Galaxy Nexus case review: Case-Mate POP!

Reviews

  • February 19, 2012 at 5:19 am

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Case-Mate POP! case for Galaxy Nexus - back

Case-Mate does one thing, it makes cases, the kind our devices need; especially costly devices with big glass fronts that we carry all day with us and might take a fall or two. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone is such a device and its slippery plastic body also doesn’t help at all — as you will find by reading our in-depth review right here.

We’ve already reviewed one case for the Galaxy Nexus, the OtterBox Defender, but we understand that it might be overkill for some as it adds significant bulk. This review will look at the Case-Mate POP!. It’s a one piece case that’s made of two materials, a shiny hard plastic and a soft rubber side grip. The rubber is grey but the shiny plastic comes in black, white and pink, creating a “pop”, see!
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LG Optimus Vu is official: 5-inch 4:3 IPS display, 1.5GHz dual-core SoC, LTE and 8.5mm thick

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  • February 19, 2012 at 4:38 am

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LG Optimus Vu 5.3-inch Android smartphone held by model pointing to maps

LG’s entrance in the phablet (phone/tablet) space is now official. The LG Optimus Vu has been announced today on the company’s Korean website. The stocky 5-inch device has a unique 4:3 aspect ratio with a 1024×768 display resolution. The Optimus Vu goes head-on against Samsung’s 5.3-inch 16:9 aspect ratio 1280×800 resolution Galaxy Note.

The Optimus Vu runs on a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm SoC and has an 8-megapixel rear camera, 32GB of built-in storage and support for LTE connectivity. Similar to the Galaxy Nexus, it’s also boasting stylus support for taking notes, annotating images and documents and drawing. It will be running Android 2.3 Gingerbread on release in early March but LG is promising an Ice Cream Sandwich update within 3 months.
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More details leak on the HTC One X a.k.a. Endeavor: S-LCD and no microSD slot

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  • February 17, 2012 at 5:57 pm

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HTC Endeavor with Android ICS and Sense 4.0 - lockscreen

The HTC One X a.k.a. Endeavor a.k.a. Edge is the company’s worst kept secret. We first heard of the quad-core Tegra 3 smartphone back in November last year and information has been trickling in since then. We already knew that the HTC Endeavor would be sporting a large 4.7-inch optically laminated display with a 720p resolution, but now we some additional information. Namely that it will utilize a Super LCD instead of an AMOLED panel. HTC has been going with S-LCD displays for its most recent flagship smartphones, with both the Sensation and the Rezound featuring the technology.
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Rumored LG X3 flexes its quad-core Tegra 3 muscles in Android 4.0 benchmarks

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  • February 15, 2012 at 12:36 pm

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LG X3 smartphone render

NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core SoC is said to appear on more than one device at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona by the end of the month. One of these is the LG X3, which we first saw last month.

We’re pretty sure this will be LG’s flagship Android handset for 2012, with a 4.7-inch screen and 720p resolution. It will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream sandwich on a, as mentioned, 1.5GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip, which features some pretty smart power saving features so hopefully it won’t be too taxing for its 2,000mAh battery.
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Quad-core Tegra 3 HTC Edge smartphone becomes the HTC Endeavor

News

  • February 12, 2012 at 6:09 pm

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HTC Endeavor leaked image

We’ve been following the HTC Edge in its long road of becoming the world’s first quad-core smartphone for some time now. The Edge was first leaked back in November last year and while we are expecting an official announcement soon, it seems that it has been renamed to Endeavor.

Besides the name change, the HTC Endeavor is still the same at heart, said to be running on a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 SoC maxing out at 1.5GHz. It will have a large 4.7-inch optically laminated 720p HD display — optical lamination gets rid of the air gap between the touchscreen and the front glass, improving image quality and touch experience. HTC’s new flagship smartphone with run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC’s new Sense 4.0 UI.
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LG Optimus Vu 5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio smartphone teased, sumo wrestles with the Galaxy Note (video)

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  • February 12, 2012 at 2:10 pm

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LG Optimus Vu 5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio smartphone teaser

Although Dell was first to test the waters with a 5-inch smartphone/tablet (or phablet or tabletphone), the Streak 5 met very lukewarm response and has been defunct since last summer. Yet Samsung’s 5.3-inch stylus-friendly Galaxy Note smartphone has been quite a success.

Not to be outdone by its fellow Korean competitor, LG is getting its own oversized device ready and has posted a teaser video of the Optimus Vu, a 5-inch smartphone with an old-school 4:3 aspect ratio IPS display and a 1024 x 768 resolution. The 4:3 ratio gives the Optimus Vu a more stocky profile, compared to the Samsung Galaxy Note’s 16:9 1280 x 800 screen, though it would be better suited for certain taks like web browsing or reading books in portrait mode. You can see a side-by-side comparison of the two below.
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Acer CloudMobile 4.3-inch optically laminated HD Android 4.0 smartphone revealed

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  • February 10, 2012 at 4:16 pm

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Acer CloudMobile 4.3-inch HD Android 4.0 smartphones

Well, well, Acer must be bursting with pride, as its until now announced smartphone won the iF design award for 2012. The Acer CloudMobile is a curvy Android smartphone to be presented at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona at the end of this month. The device is the first phone to offer AcerCloud technology, hence the name, which in real terms means that it gives you access to your data, like photos, documents and music, from Acer’s cloud storage.
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Google announces Chrome for Android beta browser

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  • February 7, 2012 at 1:11 pm

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Chrome bate for Android

Google has just announced a mobile version of its Chrome browser. You will need a device running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to get the beta app. It does not replace the default Android browser but rather co-lives with it. We will be posting more info as we test the new browser.
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Samsung Galaxy S III to launch May and be 7mm thick say ‘industry sources’

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  • February 6, 2012 at 1:10 pm

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Samsung Galaxy S II profile image showing its 8.49mm thickness

The Samsung Galaxy S III (SGS3), rumored successor to the incredibly successful Galaxy S II, is a hotly anticipated device, so expect to be bombarded with rumors and supposed insider leaks until it becomes official. Samsung has stated that we will not be seeing the SGS3 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this month, but rather at a dedicated Samsung event in the first half of the year.

After Samsung threw the gauntlet to the rumor mill, we’ve heard of reports for a potential release of the SGS3 in March, April and July. Now you can add May to the mix as well, since a Korean publication citing industry sources claims that the SGS3 will be released in May.
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White Samsung Galaxy Nexus coming to the UK starting February 13th

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  • February 6, 2012 at 10:25 am

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White Samsung Galaxy Nexus back and side

Getting a white version is an important milestone in a gadget’s life. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is about to get a new body color to match its Ice Cream Sandwich innards. Although some UK mobile phone retailers had pegged the launch of the white Galaxy Nexus for this week, today there’s been official word from Samsung that the device will be available in the UK starting February 13th.
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Android 4.0.4 IMM30B update for LTE Verizon Galaxy Nexus leaks early, brings fixes

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  • February 5, 2012 at 3:24 am

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus back close-up

A lucky Verizon Galaxy Nexus (check out our in-depth review here) owner got an over-the-air (OTA) update notification for a brand new Android Ice Cream Sandwich build, version 4.0.4 IMM30B. We will some help from the forums over at Android Central he was able to pull the update from his device and then share it with the entire Android community.

As there is no official changelog, obviously, you’ll have to rely on users’ comment on what has been fixed/improved in this latest Android release. Discounting for any ‘placebo effects’, those who’ve updated are reporting UI responsiveness and speed improvements, better 4G/3G switching and improved signal strength among others.
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Samsung Galaxy S Advance gets £350 pre-order price, shipping in time for MWC

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  • February 3, 2012 at 2:45 pm

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Samsung Galaxy S Advance Android smartphone

Samsung already made it clear that the Galaxy S III won’t be making it to MWC 2012 in Barcelona this month. Instead we’ve been promised other “exciting new mobile products.” One of these new products is the 4-inch Super AMOLED Samsung Galaxy S Advance, which was announced early this week.

Well now we have confirmed pricing and a shipping date for the smartphone loaded with a 1GHz Exynos 4210 dual-core SoC, 768MB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel rear and 1.3-megapixel front cameras. The device is already up for pre-order in the UK for around £350 ($550) including VAT and without a contract. Shipments are expected to begin on the week of February 27th, i.e. the same week as the MWC.
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Android users most likely to get laid on first date, use their phones in the bathroom

News

  • February 3, 2012 at 2:00 pm

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Galaxy Nexus in the bathroom

So lets tackle the last bit first. A marketing agency with too much time in its hands, conducted a survey between 1,000 Americans on their bathroom habits, and specifically those related to the use of mobile phones while in the bathroom. It seems the old newspaper is on the outs in the bathroom as well, as people turn to their smartphones to kill time during those urgent moments. From the individuals asked, 74 percent of men and 76 percent of women fessed up to using their mobile phones in the bathroom — we would guess that the rest were simply lying.

63 percent have answered a phone call, 41 percent initiated one, 67 percent read a text and 38 percent surfed the web. Now that you have this wealth of knowledge in your hands, the next bit of info is that bathroom use is high for Android users at 87 percent, BlackBerry users at 84 percent and 77 percent for iPhone users. The moral of the story, you’re not alone.
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