handson - 8/9 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

LG Star Makes Its Appearance In Hands-On Video, Complete With Custom LG Facebook App

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in LG, News, Optimus 2X (Star, p990)

Last Updated: December 23rd, 2010

Say what you may about the custom UI that was on the LG Star we saw earlier today, but you can't deny that there's something to be said for its dual-core processor. GSM Israel has proven just that via a hands-on video in which the LGP990 (aka the Star) is compared side-by-side with an iPhone 4, which comes off a bit undersized next to the Star.

Another factoid mentioned in the video: the handset packs a Tegra 2 processor driving a 4-inch display. Additionally, the video confirmed that the device will indeed ship with an 8 MP camera as well as a front-facing counterpart and an HDMI port.

Nov

Samsung Galaxy Tab Review: Getting A Handle On The Tab

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Tab, News, Reviews, Samsung, Tablet Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Last week, Samsung was awesome enough to send us the T-Mobile variant of their Galaxy Tab for review. As of this writing, I've spent a full 9 days using the 7" tablet - more than enough time to get an intimate feel for it. Without giving too much away off the bat, I have to say that I'm fairly impressed with it, despite having a few minor niggles.

So what does the Tab do right, and where does it come up short? Read on to find out.

Hardware

Build

The first thing you notice about the Tab is that it's very solid; at nearly 14 ounces, it has a good heft without being too heavy.

Nov

Motorola Droid Pro Unboxing And Hands-On

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Droid Pro, Motorola, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

So... what can I say? It's the Droid Pro, Android's answer to the Blackberry, the Blackberry running Android - in short, the phone that's supposed to kill off RIM once and for all. But is it? Our review unit just arrived in the mail today, and while I'm not ready to do a full review just yet, I am ready to give you my initial impressions as well as an overview of what's in the box. Ready? Read on!

The Unboxing

The box is standard fare for a Droid device - black, gray, and red, except for the Droid Pro name, which is inscribed in white.

Nov

Unboxing & Quick Hands-On With The T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Tab

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Tab, News, Reviews, T-Mobile, Tablet Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

What a nice surprise to come home to: Samsung was kind enough to send us the T-Mobile variant of the Galaxy Tab, and boy, is this thing beautiful. So far, I've only had about 30 minutes to play with it - just enough time to setup my email and preferences, do a little web browsing, and, naturally, play a game of Angry Birds (or 5... you know how it is).

Obviously, I only have limited impressions and a gaggle of pictures thus far - but the full review should be forthcoming in a few days, so be sure to check back.

Oct

HTC Desire HD Photographed In Fabulous Detail, First Impressions Posted

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Desire HD (Ace), Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, News

One lucky Dutch guy (xda member Clock1932) has swept aside any considerations of failed Google "Type Approval" testing and has gotten his paws on what many are calling "the EVO for Europe." Not so fast: while it may lack a kickstand, a 4G radio, and a front facing camera, its new Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8255 CPU appears to be quite a step up when it comes to benchmarks. Preliminary tests show a result of about 1900, compared to about 1200 on an EVO 4G running Froyo.

Speaking of snappiness, HTCSense.com is reportedly working nicely, with the "Call My Device" feature making the phone ring almost immediately.

Sep

Samsung Posts An Official 9 Minute Galaxy Tab Hands-On Walkthrough Video

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung, Videos

If you have 10 minutes to spare today, take a look at this new official Samsung video of the Galaxy Tab. It's professionally shot but this time instead of the marketing presentation that we saw before, we have an actual hands-on 9m20s walkthrough of:

the build
the UI
emailing (that 2-pane view looks nice!)
typing
using a calendar
editing documents
using the keyboard dock
calling (for non-US users)
video conferencing
reading books
listening to music
watching videos
utilizing Flash
HD streaming
using Android applications
GPS capabilities

Grab a coffee (if it's morning) or a beer (if it's night time or if that's just how you roll) and take a look:

Besides that, we have another video from SamsungMobileUSA, which is essentially a report from the Samsung Galaxy Tab press conference in New York that we attended last week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbE26Cmcz_8

Now feel free to go back to your regular scheduled programming and start saving up for that Tab.

Jul

AT&T’s Samsung Captivate Unboxing And Initial Hands-On!

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in AT&T, Captivate, Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Samsung, Videos

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Our friendly neighborhood FedEx employee stopped by this morning with our Samsung Captivate, so I figured I’d do a quick unboxing video, snap some pictures, and give you guys our initial thoughts before our review in a couple days.

The box itself is fairly boring, sticking with a generic “You bought a cell phone on AT&T!” design rather than trying to shake things up a la the EVO 4G’s eco-friendly box design, or Apple’s sleek iPhone packaging. Still, though, it’s what’s inside that counts, right?

Sliding the top off reveals a ‘quick start’ guide under which lies the phone itself, and below that, the charger, USB cable, and an above average set of ear buds.

Jun

Droid 2 Sneak Peak: First Impressions

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid 2, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

One of Gizmodo's readers Zack unexpectedly stumbled upon an upcoming Motorola Droid 2 at a tech show and didn't hesitate to snap some pictures and play around with this Droid successor.

Here are the main points of his review, in my favorite bullet point style, to save you some time:

about the same size as the original Droid
dark chrome overall color instead of the black
feels really nice - more curves, fewer edges
different button placement as the original, both on the outside and on the keyboard
blue coloring around the keyboard instead of gold
there is now a dedicated voice search button on the keyboard and the horrible d-pad is gone, replaced by cursor keys
no more lip on the right side with phone open
the Droid 2 name might change - Motorola reps are unsure of what it will be yet
same 5MP camera, though noticeable faster
most likely will come with vanilla Froyo - not Ninjablur
8GB internal memory, 8GB micro-SD card
1GHz processor

And here's Zack's full account if you want the original:

I am a summer intern at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA) this summer and today there was a tech show on the lab.

Jun

HTC Aria Coming June 20th To AT&T, Initial Hands-On Impressions Surface

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Aria (Liberty), AT&T, Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, News

Last Updated: June 17th, 2010

Good news, AT&T customers – starting June 20, AT&T will begin selling its first HTC Android device, the Aria. A few days ago, they (accidently?) released a video showing the HTC “Liberty” being tested. At the time, we speculated that it might actually be the HTC Aria we’d heard about before. Turns out we were probably correct, as various news outlets have been receiving the Aria to play around with, and they look to be one and the same.

The phone isn’t quite as high-end as other recent HTC outings on other networks (such as the EVO or Incredible): it offers a 3.2” display running at 480 x 320, as well as a 5 megapixel camera (sans flash).

May

Review And Hands-On Results With HTC EVO 4G's 720P HD Video Camera - Paris In Videos

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Sprint, Videos

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Yesterday I posted my review and hands-on results with lots of photos made by HTC EVO 4G's 8MP camera, and today I was finally able to finish uploading the 720P HD videos from the same period of time during my visit to Paris (damn you, slow French WiFi!).

As before, I'll start with some details and thoughts and end with the videos themselves. Switch the Youtube player to the 720P mode if you want to see them at max quality.

Camera Details And Performance

I was very excited to finally own a device that can take HD videos, as the next best thing I owned was an old Canon SD450 which shot in questionable quality and relatively low resolution, so I jumped on the EVO's camcorder capabilities like fat Parisian kid on a bag of Parisian pastries (I suck at fat jokes).