Category: Hands-on
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Nokia Wireless Charging Plate and Fatboy Pillow review

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Nokia was among the first manufacturers to include Wireless Charging tech into its smartphones and has a rather cool line of Wireless Charging accessories. We have two of them here at HQ and they work together nicely to carry out their out-the-way no-wires-needed assignments with style.

The Wireless Charging Plate and Fatboy-made Wireless Charging Pillow go very well together. The Wireless Charging Plate is the soul of the operation but it you want to encompass your handset in a lavish pillow you can put the plate inside the Wireless Charging Pillow and just drop the phone on it without worrying it will get scuffed or scratched. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active rebuffs our attempts to put it in the sink, goes in front of our camera instead

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The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is one of the several Galaxy S4 variations but is the one (so far) that stays the closest to the original specs of the S4 flagship. And just like other S4 variations it brings something new to the table, an IP67 certification in this case.

What that means is that the Sony Xperia Z is no longer the only 5″ 1080p flagship that is waterproof. Who would have thought there would be competition among phones that can play the latest 3D games in full glory and then shoot video under water? Read more »

Nokia Asha 501 gets the hands-on treatment, video is inside

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The Nokia Asha 501 has a number of key selling points, but the new interface and its supper affordable price tag are certainly the two most important. It’s a feature phone and It cannot do proper smartphone stuff like the pros – full-featured multitasking, integration, endless connectivity, etc. – but doesn’t really need to.

The Nokia Asha 501 giveс you two SIM cards, working simultaneously, in a package lighter than 100 g and cheaper than 80 bucks. It’s tiny yet nice to hold and work with and comes with a revived Asha S40 touch interface that you’ll get used to in a matter of minutes. Read more »

Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy NX Android-powered interchangeable lens camera

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At their Premiere event in New York Samsung gave us a chance to briefly check out their just announced Galaxy NX camera. We hurried over to where the camera itself was exhibited along with many NX mount lenses.

The benefit of having a choice of interchangeable lenses is one of the crucial advantages that the Galaxy NX has over last year’s Galaxy Camera and this year’s Galaxy S4 Zoom.

The other, of course, is the large APS-C sensor with a 20.3MP effective resolution. Physically, that translates into a sensor that’s much bigger than the sensor in any smartphone. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S4 cases by Cygnett hands-on

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Being one of the fastest growing designers and makers of mobile accessories, Cygnett naturally released a range of Samsung Galaxy S4 cases. Created in Australia, Cygnett products aim to bring design flare and substance into one package – enough to get me curious enough to want to spend time with them.

With tens of millions Samsung Galaxy S4 units expected to be sold, it is hardly a surprise that there’s an overwhelming amount of cases available for the Korean smartphone flagship. Starting with the offerings by Cygnett, I will try and cover some of the notable players in this field, worthy of your attention. Read more »

Nokia Lumia 928 paid us a visit, the unboxing video is inside

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The Nokia Lumia 928 is Verizon’s long awaited top shelf Windows Phone 8 smartphone by the Finnish company. The LTE handset is also the first member of the Nokia Lumia family to feature a xenon flash.

The Nokia Lumia 928 features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 SoC and a gig of RAM. Read more »

Chromebook Pixel mini review

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Quite frankly, when Google took the wraps off the $1,299 Chromebook Pixel, just about everyone got caught by surprise. After all, the newcomer costs over six times more than the cheapest Chromebook on offer, and thus goes completely against the notion that notebooks running Google’s OS embodies cheap computing.

Of course, the Pixel does have some chops to show for its price tag. Leading the way is a stunningly gorgeous body, machined from anodized aluminum. Once you crack the notebook open, a jaw-dropping 12.85” touchscreen with a resolution of 2560 x 1700 pixels greets you.

Late as we are, we got our chance to try out a review unit and we didn’t waste any time but whipped up our own mini review. For starters, read on to see the full list of talents which this Chromebook OS royalty has to offer. Read more »

The Nexus 4 White prances into our office, we’ve got the hands-on inside

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The LG Nexus 4 White was officially announced yesterday and we just found one waiting at our doorstep this morning.

The phone is definitely a looker with the all-white back and sides but retains the solid black all-glass front of the black Nexus 4. When compared side by side, the two, although identical, look different. Read more »

Hisense Sero 7 Pro is a $149 tablet with Nexus 7 topping specs, we go hands-on

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The Hisense Sero 7 Pro Android tablet, together with the entry-level Sero 7 LT slate, is the Chinese manufacturer’s first effort designed with the lucrative US market in mind. Priced at the highly acceptable $149.99, the Jelly Bean slate offers a better spec sheet than a Google Nexus 7 for noticeably less cash.

Like the Nexus 7, the Hisense Sero 7 Pro packs a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 SoC and a gig of RAM. Read more »

Sony Xperia Tablet Z is not afraid of water or our camera, stars in quick hands-on video

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The Sony Xperia Tablet Z had to cross a river to get to our office… okay, it didn’t but it that wouldn’t have troubled it thanks to its IP57 certification. That’s not the only specs the Z tablet shares with the Z phone either, the slender OmniBalance design gives the tablet a unique look.

The Xperia Tablet Z is only 6.9mm thick and weighs under 500g, it’s a pretty impressive device to hold in your hand. Read more »

BLU Life Play hands-on

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The bright-colored BLU Life Play is the most affordable member of the recently launched Android smartphone series by the Miami-based manufacturer. Priced at only $229 with no contract, the dual-SIM handset offers tremendous value without heavily skimping on the hardware specs.

Like the BLU Life View and the BLU Life One, the entry-level Life Play features a MediaTek MT6589 SoC with 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU, a PowerVR Series5XT series GPU, and 1GB of RAM. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 lands in our office, we give it the hands-on treatment

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The little brother in Samsung’s latest big-screen duo, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8, has made it to our office, and we’re giving you a quick look at it before getting our review under way.

As you may have guessed, the Galaxy Mega 5.8 contains a 5.8-inch screen, which ventures well into phablet territory, although not as much as the even larger display located on the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. Either way, join us as we take a look at this massive smartphone from Samsung. Read more »

US LG Optimus G Pro hands-on

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The LG Optimus G Pro made its way officially to the United States, so we managed to spend some quality time with the Yankee version of the Korean flagship. The smartphone is exclusively offered by AT&T for $199.99 with a two-year commitment.

As far as specs go, the US LG Optimus G Pro is practically identical with the Korean version which we extensively reviewed, save for the omission of FM radio. Highlights include a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC, 5.5” 1080p IPS display, 13MP camera, as well as every trick from the playbook of today’s crop of Android flagships. Read on to find out what’s different about the US model. Read more »

The Sony Xperia L pays us a visit, poses for the camera

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The Sony Xperia L is Sony’s latest effort in the lower midrange market, bringing a very decent set of features for under 250 euro – a combo bound to get it quite a lot of attention.

Among its key selling points is Android Jelly Bean 4.1, an 8 MP snapper, dual-core Krait processor, 4.3″ display in a regular-sized body and expandable storage. Read more »

Nokia Lumia 925 comes into our office, flaunts its new design, display and software

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The Nokia Lumia 925 recently took over the reins from the 920 as the new WP8 flagship. The Lumia 928 is similar but it’s a Verizon exclusive. Anyway, the 925 brings a much needed redesign of the body, a new AMOLED screen and several software improvements.

Just to be clear, the Lumia 920 didn’t need a redesign in terms of looks – it’s the thickness and especially weight that needed work. It weighed 185g, 2g heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Note II, which has a screen that’s a full inch bigger. Dropping to 8.5mm thickness from 10.7mm is a welcome change as well. Read more »