Category: Hands-on
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The monstrous Sony Xperia Z Ultra pays HQ a visit, we swiftly arrange a video unboxing

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We met the Sony Xperia Z Ultra at its official announcement and now it’s finally graced our office! Sony’s beast of a phablet has come to our headquarters for a thorough examination, and we’ve already started giving it the full review treatment. Until that is complete though, you might want to check out a short video of its unboxing, followed by a UI walkthrough.

The list of tricks the Sony Xperia Z Ultra knows is almost too long to fit on even its sizable screen. Seriously, this beast is packed to the rafters with cool features. It slots between the Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z, using the same sleek OmbiBalance design and philosophy – “glass is good, thin is better”. Read more »

Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2 review

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Currently Gigabyte’s most advanced offering, the GSmart Maya M1 v2 is a refresh of the dual-SIM GSmart Maya M1 smartphone released in April.

The smartphone marks Gigabytes first entry into the quad-core game, featuring a four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.2GHZ alongside PowerVR SGX544 GPU on an MTK 6589 chipset. Read more »

Phiaton Bridge MS500 over-ear headphones review

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The Phiaton Bridge MS500 headphones are the manufacturer’s most capable and luxurious offering to date. Crafted from materials such as perforated leather and machined aluminum, the headset packs fashion-forward looks to go with aspirations to take on the established heavy hitters on the market.

I’ve walked out impressed out of my last two encounters with Phiaton products. The MS500 however has entered a whole new, ultra-competitive market segment, currently dominated by the likes of Beats Audio’s latest Studio headset, as well as the hordes of other offerings fighting to chip away from its market share. Read on to find out how the latest Phiaton creation fares as a daily driver! Read more »

Sony Xperia M flaunts its OmniBalance charm and dual-SIM possibilities in front of our camera

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The Sony Xperia M is the company’s next entry-level dual-core phone. It shares many of the features of the Xperia L but is positioned lower on the ladder with a smaller, 4″ screen (but with the same FWVGA resolution), same chipset and a 5MP / 720p camera.

The Xperia M has a dual-SIM option, making it an direct upgrade over the Xperia E (which also came in single and dual-SIM versions) and it’s a huge improvement over it. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Core is here for review, we start with a video hands-on

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The Samsung Galaxy Core is currently headlining Samsung’s midrange lineup along with the Galaxy Win and Galaxy S4 mini. It brings a fair set of features for a price hovering around the $200 mark, which makes it ideal for emerging markets and money-conscious buyers.

Our unit has the optional dual-SIM support with dual stand-by so you can hit a two birds with one stone purchase, bringing a holster for both your SIM cards and getting solid smartphone experience with the backing of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Read more »

HTC Butterfly S poses for our camera before its full review

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The HTC Butterfly S, a refresh of the original HTC Butterfly (DROID DNA in the US) released this January, comes as yet another flagship from the Taiwanese company, this time in the 5-inch display range.

Apart from the larger display, the Butterfly S has a beefier processor than the HTC One, and a huge 3200 mAh battery. Read more »

V-Moda Crossfade M-100 over-ear headphones review

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The V-Moda Crossfade M-100 over-ear headphones are the company’s flagship offering at the moment. V-Moda has taken a unique approach with their development – over two hundred audiophiles, world-class DJs, and Grammy-winning musicians have collaborated on the M-100’s tuning and features.

Despite being around for less than ten years, V-Moda has firmly established itself as a premier designer and manufacturer of high-end headphones. A few months back, I came out impressed after spending quality time with the V-Moda Crossfade M-80 model. Read on to find out what it’s like having the bigger brother as a daily driver! Read more »

Oppo R819 flies into our office, lands right in front of the camera

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The Oppo R819 was announced just hours ago and we’re ready to share our first impressions of the new dual-SIM Android. It’s impressively thin and light and the screen looks great too. But can the up-and-coming company challenge the established players?

Samsung and HTC both have dual-SIM versions of their flagships, but those are hard to find and expensive. In comparison the more affordable R819 aims for broader availability, while also offering a quad-core chipset and a good camera. Read more »

Motorola Moto X for AT&T unboxing and hands-on

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As the first smartphone developed from scratch during Google’s ownership of Motorola, the Moto X has generated a good deal of interest. The smartphone will begin landing on the store shelves in the United States next week, on August 23.

After previewing the handset, we’ve been spending quality time with a retail unit of the smartphone for AT&T. Hit the break for an unboxing and hands-on of the Moto X! Read more »

World’s thinnest smartphone visits HQ, watch the Huawei Ascend P6 star in a hands-on

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Huawei Ascend P6 is widely advertised as the world’s slimmest smartphone to date. Indeed there is no thinner smartphone in our database so far and we just had to see it live. And here it is – the Ascend P6 knocking on our office doors.

Huawei Ascend P6 is powered by company’s home-brewed chipset – the K3V2 – featuring a quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 processor, a 16-core unnamed graphics unit and 2GB of RAM. We’ve already met this configuration within the Ascend Mate phablet and we know it performs very well on a 720p screen. Read more »

Here goes the LG G2 in some hands-on video action

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Today at the LG G2 launch event, we captured a rather lengthy video detailing the key features of the newly announced smartphone. The list is long and quite impressive.

The video kicks off with a look at the hardware design of the LG G2, followed by walkthrough of the UI highlights. Read more »

Element Case Atom and Eclipse cases for Samsung Galaxy S4 hands-on

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The California-based designer and manufacturer of smartphone and tablet accessories Element Case recently released a duo of premium covers for the Samsung Galaxy S4. Dubbed Atom and Eclipse, the cases feature quality materials and a Sound Boost System which notably improves the multimedia experience delivered by the Korean smartphone flagship.

With a primary focus on Apple smartphones, Element Case has established a reputation for making some of the highest quality protective cases money can buy, using only premium materials such as metal, carbon fiber, and wood. Read on to find out about the company’s latest Samsung Galaxy S4 offerings! Read more »

HTC Desire 600 dual sim comes to our office, hands-on video inside

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Want some of the premium HTC One features, but you can’t afford its premium price tag? Fret not, HTC has got you covered with the Desire 600 dual sim.

The phone combines the front dual-speakers of the HTC One with the BeatsAudio software enhancement and a couple of SIM slots. Okay, it’s made of plastic, but that keeps the price down and it’s also not too bad to the touch either. Read more »

The second generation ASUS Nexus 7 came over, here goes the unboxing

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It’s been a few days since the second generation ASUS Nexus 7 hit the shelves, so we promptly got our hands on the hot hardware. The successor of the most popular slate in the Android realm is currently available in the United States with an entry-level price tag of $229.

The new Nexus 7 is everything a tablet sequel should be. It is more powerful, thinner, lighter, and better put together. It also comes with a brand new Android version to boot . Read more »

RHA MA450i in-ear headphones review

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The RHA MA450i headphones are the British company’s top end in-ear offering. The headset has been developed to play nice with Apple devices and sports an aluminum construction alongside an affordable price tag – a great combination in my book.

A couple of months ago, I was astounded by the outstanding value which the RHA SA950i on-ear headphones offered for the money. As I am already familiar with Reid Heath Acoustics products, my expectations towards the RHA MA450i are really high. Read on to find out if the headset delivers! Read more »