If you want an idea of how fast the world of smartphone is moving the HTC Titan II is an example. It was only a few months ago that the HTC Titan was released, and now we already have an upgraded version. The phone that sported the giant 4.7 inch screen now also comes with 4G LTE service, so it might just be the one for you.

Design
The rush in releasing an upgraded version probably shows from the design of the phone. On the front of the HTC Titan II, there is nothing to tell it apart from its predecessor the HTC Titan. You find the same humongous 4.7 inch super-LCD screen on this one and the Windows Phone buttons sit right underneath to complete the front. If you want to tell the HTC Titans apart, then you need to look on the back of the phone. You find that it has a much better finish with the curved lines and the bottom door looks like it belongs there now instead of being a distraction like on its predecessor.  Since removing the back door only lets you get to the SIM, so we are not sure why removing the door causes the phone to shut down.

The physical location of the buttons and ports around the HTC Titan II has remained. On the top of the phone you will see the power button as well as the standard audio jack and the microUSB port on the left side. Meanwhile on the right are both the volume rocker and camera buttons. At 5.2 x 2.7 x 0.5 inches, the HTC Titan II is a tad bit thicker than its sibling but we feel that it still does sit well in our hands.  The build quality as always is great seeing that it’s a HTC phone. Thanks to HTC’s soft touch coating on the back of the phone, it is really nice to hold. In all, the minor tweaks in design really make this a good looking phone.

Display
The HTC Titan II is blessed with the same 4.7 inch S-LCD screen as its sibling. The screen sports a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels thus churning out a pixel density of 200ppi. Not up to the gold standards set by the likes of qHD or Retina screens, but it does the job well. Taking it outdoors doesn’t affect your viewing pleasure and the screen itself was very responsive to touch.

Performance
So what has HTC done to the hardware to distinguish this phone from its predecessor? Nothing new is the answer as we find the same Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 single core CPU which runs at 1.5GHz sitting in this phone. The CPU together with the 512MB of RAM onboard produces a pretty quick phone although lag will be there for you to see from time to time. It’s not going to make you wait for ages, but

Features
HTC Titan II runs on the vanilla Windows Phone 7.5 and comes with HTC Hub app. HTC Hub is there to give Windows phone users a taste of HTC Sense although it is not incorporated throughout the interface meaning it’s not as good as we know it to be. The Windows Phone interface is known for being simple however it is also known for not being friendly to customization. You can do minor tweaks like changing the color schemes or repositioning the tiles, but it is nowhere close to the kind of personalization you get with Android phones. It depends what you want and if you are fine with having a phone that is pretty much same as its counterparts using the same OS, then the HTC Titan II would do you just fine.

There was never any doubt when it came to typing experience with the HTC Titan II as it has got such a huge screen. If you are not familiar with Windows Phone’s auto correction feature, then let us tell you that it’s awesome. So these two things go hand in hand in giving you one of the best typing experiences out there. There are a bunch of AT&T apps onboard like the Navigator,  YPmobile as well as U-Verse Mobile. We are pleased to inform you that these apps can be uninstalled, so that’s one of the few personalizations you can boast about.

One of the major upgrades on the HTC Titan II would be the camera as we now have a 16MP camera instead of an 8MP one. It’s a wide-angle f2.6 lens and is backside illuminated plus it also comes with auto focus and image stabilization. All that sounds amazing, but when it came down to performance it was not outstanding. Color reproduction was natural and details were pretty good too. Indoor shots were a bit disappointing but we liked the image stabilization feature is it worked great. Videos are recorded at 720p, not the best out there but the results were smooth.

Another major upgrade of course would be the inclusion of 4G LTE support. Extra speed meant that the web browsing experience was always going to be great. Lack of Flash might bother some people but smooth performance all around might make up for that. In terms of connectivity options, we get the usual suspects like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and mobile hotspot feature.

Call quality was an issue on the HTC Titan II. Our friends on the other end had to go through piercing sounds which made them really uncomfortable holding the phone close to their ears. However, the same cannot be said on our end as we could make out what our friends were trying to say clearly and we are happy to note that the buzzing sound found on the predecessor is no longer found here. The battery onboard the HTC Titan II is a 1730mAh one which means it has been improved from the 1600mAh battery found on its predecessor. With average use, it took us through one full day.

Pros and Cons
The HTC Titan II has got great upgrades in terms of 4G LTE connectivity as well as a 16MP camera. It had good build and was easy to use even with a big screen.

Only minor lag issues at times.

Conclusion
Albeit looking so similar to its predecessor, the HTC Titan II in fact does have its own distinct features that should be able to win over the crowd. Seeing how good the HTC Titan was, you can’t go wrong with HTC Titan II, because it’s simply better.

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HTC seems to be using all the available alphabets to go with its HTC One smartphone line. After having seen both the HTC One X and HTC One S, it is now time to look at HTC One V.  HTC aims to slot this phone in the mid-range category so read on to find out if it’s worth the $370 off-contract price.

Design
If some of you started reminiscing the HTC Hero when you first picked up this phone, we won’t blame you as the curved-chin design on the HTC One V definitely did the same to us. Thanks to this interesting little chin design, the smartphone is easier to hold.  This phone measures in at 4.74 x 2.35 x 0.36 inches making it slightly longer than its competition like the Samsung Galaxy W and Motorola MOTOLUXE but thinner than them both. Therefore, it’s really easy to hold in one hand and thus single handed use was also a breeze. Tipping the scales at only 115 grams means you will enjoy carrying it around.

Now to the buttons around the phone, on the right side of the phone we have the volume rocker and on the top is your lock key. We are happy that these buttons were responsive and the click you get when pressed reassures you that it has been pressed. Also on the top side of the HTC One V are the audio jack and the notification light. The notification light glows in green or amber and since it’s on the top, you will be able to see it even if the phone was rested with the screen facing downwards. Under the 3.7 inch screen on the front are physical Android buttons rather than the traditional capacitive ones. The phone is built from an anodized metal thus giving it a really expensive feel, not bad for a mid-range phone we would say.

Display
HTC has thrown in a 3.7 inch Super LCD 2 on the HTC One V that comes with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. Do the math and you get a pixel density of 252ppi which means you won’t need to zoom in every time you are surfing the web. The screen was great as it gave some really saturated colors and we were treated with really good viewing angles too. Moving outdoors with this phone wasn’t a problem either as it was bright enough. One annoyance would be how the screen just gets all smudged up, way too easily if you ask us.

Performance
Under the hood, the HTC One V is powered by the single core Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor which clocks in at 1GHz. This is something that we would expect from a mid-range phone. Thanks to the 512MB of RAM onboard, it’s not too bad. You can get through all the simple tasks in a jiffy but maybe running too many apps would not be a good idea.

Features
HTC One V doesn’t skimp in terms of software as the OS running on this baby is the latest Android v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich just like its siblings the HTC One X and HTC One S. Of course, having a HTC running Android means you get the best user interface to grace the planet, the HTC Sense 4.0. We were glad to note that navigating through this interface was surprisingly more fluid than what we expected from a meager single core 1GHz processor. That goes to show how streamlined the interface is. Dropbox comes integrated with the HTC One V giving the user 25GB of cloud storage for free.

HTC does provide the Friend Stream app with this phone but it falls short of becoming the social hub you need as it only supports Facebook and Flickr. Other things found on the phone would be the TuneIn Radio client and you also get Polaris Office for all of you business people out there. We like the transfer app as it you can move contacts from your old phone to the HTC One V with this app. We usually find keyboards on a 3.7 inch screen phone to be a little tough to use due to the screen size, but with this phone we found no such issues as the keys are spaced nicely enough.

The camera found on the HTC One V is a 5MP one with auto-focus plus it comes with HTC ImageChip. What that means is better looking photos and short start up times. True enough, it takes little time to get the camera up and running. Meanwhile the photos taken outdoors were good and details were aplenty. Digital noise was also kept at bay although white balance can sometimes go wrong. As for the camera interface, it’s the same as the one found on its siblings and comes with the whole list of options for various scenes and effects. Video recording is done at 720p and the results were quite poor as details were lacking and colors were not natural.

The internet browser on the HTC One V was a downer as it struggled with heavy pages and wasn’t very good at dealing with Flash content either. However, it does deal with the much simpler web pages easily and navigating through these pages is pretty easy. Connectivity options are in the form of Wi-Fi, FM Radio and Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX support.

In terms of call quality, it was moderate to say the least. We could have used with much better from the HTC One V but all we got was muffled voices on our end. On the other end, things were not that much better either. However as we mentioned, it’s something we can manage with but could have been better. The HTC One V is another phone where the battery is not accessible and this one comes with a 1500mAh one. One charge would probably just be enough for a day, but if you are a heavy user, carry that charger with you wherever you go.

Pros and Cons
The HTC One V has been designed to be compact and really light as well. We enjoyed the crisp display and the camera wasn’t too shabby either.

We don’t know what went wrong with the internet browser and video recording on the HTC One V.

Conclusion
The $370 off-contract price would be a bargain for a phone of HTC One V’s caliber. It’s got everything mid-range phone needs with a lot of style and good looks too. So don’t think too long if you are already out there for a phone in this price region.

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Not the most careful person out there? Keep dropping your things? If you answered yes to both the questions but also fall under the Android smartphone fan club, then the Motorola DEFY MINI might be your answer. At just $250, you get a rugged phone that looks like it can take the occasional fall. Read on to see if it’s worth your money.

Design
The Motorola DEFY MINI much like most of the other rugged smartphones out there isn’t built to win any beauty pageants. It’s a slab of plastic that isn’t going to give you the urge to pick it up the moment you see it. However, since its purpose to withstand the daily wear and tear and come out unscathed, we are pleased that it is one solid slab of plastic. For instance, the back cover felt almost like it was glued together as it took some effort to pry it open. This will definitely be good protection against water and dust we say.

Measuring in at 109 x 58.5 x 12.55 mm, we feel the Motorola DEFY MINI is a little thick. It tips the scales at 107 grams, the expected weight for a phone of this size. However, thanks to these dimensions, single-handed use is not a problem. On the upper right hand side sits a notification light which we think is a neat feature. On the left side of the phone you will find the microUSB port which is protected by a cover. We found this to be very hard to open and if that wasn’t bad enough, putting it back in place tightly was a task of its own. Meanwhile on the top you will find the power button and the standard audio jack. The audio jack has a cover too, but this time it feels so fragile. Finally on the right side are the camera shutter button and volume rocker.

Display
On the front of the Motorola DEFY MINI sits a 3.2 inch TFT LCD screen. With a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, it churns out a pixel density of 180 ppi. A respectable number for a phone in its price range. Moving on to the performance of the screen, the screen was able to give a good color reproduction as well some very good viewing angles. However, as the low pixel density suggests, reading small text is going to be tough. When taken outdoors, it’s hard to make out what is on the screen.

Performance
We are not impressed at the fact that Motorola has only given the Motorola DEFY MINI a 600MHz single core processor. They have thrown in 512MB of RAM to smoothen things out and we were relieved to find that these two just about made the cut as they were able to handle basic applications easily. Forget about a live wallpaper or using too many widgets at any one time. You will see the dark side of the CPU when you browse Google Play store for instance as the lag becomes very apparent. Playing games like Temple Run without hitting the tree is also out of the question.

Features
The version of Android running on this phone is Android v2.3.6 Gingerbread and the user interface that it runs on is the MotoSwitch UI. The user interface is pretty standard in terms of graphics and rightly so given the processing speeds. There are some new features to play with though as the Motorola DEFY MINI now sports two new handy widgets. One of them does the task of aggregating shortcuts to your most frequently used apps and the second one does this for your contacts. Another nifty feature would be the ability to go straight to the camera from the lock screen and also the ability to toggle vibration between on and off from the lock screen.

Moving on to the keyboards that are available on the Motorola DEFY MINI, the on-screen keyboard was quite tough to use and we found ourselves having to tilt the phone a little so we can get our texts out. The phone also offers the Swype feature. We found the app Dashboard a good fit for this phone as this app comes with a chronometer, pedometer and a counter to keep track of how much calories you have burnt. So you can bring it along with your jogs and if you drop it, it will still be ok.

We were not surprised to see the phone coming with just a 3.2 MP fixed-focus camera given that it’s under the affordable phone category. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find the camera performing better than our expectations. The photos taken outdoors with the Motorola DEFY MINI’s camera had the right exposure and it dealt with colour balance accurately. Forget about getting fine details from this camera and you will do just fine. VGA video recording means you should forget about shooting videos.

Internet browsing on the Motorola DEFY MINI is done using the stock browser and we found normal pages to load smoothly. Support for Adobe Flash makes it all the more attractive. You need to use the zoom feature quite often given the low pixel density, but we are glad that the pinch to zoom feature works fine. In terms of connectivity options, the Motorola DEFY MINI has support for 3G radio, Wi-Fi with support for DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 and also FM radio with RDS. The GPS was pretty slow to start but once it’s up and running, it will get you there.

As always, we expect a phone that is affordable to give us a good call quality. Motorola DEFY MINI did not disappoint in the beginning as it had nice sounding earpiece. We could make out everything our friend on the other end was trying to tell us. Sadly though, they didn’t seem too pleased with what they got on the other end. Motorola DEFY MINI is packing a 1650mAh battery to give it all the juice it needs and it really does deliver.

Pros and Cons
The Motorola DEFY MINI is a rugged phone that is resistant to both dust and water. Its solid build quality as well as being small and compact at the same time was really good.

The CPU onboard the phone was a downer. The plastic cover on the standard audio jack was too flimsy, not what you expect for a phone that should take your daily wear and tear.

Conclusion
The $250 price tag for a smartphone off contract seems affordable; however Motorola DEFY MINI does not have the specs to impress. So looking elsewhere might be a better idea.

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So what’s this ZTE all about you may ask, but don’t be surprised when we tell you that ZTE is the fourth largest phone manufacturer on the planet. In fact, in the US, all the major phone carriers have had a phone or two made by ZTE. The reason for their relative lack of fame is the fact that their phones have previously carried the carriers name like the AT&T Avail and the Verizon Salute.  However, ZTE is trying to get some of the limelight by producing phones with their own name on it, like the ZTE Fury that we have in our hands. It may be an entry-level phone, but it will definitely have an impact on how ZTE phones are judged by the market. So let’s see if the phone performs well in its weight class.

Design
The ZTE Fury measures in at 4.65 x 2.46 x 0.47 inches and is slightly bigger than the likes of LG Optimus S but is very much comparable in terms of looks. It’s no wonder that when we first looked at this phone it reminded us of the LG Optimus S straight away. The LG Optimus S was also an entry level smartphone, and it was well constructed as well as proved to be a good performer as well. So to know that the ZTE Fury feels the same way in our hands brings a lot of promise. The phone has high-quality soft touch paint, so holding it in your hands gave a really reassuring feeling. Something you hope for with many smartphones and are just left hoping.

The phone is almost all black if not for the chrome trim ring. The volume rocker can be found on the left side of the phone together with the microUSB port. Meanwhile on the right side of the phone you will find the dedicated camera button. On the top of the phone, you have the power key sitting next to the standard audio jack. We could reach all the buttons easily with just one hand, so that felt good. Another interesting design feature was the screen which was just made to set a little back in the housing. So that means you can put the phone facing downwards on the table and not see a million scratches on it afterwards.  The screen is a 3.5 inch one at a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. At the bottom of the phone, you find it to be quite thick, which gives it a really solid feeling as it feels like a casing by itself. Although the phone goes for a really cheap price on contract, it is really glad to note that ZTE did not go cheap on the materials or the design as it’s really well made.

Performance
It may be a phone that is going to be sitting in the same category as other low end smartphones,  but guess what, the CPU that powers the ZTE Fury is actually as good as some of the mid range smartphones in the market. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S2 processor which clocks in at 1GHz is the one in charge of running the show while it’s assisted by the 512MB RAM module. The ZTE Fury was capable of doing all the tasks thrown at it smoothly, so we had no complaints. However, if you are a person who believes in numbers a lot, then we should inform you that the Quadrant Benchmark test returned a score of 1600. You also get 4GB of ROM thrown in to spice things up.

Features
This device runs on Sprint, so it also gets SprintID out of the box. This means you get a huge amount of customization options. With SprintID, you can go online get download themes that will come with a complete set of wallpapers, widgets, ringtones and even apps that set your phone to the theme that you have chosen. Say you are into Lady Gaga, then you can just go out there and download a theme based on her and you will get wallpaper that’s got her in it and also a ringtone of one of her songs. Ok we have no idea if there’s a theme based on her, so those who got excited back there, please calm down. 

The OS running on the ZTE Fury is the Anrdoid v2.3.6 Gingerbread. Since it’s a low end smartphone, we are fine with that and also do not expect it to be upgraded to a higher version anytime soon. When it comes to media content, ZTE leaves it to Android’s own apps to deal with the content. Although it was capable of handling many different formats, it wasn’t able to play DivX files. However, if you are looking to play all kinds of stuff on your ZTE Fury, then you should look at Play Store to get another video or music player.

After making all the comparisons with Optimus S earlier in terms of design, we are compelled to tell you that the ZTE Fury went one step higher with its 3.5 inch screen as it’s slightly bigger than its counterpart. You will have a tough time if you are planning to use it under direct sunlight. However, other than that you will find the screen to be in good shape and responding well to your commands.

The ZTE Fury is another smartphone that proves out point on how numbers don’t mean anything when it comes to cameras. This phone sports a 5MP camera, but produced results that were nowhere as good as they can be. We are reminded however that this is a low end smartphone and that somehow makes us want to go easy on this phone. It was lacking in details and colors were quite dark. We found pictures to be grainy in medium light conditions. A camcorder recording videos at VGA resolutions speaks for itself so we are not even going down that road.

Connectivity options on this phone are what you would come to expect from any phone these days. It has GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. For internet, it uses Sprint’s 3G EVDO Rev which is a network that provides high speed date. Internet browsing is done using the stock Android browser, so we had no issues there.

A low end smartphone should come with a decent call quality but sadly the ZTE Fury fails in this department. Our friends on the other end did not like what they were hearing as it was apparently very hollow and fuzzy. However, we didn’t have such problems on our end. A 1500mAh battery is only get us that far, so we tried it and were not surprised that it got us a little more than a day seeing it’s a low end phone that doesn’t suck the juice out of the battery.

Pros and Cons
The ZTE Fury looks like it has been built to last and that’s something to love. We also liked the peppy performance given to us. The ultra affordable price is just perfect.

Call quality was bad on the other end. The screen was completely useless outdoors under the sun.

Conclusion
Looking for a budget phone that can give you the basic smartphone functionalities? Then at $19.99 on contract, the ZTE Fury will be a very good phone to pick out of the bunch of phones out there.

Buy ZTE Fury(Sprint) from Amazon.com Now!

ZTE is not sitting on its laurels, but is ready to make the most of the booming prepaid market with the launch of the ZTE Warp. Before the list of smartphones made for the prepaid industry starts to grow exponentially, ZTE has taken the bold step of coming out with a phone under the Boost Mobile service. It may have a good grip on the low end segment of the market, but now it wants to go on and achieve bigger things. The ZTE Warp is one step higher than its previous phone and tries to offer better specs for those who would prefer the pay as you go method. Let’s see if it has what it takes to be a forerunner in this segment of the business.

Design
If you are looking for beauty from a ZTE made phone, most would say you are crazy. Well, they are almost right given the kind of phones that have been churned out from their stables. Even the ZTE Warp isn’t going to be allowed to enter any beauty pageants. However, ZTE Warp offers something better, which is the priceless feeling of holding a phone that feels well built. This is a lot better when compared to the ZTE phones of late. Nothing else that’s impressive in its design, but it’s great to note that it is a lightweight phone that will fit in your hands comfortably regardless of your hand’s size.

The front of the ZTE Warp is home to a 4.3 inch WVGA screen, a pretty big offering in terms of size for this phone. Thanks to the relatively big screen, the smartphone measures in at 5.1 x 2.7 x 0.45 inches. Under the screen of course sit the four capacitive Android buttons. Around the phone, the buttons are all well made such that they are not flush with the chassis. Adding to that, you get a very assuring clicky response when you press them. Speaking of the buttons, the volume rocker resides on the left side of the phone while on the right you have the dedicated camera button as well as the microUSB port. Meanwhile on the top of the phone are the power button and the standard audio jack. Last but not least, on the back of the phone is a 5MP auto-focus camera that sports LED flash as well.

Performance
Pop the hood – not literally, just figuratively as we don’t want to see you breaking your phone – and you will find a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8655 CPU that’s clocked at 1GHz. Yes it’s only a single core processor, but it still does what we want with relative ease. It didn’t just get the simple stuff done, but when put to the test with intensive power sucking tasks, it still did not falter. Maybe it was partly down to the support given by the 512MB of RAM onboard as well.

Features
The ZTE Warp is running the Android v2.3.5 Gingerbread, and we are very certain you can stop looking forward to an OS upgrade. That’s fine really since this phone is aimed at prepaid use only. What you get on this phone in terms of the interface is basically what you ask for from Sprint’s ID pack enhancements. The enhancement packs come with lots of different personalization options that will let the phone reflect yourself rather than just being plain. Nevertheless, if you are just looking for a phone that treats you well, then just sticking to the Android stock offerings is definitely not a bad idea.

These days, smartphone makers are racing to put bigger and better screens on their smartphones to the point that we sometimes wonder how far they can go before making it look like a tab. Well, staying out of this war, the ZTE Warp offers a 4.3 inch display which in my opinion is about the right size for any phone. However the screen doesn’t impress us. The 4.3 inch TFT screen offers a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels but lacks contrast and also gives some very poor viewing angles. The colors are also very plain and nothing impressive again. To exacerbate things, the screen oozes with plastic feel and attracts scratches way too easily. The final nail in the coffin comes when you find the screen rendered useless under bright outdoor lighting.

Having a 5MP camera with auto-focus and flash can’t be bad for a prepaid phone you say? Well that turns out fairly true. The camera on the ZTE Warp actually comes up with some decent shots when taking photos outdoors or when taking macro shots. Sadly though, things take a turn for the worse when brought indoors as the LED flash does almost nothing to improve the quality of the photo taken. VGA recording for video means we are left totally unimpressed.

The internet browsing experience on the ZTE Warp wasn’t too shabby either. We liked the fact that there weren’t much lag issues to complain about when navigating through websites. It even takes on Flash without losing too much speed. Pages did take a while to load when compared to smartphones of the higher end, but well this one uses 3G, so we are ok with that. In terms of connectivity options, the usual suspects like aGPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are all onboard. Sadly though, you do not get mobile hotspot functionality. Another thing to note is that the ZTE Warp is tied down to Sprint, so it cannot be used elsewhere.

The call quality on the ZTE Warp wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t the best out there but we didn’t have a tough time dealing with it. One small complain would be how callers sounded muffled on our end. The 1600mAh battery is pretty good if you ask us. You can get past a day and maybe even make it through a day and a half if you an average user.

Pros and Cons
The build quality of the ZTE Warp was refreshing. The smartphone’s responsive performance was also lovable. The battery life was also a pleasant surprise.

The screen on the ZTE Warp is really poor and video recording is really not up to any standards.

Conclusion
If you are looking for a prepaid phone, then the ZTE Warp seems like the one that could tempt you as it goes at $200 with no contract restrictions. It’s the best you can with Boost Mobile right now. With the reasonable specs it has, it will be worth your money if you ask us.

Buy ZTE Warp (Boost Mobile)
from Amazon.com Now!

The Samsung Transform Ultra might not be new to you, neither was it to us as Sprint had already released the phone on its Sprint Boost prepaid network before. However, now Sprint is taking the phone to the postpaid business. Although changes have been made to the software, the rest of the hardware remains the same. The Samsung Transform Ultra serves as an upgrade to the Samsung Platform and as such  its feature sets have been given a breath of fresh air so the phone remains as a contender in the mid range smartphone category. Read on to find out if it actually manages that.

Design
The Samsung Transform Ultra hasn’t changed much in terms of design when compared to its predecessor as it is still offering the side-sliding QWERTY keyboard. We feel that it’s good that Samsung didn’t change that part of the design. This keyboard with all of its four rows slides out from the side with the spring-assist which is pretty solid and feels like it was built to last. The keyboard is something we loved, as the keys weren’t cramped but they were spaced nicely so you make as little errors as possible. The keyboard also makes you feel for sure that you clicked on something and gives a good response to it too. Although a spacebar that felt more solid would have been better but we can live with that. We would recommend that the auto-correct is kept off as it more often than not gets the wrong word or punctuation.

This keyboard sits beneath a 3.5 inch HVGA screen. Right below this screen you see four physical buttons instead of the usual capacitive ones. The Samsung Transform Ultra is a smartphone that will sit in your hands so comfortably that you won’t want to let it go. It’s a tat bit smaller than its predecessor at 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.55 inches, thus making it feel that way. The buttons around the phone are well made that everything adds up to making the phone feel very well built. Speaking of buttons, the camera key is on the right while the volume rocker sits on the left. On the top of the phone is the power key together with the standard audio jack. Finally, you can use the microUSB port on the bottom for charging and the like. A nicely done slide mechanism together with the textured battery door gets another nod from us. The phone may be made of plastic, but there are no doubts on how well it has been designed. Flip the phone and on the back is a 3MP camera that will be talked about later on.

Performance
What’s under the hood you ask? A Quallcomm Snaprdragon S2 processor that runs at 1GHz sits within the phone to provide all the processing demands thrown at the Samsung Transform Ultra. Thanks to the 512MB of RAM onboard, the performance is all the more better. Of course, you have to look at it as a mid range smartphone and not compare it with the giants of the smartphone business. Samsung Transform Ultra comes with 1GB of ROM and a 2GB memory card out of the box. However, if you need more space you can always upgrade it to a 32GB card.

Features
One of the major differences between the Samsung Transform Ultra in the postpaid version when compared to the prepaid Sprint Boost version is the software. The phone runs on the Anrdoid v2.3.4 Gingerbread. We are not shocked that it’s not using the latest Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android because this is a mid-range device after all. Having this software means that you now have SprintID customization on the phone. It’s nothing new for someone who has used a SprintID phone before though. Nevertheless, for those who don’t know what SprintID can be used for, well for starters you can download themes that give you everything from wallpapers, new look for widgets, apps and also ringtones. The themes range from things like health and fitness to fashion or even fantasy football.

The Samsung Transform Ultra comes with a decently sized 3.5 inch screen that comes with HVGA resolution. It’s refreshing to see a screen for a smartphone that is bright enough to take on the wrath of the sun. However, the screen showed that it lacked in terms of details as you will find yourself squinting when trying to read small text. In conclusion, we think it’s a pretty good display for a mid range smartphone as it is pretty responsive too.

On the back of the phone sits a 3MP camera that also sports LED flash. Since we are in the topic of cameras, it’s worth a mention that the front of the phone has a VGA shooter as well. From our testing, we found the camera impressing with macro shots. The details were more than we had expected, so we got a pleasant surprise there. The color reproduction on the shots that were taken was also top notch in our opinion. When given the challenge of taking on strong backlighting face to face, the camera faced some problems. This was the case with photos taken in low light situations as well. Sadly, video recording can only be done at VHA resolution, so we don’t recommend that too much.

The nice thing with Samsung Transform Ultra was it performed really well when it came to internet browsing. We liked how pages loaded swiftly even when the pages had Flash content. Navigating through web pages with the pan or pinch functions was as smooth as it can be. As for the connectivity options, we had Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth onboard. This phone is also a 3G device that runs on Sprint’s EVDO Rev.

Moving on to the call quality obtained from the Samsung Tansform Ultra, we are pleased to tell you that we liked it and so did our friends who answered our calls for the test. They said that albeit our voice being a little hollow, it was loud, clear and free from static and echo. On our end, things were pretty much the same, which means it’s all good. Coming packed with a 1500mAh battery means that you will get about 7 hours of talk time. If you are an average user, then you can even use it for more than a day.

Pros and Cons
The Samsung Transform Ultra impresses us with its really good build quality. The QWERTY keyboard also catches our attention as it’s well designed and slides out easily. The smartphone also doesn’t show any signs on lag when in use.

The screen with its low resolution was a major downer. We also felt like the spacebar could have been a bit stronger so it would last.

Conclusion
The Samsung Transform Ultra does a good job for a phone that’s looking to fit in the mid range smartphone category. Sprint might just have made the right move to work with Samsung on this phone.

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Motorola MOTOLUXE was first introduced to the world earlier this year at CES 2012. It was clear that the phone sits in the mid-range region but nevertheless from the first impressions we got, it seemed like a good phone. Since Motorola has also decided to market it as a fashionable smartphone, it looks pretty good as well. Just for a preview, this phone sports a 4 inch screen with an 8MP camera and runs under the Android platform. Now, we have the smartphone in our possession, and we are going to dig deep to find out if this phone will match its rivals on other platforms.

Design
As mentioned earlier on, Motorola has aimed to make this as much of a fashion accessory as it is a smartphone. So for the price it is going at, it definitely is a looker and might get you interested of you are out for a smartphone that actually doesn’t look bland.  At 4.63 x 2.38 x 0.39 inches it one hell of a thin phone. Motorola RAZR line of phones is known for their slim bodies, and the Motorola MOTLUXE comes really close to achieving a body like that too. The soft touch finish that this phone is given makes it look very classy. Add on the metallic elements sparkled into the design and you get a smartphone that really pulls of a pretty look. Thanks to the well thought out dimensions, it is easy to use with one hand only and it also sits in your hand as a solid device.

On the front of the smartphone, we are happy to announce that this mid-range device actually offers a 4 inch screen that sports a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. Of course, if you didn’t guess this already, under the screen sit the trademark Anrdoid capacitive buttons. These buttons are well placed as you do not have problems with accidental presses or the like. On the top of the phone is where the lock key is while on the right side of the phone is where the volume rocker is, and they are both very accessible with one hand thanks to the phone’s brilliant size. There is a groove on the phone for your lanyard, but what’s interesting is the notification light inside this groove. It lights up to bring your attention to a new message or a miss call. On the back of the Motorola MOTOLUXE is an 8MP auto-focus camera.

Performance
Motorola MOTOLUXE is powered by an 800MHz single core processor. That’s definitely not the best by today’s standards and that shows with the phone’s performance.  Navigating through the phone resulted in a lot of choppiness and lag. Using live wallpaper is definitely out of the picture.

Features
The Motorola MOTOLUXE is running on the Android v2.3.7 Gingerbread and the graphic user interface is the MotoSwitch UI. The MotoSwitch UI was a real downer, but that could be down to the fact that the processor was just not good enough. That would definitely hurt the smartphone’s marketability because once the user experience is a letdown; the interest towards the phone fizzles out. Nevertheless, we must say that the GUI does provide some decent good looks. Much like the other smartphones these days, you can access one of six applications right away from the lock screen.  You will find the Activity Graph widget likeable as it automatically creates shortcuts for the most frequently used applications. Now picture the same thing, only this time with your contacts. The Social Graph widget does this for you. The onscreen keyboard is decent once you get used to it.

Having a 4 inch screen on the Motorola MOTOLUXE is just great seeing how it is only a mid-range phone. So how does the screen perform? For starters, its resolution is 480 x 854 pixels. We did the math to save you some time and our calculations say that this means we get a pixel resolution of 245 ppi. Now what that means is some good details and sharp looking text. We were a little disappointed that the display was just a normal LCD screen but it still manages to give some good colors when you are looking at it from the front. Tilt the screen and you lose that instantly.

This smartphone comes with an 8MP auto-focus camera onboard. However, we have to say, the Motorola MOTOLUXE certainly proves our point that numbers don’t always tell the true story. The camera when taking photos outdoors produced results that were unimpressive to say the least. The colors on the photos were very dull and the details were also lacking even though it’s an 8MP camera. Also when taking photos indoors, the camera fails to get the right white balance more often than not. Moving from taking one photo to the next was also a long wait in our opinion. Speaking of video, there was nothing better to talk about there either. Videos can only be recorded in VGA, so you connect the dots on the quality of the video.

It was sad to note that the GUI’s poor performance was visible again with the web browser. If you try to load a page that is considered complex, then you can expect a really slow and choppy performance from the browser. Navigating through websites was also tough as the phone sometimes fails to respond to our input. However, if you want to get the most out of the browser, then we suggest you turn off the Adobe Flash plug-in. In terms of connectivity options, it has the usual suspects like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and aGPS. Adding on to that, it also has DLNA suppor.

We usually demand the best calling quality from mid-range phones, and the Motorola MOTOLUXE really met our demands. There were no problems whatsoever listening to what our friend on the other end was trying to tell us as it was super clear. Our friends were also very happy with what they heard on their end.  The loudspeaker was also loud and clear. This smartphone gets its juice from a 1400mAh battery. This battery would last you close to a day if you go easy with it.

Pros and Cons
If looks is what you are looking for with a smartphone, then the Motorola MOTOLUXE has got so much of it. It has also been built to last and the notification light is pretty cool.

The phone was pretty slow and that affected many things. The camera was also extremely disappointing.

Conclusion
At $380 off contract, the Motorola MOTOLUXE might just be a tad too expensive. Of course with its amazing looks you might think it’s worth the money, but go deeper and the specs don’t match the looks.

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Are you out looking for a feature phone? For whatever reason you might be looking for a feature phone, do you find it a bit hard to do so these days? There are so many smartphones out there that it’s becoming harder to find feature phones. Nevertheless, in this where high end smartphones are considered a fashion symbol, feature phones live on and Samsung Brightside is another addition to that family. For those who are looking to just make phone calls and text, Verizon has released the Samsung Brightside. Let’s see if it appeals to many.

Design
The phone measures in at 4.37 x 2.37 x 0.56 inches which we must say is pretty compact for a phone that offers a QWERTY keyboard. However, design wise the Samsung Brightside has nothing very attractive about it that we can talk about. It’s very obvious that it’s a low end feature phone just from its looks. The body is made of what seems like plastic of almost the cheapest kind, so you really get the feeling that dropping it once could mean the graveyard for the Samsung Brightside. Nevertheless, if you want to take the positives out of the build, then it comes in the form of the weight of the phone since it tips the scales at only 4.3 oz.

The 3.1 inch QVGA screen reminds you immediately that this is a feature phone. If you were expecting to hear that under the screen you will find the Android capacitive buttons, then well you are in the wrong place. Nevertheless, it does have a landscape sliding keyboard that is pretty good to use. It’s spaced just enough to feel pretty comfortable although it doesn’t look very attractive. It’s also very responsive, so that’s really nice. Talking about the buttons around this phone, you will find the volume rocker on the left while the power and camera keys are on the right side of the phone. On the top you will see the standard audio jack while on the bottom is the microUSB port. Finally, to cap it all off, the Samsung Brightside offers a 3.2MP camera on the back.

Features
The Samsung Brightside is running on a BREW-based interface, so you can imagine that it’s very easy to use. You will be able to start using it right out of the box, unlike smartphones that might take you a while to get used to. Get out of the unlock screen and you can get to the grid-like main menu where all your functions are available. Of course there are no live wallpapers but the Samsung Brightside does have some transition effects. It’s simple by today’s standards, but it’s not bad that they have put in an effort. Since the effects are kept to a minimum, you actually get a pretty good performance from the phone. You don’t face any issues like lag while navigating through the phone.

A 3.1 inch screen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels will undoubtedly remind you of a phone that you used to own sometime in the past. It just reminds you that it is a feature phone that we have in our hands. The screen definitely does not give much detail, and the colors are also bland to say the least. The viewing angles are a disaster too as you don’t get much of it to be honest. Bring it outdoors and you can really forget about making anything off the screen. The screen on the Samsung Brightside is not a resistive screen mind you; it’s actually a capacitive one.

Another reminder for you that the Samsung Brightside is just a feature phone is the 3.2MP camera that comes with it. Of course, our mantra is that numbers don’t mean anything. I guess we have to draw the line somewhere on that one, maybe you can stick to that mantra if you are talking about a smartphone. Now back to the camera on the Samsung Brightside, the photos taken outdoors on a bright sunny day turned out rather good actually. Now, we can’t say the same when we moved indoors or when the lighting got dimmer. The results were very grainy shots with a lot of artifacting. Nevertheless, we won’t write it off as a disaster of a camera. Recording is done at a maximum resolution of 174 x 144. To exacerbate things, the recording rate is just 15 fps and the audio recording is abysmal. So we really recommend you stay away from the video camera.

Browsing the internet on the Samsung Brightside is done on the Opera Mini, so that’s welcome news.  We found internet browsing to be pretty good. Loading pages took longer than what we are used to, but the navigational tools made us forget about that. It was not too bad to use at all. In terms of connectivity options, it offers 3G connectivity. However, since it’s a Verizon phone, which means it’s a CDMA phone. So you can’t use it anywhere other than the US.

A feature phone will never be forgiven if its call quality is bad. So it’s a good thing that the volume we get on the earpiece was quite good. Although our friends on the other end had some trouble making out our voice from the squeaky tones, it was still not too shabby. The Samsung Brightside comes with only a 1000 mAh battery, so the results are of course as bad as you can imagine. It could have been a lot better as the battery drains out in a little more than a day with average use.

Pros and Cons
The QWERTY keyboard was a highlight for this phone. The Samsung Brightside phone also offers good calling quality, a must for a feature phone.

Sadly, we think it’s too expensive and the screen is of course a major downer. It also gives a very cheap feeling when held in our hands. Video recording was really bad too.

Conclusion
Going at a price of $100 with a 2 year contract, Verizon has got it all wrong. We think it’s too expensive for what this phone has to offer. So if you are looking for a feature phone, then it’s best to look elsewhere rather than picking the Samsung Brightside.

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When smartphones first started to roll out in the market, Samsung Rugby had made a name for itself. It was considered to be AT&T’s best or top of the line rugged style smartphone with push-to-talk feature as well.  Two years ago, Samsung Rugby II took the spotlight and continued the legacy left behind by its predecessor. It was as rugged as before and was liked by many.  Now in our hands we have the Samsung Rugby Smart which tries to keep itself updated to the current smartphone industry but at the same time keeping the ruggedness it’s well known for. Indeed, the Samsung Rugby Smart looks like it will be able to take on some rugby-like incidents, but will the specs appeal to the masses?

Design
Looks are the last thing in the list for this smartphone, which we came to expect for a rugged style device.  The Samsung Rugby Smart comes has rubber grips on the sides and also a textured back cover. The rear cover also boasts a lock mechanism to cap off the ruggedness-oriented features in the phone’s design. So you can be assured that this phone will be able to take its daily dose of wear and tear. Adding on to that, the phone is also up to military standard 810F for protection against shock and rain among other things. This means that it will withstand the occasional drops much better than most of the other smartphones out there. Samsung also says that you can bring this phone for a 1 meter dive in the water for about 30 minutes and still be able to use it afterwards.

At 4.82 x 2.59 x 0.48 inches, it’s pretty wide, but that’s down to all the design features meant to make this phone as rugged as it can be. Moving on to the buttons on the sides of the phone, they have all been made to be very strong. The volume rocker on the left and the power button on the right have both been made out of tough plastic. It’s also impressive that they still give good response to our touch. You will find the microUSB port on the bottom hidden under a flap and the standard audio jack on the top hidden in the same fashion. On the front sits a majestic 3.7 inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen that will be talked about later on. Also on the front, there is an 1.3 MP camera and of course the trademark Android buttons – they are physical buttons rather than the usual capacitive ones. It’s nice that Samsung threw in some good specs with the Samsung Rugby Smart as on the back, you find a 5MP camera as well.

Performance
Aimed at fitting nicely in the mid-range category for smartphones, the Samsung Rugby Smart comes with a 1.4GHz single core CPU rather than a dual core CPU like most smartphones of the present. Samsung also throws in a 512MB RAM to make the experience better for you.  It is able to handle everything well except for those live wallpapers.

Features
In terms of software, there’s nothing revolutionary about the GUI as the Samsung Rugby Smart uses Samsung’s TouchWiz. Since it’s a mid range phone, the fact that it ran Anrdoid v2.3.6 Gingerbread didn’t shock us. We are already familiar with TouchWiz’s deep personalization features, and we get the same offering in this phone as well. No doubt, the much loved Android experience was also there. Typing speed might take a hit with this phone as the onscreen keyboards are quite cramped. Although we loved its good response rate but that of course can’t mask the fact that using this keyboard leads to many errors due to the cramped layout.  Since the Samsung Rugby Smart is an AT&T phone, so it did come with a list of apps made by AT&T. Some of these apps are the AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T FamilyMap and AT&T Navigator.

Having a 3.7 inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen on a phone that’s not exactly on the top end list is a blessing. So we thank Samsung for doing that with the Samsung Rugby Smart. The Super AMOLED display as always impresses with its astounding details and bright colors. The screen also has wide viewing angles. Unfortunately, Samsung hasn’t been able to solve the problem of being able to see the screen under bright environments.

You usually do not put too much hope on the camera of a phone aimed at being rugged. However, the Samsung Rugby Smart gives us a pleasant surprise. The 5MP auto-focus camera on the back of this phone was able to reproduce colors well. However it’s not all a bed of roses as the photos do appear to be washed out and lacking a little in terms of detail. If you go indoors, you are going to need that LED flash or your pictures are going to be grainy. Sadly, the decent performance in the photo taking section cannot be said for video recording. Albeit recording at 720p, the details were really lacking and artifacting was way too apparent. However, your mood is lightened up a little thanks to its 30fps recording and clear audio.

Samsung Rugby Smart comes with HSPA+ connection rather than LTE, but it still managed to impress us with its speeds.  Web browsing using Samsung Rugby Smart was a delight as we were able to do all the navigational controls without any hiccups.  It can even take on Flash content so there was really nothing to complain about. In terms of connectivity options, running on GSM network makes it a global phone. Other than that, the usual options like aGPS, Wi-fi together with mobile hotspot functionality and Bluetooth are all offered.

The call quality is the most important thing for any phone, but sadly the Samsung Rugby Smart does let us down here. Voices were muffled on our end but our friends on the other end of the line had no complains. The phone gets its juice from the 1650 mAh battery and is able to last a full day if you are an average user.

Pros and Cons
The Samsung Rugby Smart proves itself as a rugged phone as well as being waterproof. The Super AMOLED screen is also awesome. At $100, it’s also very affordable.

We would have loved to have gotten a much better calling quality. The on-screen keyboard was also a downer as it was quite cramped.

Conclusion
So if you are an avid fan of AT&T and have been looking for a phone that would be able to withstand your clumsiness, the Samsung Rugby Smart is definitely rugged enough for you. Being extremely affordable for the specs it offers makes it all the more attractive for you.

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A Sony standalone smartphone is unheard of. But things are about to change as Sony has taken a big step by releasing a phone without the Ericsson name to follow. This is definitely a big moment for Sony and it’s going to be interesting to see how the smartphone performs. Being the first phone in the Sony line, Sony Xperia S has quite a lot of burden on its shoulders as it has to impress to keep the crowd excited. For starters, there is a 12MP Exmor R sensor on the back, so let’s see if it has the perfect combination of specs to woo the smartphone fans out there.

Design
Pick up this phone and you will feel like you were holding the iPhone 4S mainly because of the similarities in their weights. Look a little closer and it gives you the impression that it’s just a slab of boxy material. The back is still given a slight curve like the Sony Ericsson Xperia phones and that feature together with the sharp edges gives good grip. It measures in at 5.04 x 2.52 x 0.42 inches, so it’s not so thick to hold, which is great. The dimensions show that the phone is now narrower. Therefore, albeit being a little longer, we can still manage to get around the screen with our thumb even with its 4.3 inch screen. This is not common for other large phones out there, so users with smaller hands will no doubt love this phone.

In line with the list of firsts, the Sony Xperia S sports the largest screen a Sony phone has ever seen with its 4.3 inch that has a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. Under the screen of the Sony Xperia S phone are the three capacitive Android buttons. Using these keys on the transparent strip that is placed above the icons was no mean feat as the keys are three small dots that are easier to miss than to get spot on the first time. Around the phone are the ports and buttons like the USB port on the left and the standard audio jack on top. Also on the top side sits the power button. On the back of the phone, Sony has placed another new feature that’s unheard of with phones, a 12MP Exmor R sensor. Staying on the back section of the phone, Sony claims it has a dirt-repellent nanocoating. However, from our tests, the back seems to get dirty rather quickly and at the same time it’s hard to get rid of them.

Performance
This beast is powered by a dual core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 processor which also comes with an Adreno 220 GPU chipset to take care of all the graphics needs.  Add 1GB of RAM to that and you get yourself a very speedy response from the phone all around.

Features
The Sony Xperia S ships with the UXP NXT interface running atop the Android v2.3 Gingerbread. In line with the attempt to make it the next user experience, this interface comes with quite a few changes both in the visual and functionality side of things. With this interface, all your homescreens have what Sony calls a colorful flow background. Essentially what it means is that you get live wallpaper that stands out even more with this HD screen. There are also no hiccups using the live wallpapers as the processor is up for the challenge. Sony has also given the coloring scheme a change with the Sony Xperia S coming with a nice grey canvass background when you access the settings or notification bar. Even the widgets now have a transparent grey background. Sadly though, there are no new widgets added to this phone although the Recommender app now has a default widget. So now you can see what your friends on Facebook are listening to, watching or downloading. Another widget that sees a change is the connectivity switch widget. Now the widget can rotate and enlarge when you tap on it, meaning it’s easier to pick on the radio that you would like to turn on or off. Sony Xperia S does throw in a new widget in the form of the Power Saver. It gives you the option of setting when it should come on and also when it should exit power saver mode.

So how does the largest ever screen on a Sony phone perform? This screen has a HD resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. Sony Xperia S is truly blessed to have this screen as the LCD screen is bright and also does a great job in color reproduction. The viewing angles are also really wide, which brings for a very nice and complete experience. With Sony’s very own Mobile BRAVIA technology onboard, colors and contrast get an even bigger boost. With a pixel density of 342 ppi, you will face no problems making out small text.

Sony has wowed us with a 12MP Exmor R sensor, so let’s now find out if the camera performs as well as what’s stated on paper. Firstly, starting the camera took very little of our time, which was very lovely. You get various modes including 3D Sweep Panorama mode. If you want to immediately see the results of your 3D shots, use the 3D Sweep Multi Angle panorama mode and you can view the product on the Sony Xperia S itself. Moving on to the camera itself, the photos are very sharp and also produced a great amount of detail. We also loved the white balance on the shots that blended well with the true colors the pictures came with. Taking photos in the dark proved to be cumbersome, so we won’t suggest using it too much in the dark. Video recording is done at 1080p with a rate of 30fps. In layman’s terms, that’s pretty good. Not only that, the videos also came with plenty of detail and produced accurate colors and good sound reproduction as well.

The internet browsing experience was great thanks to the browser found on the Sony Xperia S. The dual core processing speed helped for sure but the high pixel density of the screen made it all the more better. You don’t have to use the zoom functionality too often as things are always so clear and readable even if it’s pretty small. It’s also good to note that the Sony Xperia S has support for Flash. In terms of connectivity, it has all the usual suspects like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, FM Radio, NFC and DLNA. You can also connect it to a TV with the HDMI-out port.

Moving on to how the Sony Xperia S performs, it did a great job with call quality. Voices on both ends were loud and clear. The loudspeaker was outstanding too. The phone comes with the improved lithium-polymer technology that means the phone charges in half the time. The phone comes with a giant 1750mAh battery that will last you a day if you are smart with the way you use the screen. Don’t leave it on if it’s not needed is all we can say.

Pros and Cons
Let’s start off with the basics; Sony Xperia S has great calling quality. The screen is big and it produces high quality HD pictures with very high pixel density. We love the camera as well, it’s great.

The design for the Android capacitive buttons could have been better. We would have loved to see a memory expansion slot as well.

Conclusion
The Sony Xperia S has many firsts on board, and being the first Sony smartphone, it’s definitely one to get.

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