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    by Published on 05-14-2013 03:58 PM
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    Our very own HC - NO "i" just handed my his review for the ZTE F160. No, it doesn't have a 5" 4K display, 16 core processor or 8GB of RAM with dodeca-band LTE support. Instead, it's a feature phone (AKA dumbphone). Here it is:



    It's inevitable. Now that smartphones have out shipped feature phones for the first time. Mundane usage like voice calls and even SMS are declining for many subscribers as these activities are being replaced by social networking (e.g. Facebook, Google+), on-the-top messaging (e.g. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger) and VoIP calls (e.g. Skype, Google Talk).



    Here at HoFo, we mostly focus on smartphones these days. Smartphones like my brand spanking new Samsung Galaxy S 4 which is the very definition of ‘all the bell and whistles’.



    So when I told my fellow HC that I wanted to check out the F160 candy bar handset from ZTE, he wondered if I was really serious. ...
    by Published on 05-14-2013 01:21 PM
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    Today Blackberry announced the Q5 - a lower cost QWERTY device.

    It has a 3.1" display like the Q10 and will be available in black, white and red.

    It's meant for developing nation. No word if it will come here. ...
    by Published on 05-14-2013 10:52 AM
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    The Nokia Lumia 925 looks like a lower-cost refresh of their previous flagship the 920. Looking at the specs the 925 gains some metal on the body and a removable back cover but now comes in a 16GB version - the 32GB is a Vodafone exclusive, no word which version we'll be getting here. The built-in wireless charging is now via an optional cover.

    It has also undergone a much needed diet. While the footprint hasn't changed much it's now 8.5mm thick compared with the 920's portly 10.7mm. Weight is now a very reasonable 139g down from 185g.

    From the press release:

    Published May 14, 2013 | By Nokia - Press Release

    Nokia introduces Nokia Lumia 925

    London, UK - Nokia today introduced the Nokia Lumia 925, a new interpretation of its award-winning flagship, the Nokia Lumia 920. The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces a metal design and showcases the latest PureView camera innovation, new features and third party applications coming to the Nokia Lumia range.

    The Nokia Lumia 925 includes the most advanced lens technology and next generation imaging software to capture clearer, sharper pictures and video, including the best low light images. The Nokia Lumia 925 also introduces the new Nokia Smart Camera mode, coming as an update to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones. Nokia Smart Camera offers an easy way to capture ten images at once and edit the pictures with options like Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus for creating the perfect high quality image.

    Nokia also announced Hipstamatic's new app, Oggl, will arrive on Nokia Lumia smartphones, allowing people to take and share high quality pictures with like-minded creatives and photography enthusiasts from around the world. In addition to sharing photos on Oggl, users can simultaneously share photos on social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr and Instagram.

    "We keep innovating," said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices. "We're advancing experiences on the Nokia Lumia portfolio whether that means great new benefits for an existing Lumia owner, or bringing new showcase devices like the Nokia Lumia 925."

    The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces metal for the first time to the Nokia Lumia range, bringing appeal and unique benefits like increased robustness. The polycarbonate back comes in white, grey or black. A wireless charging cover can be clipped onto the back of the phone to take advantage of Nokia's extensive wireless charging accessories and ecosystem. Covers, sold separately, come in white, black, yellow, and red.

    Leading Nokia services, such as the HERE suite of integrated location and navigation services and Nokia Music for unlimited streaming of free music playlists, add to the great proposition offered by Nokia's latest smartphone.

    The Nokia Lumia 925 is being introduced into Europe with Vodafone, along with other operator and retail partners. Patrick Chomet, group director of Terminals at Vodafone said: "The new Nokia Lumia 925 is a sleek and sophisticated smartphone delivering great performance and outstanding imaging. We look forward to offering the Nokia Lumia 925 across our markets on Vodafone Red, as well as other tariffs, enabling customers to make the most of their new smartphone on Vodafone's fast and reliable network. Vodafone customers will also have exclusive access to a 32GB version of the Nokia Lumia 925, giving them even more capacity to store all their content for personal and business use."

    Terry Myerson, corporate vice president, Microsoft Windows Phone Division, added: "Together with Nokia, we continue to change the way people think about smartphone cameras. The work Nokia has done with the Lumia 925 further enhances the imaging capabilities of the Lumia smartphones."

    In addition to Europe, the Nokia Lumia 925 will be introduced into the US by T-Mobile and into China by China Mobile and China Unicom. Sales are expected to start in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and China in June, followed by the US and a number of other markets. The Nokia Lumia 925 will be priced around 469 EUR before taxes and subsidies. Country-specific pricing and availability will be announced locally.

    Nokia Lumia 925

    Operating system - Windows Phone 8

    HERE location and mapping services - Free global HERE Maps and HERE Drive+;Free HERE Transit available in the Store

    Display - 4.5" AMOLED WXGA (1280x768), 2.25 D sculpted Gorilla 2 Glass, ClearBlack, High Brightness Mode, Sunlight Readability, Super Sensitive Touch for glove and nail usage

    Battery - 2000 mAh battery, Wireless Charging supported via an accessory cover

    Processor - 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon

    Main camera - PureView 8.7 MP with Optical Image Stabilization, Autofocus, short pulse high power dual LED flash, most advanced lens technology, 1080p HD video at 30fps with Optical Image Stabilization. Includes Nokia Smart Camera mode

    Front facing camera - 1.2 MP wide angle
    Memory - 1GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory; 7 GB free SkyDrive cloud storage
    by Published on 05-01-2013 08:35 AM
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    The Blackberry Q10 arrives today. For BB who have been waiting for a device with a physical keyboard this is the one they were waiting for.

    It's kind of funny that as recently as yesterday the Bold 9900 was actually the keyboard Blackberry to get. So, before today there's basically been a vacuum in the market because really, there was nothing else to buy.

    I tried the Q10 yesterday and I must say, if you're you're coming from a BB7 or older device you're going to some adjusting to do. While the keyboard will feel familiar, BB10 is a touchscreen optimized OS. As such, the physical menu buttons (send, blackberry, back, end and trackpad) are gone. To be honest, I felt a little lost at first even though I use a Z10 from time-to-time. I can live without the trackpad and send/end buttons but my fingers kept looking for the back and menu buttons.

    That said, it won't take long to get used to the new layout. BB10 is pretty intuitive to use.

    Size-wise it feels like a QWERTY BB. compared to the 9900 the front of the Q10 is a little more rounded like the Bold 9790. Since the menu buttons are gone the screen is now square shaped unlike the Z10's which is rectangular. I'm not sure what kind of impact the square shaped screen will have on which apps the Q10 can run. I hope BB knows what they're doing because too many screen sizes was one of the reasons why there weren't a lot of apps for previous versions of the BB OS.

    The battery cover appears to be carbon fiber or some sort of composite-fiber material. When you remove it, you can see the fiber on the other side of the cover too. It's pretty slick.

    If you get the Rogers version, it will have support for their 2600Mhz network which means it download over LTE at up to 100Mbps. More importantly, the 2600Mhz network is less congested than their AWS LTE network (which I find isn't terribly congested).

    Will it sell well? I think so. It will sell whether it's a good device or not because there's a pent-up demand for a keyboard BB which the Z10 didn't address. Luckily for BB there aren't a whole lot of comparable devices on the market so in that sense they're catching a break here. ...
    by Published on 04-29-2013 09:31 AM
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    Man, Sprint can't get a break!

    HTC’s conscious decision to focus on premium design for its HTC One flagship may come with an unintended consequenc: reception problem if the phone is held a certain way. Though we haven’t been able to confirm if the problem affects all global and U.S. releases of the HTC One, we have found–and are able to repeat–the problem on at least two Sprint Nextel HTC One units, one in theSan Francisco Bay Area and another in the New York Metropolitan Area.
    http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/04...ttaBeMobile%29
    by Published on 04-25-2013 12:50 PM
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    Samsung has done so well with their Galaxy S line that a) many people don’t know what Android is b) people think other Android phones are copies of the Galaxy S series (the irony).

    So, without a doubt, one of the most important phones of the year is the Samsung Galaxy S4. It’s a 5” 1920x1080, quad core monster with a 13 megapixel camera and a giant 2600mAh battery.

    However, there are a number of alternatives like the HTC One and Sony Xperia ZL with similar specs that are cheaper alternatives. So, let’s see if the GS4 has what it takes to stay on top. ...
    by Published on 04-22-2013 07:00 PM
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    Three years ago, when thought of a high end Android phone, the first name that would come to most people’s mouths would have been HTC. HTC has always had a heritage of releasing great hardware. While people were ooh-ing and aww-ing over Blackberry Bold’s, HTC was releasing monsters like the HTC TyTN II. In fact, even though HTC hasn’t been doing so well in the marketplace lately, they’ve never stopped releasing awesome hardware.

    Here’s their latest, the HTC One. A phone with a 1920x1080 display wrapped in a sexy metal body. HTC has bucked the trend and gone with a ‘less is more’ approach with the One’s camera. It also has a new version of Sense and louder speakers.
    ...
    by Published on 04-19-2013 02:19 PM
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    Today is the big day! The HTC One is launching across North America today!

    Check out our HTC One threads:


    The T-Mobile version will be coming soon.

    It's got a 4 megapixel camera which in HTC-speak is called an 'Ultrapixel'. So Ultra means '4 million'. It has a quad-core Qualcomm processor that's clocked at 0.425 Ultrahertz (1.7Ghz). You also get 500 Ultrabytes of RAM (2GB), 8 Ultrabytes (32GB) or 16 (64GB) of storage. You get a 4.7" display with a 1920x1080 display, 2300mAh battery running on Android 4.1.2.

    I got a HTC One the other day and I've been comparing it with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and I must say, the One more than holds its own. It's ultra-competitive.

    Who's getting one? ...
    by Published on 04-13-2013 09:26 AM
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    Just got word that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is coming to Bell on May 3rd for $699.95 straight up or $199.95 on an eligible 3yr contract. It will be available in either Black or White (I think). Pre-orders launch on Monday. If you pre-order you can get it as soon as April 27th.

    Check out the banding. Apparently it supports LTE on 700/AWS/850/1900/2100/2600Mhz. I'll have to double check that but if that's the case that's amazing. DC-HSPA+ (42Mbps) on 850/1900/2100 too.

    Now the big question: Coke or Pepsi? I mean do you get the HTC One next week on the 19th or do you wait another 2 for the Galaxy S4? One things for sure, HTC's One delay is going to cost them. ...
    by Published on 04-04-2013 10:33 PM
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    2012 was an exciting year for phones. High definition 1280x720 displays became common along with quad core processors. A few years ago, I would have never imagined that phones would sport specs like this. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, we now have phones with even higher 1920x1080 displays. That’s right, the same resolution as the TV hanging in your family room. ...

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