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.
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by Brandon Miniman | September 13, 2012 7:59 PMWhereas the edges of the iPhone 4 and 4S were silver-metallic in color whether you bought the white or black model, the iPhone 5 is a bit different in this respect. If you order the Black iPhone 5, you get slate edges (that is, they're tinted gray/gunmetal). If you order the white iPhone 5, you get silver edges (that is, they're the same color as on the iPhone 4 and 4s). You can see this for yourself if, via the Apple store app, you go to Products, iPhone 5, and you go on to choose the capacity and color. Does this change which iPhone you're going to get?
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by Brandon Miniman | September 12, 2012 9:49 PMWondering if you can take advantage of the lower subsidized prices for the new iPhone 5? You can find out right now if you download the Apple store app on your iOS device and select "iPhone 5" then "Upgrade iPhone." You'll be asked to put in your account holder's phone number, billing zip, and other security information. If you are indeed elegible for an upgrade, an iPhone 5 will cost you either $199, $299, or $399 depending on capacity. If you aren't eligible for an upgrade, you can still buy an iPhone 5, but at the un-subsidized price of $449, $549, or $649.
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by Brandon Miniman | September 12, 2012 6:41 PMAs has been the case since the second-generation iPhone came was released, you have a choice of either black or white if you plan on getting the new iPhone 5. In this case, the color you pick will be used for the front panel, as well as on the top and bottom strips that flank that matte metal finish on the back. Not only that, but the black or white color is applied between the cut outs for the antenna. And it's not an easy choice: while the white version will deter fingerprints the best, the black version is more striking and formal. So if you're getting an iPhone 5, let us know in the ...
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by Brandon Miniman | September 12, 2012 3:24 PMAt last, it's here. After what has been eternity since the last major change to the iPhone, the iPhone 5 has been revealed, and wow...it looks familiar. Not only does it look familiar because it was leaked as far back ago as the spring, but also because in a lot of ways, the iPhone 5 is a souped-up iPhone 4S. And as always, that's not a bad thing. Apple literally went feature-by-feature and made the iPhone 4S better, starting with a new design that does away with the two pieces of glass (finally!) in favor of a glass and aluminum design which looks quite handsome. In this video, we talk ...
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by Brandon Miniman | September 11, 2012 12:01 PMIt was at IFA that Samsung announced the new Note I. We were on-location in Berlin to give you an early hands-on preview of Samsung's updated phablet. But as is usually the case at trade shows, three minutes of hands-on time might not be enough to show off the really cool functionality of the device, or to compare it with other devices. Pocketnow was invited to New York recently by Samsung to take a closer look at the Galaxy Note 2. We used it as an opportunity to compare the Galaxy Note II to the first Galaxy Note, plus to show off some of the cool things you can do with the S-Pen that ...
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by Brandon Miniman | September 6, 2012 5:18 PMFor just $199, you've now got two really good tablet choices: the Nexus 7 and the 7" Kindle Fire HD, two very different tablets. It was Amazon that was first to the market with a low-cost tablet. The original Kindle Fire debuted at $199, which was unheard of in a time of $499 iPad prices. It was a fantastic value and became the best-selling product on Amazon. Then Google came around with the quad-core Jelly Bean-packing wonder that is the Nexus 7. It was better in every way compared to the Kindle Fire, and that, too, became a hot seller. Not resting on its laurels, Amazon has announced the ...
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by Brandon Miniman | September 5, 2012 4:00 PMIf you're one of the many who own a Galaxy S III, you're likely to receive an over-the-air update to Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean in the very near future. We've already shown you what Jelly Bean looks like on the Galaxy S III through unnofficial means, and now we're going to show you what the official TouchWiz-ified Jelly Bean ROM looks like on the Galaxy S III in this video. We also compare TouchWiz Jelly Bean with TouchWiz Ice Cream Sandwich to help you understand exactly what changes are coming. Interestingly, while Jelly Bean adds several new features to the operating system (like Google ...
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by Brandon Miniman | September 5, 2012 3:23 PMToday Motorola announced a rejuvenation of their latest premium brand, Droid RAZR. It was about one year ago that the company announced the reincarnation of the once-ubiquitous RAZR brand with the original Droid RAZR. It was a bit of an experiment, as the smartphone-buying population has changed from the featurephone-buying population of ten years ago. But luck was on their side, and today, the Droid RAZR and RAZR MAXX are two of the hottest selling smartphones in the world of Android. And for good reason: they have great hardware, great battery life, and "thinner-than-the-other-guy" ...
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by Brandon Miniman | September 5, 2012 10:27 AMToday Motorola will announce two new phones, neither of which will feature an edge-to-edge display as was previously rumored. An image leaked by @evleaks shows the RAZR HD (on right), looking very similar to the Atrix HD which hit AT&T recently. Like the Atrix HD, we expect the RAZR HD to feature a 720p 4.5" ColorBoost display, powered by a dual-core Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM, all on top of Android 4.0. Like the original RAZR, the RAZR HD will feature Verizon LTE connectivity, plus a super-thin profile. The RAZR M is expected to be a refreshed version of the original ...
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by Brandon Miniman | August 31, 2012 11:53 AMThe Sony VAIO Tap 20 is an unusual Windows 8 tablet. The massive 20" screen (at a mere qHD 960x540 resolution) is designed for family interaction in scenarios where you'd place the device on a coffee table and play a game, thanks to 10-point multi-touch input. The Tap 20 has a unique stand on the back that lets the tablet rest at various degrees. The device we played with was a prototype, as Sony expects to reduce the weight and thickness of the device (and hopefully bump the screen resolution) in time for it shipping later this year. When it ships, Sony expects to offer it in Core i3, i5, ...
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by Brandon Miniman | August 31, 2012 9:25 AMAfter giving you some commentary on what we thought about the Galaxy Note II as far as its place in the mobile landscape, we wanted to give you a more in-depth tour of Samsung's updated phablet. The Galaxy Note II has a larger screen than the original Note by 0.2", but because of a 16:9 aspect ratio, the device is less wide but taller; it's also slightly thinner, which is unexpected given the 20% increase in battery capacity. The Note II has a quad-core 1.6GHz Exynos CPU with 2GB of RAM. It'll be launching later this year across multiple carriers with either 3G or 4G LTE.
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by Brandon Miniman | August 31, 2012 6:50 AMNokia is expected to announce new Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices at the upcoming Nokia World conference just next week. It appears that two of their upcoming handsets, the Lumia 820 and the Lumia 920 with PureView, have been leaked in advanced. Both feature the new Windows Phone 8 logo and familiar Nokia designs if you consider the current Lumia 800 and 900 devices that are on the market. The 820 is pinned as a 4.3" slab, to be made available in a variety of colors. The 920 is the more interesting device, which bumps the screen size to 4.5" and apparently adds Nokia's PureView camera ...
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by Brandon Miniman | August 30, 2012 2:20 AMThe Sony VAIO Duo 11 is a Windows 8 ultrabook hybrid that has a sliding display that reveals a full hardware keyboard. It'll be available with a variety of hardware configurations such as an Intel i7, i5, or i3, with the former two configurations providing less battery power. The device, despite having a spacious 11.6" 1366x768 touchscreen, weighs just 2.6lbs, which is a hair more than the Microsoft Sufrace. The hybrid features USB 3.0 and HDMI outputs. No word on pricing, but look for a Q4 release.
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by Brandon Miniman | August 30, 2012 1:30 AMSony's newest Android tablet, the Xperia Tablet S, is running on Android 4.0.4 for now, but will be upgraded to Jelly Bean in the near future. In terms of design, it has a similar "wrap around" design to last-year's Tablet S that some found to be a nice break from the slate form factor of all other tablets on the market. The Xperia S has a Tegra 3 quad-core CPU running at 1.4GHz. The display is 9.4" and 1280x800 resolution. On the rear there is an 8MP shooter, and a 1MP camera on the front. Other goodies include HDMI and DLNA support, an SD card slot (yes, full SD), guest mode to protect ...
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by Brandon Miniman | August 29, 2012 3:03 PMThe Galaxy Note has been an unlikely success. What was once chastised for being an oversized phone or an undersized tablet has defined a whole new category of devices. The sales figures tell the story: with 10 million units sold so far, there's clearly a big market for a device with such a large display. But the original Note was a bit flawed. While it was a powerful device with great hardware, the software had tremendous shortcomings. The S-Pen integration with the phablet wasn't exactly natural, accurate, or useful. Even if you were willing to stay within the confines of homescreen ...