Mini Mobile Review

Samsung Galaxy Ace Review

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is a new Android smartphone by Samsung. It runs Android 2.2 Froyo and has a 5 MP camera with an 800 MHz processor. It will likely be priced into the budget category and will be launched at CES 2011. 

Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 Specifications

Dimensions; 112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5 mm
Weight: 113 gms
Display: 3.5 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display, 320 x 480 pixels
OS: Android 2.2 Froyo
Processor: Qualcomm 800 MHz processor
Camera: 5 MP camera, autofocus, LED flash
Connectivity: 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
GPS: GPS with A-GPS
Battery: 1350 mAh Li-ion battery

Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 Review

Design

The Samsung Galaxy Ace has a nice and stylish design. It resembles the iPhone, mostly due to similar dimensions. It is quite compact and has a weight of just 113 gms.

It has a 3.5 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. Nice brightness and contrast, but not as good as SuperAMOLED. The 3.5 inch display is good for watching videos.

Hardware and User Interface

It runs Android 2.2 Froyo with the TouchWiz UI and Swype. It has an 800 MHz Qualcomm processor and 158 MB internal storage.

The hardware is powerful enough and the phone is very responsive. It should get Android 2.3 Gingerbread; it’s definitely capable of running it.

Camera

The Galaxy Ace comes with a 5 MP camera with an image capture resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. It has autofocus and LED flash and can also record QVGA videos at 15 FPS. The video recording sucks, but the image quality is great.

Connectivity

The Galaxy Ace has everything in terms of connectivity – 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and a GPS transceiver with A-GPS. It is powered by a 1350 mAh Li-ion battery which should last about 1.5 days.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 is a great phone. If priced right, it should be the next Galaxy S. It will kill all the competition if priced in the budget Android category.

Nokia N9 Review

The Nokia N9 was leaked quite some time back. It is supposedly Nokia’s best smartphone yet and sports some killer hardware. It will run the new MeeGo OS and will be launched by Q1 2011.

Nokia N9 Specifications

• Display: 4.0 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display, 480 x 800 pixels
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor
• RAM: 512 MB RAM
• ROM: 1 GB ROM
• Memory: 64 GB internal storage
• OS: MeeGo OS
• Camera: 5 MP camera with autofocus, dual LED flash
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, microUSB 2.0 with USB on the Go
• GPS: GPS with A-GPS
• Battery: Li-ion battery, 1320 mAh

Design

The Nokia N9 has a very stylish metallic design with a horizontal slider form factor. It has a superb keyboard with widely spaced out keys and a huge 4.0 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The phone is a work of art and the build quality seems to be really good.

Hardware and OS

The Nokia N9 will run the new MeeGo OS. It might be the first phone to run MeeGo. It is quite capable when it comes to hardware, and sports some of the best hardware components. It is powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and comes with 512 MB RAM. It has 64 GB internal storage and supports microSD cards up to 32 GB.

Multimedia

The Nokia N9 is a very good multimedia phone. It has a 5 MP camera (rumors suggest that the camera could be bumped up to 8 MP before launch) with autofocus, dual LED flash and 720p video recording. It comes with HDMI out and the big display is suited to watching movies. It also has a built in FM radio.

Connectivity

Like all other recent smartphones, the Nokia N9 sports all connectivity options like GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP etc. It also has the USB on the Go feature like the Nokia N8. It comes with a GPS chip with A-GPS. It is powered by a 1320 mAh Li-ion battery.

The Verdict

The Nokia N9 is a very promising phone. Whatever we know about it yet points to only one thing – awesomeness. It should launch by Q1 2011.

Palm Pre 2 Review

The Palm Pre 2 is the next version of the Palm Pre, the first webOS based phone by Palm. webOS was universally acclaimed as an excellent OS, but it didn’t see much commercial success. Palm was recently gobbled up by HP in a $1.2 billion distress sale. Since then, Android and iOS have come a long way. Even Palm is now back with the new version of webOS – webOS 2.0 as well as a brand new phone – the Palm Pre 2.

Palm Pre 2 Specifications

• Dimensions: 100.7 x 59.6 x 16.9 mm
• Weight: 145 gms
• Display: 3.1 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display, 320 x 480 pixels
• Camera: 5 MP camera with AF and LED flash
• Processor: 1 GHz
• RAM: 512 MB
• Storage: 16 GB
• OS: webOS 2.0
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• GPS: GPS with A-GPS
• Price: $450

Design

The Palm Pre 2 is almost exactly the same as the Palm Pre in terms of design. It is quite compact and comes with a 3.1 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. It has a sliding vertical keyboard which is one of the best.

Hardware and Operating System

The Palm Pre 2 is much better than its predecessor in terms of both, hardware and software. It runs the new webOS 2.0 and comes with a 1 GHz processor with 512 MB RAM. The hardware is on par with any other high end smartphone and OS is one of the best mobile OSes yet. It doesn’t offer many apps or games though, if you want more of those, you will have to go with Android or iOS.

Multimedia

The Palm Pre 2 comes with a 5 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. It also has an FM radio. Nothing very remarkable on the multimedia front.

Connectivity

The Palm Pre 2 has all the standard connectivity options – GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP etc. It also has a GPS transceiver with A-GPS.

The Verdict

The Palm Pre 2 is a very good phone with a superb OS. It isn’t as popular as iOS or Android, but webOS 2.0 is really good. The Palm Pre 2 sports the best smartphone hardware and is priced quite well at just $449. I would recommend it.

Huawei Ideos U8150 Review

The Huawei Ideos is the cheapest Android phone currently available. It competes with heavyweights like the HTC Wildfire, Samsung Galaxy 3, Samsung Galaxy 5 and the LG Optimus One, but is priced much lower. It offers a great deal and comes with decent hardware coupled with Android 2.2 Froyo.

Huawei Ideos U8150 Specifications

• Dimensions: 104 x 56 x 12.7 mm
• Weight: 102 gms
• Display: 2.8 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display, 240 x 320 pixels
• OS: Android 2.2 Froyo
• CPU: Qualcomm MSM 7225 528 MHz processor
• RAM: 256 MB RAM
• Camera: 3.15 MP camera
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• GPS: GPS with A-GPS
• Battery: Li-ion battery, 1200 mAh

Design

The Huawei Ideos has a standard candybar touchscreen form factor with a compact design. It isn’t very stylish, but at this price point, you cannot expect much.

It has a 2.8 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The display is a bit too small but will suffice for regular usage. Watching videos on the small display isn’t recommended.

Hardware and OS

The Huawei Ideos has some decent hardware powering it. It comes with a Qualcomm MSM 7225 528 MHz processor and 256 MB RAM. It also supports up to 16 GB microSD cards, so memory shouldn’t be a problem.

It comes with the latest Android OS – Android 2.2 Froyo, which even some of the best Android phones can’t boast of. The OS is very responsive and peppy.

Multimedia

The Huawei Ideos isn’t much when it comes to multimedia performance. It has just a 3.15 MP camera which sucks and supports only primitive video formats like 3GP, MP4 etc. It has an FM radio though.

Connectivity

Like all other Android phones, the Huawei Ideos offers almost every standard connectivity option – it has GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
and comes with a GPS transceiver with A-GPS. It is powered by a standard Li-ion 1200 mAh battery which lasts for about 2 days.

The Verdict

The Huawei Ideos is the cheapest Android phone available and offers excellent value for money. If you want to try out Android but don’t want to spend much money, the Huawei Ideos is the phone you want. It is priced at about $160 (Rs. 6500)

Samsung Nexus S I9020 Review / Google Nexus 2 Review

The Google Nexus One was one of the best Android phones when it was released. It has been rendered obsolete now, by phones like the Samsung Galaxy S and the Motorola Droid X. However, it is still the first phone to receive Android OS updates (it will be the first phone to get Android 2.3 Gingerbread).

HTC and Google have had a long standing relationship, but now Google seems to be considering launching the next version – Google Nexus 2 with Samsung, after the phenomenal success of the Samsung Galaxy S. The Samsung Nexus S I9020 (Google Nexus Two) will be the new flagship phone officially branded by Google.

Samsung Nexus S Specifications
Google Nexus 2 Specifications

• Display: 4 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, 480 x 800 pixels.
• OS: Android 2.3 Gingerbread
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 1 GHz processor
• RAM: 512 MB RAM
• Camera: 8 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0
• GPS: GPS with A-GPS

Design

The Samsung Nexus S seems to be an extremely sleek and stylish phone. It is very slim and the form factor is similar to the Galaxy S. It has a 4 inch capacitive touchscreen AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels.

Hardware and OS

The Samsung Nexus S (Google Nexus 2) will be one of the first phones to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It will sport the vanilla Android UI and will offer complete access to the Android Market.

It will likely be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1 GHz processor and come with 512 MB RAM. The rest of the hardware specs are similar to the Galaxy S.

Multimedia

The Samsung Nexus S / Google Nexus 2 will sport a killer 8 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. It can record HD video at 720p / 30 FPS.

Like the Galaxy S, it will also support playback of almost all the video and audio formats. The 4 inch AMOLED display is ideal for watching videos. It also comes with a FM radio.

Connectivity

The Samsung Nexus S / Google Nexus 2 has all the standard connectivity options like GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 etc. It also has NFC support and comes with a GPS chip with A-GPS support.

Conclusion

The Samsung Nexus S (Google Nexus 2) is an extremely awesome phone which offers almost everything you would need in a smartphone. It is stylish, functional and a multimedia powerhouse. I would definitely go for it.