Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and smartwatch reveal may happen September 4

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and smartwatch reveal may happen September 4

The Galaxy S4 was released back in April, but many Samsung fans are still waiting patiently for the Galaxy Note 3 to arrive. If you’re waiting on the bigger, stylus-packing phablet to make your next purchase, mark September 4 on your calendar.

That’s when Samsung will be announcing the Galaxy Note 3, according to a Korean media report. It’s a date that makes sense when you look back at Samsung’s two previous Note reveals.

Both were on display at the IFA trade show in Berlin — the original Note in 2011 and its successor in 2012. The fourth is actually two days before the show officially kicks off, but alone doesn’t make the prediction any less believable.

The Galaxy Note 2 was unveiled the day before IFA last year, giving Samsung a little time by itself in the spotlight. There’s every reason to believe the company would follow the same plan this year –and for months tech pundits have been musing that’s when the Galaxy Note 3 would finally break cover.

We’ve already seen rumored specs of the new Note, too. Originally thought to have a 6.3-inch display, it’s more likely to arrive with a 5.7-inch, 1080p AMOLED screen. A Snapdragon 800 chip, 13MP camera (possibly with 3x optical zoom), and Android 4.3 may also be in the mix.

The Note 3 won’t be the only device Samsung has on hand, either. The same Korean report says that the company’s oft-rumored smartwatch will make an appearance, too. By the time IFA 2013 rolls around, Apple might be ready to show off its first wearable.

Review: Moto X is the phone Android needs right now

Review: Moto X is the phone Android needs right now

Not too long ago, Google bought a smartphone manufacturer. Instead of making another Nexus, the first true Google-Motorola phone is a bundle of experiments that the the company hopes will turn out to be popular. Meet the Moto X, the first Android phone targeted at the average consumer

We’ve been hearing about The New Motorola ever since the Droid Razr HD launch last year, but this smartphone is the first one to be entirely designed by Google. “The first phone from the new Motorola” as they put it. This phone has been highly anticipated with more leaks than we typically see from even the most popular announcements these days. In the days before the unveiling, those who had been paying attention were left with the impression that this would be a mid-range phone. This didn’t turn out the way everyone expected.

After some preliminary comparisons to the current Android heavyweights, the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One (Read: Moto X vs Galaxy S4 and Moto X vs HTC One), we were all reminded that what we read on a specs sheet and how a phone feels in the real world are two very different things.

Motorola promises that this phone will create a unique experience geared for everyone, and not just the hardcore Android power user. While the phone it not without flaws — some of them easily deal breakers for certain groups of users — the X is an impressive first step from The New Motorola.

Moto X rear
Hardware

Motorola is no stranger to the “flat black slab” design, having made more than a few of them over the past few years. The Moto X is quite different… or at least the back half of it is. The phone feels like two different concepts that have been awkwardly pressed together in order to create a single device. On the front half you’ll find nothing but glass, which bleeds over the edge and down the side. The glass around the edge of the phone is opaque, serving as both the trim and the bezel. As a result you’ll find very little on the front of the phone that is not the display, outside of the normal phone bits like microphone, speaker, and front-facing camera. For a phone with a 4.7-inch display, it feels smaller than any other high-end Android phone sold today.

Considering that is uses a 720p RGB AMOLED display, the Moto X looks great, as long as you are OK a warmer-than-average color temperature. When the brightness is way down on the X you can see the yellowing in areas that are supposed to be true white. This works well for images, but can be less than ideal for reading text. The 316ppi display doesn’t hold a candle to some of today’s 1080p IPS displays, especially in direct sunlight, but you won’t be able to see pixels or pentile line fragments. Overall, the Moto X has a decent display that won’t eat your battery just by existing, but it certainly isn’ going to win Motorola any awards.

Moto X

The other side of the Moto X is wildly different. The polycarbonate backing, which is currently only available in a black or white that closely resembles the kevlar designs Motorola has deployed in the past, curves in a dramatic fashion. The phone tapers from 10.4mm at the thickest point just above the center of the device to the 5.6mm at the base and just barely thicker than this at the top and sides of the device. It’s almost as though the Motorola symbol on the back of the phone is being pulled away from the phone, and the back has warped out as it happened.

Ergonomically speaking, your finger naturally rests on the concave spot on the back (where the Motorola logo is), and it doesn’t feel as though you are stretching your thumb to reach the other side of the phone when trying to use it with a single hand. The end result is a phone that feels very comfortable in your hand, but a little wobbly and clumsy when trying to use it as the phone rests on a flat surface.

These two sides don’t meet well in the middle. As a result of these two different materials there is a seam in the middle of the phone that is both awkward to look at and to feel. The glossy glass bezel and matte polycarbonate meet with a rough edge that is uncomfortable to run your fingers across and quite noticeable if you are looking for it. This was likely made worse by my decision to review the white version of the phone, as the seam also causes a black line around the two sides that makes it really clear when the edges don’t line up perfectly.

All in all the Moto X feels solid and looks nice when you’re looking at one side or the other, but it’s far from the most aesthetically pleasing smartphone available today.

Moto X camera compare
Clear Pixel camera

Motorola’s smartphone cameras have historically never been anything particularly special. They get the job done, and their apps have always kept up well enough with the pace of the rest of the industry, but over the last few years there’s clearly not been anything driving the Motorola team to deliver a one of a kind camera experience. The Moto X includes the world’s first RGBC sensor in a phone, with the hope that it will deliver a high end camera experience that also offers a great lowlight experience. Alongside of this the new camera app looks to strip as many buttons from the experience to allow the user to take a photo as quickly as possible, even going so far as to include a wrist flick gesture that launches the camera app from any point in the OS.

Motorola’s Clear Pixel camera does exactly what it advertises it will do. In low light situations the camera easily competes with the HTC One and Nokia Lumia 928 when it comes to the sensor being able to “see” in low light. When capturing images it does a great job demonstrating color accuracy, and the AutoHDR function does an acceptable job balancing the light if there’s ever an issue with the environment you are trying to take a picture in. Unfortunately, in our tests with the camera the truly great shots produced were few and far between. This isn’t because the camera isn’t capable, but because the software often misses the mark in focusing on the correct thing in the photo.

The camera app in the Moto X has autofocus on by default that really struggles to quickly focus on things that are within a couple of feet, typically preferring to focus much farther away. There’s a tap-to-focus feature that you can enable, but the camera takes the photo regardless of whether or not it focused correctly after you tap. There’s no pause in between focus and capture, and so the camera misfires frequently. This happens less frequently with the front-facing camera, though as a 2MP shooter you won’t be doing much other than face shots which are relatively easy to optimize for. When you do get that clear photo, it’s usually a pretty great shot.

HDR is set to Auto on this phone, which also contributes to a poor photography experience. HDR in general on this phone is great from the perspective of someone who plans to edit the photos later. There seems to be almost no post processing done when the photo is taken, so while the end result often looks more washed out than something like the HTC One which tends to over-processes photos. Turning HDR off seemed to generate the best all around photos, while HDR on served as a great tool for photos that will be edited later. With Auto HDR on, it takes much longer to get from capture to capture. The delay from taking one photo to another can often be two seconds, unless you’ve decided to hold your finger on the screen and capture a series of photos via the burst shot feature. (For more on the HTC One read our low-light camera shootout.)

Video seems largely unaffected by the focus and HDR issues found in the camera app, and the single button press required to capture video is a welcome change from the often overcomplicated third party Android camera apps. The camcorder function on the Moto X does a great job capturing 1080p video or 720p slow motion video. You can tap the screen anytime you are recording video and capture stills, which often end up looking better than just trying to take a normal photo.

Google to bring 10x faster WiFi to all 7000 US Starbucks locations

Google to bring 10x faster WiFi to all 7000 US Starbucks locations

Starbucks seems to be on a mission to improve the technology inside its coffee shops recently. Yesterday we heard about wireless charging pads being integrated into tables at Silicon Valley Starbucks locations, now the company has done a deal with Google to provide much faster WiFi access.

The collaboration will see Google deliver up to 10x faster WiFi to not just a few, but all 7,000 Starbucks-operated locations across the US. And better yet, if any of those Starbucks fall within a Google Fiber area, Google is aiming to increase speeds 100x.

Upgrading 7,000 locations is quite the undertaking, but Google believes it can get the job done over the next 18 months. After that, visit any US Starbucks and you’ll apparently get to enjoy much faster access.

Google says it is investing to help the Internet grow stronger. It also points to Starbucks web access as being important not only for students and people who choose to work from such locations, but also because they can act as key communication points during a disaster such as when Hurricane Sandy hit.

Indeed, Google isn’t new to the idea of investing in Internet infrastructure for no real monetary gain. You may remember back in 2009 the search giant decided to offer free WiFi access across 47 US airports.

While these upgrades may be great news for coffee drinkers, they could cause Starbucks a bit of a problem. If you’re offering faster Internet access than people get at home for free, free gadget charging, and all it costs is the price of a coffee, why would anyone want to leave? We could see a lot more people testing how long a tall coffee can last just to sit there surfing the web all day.

Samsung caught rigging phones to boost benchmark results

Samsung caught rigging phones to boost benchmark results

It has always been my firm belief that benchmarks, specifically mobile benchmarks, were a waste of time and could never offer the same information as actually holding the device in your hands and trying it for yourself. Samsung has helped demonstrate just how true that is after being caught intentionally boosting performance on their hardware in order to deceive popular benchmarking tools.

It was only a matter of time before smartphone manufacturers started trying to optimize their hardware to suit benchmarks. There’s a lot of curious double talk about hardware amongst mobile OEMs right now, some going as far as giving their processors entirely new names to make them sound great to a casual observer. PC manufacturers have been doing it for years, and there’s never really been anything anyone can do to stop them from behaving this way.

With a smartphone, the CPU and GPU benchmarks do little more than complete numbers on a chart or add another line to a graph. You can’t use a CPU or GPU benchmark to tell you which of the smartphones will offer you a better experience in your day to day activities. In theory, you could use GPU benchmarks to tell you which device would give you a better gaming experience if you played a lot of high performance mobile games, but now it would appear that even this is no longer true.

After receiving a tip that some benchmark apps were behaving a little oddly on the octo-core variant of the Galaxy S4, the guys at Anandtech did what they do best and performed a thorough analysis on the phone. According to their research, this variant of the Galaxy S4 contains specific code that boosts the clock speed of the CPU and GPU when specific benchmarking apps are running on the phone.

The app responsible for this behavior, TwDVFSApp.apk, will push the GPU from 480MHz to 532MHz, and as far as anyone can tell that clock speed is only possible on the phone when the specific benchmarks being called out in the app are being run. This list includes AnTuTu, Benchmark Pi, Linpack, and all versions of the Quadrant apps. Each of these are popular, well known Android benchmark apps that can be installed in most cases for free from the Google Play Store.

The frustrating thing about this isn’t that Samsung is rigging their own hardware to get better benchmarks, but that those clock speeds aren’t available to users when playing games. There’s no way to enjoy the Exynos 5 Octa at 532MHz, even though your benchmarking app tells you that’s what you should expect. It’s possible there’s a good reason that users aren’t allowed to use the higher clockspeed. This may be a heat management issue, as every version of the Galaxy S4 has some temperature issues after an extended gameplay session.

Whatever is going on here, though, it’s clear that benchmarks really aren’t to be trusted on mobile hardware any more than they are on traditional computers.

Alienware 14 Haswell gaming laptop, 63% off antivirus

Alienware 14 Haswell gaming laptop, 63% off antivirus

 

It took a little while, but we have finally got our first discount on the Alienware 14 in the form of a 10% off coupon for any “14? model. For your hard-earned coin, you are getting yourself one of the fastest — and definitely the coolest — 14-inch Haswell laptop on the market today.

Everyone we’ve asked loves the new “stealth bomber” inspired design, with its smooth surfaces and sharp angles. It’s complemented by the AlienFX fully-customizable LED lighting system, which now allows you to light up the touchpad too.

Even the base model has high performance parts and a ridiculous level of standard features, starting with the quad-core Core i7-4700MQ Haswell processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 750GB hard drive. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750M 1GB graphics power up your fragging via the 14-inch HD screen. It also sports a slot-loading DVD burner, and has high performance Killer NIC brand wireless-n and gigabit ethernet connectivity.

Of course it wouldn’t be an Alienware without extensive upgrade options, and the first box we could tick is the 1080p IPS display upgrade, followed by the GTX 765M 2GB graphics card to ensure smooth fragging on the high-res panel. All of these options are of course 10% off as well, so for those with a little more budget, don’t be shy to make the most of that 10%.

    Alienware 14 Haswell Core i7 gaming laptop for $1,079.10 plus free shipping (reg. $1,199)

Construction of world’s tallest building in 90 days delayed until April 2014

Construction of world’s tallest building in 90 days delayed until April 2014


Construction company Broad Sustainable Building (BSB) had a very bold plan for 2013. They set out to build the world’s tallest building, called Sky City, in Hunan, China in just 90 days.

It sounds like an impossible task, but you wouldn’t bet against BSB hitting that 90 day target. The reason is the prefabricated nature of the building, which BSB has already used to construct a 30-story building in just 15 days.

With that in mind, we expected Sky City to be completed before the end of 2013 and at a cost of $628 million. Both of those goals now won’t be met as the construction has been delayed and the price of the build increased significantly.

No reason has been given for the delay, and this actually counts as the second time construction has been held up. We were meant to see Sky City erected in January, now it looks as though it won’t make an appearance on Hunan’s skyline until April 2014. The cost has also escalated significantly, that $628 million total has shot up to $855 million, again with no reason as to why.

skycity-tallest-buildings

So, while the final build may end up taking 90 days, the first of those days remains a moving target, and the build cost is getting higher even before a single prefabricated unit has been placed on the ground. If this is the future of large building construction, there’s clearly more than a few kinks still to work out in the process.

Is HTC Taking on the Galaxy Note With a Rumored 6-Inch One Max?

Is HTC Taking on the Galaxy Note With a Rumored 6-Inch One Max?

 

 Just in case you thought there weren't enough monstrous phones on offer, rumor has it that HTC may be planning to roll out a 6-inch, 1080p version of its acclaimed One.

Referred to as the One Max, Mobile Geeks reports that sources have revealed the phone could pack a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip, 2GB of RAM, up to 64GB of storage, and a 3200mAh battery-along with that whopping screen.

If-and that's a pretty weighty if-the rumors are correct, it's tough to know what to expect from a monster One. Stylus support? Handwriting recognition? Who knows. The report suggests that the phone could be unveiled as soon as September though, so if it's accurate then there's not too long to wait. Also, it's worth noting that date would marry up with the expected launch date of Samsung's Galaxy Note 3.

Elsewhere, Mobile Geeks repeats previous rumors about an HTC One Mini, with a dual-core 1.4GHz processor, 720p 4.3-inch display, and 16GB of storage. It goes to far as to suggest the smaller handset could land in the next two weeks, so... watch this space.

Apple iPhone 6 Specification, Price, Features, Release Date Leaked

Apple iPhone 6 Specs, Price, Features, Release Date Leaked

Apple fans are waiting to see the Apple’s new device, while according to rumors Apple will launch its next iPhone (iPhone 6) with 3D technology.



Specification or Features of iPhone 6 :
Screen:

The iPhone 6 will be launched with 4.8 Retina+ Sharp IGZO display with 1080 HD resolution, according to rumors.
Camera:

Apple bought camera sensor from Sony before suggesting that the new iPhone includes 3.2 megapixel face HD camera and 13 megapixel 3D rear camera.
Processor:

According to rumors, Apple will bring A7 quad-core processor instead of current processor, dual core A6, which is being run on iPhone 5 and in iPad 4.
iPhone 6 eye Tracking:

Apple will deliver some eye tracking motion technology in its next iPhone which allows the users to use the device without touch.
Wi-Fi connectivity:  

Apple iPhone 6 may have 802,11ac wi-fi connectivity.
Wireless Charging:

Apple will probably introduce the wireless charger which would is built to charge multiple devices simultaneously.
iPhone home button:

Apple has a giant Retina+ IGZO display and a “new form factor with no home button, according to Business Insider.
Operating System:

Apple’ next iPhone will run on iOS 7 while iPhone 5 and iPad 4 is still running on iOS 6.
Storage:

Apple has already launch 128 GB storage capacity version of iPad. So we could see a  iPhone with same storage capacity.
Release date:

As far as the release of Apple’s new iPhone 6 is concerned, it is expected to come in the autumn this year.

The features above show Apple is ready to take the challenge of Android devices like Samsung Galaxy S4. But the question is: are they enough to counter high-end Android Devices or not?

Vodafone will launch 4g service in Uk on 29 August 2013

Vodafone will launch 4g service in Uk on 29 August 2013

 Vodafone has revealed that it will launch its 4G service on 29 August to customers in London after investing £900m in the network.

It will roll out to 12 other cities including Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield by the end of the year, the firm said.

Prices for customers will begin at £26 per month for a SIM only deal with a 12-month contract.

Last week O2 announced plans to launch its own 4G service on the same day.

O2's lowest tariff is also £26 per month. EE, the first network to offer the faster mobile internet service, has a base tariff of £21 per month.

Three has said it plans to launch a fourth 4G network before the end of the year.

Bundled content
Vodafone has partnered with the music service Spotify and TV channel Sky Sport for its launch, to offer additional content to its 4G customers.

It is also providing unlimited data-use within the UK for the first three months of contracts, but otherwise imposes the maximum of an eight gigabyte cap. Vodafone said this would help customers pick the right data plan.

Consumer groups have been critical about the fact that only Three has committed itself to offering unlimited data as a long-term option.

All the networks took part in an auction run by regulator Ofcom to buy parts of the 4G spectrum earlier this year.

At the time Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards described the sale as "a positive outcome for competition" in the UK.

"4G coverage will extend far beyond that of existing 3G services, covering 98% of the UK population indoors - and even more when outdoors - which is good news for parts of the country currently underserved by mobile broadband," he said.

Both EE and Vodafone purchased bands in the 2.6GHz range as well as the 800MHz part of the radio spectrum. O2 only bought bands in the lower range.

The 2.6GHz bands delivers faster speeds but across smaller distances. The 800MHz bands - previously used by the TV signals - are best for providing long-distance 4G services and indoor coverage.

"It's not just about speed issue but also capacity," Matthew Howett, an analyst at the telecoms consultancy Ovum, told the BBC earlier.

"The higher frequency spectrum effectively has fatter pipes - you can get more data through them.

"When lots of people are using 4G to do things like streaming high definition video, it's important not just to have the availability of the signal but also that the pipe is wide enough to carry all that traffic."

Best Comparison Between Android 4.3 and Android 4.2.2

Best Comparison Between Android 4.3 and Android 4.2.2

Well, virtually out of nowhere, Android 4.3 surfaced in the past week in the form of a ROM for the Google Edition Samsung Galaxy S4. But when we take a look at it, what’s really changed from Android 4.2? Here’s a little summary of what we’ve found so far.
 The version of the ROM that Android Police have had on their hands for the Galaxy S4 still has a few bugs (always on Wi-Fi? Ugh), but it’s given us some good insight into what we can look forward to when Android 4.3 does finally drop for other devices.  While it will still fall under the same nomenclature of Jelly Bean, 4.3 will have an API version of 18, compared to an API version of 17 for Android 4.2 This means that there will be most likely new interfaces and interactions available for developers to play around with.
Wi-Fi issues
While poking around in the source code, Android Police have discovered some changes to the wireless settings. Even if your slider for Wi-Fi is set to “Off”, the device will still scan the background. Google has indicated in the past that Wi-Fi is not only used for a determination of your devices location, but also for “other purposes. Android Police has therefor speculated that data is still being sent back to Google to expand its own Wi-Fi cards (a composite of Wi-Fi networks in your area).
There is a way to currently shut it off, but you need to do some searching in Advanced Settings.  Once this is done, the device will rely on GPS for location determination, however, it will consume more battery than just using the Wi-Fi option.
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
First introduced in Android 4.0, Roboto is the system font that Android uses and was designed specifically for ease of readability on smaller displays.  Some minor improvements to this font family have been added in Android 4.3, most notably making the letters slimmer and having more rounded edges.

android 43 robotoThe changes, while small, should be noticeable to users when reading on smaller screens. Roboto on 4.2 in black and Roboto on 4.3 in red.

While the changes are only visible when you do a direct comparison between the old and new Roboto fonts, the overall readability of text on your smartphone device or Android tablet should improve with this change.
Notifications, we meet again
I guess with the update to 4.3, Google has also planned some pretty major changes the Android notification service. It seems that it will be possible for third-party apps to access notifications and interact directly through them and also display a history of notifications that you have received. The former will allow apps a new range of interactions through the notification center, such as deleting e-mail messages without having to open your e-mail app. The latter will be handy should you ever drop out of Wi-Fi or cell reception areas and then come back to find yourself inundated with a plethora of notifications.


notification service android 43Some changes to the notification center is expected, allowing more access for apps.

While it might seem not too ground-breaking, these changes would allows devices (such as a Pebble Smartwatch) more controllability when it comes to notifications and what you can do with them, allowing a more seamless experience and reducing the amount of “double” notifications that you get across devices.
Other features
Some more changes in Android 4.3, as noted by Android Central, have been listed below:

    The camera app has been redesigned with a new UI
    Support for Bluetooth Low Energy
    New Developer Tools (Debugging for non-rectangular clipping, Experimental WebView repeal of USB debugging authorizations)
    In the phone app pauses and waits can be inserted in the dialing string (using the comma and semicolon)
    Also in the Phone App: autocomplete in variable length of tone dialing and DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency)
    For screenshots that are shared via email, the date and time of recordings are automatically packed into the subject

And so, that’s it. And while most of it relates to the version of Android found on the Galaxy, it’s most likely these features will also be available in versions across other devices. No date has been given for an official release (or even announcement) but with the release of more information about the Moto X on July 10th, we could be in for a big surprise.

LG Optimus G Pro Review

LG Optimus G Pro Review: The Fastest Big Phone Out There

Fun fact: In a sprint, the hippo is one of the fastest land mammals, despite also being one of the largest. Similarly, the LG Optimus G Pro is unquestionably one humungoid phone, but it runs about as fast as the top speedsters out there. Whether or not you should consider buying it, however, is up to the elasticity of your fingers.

What Is It?

It's a bigass phone made by LG to compete with Samsung's bigass phone, the Galaxy Note II. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p HD screen, it's running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), and it has Qualcomm's screaming fast quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor clocked at 1.7GHz.
Who's It For?

People who want a lot of screen real-estate. People with big hands, or people with small hands who don't mind using two hands on their phones.
LG Optimus G Pro Review: The Fastest Big Phone Out There
Design

It is, frankly, so much like Samsung's Note II that the two could play a Freaky Friday-style prank on their owners.. It's got Samsung's classic rounded, glossy, plastic back. Up front there's a home button that you physically press down, which is flanked by a menu button and a back button. There is a very thin bezel up front, which is a nice look. The biggest difference between it and the Note II is the lack of a built-in stylus. (Above, from left to right: Galaxy Note II, Optimus G Pro, and the Galaxy S4.)
Using It

While the phone is decidedly quick, there's just no getting around how unwieldy it is. One-handing it is a difficult proposition. I have larger-than-average hands, and it's a real strain to get into a position where my thumb can reach both the top and bottom of the screen. It was possible for me, but just barely. It also feels extremely prominent in your pants pocket. Every time I bent down to tie my shoes I was wondering if the screen or my pocket would break.

To be fair to the the Optimus G Pro, these issues aren't unique to this phone. It's a big-phone problem, and one that hasn't stopped people from buying the Galaxy Note or Note II.

The Best Part

It is very, very fast. Right up there with the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4. It flies though home screens, app drawers, and opening applications. HD games (such as Dead Trigger) play like butter. It actually feels a little faster than the S4, and just slightly slower than the One.

Tragic Flaw

Good God, LG really needs to smarten up its software or (more preferably) just give up and let Android do its thing. LG's skin is exceptionally unintuitive and bad. Example: The app drawer is just a clutter mass of apps without any order by default. Luckily, you can choose to sort them alphabetically. Unluckily, any new apps you install still get stuck at the back, regardless of alphabetical order. This is dumb. The menu system's layout is perplexing, and the remote control app (it has an IR blaster) is about as good as the app on the HTC One or S4, which is to say, not good.

There's a whole quick menu in the notification panel (boosted from Samsung), quick apps which can hover over your other apps (boosted from Samsung), and even an option that can tell when you're looking at it so the screen stays on (again, boosted from Samsung). What it can't do is something simple like auto-adjust your screen's brightness to the ambient lighting. The option is there, it just doesn't work. At all. The Optimus G Pro's keyboard has the worst auto-correct on any mobile device I've ever used. The one positive is that LG's bad software somehow manages not to slow the phone down at all (can't say the same for Samsung's TouchWiz), but it's still awful. Replacing the homescreen with Nova Launcher and replacing the keyboard with SwiftKey 4 solves some, but not all, of these problems.
This Is Weird...

The phone has a physical button on the upper left side called the QuickButton. By default it's set to take a screen cap of whatever is on screen so you can then draw notes on it with your finger. Pretty much useless. Luckily, you can remap it in the settings so it opens up your camera application, and while it will work as a shutter button, technically, it doesn't have a two-stage press to it, so it doesn't work very well.
Test Notes

    We tested the Optimus G Pro on AT&T's LTE network in NYC and the SF Bay Area, and in both locations it got better than average reception, and solid data speeds when it was on the LTE network. We got 25Mbps downloads and 15Mbps uploads when we had a strong signal.
    The screen is very nice. Text looks great on it, as do videos. It's not as good as the screen on the One or the S4, but it's certainly better than the screen on the Note II, which isn't a surprise given that it's 1080p vs 720p, both at 5.5 inches.
    Despite the king-sized 3140mAh battery, the phone's battery life is fairly middle-of-the-road. That screen sucks up a lot of juice. On days of heavier use, I'd only make it to about 6pm. When I used it less, it'd go well past midnight. Your mileage may vary.
    Despite the 13MP camera in tow, photos are just okay. Shots are reasonably sharp, but colors tend to be washed out, and it really struggles with contrast. It does a better job in low light than the Galaxy S4, but it doesn't come anywhere near the HTC One or Nokia Lumia 900. (Some samples.)

Should I Buy It?
If you're absolutely sold on owning a phone this big, well, it's the best giant phone presently out there. That said, Samsung is bound to release a Galaxy Note III in the months to come, and HTC is rumored to be unveiling a big one, too, so if you can wait, do. Or just get an HTC One or a Galaxy S4. Their screens aren't that much smaller and both phones are infinitely more useable because of simple ergonomics. We'd definitely recommend either of those phones (and the Nexus 4, and the iPhone 5) over the Optimus G Pro. That said, if you want something with size and speed and you want it right now, have at it. [LG]

    LG Optimus G Pro Specs

    Network: AT&T
    OS: Android 4.1 with LG's skin
    CPU: 1.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600
    Screen: 5.5-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD (401PPI)
    RAM: 2GB
    Storage: 32GB + micro SD up to 64GB
    Camera: 13MP rear / 2MP front
    Battery: 3149 mAh
    Dimensions: 5.91 x 3.00 x 0.37 inches
    Weight: 5.64 ounces
    Price: Starts at $200 with a two-year contract

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

Since it arrived last year, the Galaxy S III has been the world's best-selling smartphone that wasn't born in Cupertino. An impressive feat, but one that-along with Samsung's Megatron-sized hype-machine-has made for sky-high expectations for the sequel.

Our first impressions of the S4 left us a little cold, but we've now spent a full week getting to know it better. It's definitely one of the best phones you can buy. It's just shame it couldn't stay out of its own way.
What Is It?

Samsung's next great hope of a superphone. It's got a 5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen, a superfast quad-core 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB RAM, LTE, NFC, and a 13MP camera. It also has a beefy 2600mAh battery, and an IR blaster for controlling your home entertainment system. It comes running Android 4.2.2 with Samsung's heavy TouchWiz skin on top of it. It should be available on every major U.S. wireless carrier in the next few weeks.
Design

If you're familiar with the Galaxy S III, the S4 will look strikingly familiar. It retains the same rounded-rectangle look, with metal edges and a slippery, finger-print-trapping plastic back that looks like it belongs on a far more downmarket phone. It's at least functional, though; the back is removable, so you can swap out the battery or expand your storage capabilities with a micro SD card. A lot of people prefer that added utility over the more solid-feeling, and more beautiful unibody design of, say, the HTC One.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)


One place Samsung does manage to score design points is growing the screen from 4.8 inches on the Galaxy S III to a full 5.0 inches on the S4, while still making the phone thinner, narrower, and easier to grip. The side bezels are shrunk down to nearly nothing, and the screen takes up almost the entire front of the device. Speaking of the screen, it is easily the nicest Samsung has ever made. The colors (especially blues and greens) really pop, and the 441 pixels per inch ensure that text is super-clear. It's also bright enough to be clearly readable on a bright, sunny day, and the Super AMOLED screen makes the blacks like staring into the abyss.

That being said, we still slightly prefer the screen on the HTC One. There's something about it that looks matte, like a magazine, and colors are more accurate.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

While Nexus phones are moving away from physical buttons for navigation, Samsung has opted to include three of them here. The S4 has capacitive buttons for Menu and Back, and a physical, clickable button for Home. It's wasted space. But worse, the capacitive buttons don't light up until you actually touch them, so if you forget which side is Menu and which is Back you might end up closing out of something unintentionally. Annoying!

The final touch: on top of the device is a super tiny IR blaster for controlling your TV. You'd never even notice it if you weren't looking for it, and you won't look for it.


Using It

As we noted in our original hands-on, the S4 comes packed full of ""features."" There's Air View, which allows you to hover your finger over the screen to see some information without actually clicking. There's Air Gestures, which allows you to wave your hand over the phone to change between tabs or photos. There's Smart Scroll, with which you tilt your device to scroll, instead of using your finger. There's Smart Pause, which will pause a video when you look away from the screen. And there's Group Play, which lets you play a handful of selected video games with friends on the same Wi-Fi network, or use several S4 phones as Sonos-like speakers.

The most important thing you need to know about these features is that you will never use any of them. Ever. Never ever. The end.

Why not? Oh, lots of reasons. Air View only works with Samsung's customized apps-not Gmail, not Chrome-and even then it doesn't work very well. Air Gestures are less accurate and less convenient than just touching the screen. Smart Scroll is totally unreliable, and Smart Pause is totally useless. The only, only justification for any of these features is that you can wave your hand over the phone to answer a call while driving, or, again, maybe if you're addicted to buffalo wings and have an aversion to moist towelettes.

Make no mistake. These ""features"" are nothing more than gimmicks, case studies in why different doesn't always mean better, and can often be worse.

The good news is that you can turn off and/or totally ignore most of these extraneous ""features,"" and when you do, there's a very good phone underneath. It's generally very fast, and HD games like Temple Run: Oz, Inertia HD, and Naught all ran smoothly. The pre-installed sliding keyboard is better than most manufacturer keyboards (looking at you, HTC), with plenty of space between keys and a dedicated number row, but auto-correct has a lot of issues, and we still prefer the keyboard on stock Jelly Bean or SwiftKey 4. The unit we tested was on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network (no T-Mobile LTE in NYC, yet, though this phone will work with it when it rolls out); data speeds were good, and it connected reliably.

There will be a cadre of S4 accessories available (TV adapters and such) at some point, but the only one available at launch is the S View Flip Cover. It's a good-looking cover that adds almost no thickness to your phone by completely replacing the back. The phone can sense when the cover is closed, and it will only light up one little (plastic) window on the front, which should save you a little battery power (when an AMOLED pixel is black it doesn't use any power). You can swipe to accept or dismiss calls even when the cover is closed.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

All of which sounds handy, but it makes the phone more cumbersome to use. It means you have to use two hands when you first pull your phone out, and when it's folded back, there's an extra piece of plastic your camera has to shoot through. It also makes the volume rocker way harder to access. In general, not worth it. Especially for the $60 price tag.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

Camera

In decent lighting, the camera is among the best shooters out there. Images are very sharp and there's a surprising amount of depth of field. Colors are rich, though they border on over-saturation, and video quality is excellent. You can check out plenty of our sample shots here.

We've also included a few comparison images below to give you a sense of how the S4's shooter performs relative to the competition:

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

With Flash

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

No Flash

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best (Updated)

Outside

The camera app's mode selection wheel, which was lifted from Samsung's own Galaxy Camera, is the most intuitive method for switching between shooting modes on any smartphone we've tested. It has photos showing you exactly what you're getting, underneath clear text, which eliminates any guesswork.
Like

Battery performance on the S4 is among the best we've seen from smartphones this year, though it's still not anywhere near as everlasting as the RAZR MAXX HD. It's important to note, though, that our testing took place on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, and not the more power-hungry LTE of Verizon and AT&T (Update: See below for test notes with LTE). With that advantage, it slightly edged out the HTC One by an hour or so on average (which itself does pretty decently).

The S4 did, though, make it to the end of the night without additional charging fairly often, thanks to both the larger battery (2600mAh vs. 2300mAh on the One) and the more economical AMOLED screen, though the processor's higher clock speed taxed it somewhat.

Speaking of which: that screen really is leaps and bounds better than the one on last year's S III. It's very sharp, pretty, and easy to read. The camera app is laid out very nicely, and the included OCR (optical character recognition) software, which can translate written words on the fly, are both examples of app actually done right. Overall, the S4 is definitely a sizable upgrade over the S III. But it's still got its issues.

 Samsung Galaxy S4 Specs

Network: All major U.S. carriers
OS: Android 4.2.2 with TouchWiz UI
CPU: 1.9 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600
Screen: 5-inch 1920x1080 Super AMOLED (441PPI)
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 16 or 32GB + micro SD up to 64GB
Camera: 13MP rear / 2MP front
Battery: 2600 mAh Li-Ion
Dimensions: 5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches
Weight: 4.59 ounces
Price: Starts at $200 with a two-year contract

Leaked Images of BlackBerry's New A10

Leaked Images of BlackBerry's New A10

 BlackBerry's rumored big shiny new A10 has cropped up in a series of leaked high-res images and it looks... actually kinda nice.

The new phone is rumored to be a bigger and faster flagship smartphone for the company, and these images show the device in more detail than before. It's not dissimilar in style to Samsung's Galaxy S4, though the bottom of the phone also resembles the HTC One with it chrome chin.

The Vietnamese site Tinhte-which often manages to get its paws on phones ahead of launch-has also released a video of the same handset, too. Watch it below.

The A10 is rumored to pack a 5-inch AMOLED display, a dual-core processor, and 2GB of RAM, and there's been suggestion that it could arrive some time before the end of 2013. The accuracy of all this is clearly up for debate-as is whether it can actually help BlackBerry out if its hole. Let's wait and see. [hightechmate]

Nexus 7 Leaks Spills Almost All the Details

New Nexus 7 Leaks Spills Almost All the Details

 We didn't get any new hardware back at Google I/O, but we've heard plenty about a new Nexus 7 on course to be announced sometime this month. Time is running out, but now Engadget has gotten some leaked details that confirm almost everything we've heard so far.

According to the leaked spec sheet screenshot, the new 7's will come with (obviously) a 7-inch screen, a quad-core 1.5GHz CPU, front-facing and external cameras, Android 4.3, wireless charging, and a Slim Port for throwing 1080p content up on your TV.

That mostly lines up with the other rumors we've seen, including the actual updated model that made its way out into the wild the other day. Apparently the new versions will be a little more expensive, at $230 (16GB) and $270 (32GB) a pop, and the only missing peice is whether or not there's a resolution bump to help ease that little hike. Google's got an event coming on the 24th though. You can bet we'll find out soon. [Engadget]

The Moto X Might Have a 4.5-inch Screen and a Back Made from Kevlar

The Moto X Might Have a 4.5-inch Screen and a Back Made from Kevlar

Motorola and Google both don't even care about keeping the Moto X a secret, plastering it on its August 1st announcement invitation and letting Eric Schmidt bandy around with the thing, so hey, don't be surprised if a few details of the phone leaks. The Verge and @evleaks are reporting that the Moto X will have a 4.5-inch display, dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM and a 10-megapixel camera. Oh, and a back shell made from Kevlar.

The Verge also adds that the Moto X will only have 1500mAh of battery oomph and that the 'always listening' feature must be enabled to work. The camera will apparently open upon a flick of the wrist (we'll have to see how well that works in real life before casting judgement).

Are these rumored specs enough to get you excited? [hightechmate]