Posts by Brandon Miniman
Brandon is a graduate from the Villanova School of Business, located near Philadelphia, PA. He's been a technology writer since 2002, and, in 2005, became Editor-in-Chief of Pocketnow, a then Windows Mobile-focused website. He has since helped to transition Pocketnow into a top-tier smartphone and tablet publication. He's so obsessed with technology that he once entered a candle store and asked if they had a "new electronics" scent. They didn't.
-
by Brandon Miniman | May 21, 2012 3:50 PMThe original Samsung Focus was a Windows Phone 7 "Series" launch device back in 2010, and it helped to set the pace for what has been a very warm reception of Microsoft's new mobile platform. The Focus was great because it was thin and light, had fantastic performance, and had a particularly high level of screen sensitivity, which made navigation super fluid. Overall, it did Windows Phone justice. When Samsung and AT&T announced the Focus 2, we had high expectations. While not the most impressively-spec'ed phones on the market, the Focus 2 has a capable 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | May 16, 2012 12:38 PMI've got Verizon Palm Treo 700w sitting in front of me. Usually it'd be in a box in the corner of the office, but it made a star appearance in our recent Pocketnow 5.0 teaser video. The phone is remarkably, crazy thick at 23mm, or, in other words, three times thicker than the thinnest phones of today, like the HTC One S. Not only is it three times thicker, but it's magnitudes "dummer." The Treo 700w had a single-core 312MHz CPU with a mere 32MB of RAM. And the phone, in-hand, feels like a tank. It's seems that the phone, with its extra heft and endless thickness, would be unusable. Alas, ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | May 14, 2012 9:08 AMGreetings, all. For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Brandon Miniman, the Editor-in-Chief and publisher of Pocketnow. Since 2005, when my tenure as editor began, so much has changed. We once strove to be the best Windows Mobile site on the planet -- and then the industry evolved, and so did we. We broadened our mandate in an attempt to be the best Smartphone site on the planet -- and then the industry evolved yet again. So we evolved as well, adding tablets into our scope of coverage. Why? Because we believe in the transformative power of mobile computing devices, whether ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | May 9, 2012 10:41 AMAfter having served 65 million people over twelve years with 2,200 videos, 2,000 reviews, and nearly 22,000 articles, we're on the cusp of showing the world our biggest transformation yet. A lot has changed in these paste twelve years. From the Pocket PC to the Palm Pilot to the Smartphone to the tablet, from QVGA to 720p, from GPRS to LTE, and from StrongARM to QuadCore, things keep evolving and we've been there to cover it all for you. Weve existed since the inception. Since the days when people saw our geeky dreams of true pocket-sized computers as science fiction. And now, as people ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | May 6, 2012 4:42 PMNo US availability has been announced for the Samsung Galaxy S III, but should you have the proper amount of dollars to import a Galaxy S III on May 29, you'll be able to use Samsung's new flagship over AT&T's HSPA+ network just fine. We've increasingly been seeing unlocked European handsets coming with the 850 and/or 1900MHz bands, which is what is required to use a phone over AT&T's 3G network here in the States. Some online retailers like Negri Electronics are even showing the Galaxy S III as having the 1700MHz band, which would allow the phone to also work on T-Mobile (making it ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | May 4, 2012 12:41 PMThe Galaxy Note is a great phone, but it's hampered a bit by Samsung's TouchWiz interface which seems to touch each and every aspect of the user experience. What if you want stock Ice Cream Sandwich, the way nature (and Google) intended? Fear not. If you're brave enough to root your phone, there's an extremely stable and fast CM9 alpha ROM (based on Android 4.0.4 to be exact) now available for the Galaxy Note. After several days of use, we didn't come across any bugs whatsoever. Using the Galaxy Note with ICS is refreshing, as you can see in the video here. CyanogenMod 9 Alpha for Galaxy ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | May 3, 2012 2:58 PMSamsung has unveiled its answer to the iPhone 5, the HTC One X, and every other high-end phone to be released this year. Shown at the Unpacked 2012 event in London, the Galaxy S III is an impressively-spec'ed smartphone. It has a Super AMOLED HD display at 4.8" and 720p resolution. It's powered by a quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos CPU with 1GB of RAM and either 16 or 32GB of storage. It has an 8MP camera on the rear with 1080p video recording, plus a 1.9MP front-facing camera. The design of the Galaxy S III is "inspired by nature" with a curved pebble-like feel and notification sounds that are ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 23, 2012 7:06 PMYou might recall that we're not particularly fond of HTC Sense 4.0, because in a lot of places, it holds back Ice Cream Sandwich, which is already elegant, functional, and fast. With Android's fantastic ability to change the launcher (meaning: the entire homescreen/app drawer experience), those running Sense 4.0 (or any undesireable stock launcher) can opt for something better. We've shown you options in the past such as Laucher Pro, ADW Launcher EX, Go Launcher EX, and others. Today, we're going to add a new one to the list: Apex Launcher, which is free in Google Play. What's great about ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 16, 2012 3:06 PMAs smartphone screen sizes continue to increase, talking on the phone becomes more cumbersome. As an example, we found the HTC One V to be a particularly good phone because of its petite size (it has a smallish 3.7" display). So a lot of people use speakerphone, which is handy, but not discreet. Others turn to Bluetooth headsets, which makes for yet another thing to keep charged. As another option, we show you the POP Phone, which is a simple phone accessory that looks and feels just like a classic phone. It's extremely comfortable to hold to your face, and it works with pretty much every ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 16, 2012 9:41 AMAll eyes will be on Samsung on May 3rd in London as they unveil their latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S III (though it's possible they have a new name for it as to avoid "name inflation": the numbered naming scheme might get tiring once we get to the Galaxy S VIII). In 2011, the Galaxy S II was easily one of the best-selling phones thanks to its slim form factor, beautiful screen, great battery life, and terrific performance. What do we expect Samsung will unveil with their latest flagship? Here's a breakdown of our predictions: 1. Form factor. Expect another slab form factor that is ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 12, 2012 4:06 PMChoice is good, and HTC is offering three of them for those wanting to take home one of their new One series of devices. HTC's One line represents a refreshed focus on the software experience and build quality. Essentially, HTC wants to reclaim the ground it lost in 2011 to Samsung and others, and its One series is its strategy for doing so. Its flagship One X is one of the most beautiful pieces of technology to come to market in a long time, but it's not inexpensive. For the budget-minded, HTC also has the One V, which incorporates the keystone features of the flagship, but at a much ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 10, 2012 2:03 PMHTC is trying to make a comeback this year. Their One series of devices represents their biggest effort yet to make a competitive, compelling Android experience. And with the One series of devices we get Sense 4.0. There's very much a love/hate sentiment when it comes to Sense: it improves the appearance of Android in a lot of cases, but it has also been blamed for providing too much visual flair at the expense of efficiency and consistency. It used to be that Android badly needed Sense, that is, before Ice Cream Sandwich was released. But with Android 4.0, Google has redoubled their ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 10, 2012 12:30 PMThe HTC One V is on the opposite end of the smartphone spectrum compared to the One X. It's relatively inexpensive (just $350 over at Negri Electronics), it's small with just a 3.7" screen, it's made from aluminum, and it has a single-core CPU. The One V is currently on sale overseas, and it happens to have the right bands to do AT&T 3G. The One V, beyond its 1GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU (which is more than capable for most tasks), is running on Android 4.0.3 with Sense 4.0 on top. It has a 5MP camera on back capable of 720p video, while the lack of front-facing camera reminds ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 9, 2012 3:53 PMHTC lost its magic in 2011. It released too many phones, many of which were uninspired, plus it got overshadowed by Samsung with the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note. But this year, HTC plans to reverse its misfortunes, starting with the One line of devices. The HTC One series brings forth an improved Sense UI experience, an "amazing" camera, and a redoubled attention to detail in hardware design. The HTC One X, powered by the mighty quad-core Tegra 3 CPU, is the highest-end device in the One series, and the most impressively-spec'ed Android phone to date. Is it good enough to put HTC back on ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | April 5, 2012 10:43 AMWe were in New York City this evening to hear about the new HTC EVO 4G LTE. The EVO 4G LTE is very similar to the HTC One X, though it adds HD-voice capability, Sprint LTE, and a slightly redesigned case to provide a kickstand (perhaps in homage to the original HTC EVO 4G). It's also got a beefier battery at 2000mAh, versus 1800mAh on the GSM version, plus a dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU instead of the Tegra3 quad-core chip found on the One X. The HD-voice is an interesting addition, as it marks the start of improved voice quality afforded by fourth-generation networks. HD-voice is the kind ...