone being the Galaxy S2 4G. Sprint, which owns both Virgin Mobile and Boost, is likely to use these brands to leverage even more super-fast devices on 4G LTE at a price discount to T-Mobile and to better go head to head with other pre-paid carriers Cricket and MetroPCS.
Google has released a new video demonstrating a more realistic look at what Google Glass could end up offering as a user experience. Less focused on providing a crazy heads-up display (HUD) for your life, the new Google Glass video is more focused on recording your life, accessing and referring to information easily and sharing pics, videos and experiences while keeping your hands free.
It’s a constant of the tech industry that no matter how many spec sheets, reviews and opinion pieces you read you’ll never really get a proper feel for a device until you hold it in your hands and use its key features. Fortunately for us, HTC held a belated HTC One launch in Sydney last night and we got to do just that.
The HTC One, formerly known as the HTC M7, has been officially unveiled at media events in the UK and New York. The powerful new flagship for HTC looks to be a real contender, offering up impressive hardware and some cool-sounding new features. Of course HTC has released great phones before, but has always seemed to be overshadowed by Samsung and Apple. This time round, if the HTC One makes good on its promises it just may find some of that market share that HTC so desperately wants.
Susan Crawford, author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age has been making tech headlines recently with her take on the current climate of America’s broadband infrastructure and market. Of particular interest to us are Susan’s comments on a US trend towards cultural inequality, with broadband access becoming a wedge between people of different income levels.
Hundreds of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.