-
by Jaime Rivera | March 28, 2013 5:22 PMRead OnThe idea of comparing Sony's new Xperia ZL against Samsung's phablet is crazy in its own way. The Xperia ZL on one side is the perfect incarnation of a device that gives you big features on a footprint you can actually manipulate with one hand. The Note II by contrast is focused on showing the world that bigger is better. One of these products is designed to cater to every customer out there, and the other is clearly out to continue pushing the niche they created with the first Galaxy Note. Who will win in this battle of the large displays? Watch our comparison and find out.
-
by Michael Fisher | March 28, 2013 1:40 PMRead OnWe love us some new technology, and we certainly give it its fair shake on today's episode of the Pocketnow Weekly. But every so often, you need to give a little lip-service to the tech of days gone by. The platforms and devices of yesteryear. That's right: I'm talking about dead technology. It makes sense, then, that a man going by the twitter handle DeadTechnology is here to help us dust off those fond memories. In his inaugural visit to the Pocketnow Weekly, our own Adam Doud pulls back the veil of public apathy secrecy surrounding the phenomenon of the "webOS meetup," a regular ...
-
by Adam Doud | March 28, 2013 6:24 AMRead OnIt’s the time of year when we all start thinking about Bunnies, and Baskets and Jelly Beans – well, at least in my household it is. That’s right it’s Easter week, and that has me thinking about all sorts of goodies. Goodies like Jelly Beans and…Key Lime Pie??? Of course, ‘Jelly Bean’ has a different meaning to technology geeks like us. Jelly Bean is the current iteration of the Android operating system so many of us know and love. It’s also far and away the best iteration of Android to grace a phone or tablet ever. It’s also getting on close to a year old which ...
-
by Michael Fisher | March 27, 2013 3:02 PMRead OnI’ve learned that there are two things about being a smartphone-and-tablet reviewer. The first thing: you get to handle awesome gadgetry days or weeks ahead of its official release date, and you’re not just allowed to use the heck out of it; you need to, in order to do your job. That’s the awesome thing. The other, less-awesome thing: you eventually have to give it all back. Empty Nest is a recurring column discussing what I miss -and what I don’t- about the devices I’ve had to return. ___ Normally, I have a bit longer to say my goodbyes. The device-of-the-month and I usually ...
-
by Michael Fisher | March 13, 2013 5:15 PMRead OnThe HTC One, as we mentioned in yesterday's unboxing and hardware tour, is a crucial device for the Taiwanese smartphone maker. The company's brand has suffered a steady decline since its heyday of the last decade, and HTC is -for the second year in a row- banking on a device titled the "One" to save it from the increasing pressure of the competition. The One of 2013 is similar to last year's One X in several respects, not least of which is the focus HTC has chosen to put on its camera. Last year, the company's marketing materials drilled home the message that the One X included an ...
-
by Michael Fisher | March 13, 2013 1:00 PMRead OnSometimes 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 ...
-
by Michael Fisher | March 8, 2013 3:30 PMRead OnDespite 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, ...
-
by Stephen Schenck | March 7, 2013 3:29 PMRead OnMotorola's Droid RAZR and RAZR Maxx aren't the only older Androids seeing upgrades to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and following a bit of a false start, we can now confirm that the HTC One X on AT&T will begin receiving its update today. AT&T initially posted on its blog about the update, but after abruptly removing the post, it was unclear if the update was still forthcoming, or if that announcement had been made a bit prematurely, and there would still be a wait before the software's release. Now it's back up, and we can confirm that distribution of the update does indeed begin today. ...
-
by Stephen Schenck | March 7, 2013 2:46 PM
Read OnEverybody loves getting an Android update; they remind us that our phones aren't yet completely out-of-date, and that our manufacturer and carrier have at least some passing interest in keeping us happy. We get to check out the latest Android features that it seems like everyone else has been enjoying for six months, and briefly feel like we have a modern handset again. That's all fine for what it is, but with so many phones out there tasked to get their updates, it's difficult for us to get very excited about any one in particular. At least, that's usually the case, but the new update ...
-
by Michael Fisher | March 4, 2013 4:09 PMRead OnMobile World Congress 2013 was, as promised, a boatload of fun and a bucket of hot tech-geek action. While we didn't see everything we wanted to, we were treated to an avalanche of smartphones and tablets running everything from Android to Windows Phone to Sailfish to FirefoxOS. We got a gander at some really impressive form factors too, at sizes ranging from the conventional to the fantastic. If you were off the internet for the duration of last week, or if you simply couldn't deal with the cavalcade of content gushing forth from the tech-news spigot, that's okay. We understand. And we've ...
-
by Taylor Martin | February 25, 2013 2:24 PMRead OnLast week, we finally got a firsthand look at Ubuntu 12.10 Touch. We went hands-on with both Ubuntu for Phones and Ubuntu for Tablets. While it's pretty clear that the developer preview was just that, a preview (some application were only screenshots of what the applications will look like), the operating system shows promise for great things to come. Ubuntu, at this point, is not stable, and in no way is it viable as a daily driver. Sure, you have your basics – dialer, SMS, HSPA+ connectivity, camera, etc. But application support is virtually nonexistent and the preview suffers from all ...
-
by Brandon Miniman | February 24, 2013 3:56 PMRead OnHP is getting back into tablets, this time with Android (and not with webOS with the ill-fated Touchpad). Their first device in this category is a budget device that reminds us a lot of the Nexus 7 but with worse specs and a low price. It has a 7" 1024x600 LCD display and is powered by an A9 Cortex CPU with 1GB of RAM. It's running on Android 4.1 and comes without a skin on top of Android. Interestingly, it has Beats Audio, making it the first non-HTC device to bring this audio-enhancing technology since the aforementioned TouchPad. It also has 8GB of storage, but unlike the Nexus 7, you ...
-
by Stephen Schenck | February 23, 2013 10:20 PMRead OnThe Galaxy Note 8.0 isn't the only Android Samsung's announcing tonight, and its other new product is something a little bit new for the company, an Android-based home storage hub and media player, the Samsung HomeSync. This Jelly Bean Android device runs a dual-core 1.7GHz SoC, has 1GB of RAM, 8GB of flash, and for all that media, a 1TB hard drive. It hooks up to your TV over HDMI and can connect to your local network over Gigabit Ethernet or WiFi. It will stream content right from your Galaxy phone, or can play back locally stored files. For connection to your home theater system, ...
-
by Taylor Martin | February 20, 2013 6:00 AMRead OnWe've said it before, backing up your phone is one of the more important things you can do. Losing data and important information is never a good thing. So making sure it's safe and secure ahead of time in the event an accident happens, your phone is stolen or the like is a smart idea. Fortunately, that's not a tall order when you're an Android user. Options for backing up your Android smartphone stretch far and wide, from something as simple as the built-in contact, calendar and even picture sync with your Google account to root options like Nandroid backups and Titanium, there is no ...
-
by Jaime Rivera | February 18, 2013 6:15 PMRead OnEver wonder what it's like to be in our shoes while the hottest mobile events on the planet are happening? We're about to change that. Join us tomorrow for our Special-Edition Pocketnow Live where we plan to give you our full office experience of what it's like to cover an event while our own Brandon Miniman and Michael Fisher are at the show floor at HTC's New York event covering everything. February 19th, 10:00 AM Eastern. Look out for our YouTube Channel and join us in the comments!
Posts tagged with: Jelly Bean