Day 1 – Jelly Bean? More like Jelly Butter

One of the biggest features of the Jelly Bean update was what was called Project Butter; Google’s big promise to bring up the Android User Interface (UI) up to par with the iOS’s renowned fluidity and seamlessness. And to everyone’s relief, Google succeeded. Moving across the 5 homepages and flipping through the menu is as smooth as… well, butter.

As mostly everyone knows, the biggest ‘it’ factor that the Android OS has is the live and interactive widgets spread across the homepages. For the most part, I never encountered any hiccups when moving around the pages although sometimes the apps took longer to load than you’d expect from the phone. However, the widgets you could add to the lock screen itself performed without any trouble; swiping to the right provides a shortcut to the camera. Swiping to the left gives you access to a widget of your choice, Gmail in my case.

However, the biggest advantage that the Nexus 4 has is that it comes with the stock Google skin and UI. Upon launching your phone for the first time, you’ll directly notice a a folder on the homescreen appropriately called ‘Google’. In here you’ll find everything from Gmail to YouTube. In a nutshell, this is a phone made by Google for Google.

Day 3- It’s My Mom’s Birthday!

So today was my mom’s birthday (duh!) and I finally have a proper event to test out the camera on this thing, a chance other than random pictures I took around my room. While hardware-wise the camera falls very far behind other smartphones, to a quite disappointing level actually, the software makes up for it… to a certain extent. As expected, the camera is very quick and snappy allowing you to take consecutive pictures without any jitter or lag.

However, my favorite feature is one I discovered by mistake. At the birthday dinner, my parents asked me to take a video, with my shiny new phone, of the obligatory birthday song. This is when I discovered that clicking the screen, while taking a video, can take snapshots while the video is recording; a feature that should have been much more widely advertised since I have been in one too many situations where I can’t decide which is more important at the time, taking a picture or a video. Keep in mind that picture quality is not compromised when using this snapshot while recording feature.

Day 4 – Where’s the Record On This Thing?

A record option would have been useful here

As my bio says, I’m a Biology student. This means that I have to take notes and lots of them in my lectures. However, I sometimes drift away in class and resort to recording the lecture and listening to it later. This wasn’t a problem with the voice memos on my iPhone or the very convenient ‘small apps’ that my Xperia had. With the Nexus though, I couldn’t find a default app for voice recording and had to download a standalone one from the Play Store.

While not a major issue, an OS that flourishes on the excellence of the ‘little things’ I’m surprised that Google let something like this slip; this is where non-Google stock UI has its advantages it seems.

Day 7 – I Hate My Music Library

The only reason I wouldn’t want to get this phone is it’s maximum internal storage of 16 GB and its lack of expandable memory by SD card. This is a problem for me because my music library comes to a grand total of around 17 GB. I came to terms with this as I took it as an excuse to filter out which songs I actually listen to and want to keep on my phone, although the luxury of being able to carry your entire library with you would still be nice. The Google Play Music app is horrible.

The UI looks rushed, cheap and not up to Google standards with a plain black color scheme that fails at the modern ‘minimilistic’ style, if that’s what they were going for… even the logo doesn’t look too great. Moving on to functionality, it works… I’ll give it that but work efficiently? No, not really. Accessing albums through their corresponding artists and consequently the songs is done through a drop-down menu mechanism which may seem efficient on paper but not too much in reality. Clicking on more than one artist while moving through the list, can cause a clutter of disorganization between ‘closed’ artists and artists with their albums open… but it could just be my self-diagnosed OCD talking.

Day 8 – My Prayers Have Been Answered! Slightly…

So after a week of trying to accept my fate with Google Play Music, I gave up and went on the look out for a replacement music player. My search led me to what seemed like the Holy Grail, iMusic, an app made to look very very similar to the iOS’s native music app (I do smell a lawsuit coming soon). This app looked and functioned better than the Google Play Music app but still had its limitations… I really started missing my iPhone’s music app.

Speaking of missing things, I actually miss iTunes. Yes, it is the dictator of media players but no one can deny that it just works. It’s a simple design that allows effortless syncing across devices and most importantly allows quick and easy editing of song information to prevent a jungle of duplicates and ‘unknown artists’ across the music library. So Google if you do by some chance come across this, please release dedicated syncing software for Android other than the archaic drag-and-drop file transfer program.

iMusic, NowPlaying and Play Music

Day 10 – Oh yeah, this thing plays games.

After the seeming monopoly of mobile games shared between Angry Birds and Cut The Rope, I haven’t paid much attention to the mobile gaming world. It wasn’t until I read this article that I remembered to try out gaming on my Nexus 4. And I have to say that I was delightfully surprised at how smoothly games ran, no jitter or lag to be seen and it surprisingly didn’t affect the battery as much as I was expecting. However, one problem I encountered was my phone heating up a bit too much while playing Into The Dead (a game you should definitely check out). I don’t know whether this is a problem from my phone/battery, the game or the OS itself. I didn’t have much of a problem with overheating with other apps so I’m assuming it was just this single case.

Day 14 – The overhype of Google Now

The very informative Google Now

One of the most advertised, if not the most advertised, new feature of the Jelly Bean update was none other than Google Now; the app that claimed to revolutionize our daily lives by giving us access to what we need, when we need it. More info. on this can be found here. As I went through the app settings, I selected all the items I wanted to be informed about. These included: weather, nearby places, birthdays, flights, Gmail cards, reminders, research topics and travel tools. At first, nothing popped up related to these. I looked it up online and was told that it usually takes some time for the app to learn your habits and researched topics and the sort. It’s been 14 days now and the only things that have popped up are my calendar events, upcoming matched for the football team I selected and birthdays. For some reason, weather has never showed up unless I specifically search for weather using the app’s search bar.

To be fair, this is expected since I don’t think Lebanon is very supported by Google regarding things like traffic updates, nearby places (which were just often repeated almost wherever I went) and travel tools (such as a currency converter and translator). However, things like flight and hotel bookings that can be accessed through my Gmail account haven’t shown up yet, although these might show up at a closer date to the actual flight. All in all though, it’s a cool feature with a lot of potential for more with future updates.

Days 15 – 30

The last 2 weeks are when I really enjoyed the phone. I had gotten used to all its goods and bads and came to realize that this is a truly under appreciated phone, at least in this region. I managed to find another music player app, called Now Playing, (yes, this issue was still bothering me) and I have to say that this app truly shines and is highly recommended in terms of both aesthetics and functionality. Moving on, there were two minor things that annoyed me. First, that the power control widget seemed to have everything except a mobile data button, this required going through a few extra steps just to toggle mobile data on and off when it could have been done with the press of one button in the widget. Second, the size of the open apps bar seems a bit too big for it’s own good; I would have preferred that the icons be a bit smaller with more fitting in the screen to remove the need to scroll when only a minimum of 5 apps are open. Also, Google Keep is a very very under-rated app which I find to be more useful than Google Now and is an app which Google needs to pay more attention to.

The Google I/O Event happened in my last few days with this phone so I couldn’t properly test out the updates. These included replacing the Gtalk app with the all new Hangouts, an updated G+ and yes (seems like Google read my mind) an updated Play Music app which seems to be much better than its predecessor. Hangouts is probably my favorite update out of these as it brings the great functionality of IM clients, such as WhatsApp, and pairs them with the efficiency and universality of Google.

Conclusion

All in all, this latest version of the Android OS truly brings it on par with other mobile OS’s and its snappiness, seamlessness and efficiency are where they truly shine. The lack of lag when switching through homescreens even with many widgets open, the speed of the camera and the ability to run almost any app make this one of the best phones and OS out there. However, while it’s usually the little things that make Android special, it’s also the small things mentioned above that stop this from being the perfect OS.

The article "My Month With Nexus 4′s Jelly Bean", written by Hani Farah appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

I used the HTC One for almost a month now, so this review is long overdue. But I wanted to spend some time with this phone in order to make sure that my impression of it is built on strong basis; after all, this is no ordinary phone.

The HTC One at a Glance

• Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sense UI 5.0 (upgradable to Android 4.2)
• 4.7″ 16M-color 1080p Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen with 469ppi pixel density
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with HSPA; LTE
• Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 CPU with Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset and Adreno 320 GPU
• 4 MP autofocus “Ultrapixel” camera with 1/3” sensor size, 2µm pixel size; LED flash
• 2.1 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with HDR mode, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• HTC Zoe
• HTC Boomsound
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 32/64GB of built-in storage
• 2GB of RAM
• MHL-enabled microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Aluminum unibody

HTC One: The Hardware

The HTC One is a beauty and that is all you really need to know. Its unique aluminium unibody design has been admired by all those who handled it. Its premium quality build makes it feel different, like a true flagship. HTC proudly claims that the One features a “zero-gap construction” process that allows the phone to appear as if it’s carved out of one sheet of metal. It actually takes more than 200 minutes to cut out and process the front and rear parts of the phone.

The phone looks a lot different from what the regular user is accustomed to. The 4.7″ 1080p screen dominates the front side of the screen along with the two speakers (more on that later). There is also the usual set of sensors (light and proximity) along with the 2.1MP front facing camera capable of shooting at a wide angle.

At the bottom you will find the weird set of two capacitive physical buttons, the Home and the Back, a departure from the regular three buttons that we got used to have on Android devices. Getting used to this new setting may take some time, but it will eventually become second-to-nature. Double pressing the Home button will open the multi-tasking window, while long holding it will launch Google Now.

The left side of the phone only has the micro-SIM slot, while the beautiful volume rockers with etched circular patterns can be found on the right. The power button (which also functions as an IR blaster, giving your phone a remote control functionality) can be found at the top of the device, while the USB port along with the microphone can be found at the bottom of the phone. The back features the new Ultrapixel camera along with the LED Flash.

It is sharp, color rendering is as close to nature as can be, and it has great sunlight legibility. Browsing the Internet, watching movies and looking at pictures on the One is actually an amazing experience. However, those who prefer the over-saturation and the natural blacks provided by the Super AMOLED screen will be disappointed by the LCD3 screen of the HTC One.

The 2,300 mAh battery is non-removable and there is no memory extension. Many have complained about this but to tell you the truth, this has rarely been an issue for me. I have all my files synced to the cloud on Dropbox and Google Drive and with 32GB memory on board (28 available for use), I have enough space to store my pictures, videos and a bunch of songs along with a multitude of applications. As for the battery, those who prefer to have a replaceable battery on hand will not enjoy not having the ability to swap batteries. So if you are a road warrior, this might be an issue for you.

I love the design, the feel and the look of the HTC One. It feels like a solid premium machine that has a special glow to it. But the aluminium material has its drawbacks. It gets hot (a lot) if put in the sun or after a while of usage, and you keep having the feeling that the smoothness of the material will let the phone easily drop from your hands, despite the curved edges that allow it to sit comfortably in your palm.

I also respect HTC for sticking to the 4.7″ screen size, which you get used to quite fast and doesn’t feel massive for the daily use.

Software: HTC Sense 5

HTC has been criticized many times over its Sense customization, which runs heavily over the Android OS and drifts away from its originality and functionality. The 5th iteration of Sense offers a completely revamped experience, which makes you feel that HTC was able to hit the right spot this time. It feels fast, clean and functional without ruining the beauty that Android Jelly Bean has.

One of the major additions that HTC Sense 5 offers is Blinkfeed, which by standard is your default homescreen (which can be changed at will). In summary, Blinkfeed is a news aggregator from a multitude of sources based on your location and interests (world news, technology, fashion, lifestyle and so on), along with constant updates from Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Flickr. It is updated frequently with highlights from all the subscriptions, which can be opened and shared through any mean available on your device.

One major Blinkfeed drawback is not having the ability to display email and messaging activities along with the limitation on the selection of sources. You cannot decide which sites you want to have displayed on your Blinkfeed (except for a few highlights), only topics. HTC promised a commitment to adding new sources and updating the functionality of Blinkfeed, which we should be seeing in future updates along with an SDK that will eventually be offered so that developers can publish their apps to BlinkFeed as a means of making the service more useful.

The lockscreen has been revamped to include the customization previous HTC owners are used to, where you can select it to display a wallpaper, your music player, a slideshow of your photos or your important notifications from emails, messages, missed calls and calendar events (you can only choose 4). You also have the ability to disable it completely.

Overall, Sense 5 is a success. It doesn’t affect the performance of your device like in previous versions and it works as expected. There are not many additions like the ones found in the Samsung Galaxy S4, but it provides you with what is needed from a smartphone. It is a shame that the HTC One doesn’t have Android 4.2.2 at launch (the latest version of Android), though it will be updated to it soon. But this can be a nuisance, with Google I/O only a week away, with the expectation that a new version of Android will be announced. Which makes you worried that HTC might remain one step behind.

The Ultrapixel Camera and HTC Zoe

During their announcement, HTC mentioned that the number of megapixels on a mobile’s camera is not important, as more is not always better and opted to offer their users a 4MP camera with something they called the “Ultrapixels”.

The Ultrapixel 4MP sensor measures one-third of an inch, which is the same size as the sensors found in phones such as the 8-megapixel iPhone 5 or Nokia Lumia 920. HTC’s claim is that fewer megapixels on the same-size sensor means each individual pixel is larger, and therefore lets in more light and produces better photos in low-light conditions.

And the camera works great. The pictures are sharp, the videos’ quality is great, and the colors look as expected. In low lights, the camera takes excellent pictures.

There’s not enough photo data in it as compared to other 8MP and above cameras. And viewing pictures on larger displays (such as tablets) will not allow you to zoom to view all the details that you want.

But what I consider is the selling point here is HTC Zoe. This feature allows you to take a 3 seconds HD video before each shot and use the frames of this video to edit the final photo (remove objects that passed while shooting, add a smile that you missed by a frame or adjust the eyes of a specific person in the photo). Moreover, all the videos along with shots can be automatically combined into highlights (a maximum of 13 selection of videos and photos) which the phone will use to create a video with special effects and music. These videos can be shared via any communication mean or can be uploaded to Zoe Share, a service that generates a URL displaying up to 10 photos which you can share with whomever you want (whether they’re Zoe or stills). Each website is active for 180 days.

HTC One Other Features

• Performance: With the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 internal processor with the Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 CPU configuration, the HTC One is blazzing fast. There are no lags whatsoever, no hiccups and everything launches as soon as pressed
• Battery Life: This is disappointing to me, as a heavy user, I was not able to pull a complete day of battery life. I had to recharge it twice (sometimes even more) to be able to have a functional phone that lasted till the end of the day
• Boomsound: The stereo sound offered from the two front speakers is clear, crisp and loud. It will ruin all other speakers for you and make you wonder how come nobody thought of putting the speakers on the front instead of the back, where they will be muffled by whatever surface the phone is laying on
• HTC TV: This feature will not be of much use to us in the region, except for the infrared blaster available in the power button that allows you the use your phone as universal remote control for almost any device. It works perfectly in this area. The other feature offered is the suggestion of TV shows based on where you live, with pressing one of those shows will switch your TV to the respective channel that the show is being played on.
• Network Connection: As I mentioned in previous articles, I work in a rural area with weak network signal, but the HTC One was able to pull a steady and strong connection that overcomes this annoyance
• Call Quality: With the presence of a secondary noise-eliminating microphone, both ends of the calls were heard very clearly

Wrap-Up

That was a long review, and I still feel that I missed many points. The HTC One is by far one of the best smartphones that I have ever used. It is beautiful inside out and it performs great. It is the proof that HTC know what they are doing and are aware of the competition that the current market is offering. And by the view of the unaudited results released by HTC for April, the company seems to be on the right track.

If not for the weak battery life on the HTC One, I would have given it a full 5/5 score. But if you are able to disregard that and manage your way around it, this is a definite hit and a success for HTC, as can be viewed from the hype it created in the mobile world.

The article "HTC One Review: The Beauty Is a Beast", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

To my personal discontent, it does seem like the line between tablets and laptops is getting blurry very fast. Coming to think of it, a typical laptop computer is little more than a tablet with a keyboard for most users, nowadays. Like other manufacturers driven by the Windows 8 new eco-system, HP merges the two types beautifully with its Envy x2, creating a hybrid Windows 8 tablet/laptop that works equally well in both guises.

But unlike our previously reviewed Lenovo Yoga system which uses a different “convertible” design, the HP Envy x2 is a sleek laptop with a detachable screen that is meant to be used as a Windows 8 tablet. The thin aluminum tablet is as light as can be with the 11.6-inch display. The Envy x2 comes with a laptop dock which offers sundry connectors and a second battery pack.

Whether you think of the Envy x2 as a notebook where the screen comes off and can be used as a tablet, or as a tablet with an optional keyboard that also functions as a docking station, the outcome is pretty much the same: you’ll get a flexible device that is easy to work with on-the-go. I do personally look at it as keyboard equipped-tablet rather than a laptop, you’ll see why in a bit.

Overall Looks

The HP Envy x2 is a neat clamshell netbook. It is quite attractive  in fact. It does look like Apple’s Macbook Air to some extent (minus the extra curves here and there); the brushed-aluminum chassis is sleek. Compared to other hybrids this model feels extremely elegant and solid. The Envy x2′s aluminum build is sturdy. The rounded edges and lightly textured backing make for a comfortable grip. With the keyboard dock attached, the machine weighs 3.1 pounds, which is relatively manageable as far as weight and ergonomics are concerned. We personally didn’thave any problem using it on-the-go.

Connecting the tablet to the keyboard dock is easy, noting that it can take a few moments to line up the connectors correctly at first. You just have to slide the release latch and the device snaps into place. When it’s secured into laptop mode, the overall feel is solid: we effectively felt the whole device was pretty much uniform, and that the display won’t suddenly fall out of place. A good point here, in terms of build quality and sturdiness.

Coming to the keyboard now, the one equipping the Envy x2 is strangely similar to the one on the Macbook Air series. It does looks pretty nice. The black, island-style buttons are well-spaced, and there’s ample space for the wrists, too. Our detail-freak remark: the keys feel mushy; they don’t offer the snappy, springy feedback we personally like. So it is a good looking keyboard, but can prove hard to manoeuver for hardcore typers.

Synaptics touchpad now: it’s very responsive, gestures work just right. However, we did find it to be too sensitive, mistankingly performing un-requested gestures whenever we did move our fingers around it. This can become annoying pretty fast.

Performance

The Envy x2 runs a 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760 processor. This statement should be sufficient for us not to dive into deeper performance analysis and benchmarking, since this type of processor certainly will work well for our everyday tasks of document editing and internet browsing, but won’t certainly cope with tougher task, mainly graphical ones, be it gaming or design.

The Windows 8 Start screen takes about 15 seconds to load, which doesn’t feel particularly slow but definitely tails the 10-second boot time for most Win 8 Ultrabooks. There’s also a slight lag when loading apps or launching several tabs in a browser. This laptop isn’t the snappiest of the bunch, so if you’re into blazing fast performance and top notch execution, this one is not for you. Knowing what to expect from a Laptop is definitely one major determinant of the way we buy Tech stuff.

The x2′s Start screen has two sections labeled “HP apps” both filled with the same annoying bloatware you’d expect to see on any laptop: HP+, HP MyRoom, HP Connected Photo, and a handful of others. The good surprise is that we didn’t encounter any Norton or McAfee pop-ups.

As we said earlier, the Envy x2 includes a battery in the keyboard dock in addition to one in the tablet. In laptop mode, the machine lasted though our test a very strong 12 hours. When we ran the test on the tablet, it notched around 8 hours.

Verdict

Laptop/tablet hybrids come to offer a fluid experience as both portable slates and productivity-minded laptops. With this in mind, designing and building comfortable and easily convertibles isn’t exactly a simple task for PC manufacturers. The competition is tough too, be it on Windows 8 ground, or by the rough benchmarks set by Apple’s portable fleet (in terms of design and functionality).

HP did hit achieve some good things with the Envy x2, especially with the attractive and lightweight design, battery life in laptop mode being also satisfactory. The keyboard and trackpad are somewhat annoying, and the Atom chip’s performance isn’t encouraging if you want the Envy x2 to be your main computing device, with no backlit keyboard and no USB 3.0 port. It would be a perfect travel device thanks to its fantastic battery life and small size. With these remarks in mind, that $999 price tag becomes a lot harder to swallow.

So, if you’re in the market for a second machine, the Envy x2 remains a great option.

The article "HP Envy x2 Review", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

So, does the Sony Xperia Z have what it takes to compete with the other premium devices?

Sony Xperia Z at a Glance

• Premium glass front and back Panels
• 5″ 16M-color 1080p capacitive touchscreen with 441ppi pixel density
• Bravia Mobile Engine 2
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with HSPA; LTE
• Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sony’s own custom UI
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU (Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset), Adreno 320 GPU
• 13 MP autofocus camera with LED flash
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with HDR mode, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 2.2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
• IP 57 certification – dust resistant and water resistant
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage
• 2 GB RAM
• MicroSD card slot
• MHL-enabled microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• 2,330 mAh Battery

Sony Xperia Z Hardware

The Xperia Z is definitely a beauty. It immediately attracts your attention the moment you see and makes you fall in love the first time you hold it. Granted, it is a big rectangular device fully made of glass, but still, you will get used to the size and feel and everything else will eventually look smaller and… cheaper. There is no doubt that Sony put a lot of weight on the design of the device, they want it to stand out and they wanted the world to know that they can make premium devices that are also classy and do not require any plastic.

However, the full-glass body does attract a lot of fingerprints, which means that you need to wipe it clean every now and then as the glass reflects them highly. Don”t worry about shattering the phone, as rumors claim that the front is Dragontrail Glass from Asahi Glass Company and the back is Corning Gorilla Glass (not yet confirmed by official sources), but that does not mean that you shouldn’t take care of the Xperia Z, it is still glass at the end.

There are no physical buttons on the front of the Xperia Z, as Sony decided to opt them for the more standard soft buttons (as in the case of Google’s Nexus devices). The only available buttons are the power/standby silver one that can be found on the side of the phone (it looks a lot like a camera button) as well as the volume rockers. The position of the power/standby button on the side is great as it allows you to reach it without much effort when using the phone with one hand, taking into consideration the overall size of the Xperia Z.

Another interesting thing is that flipping the device around, you will not see any ports, as they are all covered with flaps in order to maintain the water/dust resistance feature. The phone is actually water resistant, I tried washing it wish some water (to the horror of those around me) and the phone was still working like a charm. You just need to make sure that these flaps are closed at all time in order to avoid any possible damages to the phone, which creates a bit of annoyance when you want to plug in your charger of earphones, but still, everything comes at a price.

One thing I did not like is the screen, the colors are very washed out with poor viewing angles. It doesn’t give you a great quality when viewing images or watching videos, though trust me you will not be able to see any pixels whatsoever due to its high resolution.

Sony Xperia Z Performance

With Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2 (with a promise to be updated to 4.2 this year), 2GB of RAM and the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset, the phone is blazing fast! The phone works as expected and there are no lags whatsoever, it is very responsive and smooth. Sony did manage to implement its own UI with a selection of widgets and software (the old Timescape and Mediascape widgets are gone).

You get to select the overall theme of the phone (which will change the menu colors as well as the wallpaper), add or remove homescreens (limited to a maximum of 5), and the lockscreen has been redesigned with a cool and camera and music swipe shortcuts. Toggle widgets have been added to the notification area and the task manager has been redesigned with the addition of the “small apps” feature that allows you to launch specific applications that pop up in the form of tiny widgets on your homescreen (Calculator, Timer, Notes, Voice Recorder and Camera with more to be installed).

Sony has included a feature called “Stamina Mode”, which is a power management option that disables specific features when the battery is almost dead.

The keyboard is highly customizable, where the Z allows you to choose your own keyboard style, and one interesting feature that I enjoyed is “Throw”, which allows you to mirror the display of your device on any supported TV in order to view pictures, listen to music or watch a movie.

Sony Xperia Z Camera

13 MPs is no small number, especially that this year marks the jump from the standard 8 MPs to 13 (with the exception of HTC with their 4 MP Ultrapixel camera), and the Xperia Z tries to benefit as much as possible from this feature.

The Camera software is packed with options, you get exposure controls, ISO settings, white balance control, metering, image stabilization, the ability to toggle touch to capture (versus touch to focus) and a smile shutter (which works like a charm and which you can set its intensity), along with HDR mode for still and video capture.

You also have burst mode (for multiple shots), panorama mode, photo filters and effects and scene selection.

The camera output is amazing, indoors and outdoors. Photos are sharp and color reproduction is accurate and clear. Video shooting also meets the expectations and provides you with beautiful output with exceptionally clear audio.

What We Like

• Great overall design
• Smooth performance
• Water and dust resistance features
• Great camera
• Excellent call quality
• Expandable storage

What We Didn’t Like

• Disappointing display
• Poor battery life
• Slippery design
• Sony’s UI still needs some effort to make it more attractive and different from older generations Xperia phones

Conclusion

The Sony Xperia Z is indeed a premium device with great features, and it is a strong contender for the upcoming flagship devices from other manufacturers. It does not have all the features that can be found in the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the beautiful UI that the HTC One has, but it is a beast of performer and a beauty in design. You cannot go wrong with the Sony Xperia Z and you will definitely enjoy using it as your daily phone.

The Sony Xperia Z is currently available for purchase and it comes in both black and white colors.

The article "Sony Xperia Z Review", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

The Yoga is a convertible and can be used as a tablet. It is true that convertible laptops are not fully new to the Tech scene; but what is new is that the screen folds 360 degrees back, turning the normally regular-looking laptop into a giant 13-inch slate.

This specially crafted design remains the most striking Windows 8 design we’ve seen to date.

Of course, there’s the ASUS Taichi which also looks nice. But these “acrobatic” kind of designs can sometime mean reduced and unpractical usability. This is why we went to know how well it does deserve its USD 1.500 price tag.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga: Design and Exterior

The IdeaPad Yoga 13 (the model we got to review, thanks to our friends at Multimedia Megastore) is coated in soft materials, including a rubbery lid and leathery palm rest. The main feel isn’t particularly a premium one, but the entire machine feels well-made nonetheless — you won’t notice any flex in any part of the system, for that matter. One example of why we liked the Yoga’s physical build is that it is (LISTEN WELL) impervious to scratches. For me at least, this is AWESOME!

After being positively surprised by the materials, the next thing we couldn’t but notice is how thin the Yoga is. And that is not an easy thing to do with a capacitive touchscreen on board. Facts are the Yoga 13 measures just 0.67 inch thick, and that is definitely the best in that regard amongst its competition. For the sake of keeping the machine as thin as possible, Lenovo retooled the power port: a proprietary, rectangular power socket that looks kind of like a small USB port. Other than the reshaped power port, there are two USB ports (one 3.0, one 2.0), an HDMI socket, a volume rocker, a button for locking the screen orientation and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s also an SD card reader. Pretty loaded.

We asked ourselves about the particular name Lenovo chose for the device: Yoga was mainly inspired by the new awesome ultra-flexible hinge. What is truly awesome about it is that it feels extremely sturdy, even though it remains flexible. Coming to physics again, the physical keyboard turns off once you push the display back – a touchscreen keyboard appears on-screen.

That being said, maneuvering the Yoga in tablet mode feels a bit… weird. Using it with the keyboard turned down feels somewhat uncomfortable since you do feel the keyboard in your palms. We’ve heard Lenovo has made available a special accessory, some sort of sleeve to cover the keys. Of course this comes at an extra cost, but still it is worth it.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga: Usability

Yoga’s keyboard is not the most performing you will see out there: the keyboard isn’t backlit, and keys aren’t really that precise when hit with increased velocity. But it is a very comfortable one nevertheless. Right beneath it stands a large glass trackpad that supports all the Windows 8 gestures, the built-in button is easy to press, and makes an easy quiet sound.

Now the screen: the 1,600 x 900, 300-nit IPS panel looks crisp. Of course other W8 laptops with higher spec displays exist, but they come at a higher cost. Viewing angles are as broad as you’d expect on an IPS display. We also found the touchscreen to be quite responsive, nothing bad to be mentioned here.

There are three configurations sold on Lenovo’s site, and we tested the one with a 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U processor, the same one used in many other Windows 8 convertibles. It also had 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. When it comes to battery life, the Yoga 13 lasted through five hours and 32 minutes of video playback, with WiFi on and the brightness fixed at 50 percent.

We did found some bloatware on the Yoga 13; However, one app, Lenovo Transition, is actually useful: it lets you decide which apps will automatically run at full-screen when you enter tablet-mode. There’s a bunch of pre-sets and, as you’d expect, they’re all programs you can use without a keyboard. These include Windows Media Center, PowerPoint and MS Paint, among others.

Besides Lenovo Transition, you’ll find tiles for Lenovo Support, Skype, Microsoft Office, Intel’s AppUp store and Lenovo Cloud Storage, powered by SugarSync. Windows 8 apps include eBay, Evernote and Rara.com. You’ll also find a trial for McAfee Security Advisor.

When it comes to trims, there’s also an 11-inch Yoga, that sports an ARM chip and runs Windows RT. In other words, it’s a completely different class of product than the Yoga 13.

Competition

It’s in the Dell XPS 12 that the Yoga 13 finds some stiff competition. Though it’s more expensive, it has a more pixel-dense 1080p display, as well as a comfortable backlit keyboard. However, the XPS 12′s rotating pop-out screen is not nearly as satisfying to use as the acrobatic hinge on the Yoga 13. As for performance, the two machines are mostly well-matched in battery life and overall speeds, though the XPS 12′s SSD offers considerably faster read rates.

The Yoga 13 is also likely to draw comparisons with the dual-screen ASUS TAICHI, though we haven’t had the chance to play with it for more than a few minutes.

Verdict

As we’ve discovered, the Yoga is indeed an imperfect product, with a somewhat flaky trackpad, relatively limited storage and a fairly un-awesome typing experience. And, without the optional sleeve to cover the keyboard, the Yoga is awkward to use in tablet mode.

Still, the Yoga remains an intriguing computing product; we haven’t seen another Windows 8 convertible with quite this versatile a design: like we stated above, the hinge is sturdy and well-engineered. The entire package feels thin and light, despite the fact that touchscreens usually add heft. Even if you rarely flip the screen around, this is a solid Ultrabook in its own right. And guess what? The price is right, too.

Compared to the competition, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga is still a great option.

The article "Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 Review", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

The moment we first held the Z10 box was an emotional one: we’ve waited for more than a whole year to finally hold a new BlackBerry smartphone. And the Z10 comes at a very critical time for the Canadian company, after months of hard crawling and internal struggle. Of course, the Z10′s features leaked some time prior to the official unveiling, and we did somehow know what to expect from the device.

Bold and Elegant Looks

The leaks were appetizing, and speaking honestly, we were not disappointed. The Z10 is a gorgeous device. What hit us at first was the fresh new box branding; things got even better once we unboxed the device: build quality is awesome. This is a device built for detail freaks, since it will be very hard to find any manufacturing fault in it. The device feels extremely sturdy, and everything in it looks well built, strong, and smooth. No useless chrome bezel, no scratchable part, no fingerprint-prone surface. The Z10 looks sleek. Very sleek and elegant.

It looks bold and serious too: very few buttons (power button on top and volume rocker on the right side), no visible joints, all black design (of course we had a black version), and a very elegant branding, be it on the bottom of the screen with the BlackBerry logo, or on the back cover with the chromed visual logo version.

Holding and handling the Z10 was a pure joy: things couldn’t get more comfy. Grip is perfect, size is perfect too. One handed operation is even made easier with the integration of the new swipe navigation gestures in BB10, but we’ll come to this later.

Great Hardware

First the display. The display is particularly crisp and clear, especially for a BlackBerry. No, we’re not being sarcastic, but coming from where BlackBerry was a single year ago, this is a huge leap forward, be it in terms of resolution, brightness and contrast ratio. Size is perfect too. As for touch responsiveness, there’s nothing bad to be said about it, it is totally functional and honestly, we didn’t have any complaint while using it.

Second point: processing power and graphics. Things look good in this area too. Everything runs smooth, without hiccups of any sort, and it’s rather a surprise for a BlackBerry, but BB10 has lts to do with this drastic improvement. The OS is extremely snappy, transitions and animations are very smooth. For a new debut, BB10 is a true success in every way. The dual core Krait processor works well under the hood, and the OS is extremely stable: we didn’t encounter any slowdown nor reboot.

Audio quality is good too, when connected to external speakers. However, the bundled earphones are not particularly good, not truly outputting lower frequencies, and squeaking on higher ones. As for the integrated speaker, we did find its volume to be on the lower side, and hearing notification in crowded environments can turn out to be impossible. Still, in a normal configuration, it does the job just fine.

Call quality is flawless. Data connectivity is reliable too, since we did not face any issue, no matter how we did hold the phone. Ha!

Graphic performance is good. Playing games is now a reality on BlackBerry, at last. Games run seamlessly on the Z10. It is true that there are not that many games available in BlackBerry World, but the ones available ran without any noticeable issue.

A Whole New Software: BB10

The aim of BB10 is to drag BlackBerry into the updated ground of the mobile world and offer up an operating system and an ecosystem which are capable of challenging the likes of Android Jelly Bean, iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8. Everything has been built from scratch up in BB10. Faithful BlackBerry users will find their favorite operating system… unrecognizable. Indeed, there are very few similarities between the older version and the new refreshed iteration, which means that there’s a steep learning curve for both new and current BlackBerry users.

BlackBerry decided to move away from the physical buttons found on majority of devices, opting for a gesture-based system as the main form of navigation. The same navigation UI was already seen and experience on Nokia’s N9 some 18 months ago, only difference now is that this iteration is here to be built upon, since BlackBerry is definitely shifting to this new form, unlike Nokia’s decision to make of the N9 and MeeGo a one time glory.

Main features of BB10: the new BlackBerry Hub (which basically replaces the email “messages” application and enhances it with added functionality, aggregating all communications in one main hub. The other nice thing about it is that the new BB Hub is reachable from anywhere within the system, just by swiping up and right.

The new lock screen display notifications on the left side (icons + number), and also features a quick camera access as seen in the snapshot (to the right).

As seen below, BlackBerry Hub gathers all your communications on your device into one single app, and by swiping right, you can filter them by type of inbox. Swiping up reveals upcoming events in your calendar. Verdict is that, after using it for a while, you get used to it, and you’ll be surprised how intuitive the whole UI is. It is pretty much customizable too.

The new BB10 also features a drop-down setting menu, as seen on other platforms, to let you fiddle with notification profiles, screen rotation lock, Bluetooth, WiFi and alarm toggles, and quick access to the settings menu.

Heading back to BlackBerry Hub, as we said, it is accessible by a simple right swipe when you’re in the main menu of the Z10, or with a swipe up and then right when you’re anywhere else, inside any app. It is worthy to mention that all of this swipes and gestures are extremely well animated, making the whole navigation experience a true joy, pure as silk.

We won’t wander around, explaining other parts of the new OS too much, since everything else remains pretty much standard: the phone app is simple and easy to use (no smart dialing though), the contacts hub has been reshaped and refined, the media player is good, performs well, and looks good, no doubt about that.

The other big improvement was made in the Internet browsing segment. Everything is loaded way faster than it was on the old blackberries. The layout of the browser on the Z10 reminded us of the setup of IE on Windows Phone 8 which also has a black toolbar located at the bottom of the display – compared to Android and iOS which both stick with the more traditional location at the top. A nice added feature is the “Reader” option you have on the right peek menu bar, which will help make the reading experience easier, stripping out all images and ads from articles to display just the text on the screen. A handy mobilizer. That’s awesome!

Now to the latest huge improvement, the new BB10 keyboard. A nice vintage touch are the silver frets which can be found on the Bold 9900, which also act as the space for the next word prediction on the BlackBerry Z10. The verdict is that the new BlackBerry touch keyboard is finally… a keyboard! The previous one featured on BB OS 7 was a nightmare. Touchscreen typing experience on BB10 is definitely up to par with other platforms, and is sincerely very comfortable. However, we did notice that next word prediction slowed us down as the font is too small to easily make use of.

Camera Performance

The Z10 comes equipped with an 8MP rear snapper and a 2MP front-facing sensor. A single LED flash stands along the camera on the back of the Z10. The camera app can be accessed in a multitude of ways, from the shortcut on the lock screen to selecting the icon from the app menu, or by tapping the camera on the home screen dock.

Coming to the UI, the whole screen on the Z10 is the shutter, which can be frustrating when you accidentally hit it, trying to get to the camera settings menu. Looking at the brighter side of things, the volume rocker can be used to take pictures.

A new feature in the BB10 camera UI is Time Shift. Time Shift will highlight all the faces in a given picture, when the feature is turned on. Press on any face and a disc will appear on the screen with that person’s mug in it and a slider below. Move the slider left and right and you’ll see the BlackBerry Z10 has captured the face before and after as well as during the time the shutter was pressed. This lets you fine tune each person’s face to ensure everyone is smiling and has their eyes open. It’s an impressive feature, and to our total astonishment, it did work well.

Image quality is generally very good, especially in well lit areas, and even in near or total darkness the flash on the BlackBerry Z10 does a good job of lighting things up. However, do not try and take a picture in a low light environment without turning the LED flash on, as you will end up with… practically nothing.

Other Stuff

Other stuff include battery life, maps, and apps.

Starting with battery life, the Z10 comes equipped with a user-removable 1.800 mAh battery. Battery performance is good and consistent, as we didn’t experience any sudden drainage, and we also managed to almost get a full day of regular usage. However, faithful BlackBerry users might feel some noticeable difference in battery life, since they were coming from rather lower end devices that basically have higher battery life. So old BB users, beware, and welcome to the daily bread of up-to-date smartphone users.

Now to maps. Maps do not work in Lebanon. That’s the start of it, and sadly, the end. Since there are no maps for the country, we didn’t have the chance to test the navigation app. BlackBerry needs to start working on bringing offline maps to individual markets in order to have something to claim in this segment. So local users, don’t go buying the Z10 hoping for decent mapping features. There are practically none.

As for Apps, well, BlackBerry is still clearly struggling in that field. BlackBerry World has a much prettier interface than the old BlackBerry App World, but unfortunately, you won’t find in it all the favorite apps you are used to have if you’re coming from a different platform, but BlackBerry promises things will improve and start picking up very soon. Of course, a stripped down version of FaceBook is available (comes preloaded), just like Twitter and LinkedIn. Their notifications are also embedded in BlackBerry Hub, that’s particularly nice. But the rest of the core interesting apps are still Missing In Action. WhatsApp should be coming in the very near future, while others like Instagram and Path and other major games are nowhere to be seen. Still, BlackBerry remains optimistic, claiming that they are doing lots of work with developers behind the scenes to make of BB World a major player in the App Store war. We certainly do hope they will succeed, for the sake of the users that will be investing a whole lot of money into these new devices.

Verdict

After checking the key features of the Z10, listed below, we cannot but say that BlackBerry did a remarkable comeback into the core ground of the smartphones battle:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri/quad-band UMTS/HSPA, optional 100 Mbps LTE
• 4.2″ 16M-color WXGA (768 x 1280 pixels) capacitive touchscreen TFT
• Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait, 2GB RAM, Adreno 225
• BlackBerry 10 OS; advanced on-screen keyboard; Office document editor
• BlackBerry Hub with extensive social networking connectivity
• BBM with video chat and screen sharing
• 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection and Time Shift; LED flash, 2MP front facing camera
• Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps; 720p recording with front-facing camera
• 16GB storage, microSD card slot; built-in Dropbox and Box integration
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot; Wi-Fi sync
• Bluetooth 4.0
• NFC
• standard microUSB port, microHDMI
• 3.5mm audio jack
• GPS receiver with A-GPS

Still there is something wrong with it. We did feel that this device had very little soul. BlackBerries for us were all about quick messaging, with a powerful and stripped down secure emailing system, an unchallenged social network with BBM. Now that the OS has been updated (even upgraded), we are having a hard time recognizing our BlackBerry. Of course, this is just our perception, and things might definitely improve with further usage. But it is true that we did feel that the Z10 was some kind of hybrid creature, between an iPhone, a Nokia N9 and some parts of the previous generation BBs. It is a weird feeling that left us wondering.

This put aside, the Z10 is a huge leap forward for BlackBerry. It is a more-than-decent modern smartphone sporting a pleasing 4.2-inch HD display, a good camera and a messaging hub which could eventual become the envy of all other platforms. The expandable storage, removable battery and Adobe Flash support are also good points. Our main complaints are the rather confusing UI (not taken by itself, but especially if you’re coming from one of other competing platforms) – still this can be easily wiped off with some usage time, and the lack of available native apps.

Again, It does pretty much everything we’d expect from a high-end device and with no major noticeable flaws out-of-the-box.

If you have any question about the device, we urge you to contact us by any mean; you can simply swing by a comment down below and we’ll do our best to help and assist you.

The article "BlackBerry Z10 Review: The Soulless Prince", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

By all means, the Xperia TX is a stunning handset, in terms of specifications and design. However, it is worlds apart from being revolutionary or exceptional. It is simply… a beautiful and fairly powerful device, with the same great build quality Sony is renowned for.

Xperia TX Design and Build

The curved Arc shape returns from previous Xperia handsets like the Xperia S (only difference is that battery cover is now rubberised on the black version – a nice addition); but the TX comes with an amazing 4.6-inch screen packing a 1280×720 resolution. A bit of physics now: the Xperia TX is both sturdy and lightweight. The plastic back cover isn’t as slippery as the one on the Galaxy S3, but neither is it as sturdy and solid as the Lumia 920 polycarbonate build.

The dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset, backed up with 1GB of RAM performs fast and strong. The one disappointment that hit us was the lack of Jelly Bean on it, being stuck on Ice Cream Sandwich until sometime in February or March. That’s now a long wait though.

16GB of internal storage is paired up with a MicroSD card slot, which is conveniently located next to the replaceable 1700mAh battery.

Xperia TX Cameras

The 13 megapixel camera on the back of the Xperia TX is meant to be the major feature of this phone; the thing is that it’s not exactly the stand out performer you may have hoped for.

The shooter on the TX is fast. Really fast. In fact it might be one of the fastest camera sensors we’ve seen in a while, and it does it all with great class and above par results. Plain daylight shots are stunning and rightly exposed. Things don’t look as fancy when it comes to low light performance, but speaking frankly, this was expected. Pictures in these conditions look rather cold, with a washed out tint. The one true benchmark in this segment is Nokia’s Lumia 920. Interestingly, the specified 13-megapixel resolution is only available for 4:3 ratio shooting, with the phone sticking to a 10MP 16:9 ratio as default. As far as sweep panorama shooting is concerned, it is natively supported on the TX coming as standard.

The front facing, 1.3MP camera will be mainly useful for video chatting/calling, and it also records at 720p. Good news all the way. The rear camera can record 1080p video effortlessly. Accessing video mode is done by toggling a switch after launching the camera function. The image stabilisation feature isn’t the best we’ve seen in a phone, it’s just… fine. Video recording quality is again impressive during the day, but less than stellar at night, even with the night shooting mode switched on.

What we have to say in this particular imaging department is that we’re a bit disappointed by the general camera performance, given the fact that we were aiming at a very high-end quality 13MP Sony camera, we come out a bit… hungry for more. Maybe it’s just the awesomeness of the Lumia 920′s shooter that is leaving us biased a bit, but this is how things go in the mobile phone world.

What We Liked

The 4.6-inch screen is a beauty: crisp, clear, with a stunning 720p picture and sleek finish.

The thin bezel and arched back make it comfortable for both landscape and portrait manoeuvring.

The 13-megapixel camera is a solid performer in daylight.

The dual-core processor does a pretty good job of keeping things moving, with no lag or hangups. The fact the battery can be replaced is also a bonus.

What We Didn’t Like

The battery is a bit on the low side of things: beefing it up a notch would have been awesome, but is also a requirement with this kind of display.

No Jelly Bean out of the box: Jelly Bean has been available for months, and yet it isn’t coming to the TX before March.

It didn’t add much to previous Xperia devices like the Acro S, apart from the slimmer waistline.

Verdict

The TX is, without a doubt, one of the best handsets we’ve ever seen from Sony. But the truth is that it’s definitely not one of the devices currently at the top of the mobile phone food chain. Compared to the offerings from Samsung (S3 and Note II), Apple and even HTC and LG and to some extent Nokia, The Xperia TX is just a bit off track: lack of quad-core support, poor battery life and a missing 4G chipset are all here to weigh the TX down in the battle of smartphones. Of course, the Xperia Z is nearly here, and Sony will definitely have a few words to say when it will be released. But for now, you’re left with the James Bond phone.

Watch the video below in order to discover some new cool things Sony is bringing to Android through its latest Xperia lineup.

The article "Sony Xperia TX Review", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Nokia does not need an introduction. It was and remains one of the most serious mobile phone builders. Quality mobile phone builder that is. And the Lumia design, brought forward from the N9 fresh design back in 2011, is something that definitely stands out from the crowd of mobile phone profiles. Almost every smartphone out there tends to look like the iPhone. Except for some Samsung models and some Sony NXT devices, the rest of the pack is practically a lineup of twins.

The Lumia 920 Is a Beautiful, Yet Rock Solid Device

The N9 design is something we liked back then, and is still something we like now. It is unique. And with the Lumia 920, this factor form design is simply getting perfected to the maximum.

In a few words, the Lumia 920 is a mix of two things: Nokia’s best and Windows Phone 8. Now Nokia’s best is something to go blindly with: great design, even greater build quality, awesome camera technology, innovative features and great dedication to customer service. Things get a bit trickier when we’re about to deal with WIndows Phone 8. This particular mobile OS has the handicap of coming a bit late to the arena; of course this can be a good ingredient to a fresh new power launch, but things are not shaping that brightly. Windows Phone is having a tough time carving its way into the battlefield, and we believe will continue to do so for quite a while this coming year. This highlighted, we should rightfully admit that WP8 is a fully working mobile OS, with awesome visual features, and is as valid as any mobile OS out there. Only thing that is missing is mass adoption which will drive in turn developer stream towards the platform. Hopefully, this should come sooner or later, if we look at Microsoft’s stubbornness when dealing with endangered species (the Xbox case, which struggled for years before becoming rock solid).

Windows Phone 8 is something to imperatively consider if you’re sick of Android and Apple phones and you want to try something that stands out from the pack. Nokia’s design and packed features make it an even better experience for switchers. If you’re on a different platform and want to switch to WP8, then Nokia is definitely the way to go; it will give you the best of the WP experience.

The Lumia 920 is offered in brilliant hues of yellow and red and other more serious iterations like black and grey. The unit we got was a black one, and the body finish was simply awesome: it’s matte and incredibly resistant to scratches. Nokia used a ceramic compound for the keys and plates, giving it added durability, as well as a more substantial feel. To sum it up: the Lumia 920 is a solid piece of Technology, really solid and durable. However, you will definitely feel it is heavy. It is a tank, specially compared to all other flagships currently setting the standards.

Nokia Lumia 920: Internals and Features

The 4.5-inch display is exceptional — the IPS LCD screen works wonderfully, bolstered by PureMotion HD+, which produces crystal-clear images and videos. Our verdict: it’s a screen that’s on par with the iPhone’s Retina display, even beating the latter in terms of resolution, with 332 pixels-per-inch. Some innovative features, like polarisation filter and light-sensing technology enhance viewing by adjusting brightness, even in sunlight.

The camera now: The 8.7-megapixel shooter is a beauty. As per our experience in reviewing devices, we came out to the conclusion that mobile phone cameras are not to be measured and judged by the megapixels. The Lumia 920 comes with “PureView”, an innovative image-stabilizing technology.  Photos produced by the Lumia 920 are clearer and sharper than all mobile phone pictures we ever tested before. Nokia developed a “floating lens” feature that works like a steady-cam, without the waist-mount. Photos come out stunning and colourful  and you’ll have three enticing options: Panorama, Cinemagraph and SmartShot to capture different types of shots. The extra thing you will get with this shooter is extraordinary low light performance. Pictures shot in low light environment are simply stunning: minimal amount of blur, great color levels and no noise at all.

A quick look at the Lumia 920 internals: 1.5 Ghz dual-core Snapdragon chip is more than enough to keep everything running smoothly and a generous 2,000 mAh battery with wireless charging capabilities (cool, cool, cool!) ensures you don’t run out of juice mid-day – battery performance is really a notch above par.

Verdict

What is sure is that the Lumia 920 is Nokia’s best for the past three of four years – the design is gorgeous, the display is top-notch and the camera is exceptional.

Pros:

Great call quality

Great outstanding design

Nice durable feel

Awesome camera, crisp and performing

Smooth screen

Wireless charging is a nice extra

Cons:

Heavy device

No expandable memory

Accessories might be costly

Some Apps and Games to Try on the Lumia 920

Angry Birds Star Wars - Cost: $0.99

Plants vs. Zombies - Cost: $4.99

Phototastic - Cost: $1.99

Nokia City Lens - Cost: Free In the Nokia Collection on your Lumia

The article "Nokia Lumia 920 Review", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Getting the Nexus 4 was a hassle, with a scarce and limited supply of the device, I had to fight many eBayers before I was able to win one through a bid.

So, how does the LG Nexus 4 stand among its predecessors and the fierce competition in today’s Smartphone battle? Let’s find out.

The Nexus 4 at a Glance

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 4.7″ 16M-color WXGA True HD IPS Plus (768 x 1280 pixels) capacitive touchscreen
• Gorilla Glass 2 display
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU, Adreno 320 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset
• Stock Android OS v4.2 Jelly Bean at release
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash
• 1.3 MP front-facing camera, 720p video recording
• 1080p video recording at 30fps with continuous auto-focus and stereo sound
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 8/16GB of built-in storage
• 2 GB RAM
• microUSB port with TV-out support
• Bluetooth v4.0
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated microphone
• 2,100mAh battery

The Hardware

The Nexus 4 is definitely a beautiful device, made mostly from glass (Gorilla Glass 2), its front side resembles the Galaxy Nexus with an all-screen/no-buttons look with a slight curved feeling over the edges. At the top, you have the regular earpiece that is surrounded by the secondary 1.3 MP camera and the proximity and light sensors. At the bottom, there is one small LED notification pulse that blinks whenever you have a new event, and which can be customized through the use of a third-party application (such as Light Flow). A notification LED is always welcomed, however, the one on the Galaxy Nexus was a little bigger and brighter.

The display is very clear, the colors are natural and the high resolution renders images beautifully and quickly, allowing for a very enjoyable user experience and content browsing.

The glass on the back is flat and smooth and beneath it are thousands of metallic circles positioned differently from one another that give a nice effect under the light. On the top left you can find the 8 MP camera (an improvement over the Galaxy Nexus’ 5 MP camera) along with the LED Flash. The bottom right is where the speaker grill is found. The glass gives the device a wonderful look, however, it is prone to scratching and it feels so delicate that you worry about dropping and breaking it. The front and the back are joined by a a plastic and metal strip that run around the phone, giving the users a more firm grip on their Nexus. On the top side, you can find the standard 3.5 mm headphone jack along with the second microphone for noise cancellation, on the right side you can find the power button, the volume rockers and the micro-SIM slot are found on the left side, and on the bottom you can find the primary microphone along with the micro-USB port and two screws, giving the phone a kind of industrial look.

As I mentioned before, the device is beautiful, and it seems that Google wanted to keep the link to their old phones by maintaining a similar design to their old Nexus. The button-less front along with the dotted glass back give the phone a futuristic look that stands out and the presence of a plastic strip in the middle makes it easier to hold the phone. The curved feel of the screen makes it easier to shuffle around the edges.

However, the glass on the back worries me to some extent. I have read many accounts on the Internet mentioned how it was broken by a single drop. I myself worry a lot when handling the phone and the fact that the phone needs to lay on a surface will eventually lead to some scratches (as in my case). You may need to be extra careful not to drop it (though it is made from Gorilla Glass 2, but why take the risk) and you can get a cover or a bumper for extra protection.

Some users might complain about the lack of expandable memory and non-removable battery, however, Google is relying on the usage of their cloud applications, such as Drive, Music and Google+.

The Camera

The camera on the previous Nexus (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) was kind of disappointing, being a 5 MP one while at the time of release, the standard for flagship devices was 8 MP. With the Nexus 4, the camera has been updated to 8 MP with great features (Photosphere for one).

There are two ways to adjust the settings before taking a picture; one is by pressing the little circle on the bottom right, the other is by holding your finger anywhere on the screen while the camera is on to display the settings, a good feature for quick access using only one hand, where you can:

• Adjust the exposure
• Adjust the white balance
• Set flash mode
• Set photo mode (HDR or normal)
• Switch between the main and front cameras
• Access camera settings (Scene Mode, geolocation and picture size)

As mentioned, the pictures taken with the Nexus 4 are much better than the Galaxy Nexus, but they are still not up to the competition, especially under low light conditions. The colors are a little bit off, and the pictures are not very sharp. But in general, the photos produced are satisfactory and you will definitely enjoy taking plenty of them with your Nexus 4.

The Software

The Nexus 4 comes with the latest release of Android OS, Jelly Bean version 4.2 (upgradable to 4.2.1). We previously covered the new features in Android Jelly Bean 4.2, but now we got to try them.

Photosphere is incredible, it takes great 360 degrees photos that you can scroll around and share on Google+. If you have “Instant Upload” enabled on your device, you can check your Google+ profile to see an animated version of the photo. When using Photosphere, the camera will automatically take the base photo and allow you to move your phone around to catch and link pre-set dots in order to complete the shot. Once done, the photo will be processed and rendered into a panoramic shot with automatic scrolling around. This feature works perfectly but it is subject to lighting conditions, where moving from a dark to a lighter area can create a bit of fuzziness and a small cut-off on the picture.

You can view how the above photo looks like on Google+ using this link.

Google Now works like a charm, very accurate voice search, fast and reliable results and a great integration in Gmail and other functions. Google Now can be accessed from the lock screen by sliding up from a small dot on the bottom or by holding the home button anywhere you are on the phone. I once created an appointment in my calendar app and set the time and location, Google Now automatically located the meeting place on the map, linked it to my current location, gave me the shortest and fastest route to get there, and instructed me when I should leave to be there on time based on the traffic conditions (screenshot above).

As of this moment, Google Now has detected my upcoming flight reservation and gave me a status update of this specific flight to know if it is on time or there is a delay.

Lock Screen Widgets are a great feature for those who wish to access a specific content on the go without having to unlock their phone and go to that specific application. At the moment, a lot of application have been updated to make use of such a feature (such a Beautiful Widgets and gReader Pro) with more coming as we speak. Sliding to the right from the main lock screen will take you immediately to the camera application, while your widgets will be accessed by scrolling to the left side of the screen.

The other additions to Android 4.2 include Daydream, which is a nice feature that allows you to display a specific content when the device is docked or charging, such as articles from Google Currents, photos slideshow from your albums or a regular digitial/analogue clock. This feature can also be expended through 3rd-party applications that give you more things to display, such as the weather for example.

The new Gestures Keyboard is accurate and offers excellent word prediction,while the improved notification area is very handy and appropriate, allowing you to take direct action as calling a friend back, sharing a screenshot and replying to a message. The notifications can also be expanded to display more information and cleared one by one by swiping right. A good addition to the notification area is the quick setting screen, allowing you to access some specific settings directly from there (I would have preferred this screen to include toggle buttons and not just shortcuts).

I did not get the opportunity to test the Wireless Display  and the Multi-Users Support is available on the tablets only (for now hopefully).

General Performance and Battery Life

With its 2GB RAM (one of the few devices on the market at the moment to have such a memory) and its Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU, Adreno 320 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset, the Nexus 4 is one powerful beast. It is fast, actually it is very fast. There are no lags whatsoever, multitasking happens in a breeze and applications open and respond as expected, sometimes even better.

With its 2,100 mAh battery, the Nexus 4 lasts around 12 hours of regular usage 9 a mix between phone calls, messaging and browsing).

Network reception is great, the Nexus 4 was able to maintain a steady connection at almost all areas.

I have two small general concerns, one relating to the temperature of the device, which tends to rise sometimes when charging (more than average) or during heavy and continuous usage, which forces me to either disconnect the phone from the charger or to stop using it for a bit until it cools off. This doesn’t happen every time and it seems to be a common thing with users. The other concern is for the earpiece, which generates a small cracking sound when making or receiving calls.

Conclusion

The Nexus 4 is a wonderful device, I love every single thing about it, the hardware, the software and the overall stock Android experience. The only drawback for now is its availability, as you can only get it from the Google Play Store for selected markets, and there is usually a long period before shipment. However, the guys got the word from LG officials (during their coverage of the LG Optimus Vu announcement) that its expected availability in the Levant will be somewhere around early 2013.

This is without doubt one of the best Android devices on the market right now, if not the best. You will definitely love using it, and you will gain the advantage of having a pure Nexus device, which means fast update and support from Google, where any new update to its Android OS will be initially available for its Nexus line.

Sources: Google, Tested, Android Police

The article "Nexus 4 Review", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Packaging was nice, appealing to the eye; you may smile at this statement, but trust me, this is what made me buy the case, because I was totally hesitant at first.

But I was totally astonished by the quality, fit and overall grip and comfort of this case. I’ll tell you why in a bit. After doing some minor research, I figured out that “Colors” is re-iteration of an older model released for previous iPhone models.

However, you should be aware from the very start that this case is not the slim-invisible type, it’s a full-bodied silicone rubbery case. I never loved those, and always went from slimmer cases. But this time around I went for this because the iPhone 5 is a tricky kid: spoiling its slim profile would be a crime, but facts are that its chrome bezel is so easily scratchable that freaks like me will want to protect it with their teeth. I wanted to cover the whole thing, and keep it the least beefy that I could.

The “Colors” rubber case wraps around the iPhone’s body, creating a lip over the whole front chrome edge and covering the bottom bezel. A glossy “Jelly Bean” protector covers the Home button, with the Sleep/Wake and volume buttons covered in a similar material (very high-end feel, exclusive too).

There are two separate openings along the bottom edge: one for the speaker and a second for the headphone port, microphone, and Lightning port. The great thing about this particular case is that SwitchEasy has made the material tight enough for it to look as fitted as can be, and the case material feels extremely soft. It feels good in the hand, and it isn’t slippery.

Colors is packed with two crystal screen films, a cleaning cloth, a squeegee, and two combined headphone/Lightning port covers. Great package indeed. It currently is selling exclusively at Virgin Megastores, and is tagged at USD 35 (USD 20 in the US).

If you feel like trying it, please do hit us with your comments.

The article "SwitchEasy “Colors” Casing Review", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

HTC and Microsoft go back a long way with their partnership and Windows-powered devices, but with the current status of the competition along with the decline in sales that HTC has been facing lately, a true hero device is actually needed.

So does the HTC WP 8X meet the expectations and stand up to the hype?

This article will review the HTC WP 8X as a device, for more details on the Windows Phone 8 OS, please check this article.

The HTC WP 8X at a Glance

• Windows Phone 8 OS
• 1.5GHz dual-core Krait CPU, Adreno 225 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8960 chipset
• Quad-band 3G with 42 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
• 4.3″ 16M-color S-LCD2 capacitive touchscreen of 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• Scratch resistant Gorilla Glass 2 display
• 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, 1080p@30fps video recording
• 2.1MP wide-angle front-facing camera
• 16GB of internal storage
• 1GB of RAM
• Exclusive Beats audio enhancements
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
• Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and EDR, file transfers
• NFC support
• 1,800 mAh battery

The Hardware

The announcement of the 8X was extremely focused on the design of the device; Peter Chou stated that the hardware of the 8X is inspired by WP8 itself, where “beautiful design is at the heart of both the software and hardware. They are magically thin. They are the most pure design we have ever had. This is the first phone designed from inside out to put people first. Everything is in perfect harmony.”

This is actually felt when you hold the 8X in your hands; its light-weight, its industrial yet simplistic look and the way its texture feels in your hand. Keeping up with the uni-body design, the 8X is made from the same polycarbonate material which was used for the HTC One Series and which gives it a soft feel that makes it very “comfortable to hold”. It has rounded corners and a curved back and HTC has dropped their custom protruding camera lens.

The 8X has the standard WP8 hardware buttons: Power, Volume Rocker, Camera, Back, Windows/Home, Find.

The Power button is located at the top of the phone, along with the standard 3.5mm audio jack and the secondary microphone for noise-reduction.

The right side of the 8X features the micro-SIM slot with the pin-ejector, the Volume Rocker and the Camera button.

There is a microUSB port at the bottom of the phone no buttons at all on its left side.

What we like: The 8X has a more premium feel than its plastic-made contenders, it feels great to hold and operate and the industrial design helps it stand out among its peers. The fact that the camera is not protruding anymore and the back is curved at the corners makes you more comfortable putting it on hard surfaces without worrying much about whether the lens cover will be scratched.

We also like the fact that the 8X comes in different colors (California Blue, Graphite Black, Flame Red, Limelight Yellow), all chosen to reflect the colors of the tiles found in WP8.

What we don’t like: The phone is considered large when compared to its competitors with larger screen sizes (4.3″ versus the 4.5″ of the Nokia Lumia 920 and the 4.8″ of the Samsung ATIV S) with a huge bezel taking over the overall design. There is too much wasted space on the front of the phone, which could have been used to either give it a larger screen or reduced to make the phone feel more proportionate to its dimensions.

We also don’t like the feel of the buttons much; they are also made of the same polycarbonate material, which gives them a good integration in the physical aspect of the phone, but they are a little bit hard to locate and press.

And finally, the omission of a microSD slot (taking into consideration that WP8 allows the inclusion of such a feature) is an annoyance, especially with the limited space given by HTC (only 16GB) without any other additional storage options.

The Screen

What we like: WP8 now supports high resolution screens and the 8X took benefits of this with its 720p S-LCD2 (720×1280 pixels, 342 PPIs). The screen is gorgeous, the colors are natural and not over-saturated and the images render beautifully and quickly. Browsing the Internet is a pleasure and watching videos happens without any lag.

What we don’t like: Though the colors are natural, sometimes they feel a little washed out. Also, the blacks aren’t as deep as one can find on other AMOLED phones.

The Cameras

What we like: The main 8MP camera with a resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels, an aperture of f/2.0 and a single LED flash takes gorgeous pictures and excellent HD (1080p) videos. Supported by HTC’s ImageSense chip also found on their Android-based One series, you rarely find any motion blur when shooting videos or any fuzziness in still pictures. Macro photography privides great details and low-light photos are quite decent.

The front facing camera is marketed as having an 88-degree field of view (to capture more in the frame) and capable of shooting HD videos and performs well in those fields when compared to others.

What we don’t like: The quality of the pictures and videos taken by any of the 8X cameras are good, but they do not stand up when compared to the competition. I have found the pictures taken in low-light conditions very dim and the LED flash tends to over-expose them while mixing up the colors.

Beats Audio

What we like: The HTC 8X marks the debut of Beats Audio on a WP8 device, with a built-in amplifier in order to boost the sound in the headphones, giving the users “higher treble, deeper base, greater clarity and less noise”. This is a great feature for the media enthusiasts who like to add a little flavor to their media experience and boost the sound quality.

What we don’t like: Sometimes the sound feels a little loud for some type of songs and may not please all listeners. Thankfully, HTC provides you with the option to turn this feature off in case you don’t like it. We also would have preferred to have the Beats earphones included in the package as HTC did previously with their Sensation line.

General Performance and Battery Life

The dual-core Snapdragon S4 Processor works like a charm on the 8X. Navigating through the menus and applications of WP8 is snappy and fast and the transition is smooth and comfortable. I have not seen any lag no matter how many applications were switched around and phone was up to my expectations at every moment.

Network reception is excellent on the 8X; the region I work in is a little bit far from the city and the general network reception is weak. I have found the 8X to maintain a consistent connection when other devices have lost the reception.

Call is excellent as the sound heard from the earpiece is clear without any disturbance. All the people I called through the 8X mentioned that my voice was clear and there were no annoyances.

Battery life is excellent; with its 1,800 mAh, the 8X lasted for more than 12 hours on average with a mix of phone calls, messaging, applications usage and web browsing.

HTC Apps

Being a WP8 phone, OEMs are not allowed to customize the OS as in the case of Android and are left with the option to include exclusive applications of their own to give their devices an additional edge over the competition. And I can say that HTC did not benefit from this option.

What you get is the standard HTC Hub, which gives you a re-sizable live tile that displays the times and current weather and which when accessed provides more details on the weather, gives you stock updates and user-specified news links. You also have access to additional applications, which are:

• Connection Setup: Automatic configuration of the mobile network connection to work with the respective service provider
• Flashlight: A regular flashlight that makes use of the camera LED
• Photo Enhancer: Enhance photos with several preset filter effects
• Converter: General conversion tool for currency, units of measures and time
• Make More Space: Clear up space when the internal memory is low

We were actually disappointed with the limited choice given by HTC as they do not offer much value when compared to what Nokia has to offer for example on its Lumia line, given the fact that an alternative of any of those applications can be found in the store.

Conclusion

HTC’s latest WP8 flagship phone is a beautiful phone offering an excellent user experience but it cannot be considered the best out there. The competition is fierce and they are trying to stand out with their devices through every possible way. HTC’s strong focus on the design and looks of the 8X may be a strong point (along with the prices, which is considered lower than other premium WP8) devices, but it does not help in making the 8X the best out there, not does the inclusion of Beats Audio, which is not intended to everybody.

HTC should have focused more on providing users with a larger and more useful list of exclusive applications that will definitely add points to the overall user experience.

But make no mistake, the HTC WP 8X phone is a wonderful device and a pleasure to use, you cannot go wrong should you decide to own it. It will all come back to your enjoying and accepting the experience provided by WP8 itself.

The article "HTC Windows Phone 8X Review", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

So what’s new in iTunes 11?

The New Library

Apple revamped the design of iTunes 11 to make it a more simplified and content-focused interface. Long-gone are the sidebars (which can be brought back from the “View” menu); the navigation is now done through the selection of the specific Library you want to browse (Music, Movies, TV Shows and Apps) from the top-left corner. The main windows will change accordingly to display the respective content, where you will be able to browse the categories accordingly (Songs, Albums, Artists and so on) from the top bar. For example, clicking on an album in your Music Library will give you an “Expanded View”, which will give you more details on the content in terms of tracks available to play and provide you with an additional link (on the top right) to find the top songs or albums for this artist in the iTunes Store along with similar content and recommendations.

The New iTunes Store

To get to the iTunes Store, you need to click the button on the top-right corner, where you will find yourself in a redesigned store that is intended to give you a consistent and similar experience should you access it from your PC/Mac, iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch.

A New MiniPlayer

The MiniPlayer allows you now to check the upcoming track by clicking the “Up Next” button as well as searching your collection and choosing new songs without having to open your Library.

The design of the MiniPlayer looks a little bit different now, where the control icons will only appear once you hover your mouse over it.

Preview History

This option saves all the previews that you made on the music, movies or TV Shows. Anything that you previously checked out, whether you bought it or not, will be in this list for you to check again

Better iCloud Integration

Any content that you buy from any device, be it your computer, iPhone or iPad, will immediately pop up in the iTunes of any of your other devices waiting to be streamed or downloaded. This plays well with the “Expanded View” feature that we mentioned above, where, by checking a specific album, you will have a glimpse at what songs were bought from this album and what are the ones that are remaining.

iCloud integration is also very fast and is present all across iTunes (you can see the little cloud icon next to your Library tab). It offers an additional option to bookmark your content, where iCloud remembers where you left off on a movie for example on one device, and allows you to resume from that specific point on another device. This works out for movies, TV shows, podcast, iTunes U lesson and audiobooks.

We have been waiting for quite some time now for Apple to update iTunes and give us a refreshed user experience with some features that will make it a pleasure to use. The simplistic and content-focused interface along with the iCloud integration and general speed of the application are a welcomed update that will surely make a lot of people happy.

If you want, check out this nice article that iHelpLounge put that shows the changes that iTunes went through over the years

The article "iTunes 11 Is Here, What’s New?", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Since then, WP has gone through many changes; but all under the WP7 title:

• WP7.1, codename NoDo, which brought copy and paste, faster apps and games loading, better market search and general improvements on the Wi-Fi, messaging, outlook and audio capabilities
• WP7.5, codename Mango, with Internet Explorer 9, multi-tasking capabilities, Twitter integration in the People’s Hub and Windows Live SkyDrive access
• WP7.5 (again), codename Tango, which lowered the hardware specification and thus allowing more entry level devices to run WP

Fast forward into June 2012, when Microsoft finally unveiled the long awaited iteration of WP, Windows Phone 8, with a new internal architecture, allowing the OS to operate on a completely different level than its predecessors.

I have been an avid Windows Mobile/Phone user for almost 6 years now (went through Windows Mobile 5.0, 6.0, 6.1, 6.5 and Windows Phone 7 and 7.5), and I have been really excited about WP8. And for the past week, the HTC 8X (review coming soon) has been my main device, allowing me to experience WP8 and to provide you with my review.

What’s new in WP8

Hardware

One of the main “issues” that users faced with WP7 devices is the limited hardware specifications set by Microsoft; while Apple and Android were venturing into high resolution (Retina Displays, 720p of current Android devices and the 1080p of the recently announced HTC Droid DNA) and multi-core processors (Quad-cores), WP phones were stuck at a low-screen resolution (WVGA of 800 x 480) with a single core. But now, all this has changed with WP8, including many other features that will definitely make the WP8 experience a joy.

So what’s new exactly with WP8 in terms of hardware?

• Multiple Cores: WP8 can support anywhere from two cores to 64 (can’t imagine what this would be like)
• Screen Resolution: Windows Phone 8 devices can now support one of three options: WXGA (1,280 x 768), 720p (1,280 x 720) WVGA standard for entry-level smartphones
• Expandable storage: WP8 fully supports external storage up 64GB in additional memory
• Near Field Communication (NFC) for data transfer and communication

As in the case of WP7, Microsoft has set the minimum hardware standards required for devices to run WP8:

• Specific set of buttons: Windows/Home, Search, Back, Camera and Power
• Processor: dual-core processor
• RAM: Minimum 512MB RAM for WVGA phones; minimum 1GB RAM for 720p / WXGA
• Internal Memory: Minimum 4GB flash memory
• Screen: Multi-touch capacitive touch screen with minimum of four simultaneous points
• Location: GPS and A-GNSS
• Support for micro-USB 2.0
• 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with three-button detection support
• Rear-facing AF camera with LED or Xenon flash, optional front-facing camera (both need to be VGA or better)
• Accelerometer
• Proximity and ambient light sensors
• 802.11b/g and Bluetooth (802.11n is optional)
• DirectX graphics hardware support with hardware acceleration for Direct3D using programmable GPU

So far, this sounds like an impressive set of specifications, and to tell you the truth, they do not disappoint. As sleek and smooth WP7 was, WP8 is even better. You can feel the dual-core processor pushing WP8 into working faster and faster, while you see all the Live Tiles change on a superb high-resolution screen. But as this differs from one device to another, we will be providing you with more details in the upcoming reviews of different WP8 phones.

So what about the software changes?

Software

For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of WP7, there are two things that you need to learn about:

• The Live Tiles; or the WP7 Start Screen, is a set of dynamic tiles that represent links to applications or individual features in your device that can be pinned to the start screen, rearranged and automatically updated to reflect changes and display notifications, such as missed calls and emails
• The Hubs; such as People, Pictures and so on that integrate similar content from different sources and allow the users to interact with this this content in real time (People’s Hub combine the feed from different social networks for example and allows you to comment, like and share anything from there)

In WP8, Microsoft worked on improving the above features and to include more functions that complete the overall experience. We will go through each and every one of them and provide our feedback and describe our experience as we move forward.

UI

Start Screen

What’s new: You can now change the size of the Live Tiles to either small (which will act as a shortcut), medium (which will display basic information such as the number of emails) and large (which will provide more details such as the sender and subject). This is done by pressing and holding on any of the tiles, which also allows you to un-pin them or re-arrange them.

Moreover, the Live Tiles now occupy a large portion of the screen. Back in WP7, there were some empty spaces at the top and right of the screen that were never used and were considered a frustration to some users (me included).

What do we think: I actually love this feature! One of the things that I did not enjoy much about WP7 is that it did not give me much space for customization, and I was stuck with some tiles that took too much space when all I needed was a shortcut (not all tiles are lives). Now I am able to customize the Start Screen in the way it suits me best, expanding the important Tiles that actually update, and minimizing the shortcuts that I use every now and then.

The Lock Screen

What’s new: Users can now specify two things on the lock screen, what notifications to be shows, where you can choose up to five applications to display their notifications and re-order them in any way you want; and what details to be displayed (WP7 only allowed you to display calendar events), where you can now see Facebook notifications, Emails content and missed calls details. Third-part apps will have access to these features and can be used to display their details on the screen.

What do we think: It was about time that Microsoft made the lock screen more useful, and I am looking forward to more third-party apps benefiting from this feature. I also hope that in the future, Microsoft will allow more notifications to be displayed on the screen, not just only one.

Kids’ Corner

What’s new: This is a completely new function that did not exist previously. It is similar to creating different user accounts on your phone, where by activating it, your child (or any other user that you do want them to tamper with your device) will be taken to a virtual Start Screen which they can build themselves and customize with apps and games and whatever else they’d like to do with your phone. At the same time, you choose what’s available to them and protect those options with a PIN.

What do we think: Great feature for those who cherish their privacy or who were the victims of their children deleting apps, sending unwanted emails, or even buying apps from the App Store without the permission of their parents. I just hope that Microsoft will expand on this feature to make it similar to the multi-users function that is currently available on the tablets running Android 4.2.

People’s Hub

What’s new: The main thing that changed here is the addition of something called “Rooms”, which allows you to create many private groups to communicate with and share calendar events as well as media content.

What do we think: Unless others also have a WP8, they will not benefit much from this function as not all features are shared on a cross-platform basis. If Microsoft can do this, then I am sure that many users will enjoy it even more.

OS Features

Messaging

What’s new: Well, nothing much has changed in this area. With respect to Email, you can now change the theme to dark (previously you were only stuck on the light theme) and saved documents will now appear in the Office Hub.

As for Messaging, mainly the MSS features have changed, where you can now send location data and contacts within the messages.

What do we think: There is nothing much to say here, I always enjoyed the Messaging and Email experience in WP, especially with everything available in one place as in the case of hubs. If Microsoft wants to do some changes here, they will mostly be aesthetic changes (until something more interesting comes up).

Internet Browsing

What’s new: WP8 comes with Internet Explorer 10, which is faster than its predecessor with hardware-accelerated graphics and better HTML5 support, where Microsoft is pushing the mobile experience to be similar to that of the desktop. 

What do we think: Various benchmarks (using SunSpider) have shown that Internet Explorer 10 beats the Android as well as the Safari Browser. However, I did not get the chance to experience this myself. But I can tell you that Internet Explorer 10 is very fast and fluid, websites are displayed beautifully and I did not face any difficulties while browsing around.

Telephony

What’s new: The Phone can now support VoIP from third-party apps, with WP8 handling regular phones calls and VoIP calls simultaneously while taking benefits from WP8’s multi-tasking capabilities.

What do we think: We are yet to see how other services will benefit from this feature, but in the meantime, I was hoping that Microsoft will include the smart dialing feature, which has been missing since WP7, but was available in Windows Mobile 6.5 and any version before that.

Maps

What’s new: From now on, all WP8, no matter who the OEM is, will come equipped with Nokia Maps. This means that you will have a wider coverage all over the world and the ability to download maps for offline usage. The scouting feature is still there, allowing you to check close-by attractions and restaurants. You can also check for updated versions of your maps to download.

What do we think: Nokia Maps have always been a pleasure to use, very details and accurate with a lot of great features. However, I was hoping that I was going to find the voice navigation option already available, but Nokia is keeping this for its Lumia devices with Nokia Drive.

Camera

What’s new: Users will notice a new icon in the camera menu called “Lenses”, which allows you to either use Bing Vision (scanning QR codes, barcodes, books and CDs for information and so on) or download additional lenses, which will increase the functionality of the camera by either adding filters and effects or different shooting modes. This feature can also be used by third-party apps for additional integration.

What do we think: Any changes introduced to the camera are welcomed. The idea of downloading lenses and the fact that now other apps can use the camera to add to its feature is something that I wish developers will expand on. At the time of writing this article, not many lenses were available for download.

Other Features

• Developers can have their apps the features of other apps developed by third-parties. They can also make use of the native features of WP8 for their own benefits
• Taking screenshots is now built-in within WP8 and can be done by pressing the power button+Windows button at the same time
• All WP8 devices can now be updated over-the-air (OTA) without being forced to use Zune as with the previous versions
• One of the major frustrations with WP7 is its dependency on Zune, the desktop software. Not anymore. Users can now transfer their files by simply connecting their devices to their computers and copying/pasting documents and media files between both devices
• Additional accent colors are now available for the customization of the device
• Additional languages are now available to choose from (including Arabic)
• The App Store is now powered by Bing search and offers in-app purchases and multiple payment methods
• There is still no notification center, as missed notifications will not be seen unless a respective Live Tile is pinned to the Start Screen
• Seamless integration with SkyDrive, where pictures taken from the camera will be uploaded to your personal space there along with the Music purchased from the store and so on

Conclusion

WP8 has been a long-awaited update to a rather unique and beautiful OS, and I believe that it brings Windows Phone closer to Android and IOS in terms of features.

Previous users of WP7 will feel right at home with this new iteration, and will sense that it is now more complete and mature, especially that it is backed up by better hardware specifications. New users who decided to try out this OS will not be disappointed, except with the fact that the app choice is still limited when compared to IOS and Android. But with the support Microsoft is giving to the developers, it will be little time before WP catches up.

There are some small itches that Microsoft needs to work out, but from what we have seen, they are definitely on the right path.

Sources: Windows Phone, Windows Phone Daily, EverythingWM, Nokia Innovation, HTC

The article "Windows Phone 8 Review: Reborn, Again", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Some thoughts below on the overall experience:

Yay:

• Gesture controls: definitely something to praise. Swiping from top to bottom closes an app, swiping from the left brings up the latest app in the background, and swiping from the bottom brings up a settings/actions menu, etc.
• Hardware is solid is the kickstand is definitely
• Skype experience is solid and looks great, despite the lack of different statuses (online online/offline available)
• USB Port: the possibility to transfer files from/onto a USB flash drive is a huge selling point compared to other tablets.
• microSD slot: again, more storage = major win.
• Customizable lock-screen notifications
• Live tiles: you either love them or you hate them. When you get used to them, they are quite handy and save you lots of time accessing apps and pulling the info. Everything is pushed to you, right on your homescreen.
• Battery life is decent; it lives up to Microsoft’s claims of 8 hours. In fact, with heavy use of the tablet (music, emailing, tweeting, and an hour or so of gaming) still left around 20% of the battery at the end of the day.
• Multitasking with the side-by-side view is awesome. One of the apps takes up one-third or two-thirds of the screen leaving the remaining space for another app. Think email in 1/3 and Twitter in 2/3. Or music playlist in 1/3 and email in 2/3. Having this type of view on a tablet is much needed, we like to believe.
• As much as it is a “serious” tablet – full Office, email, and a keyboard to be super-productive – the Surface doesn’t fall short on entertainment; Xbox games and music/movies and an awesome interface to take you through the lists, in addition to the 16:9 screen for movies make this one a beast for fun on-the-go.
• Integration with social networks is nothing new to Windows 8 especially with the excellent social experience that’s in place with Windows Phone. The Surface and Windows 8 RT are here to continue that run, with a fantastic integration within the image gallery. Flickr, Facebook, SkyDrive.

Nay:

• The OS could still use some polishing in certain areas. Nothing too serious that can’t be fixed with updates though.
• A few apps crashed during first use; those were later on updated and there haven’t been any issues on that front since.
• More apps are needed in the Windows Store. While the current mix contains a handful of decent, useful apps, it still lacks the Flipboards, SoundClouds, and Instagrams of the other app stores.
• Touch cover can sometimes be unresponsive to certain key touches but I would assume it depends on the way you touch and use it. Once you figure out how much pressure you need to put on the buttons, your fingers will be flying on that thing. Do bear in mind that it does not and will not replace a normal keyboard with hard keys.
• Speakers (one on each side) aren’t the loudest we have tested. They do a decent job but could be much better, we think.
• At 1366 x 768, the screen resolution could definitely use more pixels, especially that it screen has a 16:9 ration which makes it perfect for video/pictures viewing.
• Keyboards are expensive. Without the $599 bundle (which includes a somewhat dull black color keyboard with a 32GB Surface) you’ll have to dish out $119 for a colored keyboard in addition to, say, the basic 32GB Surface which retails at $499.
• The email app needs improvement. For example, accessing the app takes you to the top of your inbox list and highlights the first email, which marks it as read. So, if that happens to be an unread mail, you would need to swipe up from the bottom to bring up the options menu and mark it as unread every time you access the app. An update should fix this, if Microsoft are willing.

Have you tried a Surface already? Let us know how you like it below in the comments.

Screenshot Gallery

The article "Microsoft Surface RT Flash Review", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

So with the hope of pushing forward their One line, HTC introduced the HTC One X+; a refreshed device in terms of specifications and general features.

What changed exactly between the original One X and the One X+?

Aesthetically, not a lot. The soft buttons now have a red tint instead of a white one, there is a new Beats logo on the back and the main camera is surrounded by a red bezel. Kinda reminds you of the physical change made between the HTC Sensation and the HTC Sensation XE.

The main changes are in the inside. The HTC One X was a power horse in terms of features, and now the One X+ is here to take the lead with welcomed improvements.

Overall Specifications of the HTC One X+

• 4.7″ 16M-color Super LCD 2 capacitive touchscreen of HD resolution (720 x 1280 pixels); Gorilla glass 2 protection
• 1.7 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 CPUs, low-power companion core, ULP GeForce 2 GPU, Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with latest HTC Sense 4+
• 1 GB of RAM
• 64 GB of storage
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash; face detection and geotagging
• 1080p and 720p video recording @ 24fps with stereo sound
• 720p front-facing camera for video-chat
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS; GLONASS
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• MHL TV-out (requires MHL-to-HDMI adapter)
• Beats audio enhancements

Main Changes Between the One X and the One X+

1. A better processor: The One X+ has a NVIDIA Tegra 3 clocked at 1.7 GHz instead of 1.5 GHz as on the original One X
2. A better battery: beefed up to 2,100 mAh from the original 1,800 mAh
3. Larger internal storage: increased to 64 GB from the original 32 GB
4. Improved front camera: 1.6 MP versus the original 1.3 MP
5. Comes with Jelly Bean 4.1.1 and HTC Sense 4+ out of the box, though the original One X should be upgraded to match the One X+ any time now

All the above changes are most than welcomed as they add a positive feel to the overall experience with the One X+. However, it is the things that did not change that will still remain bothersome to the end users:

• No expendable storage
• No removable battery
• Camera could have been improved
• Battery could have been improved even more
• HTC Sense 4+ isn’t that much of a different with the original HTC Sense

The Overall Performance

The original HTC One X was a beast of a phone; very fast, smooth and responsive, and the One X+ doesn’t disappoint at all. The user can actually feel the changes in the processing power. I worked on both devices and I have to say that the One X+ does things even better; it is much snappier and even more responsive. HTC stated that the new processor is 67% faster than the old one, and while this is true most of the times, the phone does suffer some lags every now and then, mostly after heavy usage.

Another claim from HTC is that the new battery gives you 50% more life over the original HTC One X. I actually managed to go through a full day without recharging the device in the afternoon, but still, HTC could have done better as the increase in processing power means more battery drain.

For those of you who care about benchmarking the performance of the devices, here are the results that I got for the HTC One X+:

• Quadrant Standard: 6,729
• Antutu Benchmark: 12,650

Conclusion

So, should you buy this phone? Well, if you were not a fan of the original HTC One X, then I don’t believe that this device will be of an attraction to you as not much has changed, especially on the looks of the phone. However, if you are looking for an upgrade over the older one, well I am sure that you will enjoy the One X+, mostly for the additional performance speed your receive, having Jelly Bean out of the box and the additional storage space and battery life.

Still, the One X+ is not the king of the Android devices, with the Nexus 4 coming soon, the powerful Galaxy Note II and the number one smartphone in terms of sales, the Galaxy S3, HTC is still at a weak spot.

I still believe that HTC could have done better with the One X+, but let us not forget that the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is near (February 2013) where HTC is expected to introduce its new phablet device, similar to the HTC J Butterfly which was announced last month exclusively for Japan with killer specifications (5.0 inches 440 ppi screen and a resolution of 1920 x 1080, 2 GB of RAMs and a microSD card slot).

HTC still has a long way to go to regain its lost throne, and the One line is a great place to start. They just need to give it the right push and edge and the devices will have the impact they deserve.

Sources: HTC, GSMArena, Huffington Post

The article "HTC One X+ Review: a New Mighty One", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Rating: ★★★★★★★½☆☆ 

If you like them big, you’re going to have a blast with this one. No way we’ll ever see bigger. But what’s special about this one, is that it’s not only about size, but mostly about brains.

Here at Tech-Ticker we love power devices, and the Samsung Galaxy Note II is one. A big one too.

Android lovers brace yourselves. The Galaxy Note II is a quad-core beast, clocked at 1.6 Ghz, equipped with 2 GB of RAM, a 5.5″ Gorilla Glass 2 Super AMOLED HD display and an 8MP camera, and the whole nine yards. Oh and a 3100 mAh battery. Now, that’s something.

We got our Note II a few days ago.

The unboxing experience is the standard one you get when unboxing any Samsung device; in fact, the Note II box is pretty similar to the first iteration, with the same content disposition: USB Cable, earphone set, charger and the battery pack.

Now the device itself. The first impression you get when you see the Note II is a very obvious and normal reaction if you’re not a current Note user: it’s big. The second thing that hits you is that it looks like an over-sized Galaxy SIII. And it does, indeed. The Note II is a big SIII replica, with the same design and shape, even the same kind of glossy plastic currently equipping the SIII. Only thing that differs is the chrome bezel frame that runs around its edges, in lieu and place of the brushed plastic. The back of the device does look pretty much like the smaller version, with the unique difference of the speaker grille being placed on the lower side of it instead of next to the camera.

The Note II is available in two variants: Titanium Grey and Marble White. The grey version looks and feels like the pebble blue SIII, but with a different color tone, titanium. As for the white version, it is the typical white you will encounter on the SIII. Nothing drastically new here, but our preference definitely leans towards grey, since it gives a bolder look, a more professional impression. Then again, it’s all a matter of taste, and tastes can’t be discussed.

And of course, there’s the stylus. We’ll get to it later.

I’ll get to the essential: everything just got better since the first Note.

Display first: Plenty of people were keen for Samsung to put a non-PenTile screen on the Galaxy Note II and it’s a reality now. A new coating is here too with Gorilla Glass 2. Non-PenTile screen means less perceivable noise.

Battery: the bigger battery definitely means more juice. and 3.100 mAh is a nice number.

S Pen: a special custom contextual homepage comes up automatically when you pull out the S Pen. It’s only visible when the stylus is out and its icon is a little pencil, while regular homescreens are still indicated by dots.

S Pen now has special gestures: you press the S Pen button and swipe up to access Quick command. Here you can draw a “@” sign to launch email, “?” to do a quick search, “#” to dial a number or “~” to send a text. This is pretty awesome.

You can also hover the S Pen over various things to get a layer deeper into the UI – expand S Planner events, preview emails and text, preview videos, move media cursors. The S Pen also lets you quickly snap a portion of the screen and use it in an app – email, S Note.

S Note, the special application dedicated to the S Pen, can be launched by double tapping with the S Pen while holding down its button.

OS: A great relief, indeed. The Note II comes equipped with Jelly Bean. JB’s big addition is the revamped notification area, with its expandable notification zones and improved embedded actions. One big advantage of Google’s Jelly Bean is that the voice typing functionality doesn’t require an internet connection to work. You can enter text by speaking anywhere you can use the on-screen keyboard – be it the Messaging app or a note taking app – without the need for a data connection as long as you have pre-downloaded the needed language packs.

UI: Here comes the part where Samsung proves it can do big things. Smart Call works like a charm, Direct Call and Smart Alert too (as seen on the SIII), Direct Call being the feature letting you call directly a contact just by lifting the device and placing it on your ear, and Smart Alert being the tiny vibration you sense when you pick up your phone and there are pending unattended notifications. All the remaining Smart Actions are there too. All the rest is pretty much here, and it’s the best of the line. Excellent contact management with lots of tweakable settings, browsing is a pure joy on this huge screen, the music player performs well, sound output is better than good, video performance is simply flawless. As for the camera, it’s a total package. Only thing that might need some improvement in this section is low-light shooting. Still, it performs good and does take nice pictures. Social tagging on-the-go is on board, and photo gallery has pretty awesome features too, from social features to picture editing. Keyboard and typing experience are just blissful, especially that now, keyboard has built-in Swiftkey features.

Getting back to the core of the matter: the Samsung Galaxy Note II is a beast. It’s one of the most powerful Android devices currently available on the market. The second generation of the Samsung hybrid is a massive upgrade, doubling the processing power, bringing a bigger better screen and an ampler battery.

More stuff? Well… the slimmer body makes it easier to handle this huge device. There’s also the newly designed S Pen, which is better integrated into the whole UI platform. There’s Jelly Bean out of the box, too, which is still not a given currently.

Would we recommend it? Definitely YES. But this recommendation is conditional of a few things. You’ll have to be inclined towards bigger devices. You’ll also have to not mind about plastic build. If you’re OK with those two, then it’s a guaranteed BUY.

People who will definitely love the Note II are the ones wanting to replace both their smartphone and tablet with a hybrid alternative, that can also be carried around easily. People who might also make a use of the S Pen feature will also be amongst lovers of the Note II (like designers, planners, heavy note takers, and people with heavy calendar to manage and lots of travel).

To conclude, we can confidently say that Samsung won this one: the phablet challenge. Steve Jobs never believed this category could succeed; He apparently was wrong this time. The first Note did pretty well on the shelves, and this new updated version is even better.

The Note II is one of the best Android smartphones currently available on the market. It is also a very powerful device all-around. It can also make you forget all other devices. You’d be happy and proud to hold it. You have to accept its size. Passed this step, heaven awaits.

P.S.: The Note II is currently selling in major Mobile Shops at around USD 700.

The article "Samsung Note II Review: Hitting the Right Note", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

We were blessed with two units – 1 black and 1 white – which obviously doubles the joy.

Like everybody out there, we’ve heard so much on the iPhone 5 before it being even announced, and like most of you, we’ve watched the announcement keynote, and inexorably built our own pack of opinions even before having laid our eyes and hands on an actual device. But we would be lying if we were to say that excitement was missing from our side, and that we were not passionately and eagerly waiting for it to hit our desks. Not because we are desperate fanboys, but simply because every release of an Apple phone is just an exciting period of the year.

Apple prides itself in being the perpetual seeker of perfection in all the products it designs and manufactures and offers to the world. And it rather did well, so far, by every standard. But of course, the thing Apple does best, is creating an incredible vibe around every device they release; and they have an incredible know-how in nurturing this particular passionate vibe after sinking it so deep in every gadget-phone-tech lover. And even in less geeky people. They create the momentum, engrave it, boost it, and then live by it. Tremendously effective model.

Let’s get back to what matters most: the iPhone 5.

So we got our two devices, and we lived with them a full week.

We can begin by saying it is the best smartphone we’ve had the chance to use so far. It is hence the best iPhone ever made so far. Let me be clear here; I’m not talking some fanatical speech, I’m just stating the obvious after using the device for the last few days.

Exterior

Talking about the obvious, the iPhone undeniably sweeps you off your feet from the very moment you hold it in your hand.

What surprised us at first was how light the phone actually is. Of course, we did notice that the phone is now a bit longer than the previous version, and by that very sight, our subconscious made us automatically assume that the device will be heavy when held. It is actually very light. Lighter than you’d expect. Its weight is a breath of fresh air, really. For people who love their mobile devices to be rather on the heavier side, stay with us just a little longer, maybe we’ll give you some other reasons to get it.

This iPhone just looks better. It looks… complete. The aluminum unibody structure is a beautiful move. and the uniformity of the color palette is truly amazing. No more clear anodized aluminum side frame. It is now graphite black, and has an extra compact feel that makes the whole phone feel sleeker. Graphite is such an awesome color since it blends with the glass front so well, so seamlessly. As for the white version, you’ll get the same aluminum color as on the whole macbook lineup on the back. The side frame is also of the same color, with a chrome finishing lining that makes it look extra shiny. The perfect match to the white color found on both the back (upper and lower bands) and the front of the device.

The rest is pretty much the same. All control buttons (power, volume, mute, home) are the same old ones. Major changes are the placement of the headphones outlet which is now found on the left bottom side of the phone instead of being on top, and the USB connector which has now become the “Lightning connector”, more compact, and as we can tell by its looks, more durable. You’ve all heard the complaints about this specific change; this change implies new accessories, new docking stations, new everything, basically. This is not a major drama though. iPhone lovers will have a blast getting new stuff for their much beloved device. Yay!

I won’t go through all the annoying stuff, describing the outer shell of the iPhone 5. You’ll definitely find everything about this everywhere on the net.

Concerning the famous denting and chipping found on the outer shell of the phone, well, I’m sorry to say that it does exist. The black/slate version have two tiny chips on its aluminum frame. Not a big deal, really, but it is there. As for the light leakage everyone is talking about, it is there too – sorry guys – but it only can be seen in very low light conditions, and it sincerely is tiny. But for detail hunters, you should be aware of these two side notes.

Interior

I won’t review iOS 6. I will just share my feelings and inner thoughts regarding the User Interface of the phone, its usability, stressing on the features that deserve to be highlighted.

iOS 6 is still iOS. Just a more mature one.

What I love? Facebook integration (at last!).

The Facebook integration into Apple’s OS X and iOS brings me relief. It’s the easiest, least icky, most user-friendly partnership between two major tech companies I’ve seen in a long while.

The problem smartphones had with communicating and planning is that you need other people for them. Facebook is where the people are.

Before this integration, you had to manage your contacts yourself. If you turn on Apple’s Facebook integration, you can merge your contacts nicely with their Facebook profiles. When your contacts update their profiles, the changes are pushed to your devices. I can hear Android and Windows Phone users booing this very moment since they already had this integration for quite some time now. But speaking honestly, this one does the job quite well. Contacts integration is awesome. It feels natural. Android-Facebook integration is quite hectic, Windows Phone-Facebook integration is good, but iOS is a much more dominant platform right now, so

You might get some duplicate contacts if the names are too different between your own contacts and Facebook. It’s easy to link them together, and if you disconnect Facebook later, your old contacts will be fine.

The best thing about this integration is that Apple did set privacy threshold. It doesn’t let Facebook take over the phone. Facebook gets intentional sharing of text, photos and location, and it gets to easily link together any apps we use with our Facebook login.

To sum it up, Facebook integration in iOS is great. And it’s most welcome.

We can now post a Facebook status (and tweet) from the dropdown menu at any point in time. That’s good too.

The second thing you will definitely notice (if you’re an upgrader) is the elongated screen. I would lie if I was to say that it didn’t look weird; nevertheless, this amendment to the display is more than welcome. It is a nice addition indeed, now reading is more convenient. Users of bigger displays will be disappointed for sure, as this particular display is barely a competitor to the latest displays out there (Galaxy S3, HTC One X, even Nokia’s Lumia 900). But let me add a tiny thing here: color saturation is now way better than on the 4S version; feels a bit warmer and glossier, which brings an extra good feel to the whole experience.

The whole UI feels a bit snappier, but not extremely so, to speak the truth.

The camera experience is pretty much the same, only thing to highlight here (rightfully) is that low-light performance has witnessed a rather sensible improvement.

As for the rest, that’s pretty much it. iPhone 4S upgraders will not feel and see a big change. Battery life migh have gained some extra and precious minutes, but nothing to brag about. iPhone 4 owners will enjoy this upgrade, with a new design (basically the color palette of the outer shell), a bigger display, Siri built-in, an improved camera sensor, and a much powerful backbone (from the chipset to the display). The upgrade sounds worthy.

Of course there’s also the new App Store, but I didn’t find anything worth highlighting in this particular sector.

The new earpods are a nice addition to the whole package (way better than the old earphones), and even though they look out of space, they did perform well.

The big fiasco is of course the new Maps. I won’t carry on too long on this one, Tim Cook himself made his apologies for the terrible mistake they’ve done here. We didn’t have the chance to test it extensively, but we did find many glitches here and there.

Conclusion

Do not get me wrong. The iPhone 5 is maybe one of the most beautiful pieces of Tech we ever had the chance to have in our hands. THe design is simply very sexy (to say the least) and Apple’s engineers did a great job of putting everything together into this slim and yet so shiny and high-end shell.

For people wanting to shift now to iOS, this is the best time to do so. The iPhone has reached maturity, or is very near. For all old adopters, you will be pleased by this new upgrade, but you will also start to feel the innovation slope diminishing. The iPhone is not what it used to be a few years back. Most of the competition is here now, and some of it is even ahead. And the iPhone 5 did nothing tremendously awesome to change this.

Still, it’s your call. If you’re an absolute iPhone lover, then you’ll love it. If you’re a free spirit, you might find your joy elsewhere, in some Android power-device (The Galaxy S3, the HTC One X and the LG 4XHD are very worthy alternatives).

The article "Our Week with the iPhone 5", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Honeymoon, yes since geeks starts with their gadgets a love story that ends up after 1 month; some of them less and others longer. For me, honeymoon length depends on the gadget itself, some of them get to make it up to10 days, others take much longer…

Back to the Lumia 900, I guess that this phone is somehow a surprising one, you end up with some mixed feelings, am I in love? I can’t bare this phone anymore…

I guess that those feelings are due to the Nokia-Microsoft combination… Oh well!

Nokia still know how to make Nokia phones, the Lumia 900 being no exception: the specs are awesome, 4.3 screen AMOLED display, awesome build quality, GREAT battery life, a camera with some fair specs (well, love of cams is for the 808 PureView).

Concerning software, Microsoft; you are giving you customers sushi (quoting Azmi). But not all people like sushi!!

WP Mango is probably an OS that I didn’t get along with; it has so many nice features and Microsoft worked so hard to make out of it a nice experience, but some stuff needs to be there and up until now, these are still missing.

To be fair, I must state that there are some things I really liked, and I truthfuly think that other OSs must be paying attention to those features.

After all, what we need is the  best product for us, consumers.

First thing I loved, Social media integration.

To post a tweet, FB status, LinkedIn status and Live status at the same time; each alone or combined, is really awesome… and hey, I smoked some people with it…

Microsoft Office integration, and this is where we are all in need; not any other platform gives you this feature with so much integration. and all you need is a Microsoft Live ID.

Contacts integration is simply a magnificent feature too, and it beats other OSs hands down.

Bing as a search engine is cool but what is more cool about it is the scanning (and live translation) features and the music identifier feature. True, there are apps out there that can do this, but having them built in the OS, makes everything go faster and you can easily perform tasks at a higher pace.

The marketplace or the store (new name when WP8 is launched) is promising, with 100,000 applications available for users. and in our typical market, WhatsApp is there, Viber too (only text messages for the moment), Tango, and other news apps.

What makes applications special, is the push notification features that some applications in other platforms doesn’t support the same way. However, other features are lacking too.

What I hated about the Lumia and got me a bit in an ambiguous status is, limitations.

As an Android hardcore fan, locked states/bootloaders are a turn off! Well, I love playing with my phone, and tweaking it is just a pure pleasure. If you are this type of person, this phone is not for you.

Added to this, is the Bluetooth limitation, the iOS way.

WiFi is limited too, if you belong to a company that offers free WiFi to its employees under a static DHCP settings, you have to rely on your cellular data connection.

Another missing “feature” is Instagram! Ican’t post food pictures to my friends! HAH!

Concerning software update, I must say that it’s a shame the Lumia 900 didn’t make it to Windows Phone 8. Apple updated recently their iOS with support to their new flagship iPhone 5, but also iPhone 4S, iphone 4, and iPhone 3GS. BUT, not all the features on the 5 and the 4S will be available on the 3GS and this is due to the hardware limitation and in order to give the best results, but still they called it iOS 6.

Microsoft was frank enough to call it 7.8 and stated that due to the hardware limitation it won’t be WP8.

Well here we have two point of views, frankly I prefer Microsoft one.

In the end, the Lumia 900 is a must have in a geek’s closet, and a recommended machine for people with social media addiction.

Currently, the Lumia 900 is available in the Lebanese market, after a long wait; the only thing that might be a limitation to buy, is the soon-to-be launch of the Lumia 920 which will feature WP8; but if it will take the same amount of time to be availablehere, the Lumia 900 will still have some time to rule.

Technical specs: (from GSM Arena)

The article "Lumia 900: Honeymoon Over, Still in Love?", written by Zaher Hallab appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.