Category: Hands-on
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Gold HTC One hands-on

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Gold seems like the new black these days. Apple did it, Samsung did it and we’ve even seen others do it for HTC.

But this isn’t the 24-carat HTC One by Gold Genie, this is the 18-carat through-and-through gold-built HTC One specifically created for the 18 anniversary of the MOBO awards. We’ve got the hands-on treatment inside, let’s go. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Gear review

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The smartwatch is a relatively new market niche, but seeing the interest it has been getting lately, it will certainly expand quite rapidly in the next few years. And Samsung, being one of the world leaders in smart tech, certainly wants to be a part of that expansion. The Galaxy Gear smartwatch is built around the idea of being an extension of your smartphone and not the sole star of the show. Currently, as of its launch, the Galaxy Gear only supports the Galaxy Note 3 and 10.1, which is limiting its reach quite severely, but Samsung promises to add more devices to the list in the next few months.

Instead of going all sci-fi with the Galaxy Gear, Samsung decided to take the logical path. The smartwatch can help you unlock your smartphone, acts as a fitness accessory, snap a photo or two and mainly, aid you in those cases when your phablet is out of reach or the circumstances just don’t allow you to operate it. Read more »

Lenovo P780 review

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Lenovo has been one of the biggest gainers in the smartphone market over the past couple of years. The company even did devices like the K900 and Vibe Z, showing that it’s not out of its depth in the high-end market.

Yet it’s smartphones like the recently announced P780 that Lenovo is strongest at producing. The handset brings four 1.2 GHz Cortex A7 cores along with PowerVR SGX544 GPU on a MTK6589 chipset along with a whopping 4,000mAh battery aiming to become one of the longest lasting smartphones on the market. Read more »

Apple iPhone 5s is in the house, the hands-on video shows its Touch ID glory

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This is it – Apple’s flagship device for 2013 – the iPhone 5s. The new phone comes to sweep iFans off their feet with a new Touch ID home button, a 15% larger camera sensor, the spanking new Gold color option and a 64-bit Apple A7 processor.

At first glance the iPhone 5s looks identical to the iPhone 5 but when you look closer, you start seeing the differences. There’s a dual LED flash, the Space Gray version replaces the Black one of old (and looks grayer indeed), while on the front the home button now has a sapphire glass-covered sensor with an aluminum ring around it. Read more »

LG G2 for AT&T hands-on

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The LG G2 has been on sale in the United States for a couple of weeks now, so I managed to snag some quality time with an AT&T version of the company’s flagship. The smartphone is offered by AT&T for $199.99 with a two-year contract.

Save for the lack of FM radio, the AT&T LG G2 sports the same specs as its international sibling. Read more »

Apple iPhone 5c arrives at the office, the hands-on video is inside

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Today Apple iPhone 5c arrived at our office and as the tradition goes, we unboxed it in front of our camera and took a quick tour around its UI.

The iPhone 5c comes in a brand new colorful and plastic shell, but its internals are identical to the already discontinued iPhone 5. The battery capacity is the only thing that got bumped by a hair. Read more »

Hands-on with the Best Buy exclusive blue HTC One

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We managed to spend some time with the Best Buy exclusive blue HTC One at a press event in NYC. The smartphone is available in the United States for AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless.

In the flesh, the Best Buy exclusive blue HTC One actually sports a darker shade of the color than the version which broke cover during IFA. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 for AT&T hands-on

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The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 made its way officially to the United States, so we managed to spend some quality time with the market-specific version of the phablet. The gigantic handset is offered by AT&T for $149.99 with a two-year commitment.

Sold under the model name SGH-I527, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 for AT&T sports the same hardware as its internationally available GT-I9200 sibling. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 brings its new S Pen and gorgeous 5.7″ Super AMOLED to our office

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is finally here and boy are we excited. It’s the best thing to happen digital notepads in recent times and something of an Android icon in the making.

If you’re up to date with your smartphone news the Galaxy Note 3 is a pretty huge deal and currently the very best Samsung can offer. It’s the first smartphone to bring 3 GB of RAM and microUSB 3.0 to the table, rocks the latest and greatest in computing power thanks to the Snapdragon 800 and Exynos 5 Octa chipset selection, and is one hell of a productivity tool. Read more »

DODOcase Color Block cover for 2013 Nexus 7 hands-on

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Following the successful treatment it gave the original, DODOcase launched its line of locally handcrafted covers for the 2013 ASUS Nexus 7. The San-Francisco based designer and maker of bookbound cases has an entire collection on offer for the second generation of the most popular slate in the Android realm.

I managed to spend some quality time with the DODOcase Color Block for the new Nexus 7. Inspired by the artist journals from the past, the cover offers a fresh take with a classic twist on the tablet case concept. Read more »

Nokia at IFA 2013: hands-on with the Lumia 625

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The last smartphone we met before we say goodbye to the IFA 2013 was not actually presented on the expo. Unlike Samsung, Sony, Acer and Asus, Nokia didn’t even hire a booth to show its devices to the consumers. We still managed to find the latest Lumia 625 smartphone at one of the IFA side-events, showcased by the company’s new owner – Microsoft. It’s quite an interesting gadget that offers big screen on a budget price.

Nokia announced the Lumia 625 back in July, a couple of weeks after the company unveiled its 41MP Lumia 1020 cameraphone monster. This is also the last Lumia phone unveiled before Microsoft acquisition of Nokia Devices and Services. And while it’s still unclear what will happen with the rumored Lumia 1520 phablet, the Lumia 625 has already gone on sale. Read more »

Alcatel at IFA 2013: hands-on with the One Touch Idol Alpha, Idol S and Idol Mini

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Alcatel brought out a trio of thin and light Android smartphones in the Idol line. The Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha is the aluminum-clad leader of three with unibody design and attractive transparent elements for design and notification purposes. Then the Idol S follows close behind with a 4.7″ 720p screen dual and 8MP / 1080p camera. The Idol Mini brings up the rear with a thin and light design – 7.4mm thick, 96g – and a dual-SIM option.

Our hands-on impressions of the three follow after the break. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Multi Vision is an awesome new feature you would probably never use

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The features that Samsung has baked into the TouchWiz user interface on the Galaxy Note 3 are so many that the company has issued a 16-minute official hands-on video just so they can go over the key ones. However, on that video there is one really innovative feature missing. And it’s awesome – that’s Multi Vision.

Multi Vision on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 allows you to stack up several devices and get a bigger resulting screen area for your content. But really? It’s sounds way cooler than it’s useful, because… you know… who has four of these just lying around? Read more »

Sony Xperia Z Ultra camera samples arrive as the review progresses

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If you have been around over the last few days, you probably know that we’ve been hard at work, putting the Sony Xperia Z Ultra monster of a phablet through its paces. And while the review is still some way off from being complete, we though you might enjoy some photos coming from the camera of the device.

It’s a bit early to pass any final verdict at this point, as we need to do some more shooting before we are ready for that, so we’ll just let you enjoy the shots. Read more »

LG G2 storms our office, we take it on an adventure

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LG G2, the company’s latest flagship, has just made it to our office. Our dedicated social networks followers were the first to see a glimpse of the device, so in case you are interested in some exclusive stuff, you may want to join us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Back on G2 now. The smartphone is powered by the market’s mightiest chipset to date – the Snapdragon 800 – and features an amazing 5.2″ True HD-IPS+ 1080p display with almost non-existent bezels. Read more »