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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

The Samsung Wave is the first smartphone which will run the new Bada OS by Samsung. It has excellent hardware specs and the Bada OS seems really good. It is priced very well and should be a great option for anyone who wants a cheaper alternative to the high end Android phones or the iPhone 4.

Samsung Wave Specifications:

• Dimensions: 118 x 56 x 10.9 mm
• Weight: 118 gms
• Display: 3.3 inch SuperAMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 480 x 800 pixels
• Processor: 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor
• RAM: 512 MB RAM
• OS: Bada OS, TouchWiz 3.0 UI
• Memory: 2 GB internal memory, upto 32 GB microSD
• Camera: 5 MP camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels with autofocus and LED flash
• Radio: Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
• GPS: GPS transceiver with A-GPS
• Battery: 1500 mAh Li-ion battery

Design

The Samsung Wave has a nice, stylish, sleek design and is pretty compact. It has a superb 3.3 inch SuperAMOLED capacitive touchscreen with excellent display quality which has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It is one of the best smartphone displays with superb brightness and contrast levels. The build quality is also very good and the body is quite sturdy.

Hardware and Bada OS

The Samsung Wave comes with the best hardware: 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and 512 MB RAM. It has 2 GB internal memory of which 390 MB is available to the user. It can support upto 32 GB microSD cards. It comes with the new Bada OS by Samsung. The Bada OS has the TouchWiz 3.0 user interface which is bery similar to the Android version. It is fast, responsive, intuitive and comes loaded with features. It has homescreens, widgets, notifications, multitasking etc. It will also come with the Bada App Store from which you can download applications directly. The Bada App Store currently stores about 400 apps with more to come.

Multimedia

It comes with a nice gallery which allows you to browse through images using multitouch gestures. It also has a video player which can handle DivX, Xvid, 3GP, MP4 and MKV files even at high resolutions. The video playback is excellent on the beautiful SuperAMOLED display. It comes with a music player with an easy to use interface and nice features like DNSe, equalizer presets etc which offers great sound quality. It also has an FM Radio with RDS.

The Samsung Wave comes with a 5 MP camera with a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. It also has autofocus and LED flash. The image capture quality is really good. The camera can also record 720p video at 30 FPS. It comes with advanced features like touch focus, face detection, smile and blink detection.

Connectivity

It has all the standard connectivity options: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. It also comes with Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and MicroUSB 2.0 connectivity. It also has a GPS transceiver with A-GPS. It is powered by a 1500 mAh Li-ion battery with a rated talktime of about 8 hours.

Conclusion

It is a very capable smartphone which is packed with features and comes with the promising Bada OS. Definitely recommended. If you want a Android smartphone, go for the Samsung Galaxy S

This is a small review of the Motorola XT720, also known as the Motorola Droid 2. After the success of the Motorola Droid, Motorola has adopted Android wholeheartedly. It has announced both the new Motorola Droid X and Motorola Droid 2. The Droid 2 will also be known as the Motorola Milestone XT720.

Motorola Droid 2 Specifications

• Dimensions: 116 x 60.9 x 10.9 mm
• Weight: 139 gms
• Display: 3.7 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, 480 x 854 pixels, 16 M colors
• Processor: ARM Cortex A8, 1 GHz
• RAM: 512 MB RAM
• ROM: 512 MB ROM
• Memory: 150 MB internal, upto 32 GB microSD
• Operating System: Android 2.1 Eclair
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• Camera: 8 MP camera, 3264 x 2448 pixels withautofocus, xenon flash
• Radio: Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• GPS: GPS with A-GPS
• Battery: Li-Po battery, 1390 mAh

Design

The Motorola Droid 2 has a stylish asymmetrical design which looks like it’s straight out of a sci-fi film. It has a 3.7 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display on the front face with a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels with four touch sensitive buttons: Menu, Home, Back and Search below it. It also has touch sensitive camera buttons to the right of the display. The display quality seems great but a AMOLED displayw ould have been better.

OS and Hardware

The Motorola Droid 2 (Milestone XT720) will be powered by the Android 2.1 OS. It will probably get an upgrade to Android 2.2 soon after its release. It sports the best in mobile hardware: ARM Cortex A8 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM. It has 150 MB internal memory and supports upto 32 GB microSD cards.

Multimedia

The Droid 2 has an excellent display which will be great for watching movies. It supports MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC+ audio playback as well as 3GP, MP4, WMV, H.263, H.264 video playback. It will also have an HDMI slot and a stereo FM radio with RDS.

The Droid 2 will have a 8 MP camera with a image capture resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. It will have autofocus and a Xenon flash and will also sport features like geotagging, face detection and smile detection. The 8 MP camera has excellent image capture quality. It can also record 720p video at 24 FPS.

Connectivity

The Motorola Droid 2 has all the standard connectivity options GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with DLNA. It also has Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and microUSB 2.0 connectivity. It also comes with a GPS transceiver with A-GPS support.

It will be powered by a standard 1390 mAh Li-Po battery which has a rated talktime of about 8 hrs.

Conclusion

It is one of the best Android smartphones. You could also consider the HTC Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S in this price range.

Nokia 6700 Slide Review

This is a review of the Nokia 6700 Slide, the latest Symbian smartphone by Nokia. Nokia seems to be clueless in its fight for mobile dominance against the iPhone and Android devices. It used to lead in the budget smartphone segment but Android seems to be on its way to that particular market too. The Nokia 6700 Slide is a budget Symbian smartphone which offers almost everything you need except Wi-Fi and GPS.

Nokia 6700 Slide Specifications:

• Dimensions: 95.2 x 46.1 x 15.9 mm
• Weight: 110 g
• Display: 2.2 inch TFT, 240 x 320 pixels
• Processor: ARM 11 600 MHz processor
• OS: Symbian OS v9.3 with FP2
• RAM: 128 MB RAM
• Memory: 45 MB Internal; 16 GB MicroSD support
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA
• Bluetooth: v2.0 with A2DP
• Camera: 5 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, AF, LED flash
• Battery: 860 mAh, Li-ion battery
• Other Features: FM Radio with RDS, J2ME MIDP 2.1, Ovi Maps
• Price: Rs. 9,600. ($220)

Design:

The Nokia 6700 Slide sports a sturdy slider design with excellent build quality. The body is composed mostly of steel and is pretty compact. It packs in a 2.2 inch TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. It is available in many colors, aimed at youngsters. Below the display lies the D-Pad and the keys. The right side sports the camera key while the top has the 2.5 mm audio jack, the microUSB port and the charging slot. On the back is the 5 MP camera with dual LED flash.

OS and Hardware:

The Nokia 6700 Slide runs Symbian OS v9.3 with FP2 installed. It is quite familiar to the older Symbian OS 9 iterations but offers visual and performance improvements. On the hardware side, it has a 600 MHz ARM 11 processor with 128 MB RAM. The OS and UI and fast, zippy and intuitive. It offers 45 MB of internal memory and supports upto 16 GB microSD cards.

Multimedia and Camera:

It comes with the standard Symbian image gallery, music player and video player. The audio quality is quite remarkable and can easily double up as a PMP. The small screen size isn’t suited for watching video, but with the help of 3rd party applications like Smartmovie and Core player, you can play almost every popular format easily. Browsing through the image gallery is a breeze thanks to the 600 MHz processor.

It has a 5 MP camera which takes shots at 2592×1944 pixels. The image capture quality is pretty good. The camera interface offers all basic camera settings. It can handle VGA video recording at 15 FPS. It also has a FM radio with RDS.

Connectivity and Other Features:

It features a lot of connectivity options like GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA and Bluetooth. However, it doesn’t include Wi-Fi which is a disappointment. It also doesn’t offer GPS but comes with Ovi Maps. The Webkit based browser is excellent and browsing is fast thanks to the capable processor and ample RAM. It is powered by a 860 mAh Li-ion battery which lasts for slightly more than a day with moderate usage.

All in all, it is a decent option for those wanting a budget smartphone.

Nokia 6700 Slide Price: Rs. 9600, $220

HTC first revealed the HTC Smart at CES this year. It is one of the first phones to be announced with the Qualcomm BREW platform. It is a new open operating system by Qualcomm aimed specifically at inexpensive smart feature phones. HTC is now a major mobile player and has a line of smartphones with every major OS – Android, Windows Mobile and BREW OS.

HTC Smart Specifications:

• Dimensions: 104 x 55 x 12.8 mm
• Weight: 108 g
• Display: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches
• OS: BREW OS with Sense UI
• Memory: 256 MB ROM
• RAM: 256 MB RAM
• Processor: 300 MHz Qualcomm
• Camera: 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, LED flash
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0
• Battery: Li-Ion 1100 mAh

Review:

The HTC Smart sports a nice design with superb build quality. The design is similar to most other touchscreen phones with the front being dominated by the display. the camera and flash on the back, the USB connector on the bottom and the headphone jack on the top. There is also a volume rocker on the left. It also sports a dedicated camera button.

It has a 2.8 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The display quality is nice and enhances the Sense UI. The Sense UI has tabs which offer calendar features, Facebook and Twitter integration, and a nice photo gallery application as well as a Music Player.

It has decent hardware specs – more than enough to support the OS. It is powered by Qualcomm’s BREW OS with Sense UI running on a 300 MHz Qualcomm processor with 256 MB of RAM. The UI is slightly similar to the Sense UI found on Android and Windows Mobile phones by HTC. It offers all the basic features like contacts, messages, mail and a web browser. Browsing through the UI feels intuitive and shouldn’t take much time to learn.

It has a 3.15 MP camera with LED flash which takes decent shots. It also has basic connectivity features like GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA and Bluetooth 2.0. It also comes with a FM radio with RDS. It has support for Java MIDP 2.1 built in. It is powered by a 1100 mAh Li-ion battery. It is expected to be priced at less than 200 euros. All in all, a decent phone, but not worth buying; Android phones are getting cheaper day by day and offer much more than the HTC Smart. Case in point, the Samsung Spica i5700.

Intex has launched its first triple SIM mobile phone – the Intex 5030. It has all the basic features you would need in a phone, plus the support for 2 GSM and 1 CDMA phones. If you have been using multiple SIMs, the Intex 5030 is the phone you have been looking for. It competes with the Videocon VC1425 and the Olive Wiz in the triple SIM phone category.

Intex 5030 Specifications:

• Network: GSM 900/1800 + CDMA 800
• Dimensions: 111 x 48 x 14.8mm
• Weight: 105 gms
• Display: 2.0 inch TFT display, 65k colors
• Camera: 1.3 MP
• Battery: Li-ion 1050 mAh
• Connectivity: GPRS, Bluetooth with A2DP, USB
• Memory: 4 GB MicroSD
• Other Features: Radio, Flashlight, Triple SIM support
• Price: INR 4500 ($100)

Review:

The Intex 5030 comes bundled with the user manual, charger, USB cable and earphones. It has a decent design and pretty good build quality. It has a 2.0 inch TFT display which supports 65k colors.

It comes with a custom OS and hardware which supports 2 GSM and 1 CDMA SIM. You have separate inboxes for each SIM and can access contacts from any of the SIMs. YOu can also select which SIM to enable or disable as you want.

It offers a mediocre 1.3 MP camera which should strictly not be used IMO. It offers all the basic multimedia features like image viewer, video player, audio player etc. It also has FM radio and a flashlight built in. You can also record FM radio channels. The video playback quality isn’t very good but the audio quality is pretty nice.

It also has the standard organizer applications – calendar, tasks, alarm clock etc. On the connectivity side, it has GPRS, Bluetooth with A2DP and a data cable.

It supports MicroSD cards upto 4 GB and is powered by a Li-ion 1050 mAh battery. The call quality is pretty good. It is priced at Rs. 4500 in India ($100).