Samsung Galaxy Note now available in Europe, you can order today from Germany

News

  • October 27, 2011 at 6:10 pm

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Galaxy Note in-stock from Amazon Germany

Hot on the heels of availability news for Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note ‘tablet-phone’ is now shipping in Europe.

Amazon.de (Germany) now has the Samsung Galaxy Note in-stock, and you can order it from anywhere in Europe for EUR 561 ($797) including VAT, of course without a contract.

The Galaxy Note runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a dual-core 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos processor. The 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD screen has a 1280×800 resolution (yes it’s Pentile Matrix, of course) and the phone comes together with a Wacom designed pressure sensitive stylus, named S Pen.

We love the fact that it’s sporting a relatively large 2,500mAh battery, so you can at least enjoy the big screen without much worry of running the battery down too fast. The Galaxy Note weighs 178g (6.3 oz) and measures 9.65mm (0.38 inches) thick.

You can check out our initial coverage here, while a lovely video demonstration of the Note’s drawing capabilities can be found here.
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Samsung confirms November 17 release date for Galaxy Nexus in the UK and Europe

News

  • October 27, 2011 at 4:04 pm

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus event

Samsung has officially confirmed, at its Galaxy Note event in London, that the Android 4.0 bearing Galaxy Nexus will be available in the UK and the rest of Europe come Thursday November 17.

Amazon UK already has the Galaxy Nexus up for pre-order for £549 without a commitment, and as we’ve found in these cases, it’s good to get ahead in line. As far as UK carriers go the Galaxy Nexus is expected to be available on Vodafone, O2 and Three, but you might want to check directly with them for availability.

Note that in the U.S., Verizon has already has confirmed that it will carry the smartphone and has put up a registration page, where you can ask to be notified when the Galaxy Nexus becomes available. Other carriers have yet confirm availability.

HTC Vigor a.k.a. Rezound a.k.a. DROID Incredible HD could be announced November 3rd

News

  • October 26, 2011 at 8:05 am

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HTC Vigor / Rezound front and back

HTC has been sitting on the bench watching while both Samsung and Motorola announced their big contenders for the Android crown, the Galaxy Nexus and the RAZR. It’s now time for HTC to strike back; the company has sent out invites for a New York event on Thursday November 3rd. Now all bets are on an announcement of the company’s long rumored HTC Vigor (a.k.a. Rezound a.k.a. DROID Incredible HD).

The Vigor is expected to be a 4.3-inch 720p and 1.5GHz dual-core processor beast. You can check out our comparison with the other two competing handsets here. Based on earlier rumors, the HTC Vigor (or DROID Incredible HD) should be available on Verizon starting November 10, joining the iPhone 4S, Droid RAZR and Galaxy Nexus in the carrier’s holiday lineup. The full rumored specs are after the break.
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Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich ported to the Nexus One

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  • October 25, 2011 at 2:36 am

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Nexus One received Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich port

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices and its source code are not out yet, but the software development kit (SDK) is. And so, endearing developers work tirelessly in porting the Android 4.0 SDK to a host of current smartphones; just to give us a peek on how ICS would look on a device. First lucky device to get such a port was the Nexus S and now the Nexus One joins in the fun.

A developer, going by the name dr1337md, has posted a video on YouTube showing-off his Ice Cream Sandwich port on the Nexus One. As far as ports go, things are mostly working but there is some lag, while it lacks audio and Wi-Fi.

Google has said that any Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone should be able to run Android 4.0, although when and if that it will be upgraded depends on the manufacturer and carrier. While you wait for your device to get the update, which might take months, you can checkout the video after the break.
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Motorola Defy+ (Plus) review

FeaturedReviews

  • October 23, 2011 at 9:21 am

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Motorola Defy+ Plus front wet

Rugged phones had been monstrous beasts that could do nothing more than send and receive calls and messages. Motorola pretty much created the rugged smartphone space and last year introduced the Motorola Defy. The Defy looked very normal — which is a good thing — with the added benefit that it was ‘life-proof’. A year later, Motorola released the Defy+ (Plus), which is for all intents and purposes the same as the original Defy, with two key improvements: a faster 1GHz processor and a more recent version of Android, 2.3 Gingerbread.

The Defy+ is a mid-range 3.7-inch Android smartphone, and everything on it shouts average. But for its class and price it’s a really well executed device. It currently retails in Europe for around €240 or £240 ($360) sim-free, while it hasn’t yet reached American shores. The original Defy was available on T-Mobile for $99 on contract.

Motorola also makes military grade rugged phones, like the Admiral; the Defy+, although not military grade, is water, dust and scratch resistant, and much more stylish. Note it’s water resistant, but not waterproof. In a sense it’s a standard Android phone that has been inoculated against the weather and active and demanding lifestyles.
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Android basics: What is Ice Cream Sandwich and why would I want it on my phone or tablet?

Guides

  • October 22, 2011 at 4:54 am

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Google employee putting up the Android Ice Cream Sandwich mascot

Having just had a discussion with a non-‘techie’ friend who owns an Android phone, I received the very logical question: what is Ice Cream Sandwich? My response was followed with the equally valid inquisitive look on why would Google name its mobile operating system after a frozen desert.

Our attention is caught up with new gadgets and technology that we simply skip past all the basic concepts. Well today is the inauguration of a new column, appropriately titled ‘basics’, which will go over fundamental terms and provide beginners with (hopefully) easy to follow and clear how-tos. After all we are claiming that our opinions and advice should reach real people.

First, a background on Android. Android is a mobile operating system, it runs on mobile phones and tablets and provides all the basic functionally needed, such as connectivity (to connect to a Wi-Fi network or your mobile carrier), multi-touch recognition, a phone dialer and some built-in applications, like an internet browser and email. It’s like Windows or Mac OS but for your phone or tablet. Competing mobile operating systems are Apple’s iOS, Microsoft’s Windows Phone and also BlackBerry OS and the now-defunct webOS.
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The hottest Ice Cream Sandwich you will ever get: the complete guide to all the major new features of Android 4.0

FeaturedNews

  • October 20, 2011 at 5:10 pm

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Google has advanced its mobile operating system by leaps and bounds in just three years and Android is finally maturing. The latest version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which was announced this week, brings a host of usability improvements, new features and a lot of polish.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is a major upgrade, particularly for mobile phones, as it also brings Android Honeycomb functionality to smartphones. ICS will run on both smartphones and tablets. If you are new to Android, you might want to check out our beginners’ guide on what is Android ICS.

The changes in ICS are numerous and it’s easy to get lost in the details. We’ve compiled all the major improvements and new features of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in a simple, compact list. Head over the break, for your large dose of piping-hot Ice Cream Sandwich goodness.
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Motorola Droid RAZR announced, coming November to everyone around the globe, U.S. for $299 on Verizon (specifications, pictures)

News

  • October 18, 2011 at 12:54 pm

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Motorola RAZR front and back

So no surprises here, we got what we expected. Motorola announced its latest flagship handset the Droid RAZR. It will be available in North America, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa starting November. Verizon will carry the phone under its Droid line in the U.S. for $299 under contract — the phone will be known as simply RAZR elsewhere in the world.

As rumored, the Motorola Droid RAZR flaunts a 4.3-inch 960×540 qHD Super AMOLED Gorilla glass display and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It’s an LTE 4G device on Verizon and HSPA elsewhere in the world. It’s wrapped in Kevlar no less, while the phone has received a special nanotech splash-guard coating, so it should be able to take a beating (and splashing) despite its super-thin profile. Motorola is claiming “world thinnest smartphone” at just 7.1mm. Other features include 1GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, Bluetooth 4.0 no less, GLONASS support on top of GPS, 1780mAh battery and it will weight 127g. Oh, it will run Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread on launch.

You can find the full specs and pictures after the break.

The RAZR can become friends with a bunch of accessories and docks, such as two lapdocks the 100 and 500 Pro, HD dock and wireless keyboard.
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Samsung Galaxy Nexus last minute leak reveals detailed specs

News

  • October 18, 2011 at 7:45 am

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Japanese document

We’re only hours away from the official unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (or Nexus Prime) and we just go our most comprehensive spec list yet. The leaks come from a number of Asian websites and the source is supposed to be Japan’s NTT DoCoMo mobile operator. The phone is expected to be released on November 20th in Japan.

The leaked specs are the same to the ones we’ve already reported, though we are still a bit surprised of the choice for a Texas Instruments processor over Samsung’s homegrown Exynos. Head across the break for the full list of specs, and be sure to also check out our rumor roundup for the Galaxy Nexus, HTC Vigor (Rezound) and Motorola Droid RAZR (Spyder)
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The big boys of Android: Galaxy Nexus (Prime) vs. HTC Vigor (Rezound) vs. Motorola Droid RAZR (Spyder); what we know and specs

News

  • October 17, 2011 at 5:28 pm

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Android flagship phones: Galaxy Nexus (Prime), Motorola Droid RAZR (Spyder) and HTC Vigor (Rezound)

Three of the major Android manufacturers are each getting geared-up to release their new flagship handsets, all are large-screened, feature-rich, LTE Android smartphones.

Motorola and Samsung have events scheduled for tomorrow and HTC’s official announcement shouldn’t be far off. In anticipation of the announcements, we though of doing a recap, for all of you Android fans out there who like to live on the high-end. Here is what we know so far, though take everything we mention with a grain of salt as they are based on leaks and rumors.
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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich could be getting a built-in photo editor

News

  • October 17, 2011 at 9:44 am

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Google built-in photo editor for Android 4.0

So we’ve just got over a day to go until the wonders of Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ are revealed to us. Knowing that something this big is coming, builds anticipation, which we need to satisfy, somehow. Well the guys over at Android Police have unearthed a number of icons showing off various image editing tools and photo effects.

It has been rumored in the past that Google is working on a photo editor for the Android Gallery and the assumption here is that the editor might be launched as part of Android 4.0. The icons, which you can see above, include tools like crop, rotate, straighten and sharpen, exposure adjustment and even artistic effects. From the leaked icons, there seem to be 19 different image effects, like fisheye, sepia etc.

We’ve been clamoring for an easy way to fix and adjust images within the gallery, so this would be great news. Hopefully, Android 4.0 will bring a lot more exciting new features. Now see, by the time you’ve come to the end of the article, you are so much nearer to the actual launch!
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Apple’s Siri, Google Voice Actions, the past and the future of voice control

EditorialsFeaturedNews

  • October 16, 2011 at 6:57 am

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iOS 5 Siri and Google Voice Actions for Android

Controlling a device with your voice is certainly nothing new. It’s been implemented time and time again and the execution has ranged from terrible, to gimmicky, to just ok, but it has never taken off. It’s been the sort of thing that you show off at family gatherings to impress older relatives but you never end up using.

It has existed on mobile devices for a while but with very limited capabilities. Feature phones could only do things like call up a number. Then, Google brought it on Android with Voice Search and Voice Actions expanding its capabilities. Now, Apple has officially taken a big step into voice control with iOS 5, the iPhone 4S and its personal assistant Siri. Could this mean that we will soon start using our devices in a different way?

Apple didn’t invent the artificial intelligence (AI) and voice recognition technology that makes Siri happen. In fact, Siri on iOS is the result of Apple’s purchase of same named company, Siri, and the use of third-party voice recognition technology (probably Nuance). But Apple has an incredibly successful history of doing exactly this, taking an existing but flailing technology, ironing out the quirks and making it the norm. The Macintosh made the mouse popular, the iPhone revolutionized touch-screen technology and Siri could be the beginning of a new way to interact with our devices.
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Samsung Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound find their way on Verizon MAP with November release date

News

  • October 15, 2011 at 5:06 am

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Verizon MAP listing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound

Two hotly anticipated Android smartphones have found their way on a Verizon Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) table. This means two things, first a release date is getting near, and second, they will of course be carried by Verizon.

The first handset is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (a.k.a. Nexus Prime), which we are expecting to be announced on October 19 (evening of October 18 in the U.S.). The second is the HTC Rezound (a.k.a. Vigor or DROID Incredible HD).
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