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Mar

Sony Announces Xperia L And SP To Round Out Its Mid-To-High End Lineup

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Sony

Today, Sony announced two new handsets to add to its existing smartphone lineups, led by the new SP. This handset has a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus, 4.6" 'HD Reality Display' and Android 4.1. It's not the most awe-inspiring spec list we've seen, but certainly good enough to stand next to other highish-end handsets.

Here are the full specs for the Xperia SP:

1.7 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ S4 Plus dual core processor
Adreno 320 GPU
1 GB RAM
4.6” 1280x720 display
Android™ 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
LTE
NFC
8MP camera with HDR

In addition to the SP, Sony also announced the Xperia L, which is closer to a mid-range handset.

Mar

HTC Extends $100 Trade-Up Program Through April 26th Following Rumored Launch Delays

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, One

Last Updated: March 25th, 2013

Last month, HTC announced a smartphone trade-up program, offering potential customers the chance to trade in their old cell phone for a $100 prepaid VISA card or the value of the phone (whichever is greater) after buying a new HTC One. The decision was a good one, especially for a phone that – while technically great – is badly in need of some effective marketing.

The deal was set to expire March 31st, but HTC has decided to extend the offer all the way up to April 26th. Here's what HTC had to say in our correspondence:

HTC is thrilled with the positive response we have received to our $100 trade-up offer, and as such we are extending the offer for customers who purchase The new HTC One by 4/26 and trade in their old device by 5/31.

Mar

Samsung Vs. HTC Advertising Smackdown (Or: This Is Why The Galaxy Brand Is Killing The One Series)

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Editorials, News

We've mentioned a couple of times on this site that when it comes to the battle of HTC versus Samsung, advertising is of paramount importance. Why? Because people who don't read blogs with names like 'Gizmondo,' 'Android Cops,' or 'The Precipice' have no idea what makes the Galaxy S IV better than the HTC One or vice versa. In fact, more often than not, the average Joe looking to buy a new item in a field he has no expertise in has just one question: what's a good brand?

Marketing is the art of getting people to know and trust your brand.

Mar

Chameleon Launcher 2.0 Brings Phone Optimization, Multiple Home Screens, Widget Enhancements To Kickstarter Backers

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

In a post to its official blog today, the team behind Chameleon Launcher announced version 2.0, which simultaneously hit the Play Store. The update, which is – for now – only available to Kickstarter backers and pre-order customers, brings a handful of popularly requested features. Perhaps the biggest of these is optimization for the small screen. Yes, Chameleon is now specifically optimized to work on your smartphone as well as it does on your tablet.

As part of the optimization (which supports screen resolutions of 720x1280 and up), Chameleon has gained the ability to hold multiple home screens in each context.

Feb

Adobe Releases Photoshop Touch For Phones, Pisses Off Tablet Users By Making It A Separate $5 App

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Adobe has kind of a scattershot mobile strategy. On the one hand, it released six apps back in 2011 for tablets that ranged from okay to awesome. On the other hand, it killed off five of them last year. The tablet versions cost $10 each. Pricey for an app, but Adobe knows how to bring it's A-game. Today, it's bringing it again with a phone version of Photoshop Touch. A distinct piece of software for $5.

Nearly all of the features of the tablet version are available here, including layer support, selective editing, and an array of touch-friendly gestures and menus that made the original app so dang nice.

Feb

[MWC 2013] ASUS Announces The 1080p, Snapdragon 600 Padfone Infinity And 7" Fonepad

Posted by Liam Spradlin in ASUS, Fonepad, News, Padfone Infinity

Last Updated: March 4th, 2013

At an afternoon press conference across the street from MWC 2013's enormous venue, ASUS has just wrapped a (hilarious) press conference that saw the introduction of two new devices (or three?) – the Padfone Infinity and the Fonepad. Before we dive in for hands-on, let's take a quick look at the specs and pricing for the devices.

^{Jonney Shih with the Padfone Infinity}

Padfone Infinity

The Padfone Infinity is the tablet/phone combination we were expecting from ASUS today. It's got decent specs, and boasts ASUS' new AOCC "Ubiquitous Cloud" functionality, but has a rather stunning price, pegged at €999. The device isn't expected to make an appearance States-side.

Feb

[Editorial] No One's Going To Buy The Chromebook Pixel, But It's Still The Most Exciting Thing Google's Done In A While

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Editorials, News

Yesterday, Google did what Google does best: announce a first version of something that is completely ridiculous, very few people care about, most folks mocked, and that will ultimately end up forgotten in the annals of internet history. No offense, Goog. Some later products are spectacular, but let's be real. Very rarely does Google get it right on the first try.

However, the Chromebook Pixel is still a huge deal and the savvy analyst should take notice, because things just changed in a big way. Google isn't selling a product with this new laptop, it's making a statement. It's planting a flag on the future because, well, no flag, no future.

Feb

Now That The President Has To Respond To The Phone Unlock Petition, Let's Talk About What He (And You) Can Actually Do

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Editorials, Features, News

In October of 2012, the Library of Congress elected not to renew DMCA exemptions that explicitly allow end users to unlock their cell phones at will, thus ending a six year tradition. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. The quest to do something about it began almost immediately. And by "almost immediately" I mean "nearly three months later and at almost the very last minute."

Still, regardless of when the outrage gained steam, the fact is it did. Quite a bit of steam, in fact. Despite the White House raising the bar for online petitions to 100,000 signatures (after the previous bar of 25,000 resulted in an entertaining, if frivolous response about why the President won't build a Death Star), you did it!

Feb

LG Announces L Series II, Mid-Range To Low-End Phones For All

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in LG, News

While the Nexus 4 may be the LG handset getting everyone's attention, the company does have other market segments to think about. The L SeriesII (so that's what happened to the other letter from the Optimus G) fills that need with a trio of handsets that will debut with the Optimus L7II in Russia next week. The phone comes with a 4.3" 800x480 IPS display, dual-core Qualcomm processor and Jelly Bean 4.1.

Here are the full specs for the L7II:

• Chipset: 1GHz Dual-Core (Qualcomm MSM8225)
• Memory: Up to 4GB eMMC / 768MB RAM / Micro SD
• Display: 4.3-inch WVGA IPS
• Camera: Rear 8.0MP with LED Flash / Front VGA
• OS: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Battery: 2,460mAh
• Size: 121.5 x 66.6 x 9.7 mm / 122.2 x 66.6 x 9.7 mm (Dual-SIM)

Following that initial release, the L3II and L5II (I'm noticing a familiar pattern here) will arrive.

Feb

[App Roundup] Our Top Six Favorite New Apps To Check Out From January 2013

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Roundups

Last Updated: May 13th, 2013

January, like most months, had plenty in the way of new apps and games. We've already published our list of the top five games from last month, so it only seems right that we follow up with the month's best apps.

From backup utilities to social/RPG/motivational fitness apps, January 2013 had something for everyone. In the interest of saving our readers time, energy, and perhaps some money, we've rounded up the six very best apps every Android user should know about from the past month.