RIM BlackBerry Curve 9320 review

With the Curve 9320, the BlackBerry brand has gone back to its roots with a simple QWERTY keyboard, a squat and chunky design, no touchscreen and a focus on BlackBerry Messenger. The Curve 9320 is also retro in specification, having a 2.4in display, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of storage space for your apps. This specification is probably why the Curve 9320 is colloquially known as the Kiddie Curve, because it’s perfect for young people with great eyesight and no need for a more powerful phone.

The Curve 9320 also comes in four different colours and it feels light yet tough. Its 2.4in display does take some getting used to, especially if you’re accustomed to newer touchscreen phones. Its lack of a touchscreen means you use the optical trackpad below it to traverse the various menus, but we had no problem with this. It felt natural and the cursor moves quickly, but in a controlled manner so you don’t overshoot the icon or option you want to choose. Sadly, the small screen size does mean that you can’t see as much on screen as you can with other smartphones, and it’s especially grating because of our familiarity with widescreen designs. Although you can increase the font size on the Curve 9320, you can’t increase icon size, which means you do strain your eyes when looking at it for extended periods of time.

The Curve 9320 comes with BlackBerry OS 7.1, which is a great mobile OS. It’s mostly icon-based, with list-driven context menus. This does give it an old-school feel, but it also means you can quickly find or alter the menu setting you need quickly, which is vitally important given the lack of a touchscreen.

We’re less impressed by its keyboard. It’s great for smaller hands or those with long nails, but we found ourselves repeatedly hitting the wrong key when trying to type at a decent speed. We often hit the wrong key when typing on a touchscreen keyboard, but we can type quicker on a touchscreen than the Curve 9320’s keyboard.

The Curve 9320’s browser reminded us of web-browsing on the Nintendo Wii. You have an onscreen cursor that you move around using the optical trackpad. You can zoom in and out of the webpage and click to go through to another page. We found text hard to read, and when we zoomed in we couldn’t see the text in context. This ruined our web-browsing experience. The Curve 9320’s great if you want to look up some general information, but not if you browse the internet regularly.

Its basic 3.2-megapixel camera pales in comparison to that of more expensive phones such as the Sony Xperia P, but it’s great for taking quick snaps for Facebook, and it even has a flash. It also has a geo-tagging facility, and you can use it as a video camera if you have a micro SD card in it. Considering the price of the Curve 9320, that’s not bad.

The Curve makes a great first smartphone for younger users,

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Samsung Galaxy Note II review: Is bigger really bette

Samsung took a big risk with its first Galaxy Note device. At 5.3-in., the device's screen was almost comically large for a smartphone. That, combined with the Note's retro-sounding stylus, led to plenty of skepticism and outright ridicule.

Galaxy Note II

In the end, of course, Samsung had the last laugh by selling 10 million units by August, 2012 -- and now, the manufacturer's back with an even bigger model. The Galaxy Note II launches in the U.S. this week, with Sprint kicking things off on Thursday. The carrier will sell the Note II for $300 with a new two-year contract. AT&T, meanwhile, will offer the phone starting November 9 for the same price. T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular are all expected to follow suit in the coming weeks, though none has announced specific launch dates or prices as of this writing.

Samsung's Galaxy Note II keeps the same basic concept as the original Note but adds higher-quality components and new software twists. So how does it all stack up? I spent several days using the Note II to find out.

Body and display

When you hold the Galaxy Note II, one thing is immediately clear: This is a Samsung-made phone. The new Note follows Samsung's design aesthetic and in many ways looks like a supersized Galaxy S III. The device is very plasticky; it has a removable silver-colored rear panel that feels thin and flimsy when pulled off. That said, the Note II certainly doesn't look cheap; it has a sleek and contemporary appearance with shiny, reflective surfaces and visually pleasing curves.


Of course, the size is the real eye-catching thing about the Note II: The phone is a whopping 3.2 x 5.9 x 0.4 in., longer but slightly narrower than the first-gen Note's 3.3 x 5.8 x 0.4 in. frame.

At 6.3 oz., it isn't unbearably heavy -- but for better or for worse, it's definitely a bulky device. Personally, I found the Note II a bit awkward and unnatural to hold; it's too big to use with a single hand, like a typical smartphone, and too small to use like a traditional tablet (even a relatively small one like the Nexus 7).

I also found the Note II rather uncomfortable to carry around. While it did fit into the pocket of my jeans, it was always either in my way or on the verge of falling out. Sitting down was particularly challenging.

If you can get used to the size, though, the Note II's 5.5-in. HD Super AMOLED screen is a beaut. The 1280 x 720 display gives you ample room for Web browsing, video-watching or whatever your tech-loving heart desires. It's crisp, clear and bright (although you may have to deactivate Samsung's often-wonky auto-brightness setting to get the best results). Smartphone enthusiasts will be happy to know it doesn't utilize Pentile technology, which is frequently criticized for causing jagged edges and lower-quality views.

Samsung's Galaxy Note II has a volume rocker on its left side, a headphone jack on its top, and a power button about a third of the way down its right edge. On the bottom of the phone sits a standard micro-USB port that -- with the use of a special adapter, priced at $40 on Samsung's website -- can double as an HDMI out port to let you hook the phone up to your TV and watch your videos on a large display. The bottom of the device also houses a slot where the S Pen stylus resides (more on that in a bit).

Following the example of its Galaxy S III smartphone, Samsung has opted to use an odd mix of physical and capacitive navigation buttons in place of the virtual on-screen buttons Google recommends for modern Android devices. The Note II has a physical home button flanked by capacitive menu and back buttons, the latter two of which light up for just a couple of seconds when you touch the screen and remain invisible otherwise.


The Note II has a single small speaker on its back. The speaker is surprisingly good: Audio is loud, clear and relatively full-sounding. There is one design-related disappointment: The grill covering the speaker protrudes awkwardly from the phone's back plate, creating a rough and rather sharp spot in an otherwise smooth and consistent surface. (As a result, when you set the phone down on its back, it actually rocks back and forth very slightly.

Under the hood

Samsung's Galaxy Note II runs on a 1.6GHz quad-core processor along with a full 2GB of RAM. The result is a blazingly fast smartphone experience with no noticeable slowdowns or stutters; from app loading to Web browsing and even multitasking, the Note II's performance is consistently impressive.

Also impressive is the device's stamina: While it's no Droid Razr Maxx HD, the Galaxy Note II packs a removable 3100mAh battery that provides more than enough juice to get you from morning to night. Even with the massive power-sucking screen, I found myself making it through full days of moderate usage with room to spare.

(It's worth noting that the Note II model I tested was connected to T-Mobile's 4G HSPA+ network. Models utilizing 4G LTE networks will likely utilize more power and may have different results.)

The Note II comes with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. (The U.S. carriers have not yet specified which version or versions they'll offer.) The Note II has a slot for a microSD card, too, located under the phone's rear panel; it allows you to add up to 64GB of additional storage.

The smartphone has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing lens. The main camera is quite good and on a par with the setup used in Samsung's Galaxy S III phone. While I might give the HTC One X and One S a slight edge in terms of both camera interface and image quality, Samsung's setup is certainly no slouch; photos taken on the Note II looked crisp and sharp with vibrant, true-to-life colors and superb detail.

Finally, there's the actual phone connectivity: While things will obviously vary from one carrier to the next, on the T-Mobile device I used, calls sounded loud and clear, and people on the other end reported being able to hear me fine. (I did, however, feel slightly ridiculous holding a giant slate up to my face to talk.) Data over T-Mobile's HSPA+ network was pleasantly zippy and consistent with typical T-Mobile 4G speeds.

One concern: On a few occasions, my Note II unit stopped connecting to T-Mobile's network, making it impossible for me to make calls or utilize data. Powering the phone off and back on fixed the problem. My own personal device, meanwhile -- which also utilizes T-Mobile's network -- continued to work fine during these occasions.

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iPad Mini Fist look

Apple's iPad Mini will bring a lot more excitement and a little more confusion to the holiday shopping season.

It only takes a few minutes playing with the iPad mini to realize the scaled-down tablet computer will be a sure-fire hit with longtime Apple disciples and potential converts who've been looking for a more affordable entree into the mobile computing market.

With a 7.9-inch screen, the iPad mini is perfectly sized to be stuffed in Christmas stockings. Recipients who will discover the pleasure and convenience of being able to take pictures, surf the Web, watch video, read books and listen to music on an exquisitely designed device that's pancake thin.

As enticing as that all sounds, the iPad mini also causes a dilemma, albeit a pleasant one.

The new option will make it even more difficult for holiday shoppers to figure out which mobile device to buy for their loved ones -or for themselves.

I felt the pangs of indecision within a few minutes of picking up the iPad mini for the first time.

As the company usually does at its product unveilings, Apple Inc. only provided reporters with limited, strictly supervised access to the iPad mini on Tuesday. That meant I could only experiment with it for about 15 minutes, but as an experienced user of the iPad 2, I could quickly see that the smaller tablet does just about everything its bigger brethren does.

Even though the mini's screen is 1.8 inches smaller than the standard iPad, the movie "The Avengers" looked lush, even in a side-by-side comparison with the larger tablet. When I pulled up the latest issue of the New Yorker, I didn't have to strain to see the text or pictures on the smaller screen. A quick check of other websites verified that the mini's screen isn't so tiny that it's going to cause a lot of squinting. After I took a very crisp picture of another reporter testing out a mini, I decided to email it to her to test how easy it was to use the keyboard on the smaller screen. No problem there. Best of all, the iPad Mini can be held in one hand and is about half the weight of the larger iPad.

The Mini worked so much like my standard iPad that it immediately caused me to have second thoughts about a decision I thought I had already made. I like my iPad 2 a lot, but it's just too big to carry with me wherever I am. But there have been times I really wish I had it with me, like when I spot something that would make a great picture or when I've needed to check something on the Web. For various reasons, I didn't want a smartphone that would require a data plan, so I had my mind set on buying the latest iPod Touch, which has an iPhone-size screen and superb camera.

Now, the iPad mini has me vacillating. Apple isn't making it easier with its pricing strategy. The latest iPod Touch with 32 gigabytes sells for $299. An iPad Mini with 16 gigabytes of storage sells for $329. I'm tempted.

Like others who will no doubt be weighing the same decision, I'll have to make up my mind. Do I want something that can fit in my one of pant pockets like the Touch? For starters, it comes in more colors than the black-or-white Mini and offers more storage capacity for a cheaper price.

Or do I want to pay a little more for another tablet computer that can slip into a coat pocket and offer a richer experience with a screen nearly two times larger than the new Touch?

The iPad mini is so mighty that I can't believe the iPad 2 will be on the market too much longer. The iPad 2's $399 price now looks like too much, given that the iPad mini can do just about everything it does on a slightly smaller screen. The iPad 2 still may have some appeal for people who want a larger tablet at a lower price the newest iPads, but I can't see too many consumers buying Apple's second-generation tablet now that the mini is available.

Consumers who aren't set on buying one of Apple's devices will have even more choices to make. The iPad mini is clearly aimed at siphoning sales away from the Nexus 7 tablet that Google Inc. began selling four months ago and the longer-established Kindle Fire from Amazon.com Inc. Figuring out which one is best-suited for you (or that special someone on your shopping list) will likely come down to weighing price against performance.

Amazon is sells a Kindle Fire HD with 16 gigabytes of storage and 7-inch screen for $199 and a similarly sized Nexus 7 goes for $249. That means an iPad mini will cost $80 to $130 more, a price that Apple believes is justified because it boasts more features, such as front and back cameras. The mini's reliance on aluminum instead of plastic for its exterior also makes it look more stylish and more enjoyable to hold.

If the speculation on technology blogs pans out, Google might make things even more interesting and dizzying for holiday shoppers by introducing a $99 version of the Nexus 7 in the coming weeks.
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Sony Xperia Miro

That it has launched them so close together is even more baffling, and surely risks rendering one of them obsolete.So, does the Sony Xperia Miro do enough to justify its price tag? Well, first impressions aren't great. The Sony Xperia Miro has a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 display, which is on the small side these days, particularly when cheaper handsets such as the Huawei Ascend G300 pack a 4-inch display. But coming from the Sony Xperia Tipo, it actually feels like quite a jump in size - it's only 0.3 inches bigger, but the difference is surprisingly noticeable.

A few of its other specs have been boosted above those of the Xperia Tipo too, though they're still fairly modest. It retains an 800MHz single core processor with 512MB of RAM. Its camera sees a boost in megapixels, up to 5 megapixels, versus the Xperia Tipo's 3.15MP snapper. It can shoot VGA video at 30fps and comes with 4GB of storage, only 2.2GB of which is useable. On the plus side it supports microSD cards of up to 32GB.

It comes running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, which isn't the latest build but it isn't too far behind.Despite having a name that aligns it with the Tipo, the Sony Xperia Miro eschews its sibling's rounded edges in favour of a rectangular look in line with the more premium Sony Xperia U, Sony Xperia P, Sony Xperia T and Sony Xperia S.

However, if the aim was to make it seem more premium, it wasn't entirely successful. At first glance the Sony Xperia Miro does look like a better - or at least more expensive - phone than the Sony Xperia Tipo. The more angular, less chunky form factor on the Sony Xperia Miro gives it a touch of class, but as soon as you pick it up you find that looks can be deceiving.

It's lightweight at 110g (0.24lbs), but with dimensions of 113 x 59.4 x 9.9mm (4.4 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches) it's not a tiny handset, and this makes it feel odd when held.

Your brain tells you it shouldn't be that light, like it's an imposter, or what every phone manufacturer dreads hearing - that it's a toy.
That impression isn't helped by the cheap, plasticky feel of the handset. Yes, most phones have a plastic shell of some kind, but there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, and the Sony Xperia Miro most definitely does it wrong. It feels like a toy. An expensive toy, but still a toy.

Below the screen you'll find three soft-touch buttons. These are the home button in the centre, the back button on the left and the menu button on the right.     Review
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Sony Xperia Miro review
TechRadar rating
2.5/5
For

    Long battery life
    Great music player
    Great for calls and messaging
    Strong connectivity options

Against

    Poor screen
    Terrible video recording
    Sluggish performance
    Cheap build
    Little storage

Sony Xperia Miro review
Sony's second budget handset in as many months - does it do enough to stand out?
By James Rogerson October 17th
1 comment
Page 1 of 13Introduction

It seems like only yesterday that we were putting the Sony Xperia Tipo through its paces, but here already, with just the smallest of spec boosts, is the Sony Xperia Miro.

The entry-level smartphone market is becoming increasingly crowded as it is, so it's a surprise that Sony has seen fit to release two handsets that, on paper at any rate, are incredibly similar.

That it has launched them so close together is even more baffling, and surely risks rendering one of them obsolete.

Sony Xperia Miro review

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It's not just the Sony Xperia Tipo it's got to contend with, either. The boost in specs has brought with it a boost in price, as you can currently pick the Sony Xperia Miro up for £159/AU$240/US$239.99 SIM-free. This price range puts it in competition with the similarly styled Sony Xperia U and the HTC Wildfire S.

So, does the Sony Xperia Miro do enough to justify its price tag? Well, first impressions aren't great. The Sony Xperia Miro has a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 display, which is on the small side these days, particularly when cheaper handsets such as the Huawei Ascend G300 pack a 4-inch display.

Sony Xperia Miro review

But coming from the Sony Xperia Tipo, it actually feels like quite a jump in size - it's only 0.3 inches bigger, but the difference is surprisingly noticeable.

A few of its other specs have been boosted above those of the Xperia Tipo too, though they're still fairly modest. It retains an 800MHz single core processor with 512MB of RAM.

Sony Xperia Miro review

Its camera sees a boost in mega pixels, up to 5 megapixels, versus the Xperia Tipo's 3.15MP snapper. It can shoot VGA video at 30fps and comes with 4GB of storage, only 2.2GB of which is usable. On the plus side it supports microSD cards of up to 32GB.

It comes running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, which isn't the latest build but it isn't too far behind.

Sony Xperia Miro review

Despite having a name that aligns it with the Tipo, the Sony Xperia Miro eschews its sibling's rounded edges in favour of a rectangular look in line with the more premium Sony Xperia U, Sony Xperia P, Sony Xperia T and Sony Xperia S.

However, if the aim was to make it seem more premium, it wasn't entirely successful. At first glance the Sony Xperia Miro does look like a better - or at least more expensive - phone than the Sony Xperia Tipo.

Sony Xperia Miro review

The more angular, less chunky form factor on the Sony Xperia Miro gives it a touch of class, but as soon as you pick it up you find that looks can be deceiving.

It's lightweight at 110g (0.24lbs), but with dimensions of 113 x 59.4 x 9.9mm (4.4 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches) it's not a tiny handset, and this makes it feel odd when held.

Your brain tells you it shouldn't be that light, like it's an imposter, or what every phone manufacturer dreads hearing - that it's a toy.

Sony Xperia Miro review

That impression isn't helped by the cheap, plasticky feel of the handset. Yes, most phones have a plastic shell of some kind, but there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, and the Sony Xperia Miro most definitely does it wrong. It feels like a toy. An expensive toy, but still a toy.

Below the screen you'll find three soft-touch buttons. These are the home button in the center, the back button on the left and the menu button on the right.

Sony Xperia Miro review

Below that there's a blue light that appears when you wake up the phone or when you receive a text or call. You can't even tell it's there when it's off and when it's on it looks good, extending out across much of the width of the phone. It's also incredibly useful, and we applaud Sony for supporting this feature when so few other manufacturers do.

Below that the body curves inwards slightly and is adorned with the word 'Xperia'. There's a little notch at the bottom of the handset to peel the back cover off, and doing so just compounds the feeling of cheapness as the cover itself is revealed to be very thin plastic.

Underneath you'll find the battery, along with the SIM card and microSD card slots. Unfortunately not only do you need to remove the back cover to swap out a microSD card, but also the battery. Granted, it's a minority of users that will need more than one card, but for those that do this is an unfortunate inconvenience. Given the tiny amount of storage on the Xperia Miro it would be nice if Sony had done more to ease expansion.

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Sony Xperia T

The Xperia T is Sony’s new flagship smartphone and comes fully equipped with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor under the hood, as well as Google’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Its top-notch processor offers speedy navigation across the user interface, and makes for stutter-free web browsing and flawless gaming and video capabili

Dual-core 1.5GHz processor
13MP fast capture camera
13MP fast capture camera
4.6" HD Reality display powered by Mobile BRAVIA
4.6" HD Reality display powered by Mobile BRAVIA
Full 1080p HD video recording and 720p HD front camera     Full 1080p HD video recording and 720p HD front camera
microSD Memory Card slot
microSD Memory Card slot


Featuring an award-winning slender design, not only does it look slick but it acts slick too. Integrated ‘one touch’ sharing, enabled by NFC, delivers the next step in connected entertainment.

Boasting a 13MP fast-capture camera, snaps look sharp and crisp on the 4.6-inch HD reality display. Full 1080p video recording is also available from the rear-shooter and there’s the addition of 3D surround sound so video playback is enhanced even further. Internal storage is available up to 16GB and there’s also a microSD slot with support for up to 32GB.

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Asus has officially launched its Padfone 2,

Asus has officially launched its Padfone 2, the latest in its range of one-size-fits-all convertible Android devices.

Building on the original Padfone, the Padfone 2 is identical in concept: a powerful Android-based smartphone docks in the rear of a tablet-style display, providing users with the ability to quickly transform the handset into a large-screen tablet without the need to manage two distinct devices. Applications and files held on the phone are, naturally, instantly accessible on the tablet, and when the phone is removed continue to run on the smaller screen.

The design has changed since the original Padfone, however: the clunky door mechanism has been replaced with a smoother slide system which orients the phone upright as the tablet is held in a landscape position. As well as reducing the thickness of the tablet, this also means it can make use of the smartphone's high-resolution 13-megapixel rear camera for still and video capture.

Internally, the device boasts Qualcomm's quad-core ARM Cortex-A9-based APQ8064 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 2,140mAh battery. The display is a 4.7in Super IPS+ panel with IGZO technology running at 1280x720, while the tablet side gets a 10.1in 1280x800 IPS along with a secondary 5,000mAh battery - a reduction from the original Padfone's 6,600mAh. Storage depends on the model purchased, with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions available.

Connectivity includes integrated Wi-Fi along with 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) support for the mobile side. Sadly, the option of connecting a keyboard to the Padfone 2 - which allowed the original Padfone to convert from a phone to a tablet to a netbook and back again - has disappeared, and the device will launch with the somewhat outdated Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' with an upgrade to Android 4.1 'Jelly Bean' promised in the near future.

Asus has confimred that the Padfone 2 will be launching in Taiwan next week, initially in black and with a white version due to follow shortly after. International pricing has yet to be confirmed, with the Taiwanese models expected to start at around NT$17,990 plus NT$6,000 for the tablet dock (approximately £512 exluding taxes for the pair.)

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