Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 Review: Right on the mini - GSMArena.com

Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 Review: Right on the mini - GSMArena.com: "Minis are supposed to be the cheaper, stripped down version of the bigger and superior gadgets. There’s a long list of bigger and superior siblings for the Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 to choose from but it has its own two feet to stand on.

So, the Galaxy Mini is the last shake of the bag. It will never get to rub shoulders with the big and scary smartphones. But it’s not all bad you know. Not bad at all actually for what basically is an entry level smartphone with complete connectivity, social networking, internet, Android apps and music. It’s the right kind of device for smartphone newbies. A good option if you just don’t want to spend a truck-load of money on a smartphone.

Key Features:

1. Quad-Band GSM and dual-band 3G support
2. 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
3. 3.14” 256K-color QVGA TFT touchscreen
4. ARMv6 600MHz processor, 384MB RAM
5. Android OS v2.2 (Froyo) with TouchWiz v3.0 UI
6. 160MB internal storage, hot-swappable MicroSD slot, 2GB card included
7. 3.15 MP fixed-focus camera with geotagging
8. GPS receiver with A-GPS
9. Stereo FM radio with RDS
10. 3.5mm audio jack
11. Document editor
12. Accelerometer and proximity sensor
13. Swype text input
14. MicroUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth 2.1
15. Social network integration
16. Good build, youthful styling

Main disadvantages:

1. Low screen resolution limits choice of apps
2. Fixed focus camera
3. No secondary video-call camera
4. No flash, no dedicated camera key
5. Poor video recording QVGA @ 15fps

The Galaxy Mini was not made to impress. It was made to serve and be simple to use. It’s a solid little smartphone that has all the important ingredients. It can do most of the things your Galaxy S can, just without the stuff that pushes the price up."

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Nokia E7 vs LG Optimus 2X vs Apple iPhone 4 - Phone Arena

Nokia E7 vs LG Optimus 2X vs Apple iPhone 4 - Phone Arena: "The Nokia E7, LG Optimus 2X and the Apple iPhone 4 are one of the best and most current representatives of rather different mobile operating systems – Symbian, Android and iOS. It's a long shot to compare the three as they are so different, but it gives us a bird's eye view of how the mobile industry has changed in the last few years.

The Nokia E7 has the worst timing of the three, appearing right after Nokia announced its decision to slowly phase out Symbian, and replace it with Windows Phone. Still, it is an extremely well-crafted device, and its anodized aluminum chassis feels very solid in the hand, all the while it manages to keep a fairly slim profile, considering it carries an excellent chiclet-style physical keyboard.

The LG Optimus 2X is basically a big slab, but the curved battery cover edges, and the soft touch plastic on the back make it comfortable to hold. The iPhone 4, on the other hand, has exceptional looks too, but it achieves it with a steel and glass frame, while still having one of the thinnest profiles out there.

The displays utilized are also very different. First we have the 4” ClearBlack AMOLED on the Nokia E7, which offers the widest viewing angles, high contrast, and nice, saturated colors, plus it has a polarizing filter on top to aid in sunlight visibility, since it is not as bright as the LCD screens on Apple's and LG's handsets. Its main downside – the low 360x640 resolution.

The iPhone 4's so-called Retina Display is much smaller than the one on the E7 at 3.5”, but it has the highest mobile display resolution out there – 640x960 – and is one of the brightest too. And, finally, the display on the LG Optimus 2X is a solid 4” IPS-LCD with 480x800 pixels, making it a good choice if you'd rather have a bigger screen with standard resolution than the smaller one on the iPhone 4."

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Apple iPad 2 Gaming Test - Phone Arena

Apple iPad 2 Gaming Test - Phone Arena: "Already deemed as a venerable gaming machine in its own the regard, the iPad 2 will undoubtedly kick things up a notch, as it should, thanks to upgraded internals found under the hood. If 3D gaming is more your kind of thing, then the 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 processor is an inviting evolutionary step forward that should bring along some graphically rich titles down the road once developers begin to take advantage of it. In the meantime though, we decided to check out the kind of graphics prowess that the iPad 2 has to offer – and more importantly, how it compares to its brethren."

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Apple iPad 2 Digital AV Adapter Demonstration - Phone Arena

Apple iPad 2 Digital AV Adapter Demonstration - Phone Arena: "When so many devices nowadays are increasingly making it very easy to share content via wired connection to high-definition television sets, it’s only fitting that we’re seeing it coming aboard with the iPad 2. If there’s one ideal accessory worth shelling out for with your cold hard cash, it has to be none other than Apple’soptional digital AV adapter that sells for $39! Come to think of it, this doesn’t only enable you to quickly play 1080p videos and music stored on your iPad 2, but it doubles as an HDMI mirrored video output.

As much as it would’ve been nice to see an HDMI port built into the iPad 2, the optional adapter is still nonetheless not all that obtrusive – although it does seem to just dangle on there. Regardless, you basically connect your standard HDMI cable to the adapter, and from there, it’ll output the iPad 2’s display onto the big screen. So whether you're holding the tablet in portrait or landscape, it’ll mimic every action to the teeth with almost very minimal evidence of lag.

Obviously, you can do just about anything on the iPad 2 as it keeps up in displaying all your actions on the big screen. From navigating between the homescreens to browsing a complex web site, it’s effortlessly accomplished and really shows the added functionality that is experienced by using the adapter. Furthermore, we’re able to even play videos and music stored on our iPad 2 through our television.

Interestingly enough, the biggest use for the adapter in our opinion comes in the gaming department since you can basically rely on the iPad 2 to act as the gameplay controls – while viewing your actions on your television set. Without a doubt, there are some interesting things that developers will be able to concoct at this point in getting the most out of the adapter’s usage. Even more, we were able to comfortably place a FaceTime call while sitting back on our couch as we relied on chatting it up with friends on our television.

So for only $39, it’s almost a no-brainer in picking it up – albeit, it’d be beneficial to have a lengthy HDMI cable on hand if you want to sit back far enough from your television. Well, that’s unless you can tolerate being up close and personal instead."

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Apple iPad 2 Unboxing & Hands-on - Phone Arena

Apple iPad 2 Unboxing & Hands-on - Phone Arena: "Precisely after it was unveiled to the public not too long ago, we only had to wait a short period of time before we found ourselves finally here at the launch of the highly anticipated Apple iPad 2. Setting the bar in terms of coming to market the fastest soon after it was officially announced, consumers all around have the opportunity starting today to purchase the follow up to last year’s model that seemingly revolutionized the industry in many ways. Packing some upgraded hardware under the hood, it’s naturally impressive to see all of the upgraded internals packaged into a slimmer body – while retaining the same price points as before."

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Yahoo Mail for Windows Phone 7 gets a patch - Phone Arena

Yahoo Mail for Windows Phone 7 gets a patch - Phone Arena: "In wake of the news that Yahoo Mail was responsible for the huge amount of excessive data consumption on WP7 devices an IMAP patch has been released in order to correct the issue. For a while it was a mystery as to what was causing the excessive amounts of data usage on Microsoft’s mobile OS. When it became known that Yahoo Mail servers were to blame, it was only a matter of time until a fix became available. What would happen is the server would send a lot more information than necessary in replies to requests from a phone with Windows.

Sometime over the course of the last few days, Yahoo updated their IMAP servers in order to correct the misuse of data. Moreover, this should bring a sigh of relief to those relying on their Yahoo Mail while dealing with the restrictions of a capped monthly data allowance. Tell us what you think in the comments below. "

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BlackBerry PlayBook to come with a music store, over 13 million tracks on board - Phone Arena

BlackBerry PlayBook to come with a music store, over 13 million tracks on board - Phone Arena: "BlackBerry's PlayBook might be coming out next month, but folks from RIM continue adding features and the newest one is the 7Digital music store with its collection of over 13 million high-quality MP3 tracks (320kbps that is), which will come pre-installed on the 7-inch tablet. You'll be able to search tracks, artists and albums, as well as preview songs prior to making a purchase. Prices will be the same as the ones on the 7digital.com website, but translated into your local currency. In addition, a podcasting app will be similar to the music store in terms of categories and basic functionality. Subscriptions are also included bringing the latest of audio and HD video podcasting content right to your tablet."

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Samsung S3850 Corby II preview: First look - GSMArena.com

Samsung S3850 Corby II preview: First look - GSMArena.com: "Feature phones have been busy adding more features to their arsenal in a bid to survive the onslaught of cheap smartphones. The Samsung S3850 Corby II is one such phone. Corby put a bargain price on touchscreen – the Corby II moves up a notch but stays within budget.

Touchscreen, Wi-Fi, multitasking, app store – those things used to be associated with smartphones, but the Corby II has them all on its list of features.

The latest TouchWiz, fresh from recent stints with both Bada and Android, blurs the line with smartphones. In fact, the major difference between the Corby II and a low-end Bada phone is that you install Java apps on it, instead of Bada apps.

The J2ME platform has been around longer and many useful apps have been developed for it, while Bada OS is relatively new.

Anyway, the Samsung S3850 Corby II can’t run away from its name. The bigger screen and better specs aside, the Corby II is for beginners. So, no high-end features, thank you very much."

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Staples to launch Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM and BlackBerry PlayBook next month - Phone Arena

Staples to launch Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM and BlackBerry PlayBook next month - Phone Arena: "Perhaps Staples wouldn't be the first place that you would think of going to when purchasing a tablet, but according to internal documents, both the Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM and the BlackBerry PlayBook will be offered by the office supply company. The internal document lists the date when Staples Tech Associates begin to train on the tablets using online modules. The employees will have 30 days to complete the modules, each of which will take 30 minutes to finish.

The documents show that training for the 3G-less Motorola XOOM will begin on March 23rd and for the BlackBerry PlayBook, training starts March 30th. Since 30 days is the maximum required for the Tech Associates to finish the courses, that would lead to approximate launch dates of April 22nd for the XOOM and April 29th for the PlayBook at Staples."

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Have a taste of Android or WP7 by simulating them on your iPhone - Phone Arena

Have a taste of Android or WP7 by simulating them on your iPhone - Phone Arena: "Lets say that you are a happy iPhone owner but at the same time you have sometimes wondered what it might feel like to use Android or even Windows Phone 7 for a little bit. Well, now you can actually try either one of the operating systems to some extent by simulating them right there on your iPhone. OSFaker is the app that you need to download, assuming your iPhone has already been successfully jailbroken.

OSFaker can be easily obtained through Cydia and will do its best to give you a graphical representation of either Android or WP7. For those of you unfamiliar with Cydia, imagine Apple's App Store, but offering apps which were designed specifically to be used on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch. Needless to say, such applications would have never made it to the listings of Apple's App Store.

Using the application proves to be pretty simple as it gives you the option to simulate Android or WP7 right after its launch. OSFaker added WP7 simulation in its most recent update, which explains its limited capabilities. On the other hand, the Android simulation includes access to a handful of basic apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Calculator, and Paint. Feel free to give it a try if you are curious enough already!"

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FCC gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 the ole' once over - Phone Arena

FCC gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 the ole' once over - Phone Arena: "Visiting the FCC the other day was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablet, powered by Android 3.0, was designed to challenge fellow Honeycomb flavored Motorola XOOM and the Apple iPod 2. Designated model 7100, the tablet visited the FCC with a radio that supported the 850 and 1900MHz bands. Those are two U.S. frequencies which hints of an imminent launch soon in the U.S.

One thing that might hold back the release of the tablet is last week's announcement of the Apple iPad 2. As we reported yesterday, Samsung's executive VP of mobile, Lee Don-joo, called the Galaxy Tab 10.1 inadequate after seeing how thin the Apple iPad 2 is. Besides the issue about the thickness of the Samsung tablet, the executive also said that after seeing the Apple iPod 2, the Korean based firm would have to reconsider its pricing of the device. The problem is that with the Apple iPad 2 listed as the same price as the older, original iPad, it puts pricing pressure on all newer tablets even if they have many improvements over older models."

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Nokia E7 review: Open for business - GSMArena.com

Nokia E7 review: Open for business - GSMArena.com:

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.

Final words:

The Nokia E7 is either the best Symbian^3 smartphone on the market or the second best. This just can’t be bad news – whether you’re a brand-loyal upgrader or an unbiased user shopping for a premium smartphone.

Symbian has been questioned and doubted but Nokia are giving users something to hang on to, something to use in their defense. The E7 has all the latest and most advanced ingredients: a ClearBlack AMOLED screen, USB-on-the-go, an HDMI port, penta-band 3G. HD video, the anodized unibody and a lifetime sat-nav license are also massive points in favor.

But are we simply delaying the inevitable here? Even the best Symbian^3 devices aren’t quite on par with the competition. It’s not about the specs, nor is it about the power or performance. It’s that bit of touchscreen magic that has so far eluded Nokia and Symbian. Frustrated to the point of giving up, Nokia are looking to Windows Phone 7 to get their inspiration back.

It obviously isn’t the E7’s fault but – just as obvious – the Nokia E7 will have to suffer the consequences. Politics aside, the E7 is having another thing to worry about. It seems a little overpriced at the moment and, we are afraid, by the time its price settles down Symbian will be a few months closer to its inevitable demise.

The two major Android competitors – having been released earlier – cost less than the E7.

The HTC Desire Z has a higher-res screen, albeit of inferior quality. Android offers better touchscreen experience and a vastly superior number of apps. With the Desire Z, you’d be sacrificing the metal body but getting an autofocus camera in return.

The Motorola MILESTONE 2 boasts a FWVGA screen though, again, LCD. Motorola’s after-market support has been pretty poor recently, but the MILESTONE 2, being their flagship might make it to Gingerbread.

You might also want to consider some of the WP7 alternatives, like the HTC 7 Pro or LG Optimus 7Q. With the first major WP7 update around the corner, their business appeal might get a boost. But you know, Windows Phone 7 will no longer be competition. It will take time for the Nokia WP7 offerings to hit the shelves but there are interesting times ahead.

That’s the curse the Nokia E7 has to live with. Last time we checked, Eseries were the easiest phones to recommend to anyone looking for a handsome, sensible and powerful business phone. And they didn’t even have to be die-hard Symbian fans. But things look different for the E7 – its timing just couldn’t have been worse. This may not be the end of an era – but the Nokia E7 certainly is on the wrong end of a generation gap.

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Motorola XOOM gets a CPU overclock to 1.5GHz, gets blazing fast

Motorola XOOM gets a CPU overclock to 1.5GHz, gets blazing fast: "The Motorola XOOM packs some serious punch under the hood and there’s hardly an Android application that would require more. However this doesn’t stop the hacking community to try and squeeze every last drop of performance out of dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU (you know, just in case)."

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Samsung S5260 Star II review

You must remember this one – maybe not by face but certainly by name. The Samsung S5260 Star II has some big shoes to fill: over 10 million units sold propelled the predecessor to Stardom. The original Samsung Star was one of the most popular handsets in the early days of affordable touch phones. For the sequel, the count-up to 10 million has begun but this time around customers are harder to please.

Maybe this is part of the reason why it took Samsung over two years to release the Star II. An upgrade is certainly in order and it’d better be worth it. Here’s what the Star II is bringing to the table in short:

Key features:

1. GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 12
2. Dimensions: 107.5 x 54 x 12.4 mm, 94 g
3. 3" capacitive TFT touchscreen, WQVGA resolution (240 x 400 pixels)
4. TouchWiz 3.0 UI
5. 30MB onboard storage
6. Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
7. 3.5mm audio jack
8. 3 megapixel fixed focus camera with smile detection
9. Wi-Fi
10. Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
11. microUSB v2.0
12. Document viewer
13. Smart unlock
14. Smart dialing
15. Accelerometer sensor
16. FM radio with RDS
17. DNSe
18. SNS integration
19. Find Music recognition service
20. Great battery life
21. SMS spam filtering
22. Decent audio quality

Main disadvantages:

1. No 3G
2. Low-res display
3. Basic fixed-focus camera with no flash
4. Poor video recording – QVGA@15fps
5. Poor web browser
6. Laggy user interface
7. The changes aren’t too many but they should be significant enough for an entry-level handset. Does anyone really expect miracles from a €100 phone – 1080p video recording and big AMOLED screens are reserved for the expensive devices.

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Motorola Xoom vs. Apple iPad: Comparing the Tablets | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Motorola Xoom vs. Apple iPad: Comparing the Tablets | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "Let's get cocky and assume that next week's Apple event brings us a new iPad—the iPad 2, if you will. Let us also assume that the iPad 2 will add front- and rear-facing cameras, and thus FaceTime to the mix. And now that Motorola's Xoom is finally available to the masses, let's take a quick look at how the first Honeycomb tablet stacks up against the iPad we know—and the iPad we know is coming.

Pricing

We ran an in-depth Xoom pricing piece earlier in the week, and the short of it is: despite the seemingly hefty price tag attached to the Xoom, a two-year Verizon contract and a Xoom are about the same cost as two years with the iPad on AT&T. This one is more or less a draw."

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Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 review: Ace in the hole - GSMArena.com

The Samsung Galaxy Ace can get far with a name like this but it isn’t going any further than its comfortable midrange spot. You know, if you want the best seat in the house you need to move the cat. The Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 is a feline droid – the black cat in Samsung’s Android portfolio. And it spells bad luck for the competition – mid-range droids are a force to be reckoned with in the smartphone world.

With the kind of specs, the Samsung Galaxy Ace could have passed for a high-end phone a while back. So, if your processing power and screen estate needs haven’t risen sharply during the past year or so, the Ace will serve you well.

In fact, with Froyo on an 800MHz processor, good connectivity and screen size and resolution that were good enough for the first three iPhones, the Samsung Galaxy Ace is looking good.

The only downside to the package is the QVGA video @ 15fps. That may be acceptable on a low-end dumbphone but certainly disappointing on a mid-range Android.

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Join the Nokia search for the chance to win an E7

Today Nokia starts an interesting new competition that would allows you a chance to win a Nokia E7. There are seven units of the new Finnish flagship up for grabs - one for each day of the week.

Each day you get three clues as to where the next device is hiding. You will then have to use those clues and locate the Nokia E7 unit. If you happen to be the first for today to do so and tweet the correct location to WOMWorldNokia you get to win one of the handsets.

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Samsung Google Nexus S review: Royal droid

Another year, another heir to the Droid throne – and Google are trying to be democratic about it. Which is a roundabout way of saying they’re not monogamous. For the Nexus One, Google teamed up with HTC. This time around, they trusted Samsung to do the job, using the Galaxy S as a base. It’s only their second try and users are given a second chance to like the Royal Droid. A tall task it is – the very concept is fundamentally incompatible with the free and open source Android system. Royal blood is not a benefit in a free democracy. Google did learn it the hard way with the Nexus One.

Google’s second smartphone child has more than just an image problem to tackle. The Nexus S has to keep pace with the evolution of the platform. The 'S' in the name may stand for many things - from second to superior. But with Android 2.3 Gingerbread inside, speed is not far from the truth either. Here’s what else the Nexus S has to offer in a nutshell.

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LG Optimus 2X first encounter: How fast is Tegra 2?

Surely 2011 will be remembered as the year that dual-core CPUs made their smartphone breakthrough. Here we have the LG Optimus 2X pioneer and we are rushing to give you a preview of what dual-core CPU has to offer to you today. It’s not one of our typical previews you will be seeing here – we are just going to focus on the performance of the LG Optimus 2X and hopefully, the Tegra 2 platform it pioneers. Normally, we avoid getting into details about the performance of non-retail units, but this one is so good that it will almost be unfair to save the praise.

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Samsung Galaxy 551 review

Samsung Galaxy 551 (I5510)

The Samsung Galaxy 551 is something that should have happened a long time ago. This is not to say that the form factor was out of favor with Samsung. But it took a slew of CDMA messengers to finally see a QWERTY side-slider to land in Europe.

Android debuted on a full QWERTY phone, but messengers were never meant to be the dominant species. The Galaxy 551 is pragmatic enough to accept the fact and live with it. Samsung itself knows better than expect the market to embrace more QWERTY messengers the skill and size of the Motorola Milestone or the HTC Desire Z.

The Samsung Galaxy 551 does not look forward to making a big splash, It’s part of a broader effort of giving the Galaxy lineup some depth in the midrange. With Froyo and all-round connectivity the Samsung Galaxy 551 makes perfect sense in the segment of affordable smart messengers.

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