Mobile phones – they’ve undergone a strange design path since their inception. From massive blocks of limited ability, through increasingly smaller and smaller frames and then one day, suddenly, they started getting bigger. Arguably starting with the introduction of the first generation 3.5″ iPhone, smart phones have steadily taken over the limelight, driving the screen sizes sky high, questioning the very definition of usability. Enter the HTC Sensation XL, packing a 4.7″ screen on its face. So then, just how big is too big?

Hardware/that screen

Any discussion on the hardware of the XL is likely to be dominated by that screen, which is understandable. But let’s put that aside for just a moment, and talk about the rest of the XL. Well, it’s big. Measuring 132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm mean’s its relatively slim frame feels even slimmer in comparison to its gigantic proportions. Meanwhile, the front of the phone is largely bare, on the white model we were given the front visage is little more than a black expanse, some capacitive Android buttons, a front facing camera (1.3mp, if you must know), a light sensor and the customary silver speaker earpiece. Along the left, a micro-USB charging port whilst the right hand side claims home to a reasonably stiff volume rocker. The top features not only a 3.5mm headphone jack but also a secondary microphone for noise cancellation, you lucky thing. Rounding things off is a slightly protruding 8MP sensor, dual LED flash and speaker on the back.

The entire phone is wrapped in a mixture of white plastic and aluminium which detaches in much the same way as the original, smaller, Sensation. The back plate is closer to a shell than a cover, giving great build quality whilst giving the end user a chance to get at that precious battery. We’re fond of it over here, and well, it works well, despite us being able to find a few tiny creaks on our review model.

Let’s talk about that screen. First things first, it’s huge. So huge you’re going to have to consider just how big your hands actually are. I, with my average-ish hands (okay, they’re a tiny bit small, what of it?) struggled to use the phone comfortably in day to day use, and that’s a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I loved having all that extra screen real estate when browsing the internet, playing games and watching movies but when I wasn’t doing those things, when I was just sending a text or answering a call, it became a burdon to handle.  Which is a shame, because the panel itself is pretty great. Continuing the fine HTC tradition of Super-LCD screens, the XL packs one of its own and it’s several shades of gorgeous with lovely, vivid colours and decent black levels. Sadly, it’s resolution isn’t so much to shout about with a 480 x 800 resolution, equaling to a less than glorious 199ppi, a number which is already old hat, and due to be further overshadowed the the forthcoming wave of hi-res screens. One clear plus though is just how closely the LCD is mounted to the front of the phone, it lends the phone an impressive, high end feel.

Performance/call quality/software/battery

If we had to describe the performance of the XL in one word (believe me, we don’t), it would be capable. That is to say, extremely capable. In day to day operation that tag team of a 1.5 GHz Scorpion and Adreno 205 GPU comes together to power the big screened beast with nary a hint of lag. I loaded up some of my favourite mobile games (Reckless Racing, Zombie Dash) and the XL never once stuttered under the weight of them, true also that while handling every day mobile tasks we noticed just how zippy the phone is. For example, loading this very website with no cache took a darn right impressive 8 seconds (including flash elements) , we could find very little that held back the XL from doing its thing. Quadrant scores came in around the 2100 mark while GPU benchmarking tool brought in a score of 48.7pfs, these should always be taken as a secondary point, at this stage in the mobile game benchmark scores aren’t always a reliable indicator of prowess.

Call quality on the XL was reasonably impressive, those at the other end found us clear and crisp for the most part while we found the earpiece on our end simply average, producing decent sound in a reasonably tinny way. Needless to say though, you’re not going to be struggling to hear people, it just could be better.

Hello, HTC. Once again the Taiwanese giants have loaded their hardware with Sense, their custom mobile skin atop of Android 2.3.5 “Gingerbread”, this is Sense 3.5, bringing all the visual whizz bang of 3D style effects and spinning homescreens that you’ve been crying out for in your life. The continuing problem with Sense is that it just doesn’t make sense anymore, back when Android 1.0 was released, Sense was a beautiful attempt at making Android less ugly, and it worked rather well. As time drove on, and Android versions jumped up quicker than we could count, the entire operating system got prettier and prettier, leading up to the frankly beautiful Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”. In the 2012 mobile landscape, all HTC appear to be doing is putting a pig on lipstick. Sense is not a fashion disaster, it’s just an unnecessary resource hog atop of an already beautiful bit of software.

The larger problem comes with that screen resolution, it’s the same as the HTC Radar and Desire S, both of which clock in at a full inch smaller than the XL. Other than HTC’s special efforts at fitting more information on the screen (the settings panel works very well in this regard) all we’re getting here is a bigger version of what you can see on those other phones with more big icons than you can shake an oversized phone at. Until the XL is updated to ICS, we’re doomed to this kind of super-sized UI treatment, unlike the Galaxy Note which brings more information alongside it’s larger screen.

The XL comes loaded with a surprisingly small 1600mAh, which is even more surprising given just how long the XL lasts on a charge. Now, I wouldn’t go a whole weekend without giving it some juice, but your day to day life shouldn’t be interrupted by too many low battery notifications

Camera

HTC used to be very bad at cameras, then they stopped being very bad. The 8MP camera on the XL should, by all rights, work every bit as well as it’s contemporaries – it doesn’t. We had real trouble getting the sensor to focus properly in almost any lighting situation, large amounts of noise creeped in at almost every level and shots were generally unimpressive across the board. 720p video fared slightly better, but did suffer from large amounts of rolling shutter. Generally, the less said about the camera here, the better.

A small rant on Beats Audio

 The XL is Beats branded, one of the first phones from the joint partnership between Monster Cable and HTC to bring the overwhelmingly popular headphone brand into the mobile realm in a big way. This branding stretches to a animation in the boot up and a red B on the back of the phone, other than that we get a special EQ setting and a set of Beats branded headphones. Firstly, I don’t like Monster Cable. At all. They’re unethical, overpriced and overhyped. Their consumer range of Beats ‘phones aren’t worth the materials they’re crafted from, with awful mids, loose bass and muddled highs, they are enjoyed primarily by consumers who’ve never had the chance to experience good quality headphones. True, the jump from standard iPod headphones or very low end headphones is huge, but to anybody who’s had the pleasure of sampling good quality headphones they’re an abomonation, especially for their hugely over inflated price.

The headphones that come included with the XL, designed to match with white plastic and aluminum, are marketed at one of the main selling points of the XL. “Why buy Beats headphones when you can get some free with your new phone?”, the marketing men ask as they rub their filthy mitts together. Now, obviously, the free headphones we’re getting with our new phones won’t be up to the quality of the normal range, so how do they sound? In a word? Horrible. They are every bit as bad as standard iPod headphones, only with better sound isolation. If you like music, at all, disregard these headphones and move on with your life.

Wrap up

Ignoring the Beats, the XL is a fairly capable mobile. With it’s speed, nice quality screen and good build quality it adds up to a pretty decent package (aside from that abysmal camera), you’ve only to ask yourself. Just how much screen can I actually handle? I fear the XL might be a little too much for most mere mortals to handle. We fear there are better options in the large screen market than the XL, the Samsung Galaxy S2 will serve you much better with a nicer screen, faster processor and thinner frame if you can suffer the plastic build and ugly, ugly skin.

Rating: 6 out of 5 stars (6/10)

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

These days, it’s hard to hold on to your mobile phone for the full term of your contract. 12, 18 or 24 months can seem an awfully long time when bigger, brighter and better phones seem to be coming out on a seemingly daily basis. Of course, several of the major mobile networks offer the chance to ditch your totally useless mobile in before your term is up, in return for a renewal of your contract. So what is the sensible shopper to do? Read on.

The answer: buy SIM-free. I know, I know. It’s expensive, but these days it makes more sense to go down the more expensive route in the short term to reap the long term benefits. For example, if you find yourself in the market for a HTC Desire HD, the phone itself can be purchased SIM-free  online. Now, the original price might be a little bit pricey at first, but think for a second. You’re likely to have a phone you’re wanting to get rid of, say, an iPhone 3GS 16GB. Cash 4 Phones will offer you a cool £100 for your old mobile, effectively knocking the price of the HTC Desire HD SIM-free down. Sounds better already, right?

Even better, you’re now free to ditch your contract at the end of the term. Most people are paying somewhere in the region of £30 per month for -frankly- awful levels of minutes, texts and data packages. There are many alternatives to the big networks, the best of which is GiffGaff. GiffGaff is a community run network, based off the back of O2′s signal to ensure good network coverage. Because they don’t spend money on big advertising campaigns or shops that means they deliver all the savings to you for some almost absurdly cheap pricing. For example, a £10 goody bag will net you 250 minutes, properly unlimited texts and truly unlimited internet (100GB, if you like). And the best part? It’s a rolling contract, if you’re struggling for cash one month, just don’t bother paying and you’ll not be charged a penny.

With that, over the coming months you’ll be saving a good chunk of money whilst simultaneously getting more bang for your buck. Not sounding so expensive now? I didn’t think so. Not only that though, you’re also opening the door to much faster updates for your phone. Every carrier on the planet not only loads up their Android phones with useless software, but they spend a long time going about it. After a new version of Android is released, phone manufacturers then begin work upgrading their product portfolio to the latest version, the software is then sent to all phone networks for them to do with it as they want. This can lead to delays of up to months, something you’re going to completely eliminate if you’re free from the shackles of carrier locked mobile.

It’s not all sunshine and roses, you are going to have to swallow that initial purchase cost, which will make something of a dent in your bank balance, but to my mind, there’s no better way to get a smartphone these days.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Technology news. The Samsung Galaxy Ace is perhaps one of the best budget smartphones on the market right now and that is since its initial release way back in March 2011. Now, however, Samsung has given it a refresh and it all starts in the name; the Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus. Featuring a 3.65-inch (up fro 3.5-inch) 320×480 HVGA TFT touch screen and a single core 1GHz processor (up from 800MHz), the Galaxy Ace Plus comes at a time when expensive dual-core smartphones win the headlines.

From the above, the major update over the original Ace is the processor, which is now 200MHz faster than the original 800Mhz one. This added ooph will allow Galaxy Ace Plus users to perform more system heavy tasks without as much lag as they had previously. As for storage, you are looking at 3GB built in out of the box and yes, it does take microSD cards to fill up with tunes expandable to 32GB.

Aimed at students, young professionals and first time smartphone buyers, the Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus should be available in store within the next 2 months on pay as you go, sim free and pay monthly options. Overall, Samsung’s Galaxy line up keeps on getting better and better and this new update for the Ace makes for a very tempting purchase indeed.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Technology news.Rumours quite literally make the world spin around, and this one as reported by Pocketnow is pretty nice indeed. The low down here is that the image you see above has reportedly been taken by a Samsung Galaxy S III which is quite significant, considering it hasn’t even been announced yet. According to said website, their data for the photograph shows the image was taken by a handset with the model name GT-I9500, which as they put it is the highest number numerically Samsung would have ever used for a handset. Of course, the EXIF data the photo carries is pretty easy to fake, though.

Head on over to the source below for a full size image of the photo.

Source: Pocketnow

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

A vast number of people on earth have technological items which are based on one or more patents. Patents are a form of intellectual property. For the term of the patent, the patent’s owner has the full right to control its use as he sees fit. Sometimes companies will devise their own technology as a way of getting around having to license a patent. Sometimes the patent holder will refuse to license the use of the patent in order to keep the technology to themselves and stifle competition. Nonetheless, it is common business practice for companies to license their patents. After all if you devised a technology that billions of people might want, wouldn’t it be logical to benefit from that want through licensing and cross-licensing?  In addition to receiving compensation for the investment in research and development in creating the technology, the company will often have an eye out to improve the product or create new products.

Beginning in April 2011, there has been an ongoing “Patent War” between Apple and Samsung.  Apple started this War, by using the courts in the United States and the European Union to block the importation and sale of Samsung’s latest flagship Smartphones and Tablets. Samsung in turn has countersued Apple and has also tried a similar tactic against Apple’s phones and tablets throughout Asia the  European Union and the United States.

Currently, the Patent War between Apple and Samsung encompasses 19 active cases in twelve courts spanning four continents and 12 countries.

One might logically ask, which critical proprietary technology did Samsung allegedly misappropriate to warrant this international imbroglio?  Surely it must be something vital to Apple’s existence!  Perhaps it is the patent that makes every apple device “magical”? Perhaps Samsung has moles in Cupertino that leaked top secret technology back to the Samsung offices in South Korea? Perhaps Samsung’s CEO Lee Kun-Hee once defeated the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a round of golf, and Apple is now seeking revenge?

If one thought that there is a reasonable basis for Apple’s vendetta against Samsung, one would be mistaken. (The aforesaid golf suggestion would have made a lot more sense). Unfortunately, the critical matter at issue, seems so inane, that I am surprised that the respective judges have not laughed the Apple lawyers out of court.

The main issue is over (1) the physical design (although there is ongoing litigation regarding 3G connectivity and multitouch screen technology) – and (2) the user interface (UI) of the Samsung Android powered Galaxy, Galaxy S, and Galaxy SII line of the Smartphones featuring 4 and 4.3 inch screens respectively and the Android powered Galaxy Tab family of Tablets that come in screen sizes of 7, 8.9 and 10.1 inches respectively. That’s it folks!

The Samsung Smartphones and Tablets listed above, all bear a physical (shape) similarity to Apple’s  iPhone and iPad. The iPhone is rectangular in shape with a screen size of 3.5 inches. The iPad is square in shape and features a 9.7 inch display. The Galaxy family of Smartphones are all rectangular in shape, and so is the Galaxy Tab family of Tablet products.

Until I heard about the Apple litigation in April, I had not been aware that one could patent universal shapes.  If one is using a Smartphone other than the ones listed, take a good look at it. Odds are that it is rectangular. With exceptions, most mainstream Smartphones are, although often manufactures like to toy around with different designs.

If the reader is reading this on a computer, take a look at the monitor in front of you. What shape is it? Odds are it is one with a rectangular 16:9 aspect ratio that is now used on virtually every laptop. In fact most monitors manufactured over the last half decade all use this particular design. If it is not a rectangular 16:9 monitor, than then the other possibility is that it is one of the square varieties featuring a 4:3 aspect ratio. These are both universal shapes used in many products today.  The reader can appreciate that it would be absurd for someone to claim a patent on the square or rectangular shaped monitor.

When Apple introduced the iPhone back in June 2007, save for the lack of a physical keyboard, they were not introducing a new physical phone design never before seen. However, some of the technology that made the phone so unique was new. Most significantly, the operating system, iOS was new.  When Apple introduced the iPad in January of 2010 they were not introducing a completely new product that no one had ever seen or conceived. Tablet computers became popular in approximately 2002, although pen tablets were introduced in the 80’s and 90’s. Although, some of the technology was new, what was truly unique was that the rush to buy tablets was new!  That was about it.

Now for the sad part

Despite the market success of the Apple iPhone and iPad family of products, Apple seems to view its closest direct competitors as a major financial threat that clearly must be eliminated through any legal means possible, similar to how Bill Gates viewed Microsoft’s direct competitors, before the Justice Department decided that its behavior was a violation of anti-trust and involved in the restraint of trade. As a company, Apple has stroked itself over its claim to be innovative. The company’s long standing slogan “Think Different”,  now comes off sounding like an oxymoron as the practice of suing to have the products of other companies from being sold seems to be ‘old style’ restraint of trade.  Instead of continuing to innovate, they are now concentrating on protecting their bottom line, through engaging an army of Ivy League lawyers ready for worldwide combat against the competition.

This does not just hurt Samsung, it hurts electronics retailers, it hurts cell phone service providers, and most importantly, it hurts the consumer.

Sure, there are many other tablets out there. Some good, some bad, but a victory by Apple against Samsung would fail to be the Pyrrhic victory many companies wish for. Why? Because after Samsung, who is next? Sony, LG, Toshiba, Vizio, Archos? It means that every law abiding company is going to have to spend millions of dollars hiring hundreds, if not thousands of lawyers to work in order to keep their products on the shelves. Yes, I am suggesting that the Samsung litigation is just a test case and that Apple is likely to use this litigation as a template to go after each and every company producing rectangular Smartphones and Tablets with a UI similar to the iPhone and iPad. Without viable competition, Apple can price their products sky high and further limit how the end user uses the product, that is unless the Justice Department decided that their litigation campaigns represented a restraint of trade and violation of anti-trust laws.

Competition is good. It makes new products more affordable for consumers and forces manufacturers to innovate. Consumers have more choices to pick the product they feel will benefit them the most. Darwin’s theory of evolution and the idea of “survival of the fittest” applies directly to the Tablet and Smartphone market. In the end it needs to be the consumer who decides which products they feel to be superior and those are the ones that will thrive. It should not be a court-mandated determination merely because a particular product looks vaguely like its competition.

Sources:

Technologyblogged (1,2,3,4)

Huffingtonpost

Fudzilla (1,2)

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

The Samsung Galaxy S was one of the biggest selling phones of 2010 and several months on from its release still remains one of the most popular smartphones available. During this time there have only been a number of handsets to rival its superiority and although there are some quite spectacular looking devices up for release, like the Motorola Atrix, Samsung looks like it could retain its market position by a well-timed sequel.

The only other two handsets that posed a threat to the Galaxy S last year were the iPhone 4 and the HTC Desire HD. While these are both excellent devices in their own right it has become apparent with HTC’s unveiled line-up at February’s Mobile World Congress, and subsequent leaks about Apple’s inevitable iPhone 5, that Samsung is the company that has really got its finger on the pulse.

HTC have not managed to introduce many smartphone developments such as dual core processors into their new batch of devices, something that is set to become the norm in 2011, and even Apple is failing to introduce features that are already becoming old hat on Android devices.

It would have been easy for Samsung to come out with a slightly rehashed version of the Galaxy S and fail to make any significant developments, and in a way they did that with the Galaxy SL. The upcoming Galaxy S II however, will be just as ground breaking and awe inspiring as the original.

So What’s new?

While being one of the new wave of dual core smartphones the Galaxy S II will feature a 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus display. This is even larger and even higher quality than the screen found on the original, which still remains one of the highest quality phone screens on offer.

Whilst the larger screen may cause alarm for some people looking to purchase their first smartphone or upgrade their current one it should be understood that this is offset by a much slimmer body. In fact, the 8.5mm thickness of the second Galaxy S places it as an even slimmer device than the iPhone 4 and a touch fatter behind NEC’s slimmest smartphone in the world.

The speedy dual core ARM Cortex processor will be complemented by 1GB RAM and the Galaxy S II will also come with DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct for hooking it up to other devices. The 8 megapixel camera also features full 1080p HD video recording and unlike the iPhone 5 (according to recent news) the Galaxy S II will come with optional Near Field Communications (NFC). Although it is yet to go on sale the Galaxy S II is every bit as tantalising as the original and by making some significant cutting edge changes can in no way be accused of being a mere rehash.

Overall

Overall we think that Samsung are on to a winning Smartphone here. The combination of the ultra slim design powerful processor and gorgeous SAMOLED Plus screen just seems like a match made in heaven, and we can’t wait to review it thoroughly when launched.

For more details on cheap mobile phones, visit Dialaphone.co.uk and you can browse their deals on handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S online. Click here to find out more information at the site today.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Hit up the video below to see the Xperia Play running Havok in action;

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Dear oh dear. Android updates seem to have plagued Samsung handsets recently, and the latest casualty is Sprint with their Samsung Epic 4G, who have pulled the Froyo update due to SD card issues and data connectivity problems from customers who’ve already installed the update and reported it.

If you have already installed the latest version on your Samsung Epic 4G prior to it being pulled, Sprint have advised you to back up your phone and operate a hard reset; they have cited that this should bring your Epic back to normality. We’ll keep you updated on any further news on this, and how Sprint will remedy this problem for it’s Epic customers.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.