Tag Archives: mobile

HTC M9 Review

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We got a chance to take the HTC One M9 out for a spin for several months. Does HTC still have the touch or does the phone come up short.  Take a look below to find out.

 

 

Likes:

  • Gorgeous Screen – HTC has put a lot into making this phone and it’s quite evident with the build quality of the HTC One M9. The first thing you’ll notice is the very capable 5.0 inch, Full HD 1080p display. It is Gorilla Glass so it’s super tough as well. The colors are very vibrant and it was a welcome step up from my Nexus 5. When playing games, the display really shines making games like World of Tanks or any other high def game look awesome.
  • Speakers – HTC hit a home run with their dual front facing speakers earlier on and haven’t fixed what wasn’t broken. This is easily one of my favorite features of the phone. I do consume quite a bit of media on my cellphone in general so this is a big deal for me. . What I love most about it is that my hands don’t get in the way of the speaker as much. Usually, when the speaker is at the bottom when I hold my device in landscape mode one of my hands is muffling sound from the speaker. This doesn’t happen nearly as often with the front facing speakers on the M9. They’ve also got what they’re calling “HTC Boom Sound” which I initially thought was going to be gimmicky. It’s not. It does make a difference. I’ve even caught myself looking around because I thought someone else was in my apartment because of a sound that came from one of the speakers. They are very crisp and loud enough for personal use. If you are using it for outdoors or for an impromptu dance party you’ll still want some external bluetooth speakers. The HTC One M9 does have the ability to stream to multiple bluetooth speakers and control setup of each one individually but I don’t ever use that as I don’t have that many speakers – but some may. While I’m here, I might as well mention that there is also included an expansion microsD card slot which theoretically can support up to 2TB of additional storage. This will come in handy for taking media with you wherever you want.
  • Luxurious Feel – I loved the way the phone felt in my had as soon as I picked it up. Compared to many of the Nexus earlier Nexus devices, this phone has a lot more heft to it. It feels solid and you definitely don’t want to drop it on your toes as it will hurt. Seriously. The polish really does make you feel like you have something very expensive in your hands and I really like that. I have the Gold on Gold option which is a lot more shiny than my usual tastes but it is something that is immediately noticeable in a room once you pull it out. I’ve already gotten more than a few “What phone is that” inquiries. I’ll also take some time to mention here how tough the phone is. As you probably already guessed, I’ve dropped this phone a few times and it doesn’t have any noticeable damage. No scratches on the back and the screen has held up to the punishment of city living. I haven’t gotten a case for it yet, but it’s doing pretty well naked. It’s been in the pocket with keys and change and it’s totally fine. Full marks in my book for durability which is what I’d expect from a phone that is this well made.
  • Camera Features – I liked the rear facing 20MP camera as it took well balanced photos but I wasn’t wowed out of my seat with image quality but it does record video in 4K – not that I have a 4K display to view it on yet. I did like the fact that it has a sapphire crystal lense cover, but it might have been over kill as I’ve never had a scratch on any of my lense covers on previous phones. That said, I’m happy to have it as it makes me feel elite! I was actually more impressed though, with the front facing camera and some of the camera features. The front facing camera took really good selfie shots in low light and without a flash. I was super impressed and this phone is now my official selfie phone. The front facing camera didn’t have a megapixel count that I could glean, but it is what HTC is calling “Ultra Pixel” whatever that means. Long story short, it’s just a way of saying that the pixels in their images are are bigger than normal sized pixels so you get more bang for your buck where pixels are concerned. Not as many pixels, but the pixels you do have are ummm… Ultra!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I did like some of the features that came standard with the phone like a slow-mo cam and saving camera settings as selectable icons.
    • slow mo – with a nice camera you can have lots of fun in social media using this functionality. Comes in handy on vacation, night out with the guys, or dilly-dallying around at home or work. It works well and I like having this extra option when taking videos.
    • Saving camera settings – I’ve already saved slow-mo as a separate setting so that I don’t have to fiddle with the settings in camera every single time if I want to use it. This saves so much time and headache especially when you have to think fast. I can just maneuver to that setup and oila! This works for other settings such as ISO and Exposure settings. It’s already come in super handy.

 

Dislikes:

  • Runs Hot – This is something that hasn’t traditionally bothered me before in any other device, but I found it concerning on this one. It can get really, REALLY hot when doing something graphically intensive like playing a particularly long video or playing a graphic heavy game for more than 20 minutes. I really can’t imagine down in a place like Florida or the Caribbean on a hot day playing a quick game outside. I mean you could, but at your own risk. It gets so hot that I honestly worry about the phone’s innards at times. It’s hot enough to bring discomfort to the hand. I’ve left a game on for a little while and come back and have been significantly worried that I may have caused long term damage to the screen or chipset because of how hot the phone was.
  • Volume buttons – I really don’t like the placement of the volume buttons right above the power button on the right side. I do like the power button where it is on the right side as I find it very handy when turning off the screen or waking the phone with just one hand, but I often struggle to adjust volume with one hand because the device is so tall. When watching a video in the dark I also accidentally turn off the device when trying to turn the volume down which happens a little more often than I would like and is actually pretty annoying. I end up feeling up the device to make sure I have the right buttons ahead of time which take a little time but is a little more accurate. In the future, I’d really like to see HTC move the volume buttons back to the left side and the single power button on the right.
  • Interface – Back in the day, was the bomb and did a much better job than many of the major stock OSs in terms of cleanness and simplicity. Honestly, I think Android, and Microsoft for that matter, have cleaned up their act significantly and so Sense isn’t as needed as it once was. I find myself drawn back to the stock Android experience. I do like a few of the Sense features like the “Boom Sound” or the Camera features like Bokeh, Slow-Mo and Photobooth but that’s really it. I don’t use anything else and I actually got another launcher just because I didn’t really like stock designs. Granted, you can actually take a picture and have Sense take colors from the picture you took and integrate them into the interface which is impressive, but I’m not really a photo-as-a-background sort of guy. Others may find Sense just fine, but it didn’t work well for me.

Overall – This is pretty solid phone. It will turn heads because it’s quite stylish and well made. It is quite capable as well with it’s 3GB of DDR4 RAM, 20MP Front Facing Camera with Dual LED Flash, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 64 bit processor. It’s no slouch when compared to other flagship phones and it’s speakers set it apart as a go-to device for media consumption. I wasn’t as impressed with the Sense Android skin as I once was but I think this has more to do with Android stepping up their game than it does with HTC slipping on their software development. I was really concerned about the heat issue which I hope gets better with further iterations but I’d have no problems recommending this device to anyone who asked.

HTC 8X Windows Phone Review

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We got a chance to review the new HTC 8X with Windows Phone 8. I got the navy blue phone which was really nice. No doubt you’re asking the question: How is it different than any other phones, and any other Windows Phone 8 devices. Well keep reading to find out. As usual, I’ve divided the review into two main portions. The stuff I liked and the stuff I didn’t.

 

What I liked:

Size:

The screen is 4.3 inches which isn’t the largest display out there, but it definitely gives you plenty of room to see what’s going on. The dimensions end up making it long (132.35 x 66.2 x 10.12 mm) but it really fits the Windows Phone motif where you have to scroll forever to get to what you want. It’s also really slender so it’s comfortable to hold on to.

Screen:

It has an HD 720p screen and it certainly looks like it. The screen is beautiful to look at and all the colors are really vibrant. The black background wasn’t as nice as Nokia’s “true black” which apparently kills all light around anything being displayed for a richer black background, but the 8X screen really isn’t too bad.

Speed:

Everything was snappy and I really think this was due to both the processor and the nature of the OS. Windows Phone 8 doesn’t have a lot going on so it’s gestures are really simple and the results are a really simple and smooth experience. I never get any stutter of any kind when scrolling around. CPU is a Qualcomm® S4 1.5 GHz, Dual-core processor which doesn’t slouch around. Add that to Verizon’s LTE speed online and I didn’t have to wait for anything. Downloading was zippy, watching video was fast. This was really a pleasant experience. Whenever I wanted to do something – I didn’t really have to wait any real length of time to get going.

Camera:

The camera took really nice pictures as you can see below. Many of which weren’t in the best of lighting conditions. I’m not photographer, but I was impressed and think it will get the job done for those of us who just need to snap a quickie on the go with a significant other, or with family and friends. Skype worked really well with the front facing camera except that movement seemed a little blurred when I moved around too much. The front facing camera is 2.1 MP which is really competitive in the phone market these days.

OS:

Microsoft wasn’t lying. This OS really was tailored to the user. It’s all about displaying my personal and relevant information without really having to delve too deeply to find it. All of my emails (and we’ll talk about this later) are a tap away and I can see how many I’ve missed while my phone was in my pocket. I can see messages, and items ready for download. It’s like I’ve got an assistant with all of the information for my day ready for me which is really cool. I do however miss widgets though, but the live tiles try to fill that gap. If your coming from Android, you will probably miss them. Yet there is definitely something to be gained from the simplistic approach.

 

What I didn’t like:

Power Button Position:

On some Samsung devices – the power button is on the side so you can wake/sleep your phone the the tap of your thumb. That would be nice with this phone because it’s so tall. I found myself having to adjust my grip just to get my pointer finger in a position to hit the power button which was a little annoying. Also, the button is not really raised so I couldn’t tell if I had hit the button or not. On several occasions I had not hit the button, but had been pressing on the space between the button and the right edge of the phone.

Google Sync Not Active:

So apparently Google and Microsoft  are not playing nice and the user is beginning to feel it. Google has disabled it’s exchange active sync. What that means is you won’t automatically get your Google Calendar appointments or contacts transferred over to your shiny new Windows Phone. I did notice this when I was testing the HTC 8X. None of my Google Calendar events were in my Windows Calendar. None of my contacts either. To add fuel to the fire, I wasn’t able to use Google maps either, however, I hear that’s being fixed. That issue wasn’t too bad since I actually like Windows Maps. It has cool features like available wifi hotspots which can be handy, and places to eat and check out based on your location.

Build:

The Phone build wasn’t bad. I really liked the soft material on the back, but I didn’t like that there was no option to remove or replace the battery. I also didn’t feel like the phone was a really expensive device. I’m getting spoiled by Nokia and Apple and their superb build quality. Now, even when a phone has no real defects – if it doesn’t feel like a work of art, I’m not too impressed.

 

Summary:

All in all – I do recommend this phone, especially to those who would like to upgrade from their present Windows device. It’s a solid phone that really performs well. I have no complaints in terms of negative experiences besides the Active Sync issue with Google which is not to be overlooked. If you feel like you are immersed in the Google ecosystem and can’t do without your Google contacts and calendar then you may have a problem. This will definitely effect a large amount of people who will switch back to Android or for fear of losing data will stick with Android and not get the chance to check Windows Phone 8 out. It’s a shame really because I love testing new devices and seeing what else other companies are coming up with. Google’s move reeks of “sheep herding” and I don’t know about you, but I’m no sheep.

What Your Android Phone Needs is…Quantum Encryption!

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I had the chance to spend time with Chief Extraction Architect Steve Chao about the new technology that Detron is developing. He’s working on high-level encryption for the masses. This stuff is not connect the dots to open a file. We’re talking serious encryption that apparently is extremely difficult to break. It’s called QDK or Quantum Direct Key. It’s so secure that the claim is it hasn’t been broken yet…AT ALL. If you’d like to give it a try you can find the Code Challenge here.

I loved speaking with Steve, and what I got was that he is extremely passionate about the technology and extremely confident in it to boot. He explained that the encryption works with two keys. One public and one private. The private key is generated by some machine (Key Management Center) that is in some deserted place Mars somewhere in the boonies, and is never online. No one knows where it is while the other key is generated by the phone itself. Mr. Chao divulged in the interview below that a random number is used as a key and is generated by “thermal noise on the chip“ which is then used to open up an encrypted file. However, that number was encrypted as well so you would need to decrypt one key to decrypt the real key to decrypt the file! This sounds pretty tough to get around to me and should stop lower skilled baddies from even trying.

This technology will be fitted to the Defense phone that Detron is developing. It has a 4.3″ Sharp qHD screen, an aluminum frame, and a dual-core ARMv7 Cortex A9 1GHz CPU with 1Ghz of RAM. There will be a 16G and 32G option. With that said, I want one, and I want one NOW! The possibilities for secure transactions of all sorts via the cell phone or whatever medium file transfers exist is seemingly endless. I would definitely feel more secure using this technology while making online purchases, or reviewing sensitive documents online. This has huge implications for in-app purchases or apps like Square which allow credit card transactions via the cell phone or tablet. Once we get more time to review the phone we’ll have that up for you. In the mean-time check out the interview with Steve Chao below:

Sony Xperia Ion Review

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We managed to snag us a Sony Xperia Ion and played with it for a bit this week. The phone came out on AT&T the end of June and many people are wondering how it stacks up with some of the other devices in AT&T’s stable. Read on to find out!

As usual, I’ll be breaking down the review on the points I liked and the issues I didn’t feel comfortable with or wish could be changed.

Likes:

  • Form Factor

As soon as I pulled this puppy from my pocket, no less than two people around me approached me to ask me what type of phone I had. I gladly told them what it was and what I was doing with it. I was really surprised, because I don’t usually get that strong of a reaction when I’m holding a phone. Granted, it could have been dumb luck, but I can definitely see why someone might be intrigued with this device. It really does have a sleek, elegant beauty to it – yet you can tell it’s functional. Sony has a way of making electronic devices look and feel really high-grade and the Ion is no different. there is nothing flimsy about this phone which I find really important if I’m going to spend a couple hundred on any piece of equipment.

Samsung Infuse Review

There is the standard 3.5mm headphone jack at the top, and your volume rocker as well as power-button and dedicated camera button which I’ll talk about in a bit. Nothing but a mic on the bottom, and the HDMI, and Micro USB on the left.

  • Camera
The Camera is a whopping 12 MP with 16x zoom.  It can also record full 1080p video – which looks pretty great on my HD TV. Was quite surprised with the quality of the crappy video I took of my living room on the big screen. The camera is also capable of a 3D Panorama shot. I did find it slightly cool for the first 5 minutes, but then it started to feel a little gimmicky. I couldn’t really think of very many reasons to use it – however, I’m sure there are a few of you who can come up with some ideas. There’s also a front facing camera (1.3 MP) for video chatting with Skype or whatever your favorite video telephony app is. I also liked the fact that you could jump right into not only the camera app, but taking a picture instantly by depressing the hardware camera button.
  • Speed
AT&T’s LTE network really flies when it wants to. I can’t speak for those in Manhattan in the middle of the day, but when I was using it – downloading apps and playing video was a breeze. I could definitely get used to that.

Dislikes:

  • Operating System
Now to the disappointment. Androids next iteration of its mobile operating system,Jellybean, has already been announced and is being pushed out to Galaxy Nexus owners as we speak. Ice-Cream Sandwhich is now old. This device is running Android 2.3, a.k.a Gingerbread. Now the OS skinning seems to be a double edged sword. There are UI refinements that were refinements when Gingerbread was the main OS for android, but it also slows down updates. It’s really up to you, but in my humble opinion – this is where the device falls short. I also noticed a bit of lag when moving from screen to scree, however, others haven’t noticed it so perhaps it was my device. At any rate, navigating the older OS, even though it is heavily skinned, was a little annoying knowing that there was something two generations better out there.
There is also the smart dock – which I didn’t have, but got around by just connecting the DMI cord directly to the tv. It’s a pretty nifty idea, and it can be fun playing games on the phone and displaying the image on the big screen. You can also, ofcourse, play movies or music – basically any media on your device on your HD TV. However, I put this under dislikes because there are tons of other ways to get the media from your device to your TV. For example, if you have an HD TV, chances are you have either some apps, or a game system, or some other way to consume third party media. So why go through the trouble to connect your phone? To watch home movies taken from the phone? Yes, but that’s pretty much it. You can also purchase a remote, but it works best with a Sony TV. When playing games on the HD TV, you can’t really take your eyes off of the mobile screen because then you can’t control your character so its really for everyone else’s enjoyment which I found frustrating. I found myself wishing the phone just displayed controls while I played the actual game on the tv.
  • Little Thick 
Not a very big deal here, but I found the device slightly on the chunky side. It’s so slick and cool looking that I just wished it were a little thinner, but those are really my personal aesthetics at this point. Most may not find this to be an issue and it’s definitely not a deal breaker.

Summary:

All-in-all, I enjoyed the device. I will warn you though, there isn’t a specific date announced as to when the device will get an ice-cream sandwich update. A rep told me “later this year”, but that’s all I got.  And then when it does, it will only be behind by one update. Other than that, I really can’t find too many other glaring issues with the device. It has a solid build, and a great camera with decent specs.

Nexus S Review

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We happened to get our hands on Google’s new phone made by Samsung called the Nexus S. It’s running the company’s latest version of Android…Android 2.3. Check below to see what we thought!

Likes:

We loved the overall sleekness of the design. I’m a simple man and I was totally impressed with the form factor. It’s all black and unassuming, yet when you look at it, you know there is something special about it. The buttons capacitive buttons light up only when the device is on so when it’s asleep it’s just a dark black device in your hand. When you turn it off, it kinda flickers off in the same way your old CRT TV used to which we thought was a nice touch. There is also a really cool burst of orange (wish you could change the color) that happens when you get to the top or bottom of a long list…i.e the bottom of your contact list. It’s those little things that let us know that the folks over there at Google are doing good work.

The phone is really thin and light weight. This can go either way, but I don’t mind light devices if they work though the phone did almost slip a few times with simple gesturing.  The call quality is nothing special, but the speaker phone was a little better than I was expecting. It’s by no means the best speaker phone we’ve ever heard but it held it’s own which was surprising. These light-weight devices usually have terrible speakerphones.

The camera was ok – I really liked the HD2’s camera to be honest, but this one will do. Still 5 MPs with single LED flash. Some devices have dual LEDs which is nice, but I didn’t find myself missing the second LED.I found the shutter a little slow but I can’t really complain too much because its a phone however, some mobile devices are getting better at this. I also liked the front facing camera, though it may not be of much use if you don’t know anyone with compatible software.

The Operating System is great. It was quite zippy and I had no problems scrolling through long lists. As you may know, Android offers near seamless integration with your Google life. It picks up all of your Google Contacts, Calendar Appointments etc… This pure Android experience also offers wireless tethering to other devices via wifi or a hard connection. I wish there was a quick shortcut to the tethering functionality like the palm devices on Verizon, but a hotspot is a hotspot and I’m not complaining. We didn’t get to try out its NFC powers, but we knew it was there. We think this will be big in the near future, though it’s not very prevalent in other devices just yet. However, it may be something you wish to think about when making your next phone purchase.

Dislikes:

Data speed. I have a G2 and though it’s only coming in at 800 MHz  while the Nexus S has a 1 GHz processor yet many times the G2 felt faster because I spend a lot of time downloading information on the web. Because the G2 takes advantage of Tmobile’s 3G+ network, I was bringing up pages and downloading apps much faster on my G2. This is the one jinx in the armor so-to-speak for the Nexus S. I also didn’t like the plastic feel of the back cover. It makes the device quite light in comparison with other smart phones in the same size range, but it makes the phone feel a little cheaper than it should. Also, Samsung – please stop putting the lock button on the right side! I ended up going into the Android boot-up sequence by pushing the power button and the down volume button at the same time!  I also kept changing my sound settings accidentally because of this.

Lastly, my 3G conked out towards the end of use. Not sure if this was because the phone was a trial phone or what, but after a while, I was unable to reach 3G speeds at all on the device.

Overall:

Overall, the device is solid and would love to have it for the front-facing camera, sleek look and feel, along with the pure Google experience. Other than a few hang-ups like network speed, I found this phone to be quite useful and a pleasure to use. Not sure about that 3G issue though. That may be a major issue if it is widespread. However, if it’s isolated – then I’d just replace the phone for a new one as I found very little to be disappointed with.