Sometimes ya ain't got time for dilly-dallyin', spit-swappin', or tall-tale-tellin'. Sometimes even dropping in a few time codes is too much to ask. Because sometimes the meat just needs to get out to the masses. This is one of those special times, and the meat we're putting on the market is our jawing. Our opinions. Our stories. And the subject this week is the two biggest Android smartphone launches of the year, coming from the two biggest sworn enemies of the entire Android landscape. That's right: this is the episode where we talk HTC One vs Galaxy S IV. We've had the One for just a ...

The Kyocera Torque's 4-inch WVGA display and 4GB of on-board storage won't necessarily impress you, nor will its 5MP camera or its older build of Android ICS. But it's the first phone to launch in America with Kyocera's crazy-futuristic tissue conduction earpiece technology, which blew our minds a little bit in our hands-on at MWC. But its IP67 and MIL-STD 810G durability ratings should be enough to get you to sit up and take notice, especially if you end up drop-kicking the Torque into a freezing pond whose bottom is lined with razor blades (like ya do, from time to time). We don't go ...

Despite my calendar telling me we're supposed to be entering the Spring season, outside my office window Nature has deposited a thick, dense layer of snow atop all of Greater Boston. As my BlackBerry will tell you, I've already had quite enough of the frozen menace this year, and the constant exposure to its numbing cold has me thinking morbid thoughts this Friday afternoon. Specifically, I'm thinking about death, and how it relates to the Samsung Galaxy S III. Every time a new smartphone comes up for announcement, the media's focus -and the consumers'- swings instantly to the hip, new, ...

The big problem with Android on full-scale tablets, as we've pointed out time and time again, is that there's no significant Android app ecosystem at that screen size. Google Play apps written for smartphones automatically scale up and work well enough, sure, but it's certainly not an ideal experience at anything over 7 inches - a fact Apple harped on during its iPad mini launch event. That's an old conversation, and we along with others have spent the better part of a year speculating on possible solutions to this problem. Of course, the short answer is "Android devs need to code more ...

Ever recorded a 90-minute podcast full of Skype-related artifacts and drop-outs, only to find once you wrap it up that you used the wrong mic? If so, you know the pain we've experienced cutting together today's episode of the Pocketnow Weekly podcast. Sorry for the levels on this one, folks; it's unfortunate, and we've done all we can to normalize them, but you're probably going to be twisting your volume knob an awful lot over the course of this here episode. On the bright side, if you manage to endure, you'll be treated to some excellent discussion on everything from Galaxy S IV leaks to ...

Something funny happened a few months back. It was June 27, the day of the Nexus 7 announcement, and as usual, we were churning out a boatload of content. In addition to the usual news posts, editorials, and a pretty quick unboxing, something special showed up on the Pocketnow home page. It was a post by our own editor-in-chief, Brandon Miniman, with an unusual headline. Instead of the usual tease, question, or open-ended expression, this headline featured two complete sentences, openly declaring almost the entire contents of the story right on the front page. It read: The Nexus 7 Tablet ...

The Samsung Galaxy S IV is going to be a smash hit. It would take a huge leap of imagination for me to envision a set of circumstances that would torpedo this new, destined-for-greatness device, and in the post-MWC lull, I just don't have that much brain power. Whether it's a brilliant re-imagining of the Galaxy S line or a warmed-over rehash of the S3, this smartphone will succeed. That's my prediction. (You may now proceed to the comments to brand me a Samsung fanboy.) But success isn't just a measure of sell-through and mindshare. It is, at least in part, a reflection of how much ...

Kyocera's not a brand that appears often on our front page, but with efforts as unique and beastly as this, we're starting to think that's a shame. The Torque may be a mid-range device with average specs, but those middling attributes are wrapped up in a casing rated to IP67and MIL-SPEC 810G for durability, including exposure to blowing rain, humidity, salt fog, solar radiation, and immersion in water, among others. That durability is further augmented by a duo of cool factors: Sprint's CDMA-based Direct Connect two-way radio feature is on board, as is the rare tissue-conduction earpiece. ...