11
Dec
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Yota Devices Unveils YotaPhone – A Phone With Dual LCD/E-Ink Displays That 'Keeps You Different'

Posted by in Jelly Bean 4.2, News

Looking to "rebalance the relationship" between humans and their smartphones, Moscow-based Yota Devices has announced the YotaPhone, a smartphone with an LCD display on one side, and an e-ink screen on the back.

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The reason behind (between?) the dual screens, Yota says, is to deliver the information users want, right when they want it, without disengaging from the real world by pressing a power button and unlocking a screen. Users can choose to see information ranging from news stories to social media updates, calendar entries, and more. The information updates itself constantly, and is always ready to be looked at. Since the e-ink display uses very little battery power, the phone's 2100mAh pack should allow users to enjoy usage comparable to devices with a single display.

04
Dec
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[Weekend Poll] Now That The First Quad-Core Tablet Has Landed, Would You Still Buy A Dual-Core Tablet?

Posted by in Polls, Tablets

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see What Is Your Ideal Tablet Screen Size?

In light of the slew of Asus Transformer Prime (the first tablet to pack NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 CPU) reviews and the pending release of said device, we are curious to know: would you still buy a dual-core tablet? Perhaps you would, but only for a secondary/budget tablet? Or only if it were smaller? Sound off in the poll below, and head down to the comments to share your thoughts.

Now That The First Quad-Core Tablet Has Landed, Would You Still Buy A Dual-Core Tablet?

23
Jul
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[Total Nerdgasm] Total Commander For Android Is Very Real And Functional, With Root Support And Plugins - No Ads And Free Forever

Posted by in App Reviews, Applications, News, Reviews
Last Updated: November 4th, 2011

When we found Medieval Software's new app called Dual File Manager XT yesterday, we jumped on it right away due to its 2-pane support. Ever since the '90s, 2-pane "orthodox" file managers like the Midnight, Norton, Volkov, and most recently Total Commander have been an absolute necessity on any computer I use.

In fact, once I install a Windows OS nowadays, Total Commander is the first program that follows. Those who try 2-pane file managers can't (or rather shouldn't want to) go back to the conventional Explorer-style layouts - the level of productivity they bring is unparalleled.

Total Commander for Android

But let's come back to Android - after we posted the Dual File Manager XT, 2 people (Wr3ck and Martin) brought to my attention the fact that Christian Ghisler, the developer behind my favorite Total Commander, has been actually working on an Android port for quite a while now.

22
Jul
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New App: Dual File Manager XT Brings Awesome Dual-Pane File Management To Android

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

If you're like us, you probably spend a little bit of time in your Android device's directory system, hunting down stray files or unused app folders ripe for deletion. Or, more frustratingly, moving files between folders. This has never been particularly easy on Android, because you're limited to enough room on most handsets for one open file directory at a time - but no more.

Update: In response to a lot of you who are asking for root support, the app developer wrote in to say this:

"yes ROOT will be added if the program along with additional features."

Even with robust file management applications like Astro, moving files from folder to folder is a bit of a pain.

15
Jun
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The New Samsung Galaxy Tab Seven Is Coming This Fall, Will Run Gingerbread - Wait, What? Seriously?

Posted by in Galaxy Tab Seven, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Rumors, Samsung

CrunchGear is reporting that the Italian site HDblog has received exclusive details on Samsung's least-publicized new tablet product: the Galaxy Tab Seven (aka, the Galaxy Tab 2). The Seven will be the successor to the wildly unpopular Galaxy Tab, which debuted last fall to almost universally poor reviews (though our own Aaron Gingrich thoroughly enjoyed it). The Galaxy Tab was the first major-manufacturer Android tablet, and it seems based on the new tablet's specifications, Samsung learned a lot from the Tab's less-than-successful run.

Unfortunately, it looks as though they failed to learn from the Tab's biggest failing - the OS.

15
Jun
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[Rumor] The Next Nexus Phone: The Nexus 4G - LTE, 720p Display, Dual Core, No Function Buttons?

Posted by in Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Rumors

Take this with a massive grain of salt, but BGR has just let loose an article detailing what they claim will be either the next Nexus phone or, if not a Nexus, simply the new Android reference handset. Far more exciting than that is what BGR's source has told them what kind of features the phone will be packing:

  • A 720p "monster-sized" display - exact size unknown (also, goodbye qHD - nice knowing you)
  • Dual-core processor @1.2 or 1.5GHz (either a TI OMAP 4460 or a ULP Qualcomm 28nm Krait Snapdragon)
  • Android Ice Cream Sandwich (possibly dubbed Android 4.0)
  • Software function buttons (ala Honeycomb - no more capacitive touch)
  • 4G LTE (yes, yes, yes!)
  • 1GB RAM
  • 5MP rear camera w/1080p video, 1MP front camera
  • Release around Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, several big questions remain unanswered.

28
May
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[Review] Motorola DROID X2: Even Raw Horsepower Can't Save This Phone From Mediocrity

Posted by in Droid X2, Motorola, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Verizon Wireless
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Update: June 4, 2011 - I've taken an awful lot of flak for this review (and that's fine). I stand by the review because I can't honestly recommend this phone in good conscience. With that in mind, I realize that not everyone may share my opinions, and that's why I suggest potential purchasers go and take a look at it to see if they will notice the screen issues as much as I do.

Further, a lot of you seem to think I was using or inspecting the phone in a critical way; this was not the case. I noticed the screen and performance issues immediately and continuously under normal use conditions.

17
May
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DROID X2 Shows Up On Verizon Accessory Page; Still Unannounced

Posted by in Droid X2, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Continuing in the grand tradition of letting its less-than-flagship phones remain relatively free of fanfare leading up to release, Verizon (and Motorola) have let slip that the DROID X2 is probably coming soon, with the addition of an accessory page for the device on Verizon's website.

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In case you've forgotten, the DROID X2 is the dual-core, qHD-display packing successor to the wildly popular DROID X (the most popular Android phone to date, in fact). The X2 will be dropping with Gingerbread and the latest iteration of Motorola's not-MOTOBLUR overlay when it lands supposedly some time this month (maybe May 26).

16
May
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HTC Lead For AT&T System Dump Leaked, Reveals 4.3" Screen, Dual Cores, Gingerbread

Posted by in AT&T, Development, HTC, News

For round one of the HTC device leaks today, we present for your consideration the HTC Lead - a device that will be coming to the AT&T network at some point in the future (...most likely).

The ever-vigilent 911sniper blog "stumbled" upon a system dump for the upcoming phone, and it reveals some interesting tidbits in regard to its specifications:

  • Dual-core MSM8660 1.2GHz processor
  • 4.3" WVGA (800x480) display [not qHD - oddly]
  • 768MB RAM
  • Android 2.3.4
  • 5MP rear camera (no front camera)
  • AT&T support (presumably some kind of 4G - either HSPA+ or LTE)

The WVGA resolution and screen size, along with the amount of RAM, make this sound suspiciously like a beefed-up Desire HD (Inspire 4G).

16
Apr
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[Weekend Poll] How Significantly Will The Number Of Cores Factor Into Your Next Phone Purchase?

Posted by in Devices By Manufacturer, News, Polls
Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the newest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Did You Do Your Taxes Using Your Android Phone This Year?

After last week's boring exciting poll, I decided that we should take a turn back into something a bit more mainstream for this weekend's topic (and, you know, that I shouldn't let Artem take the reins again... seriously, taxes?) So here we go: quite simply, will the number of cores factor into which phone you purchase next? If so, how big of a role?

As always, take the poll below, and feel free to voice your opinion via the comments!

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