Let's Talk Tech
It’s finally here!
Always the ultimate tech irony, the best smartphone cameras in the world had no official native app to upload pics to the world’s most popular social photo service.
No longer. Instagram is finally officially on Windows Phone as an open BETA. Let’s see how it compares to the popular third party solution 6Tag, and what features the Android version might have that IG will have to catch up on!
In Android land we care about specs. We care about them a lot. Before even handling a device, many will scrutinize things like processor, storage, and RAM to make purchasing decisions.
Here stateside, the LG G2 was one of the first phones to utilize Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 series processor. This is an architecture improvement over the very solid Snapdragon 600 used in phones like the HTC One and Galaxy S4. How much of an improvement? That’s what we’re going to take a look at in this video.
LG’s Optimus G Pro uses the 600 series chipset, so this obviously isn’t a competition. This is a comparison to see how improved the new processor is, so I don’t want cranky fanbois telling me how this isn’t a “fair test” or other such nonsense. We KNOW the G2 is going to win most of these. We wanna see by how much!
There are links after the jump if you want to skip to specific bench marks, or you can watch the whole battery of tests below. Let’s get to it!
Continue reading “The most powerful Android phone? Benchmarking the LG G2.”
Each generation of smartphone ushers in improvements to the cameras on the backs of our handsets, and now they’re starting to rival what we can do with traditional point and shoot cameras.
I’ve even seen some claim that our phones now compete with SLRs, so I felt it was time to take a look at one important aspect of photo and video performance: depth of field.
For this shootout we’ll be comparing the video output from the iPhone 5S, Galaxy S4, HTC One, Optimus G Pro, Lumia 1020 and comparing it to a Samsung Galaxy Camera P&S and a Canon 7D DSLR.
We’re just covering all kinds of Bluetooth audio right now! Leading off with the Jawbone JAMBOX and then looking at the HMDX Jam Classic, now we’re taking a brief look at one in-car audio solution.
There are a number of ways that you can answer calls while on the road, though it seems the BT headset has fallen out of vogue, especially with many vehicles incorporating BT speakerphone capabilities standard. If your car DOESN’T have Bluetooth however, fret not, as there are some pretty terrific solutions you can clip to a visor. Specifically we’re going to take a listen to Motorola’s Roadster II, and compare it against a Smartphone to see how much of an improvement it might offer.
Marvel at my incredible pantomime abilities!
This is actually a pretty decent scoop. TLD has gotten their hands on an iPad 5 shell, and they spend some time comparing it to the current iPad 4. The design will be very similar to the iPad Mini, thinner and slimmer with more rectangular edges. I still want to see a “pick it up off of a flat surface” test, as the Mini can be incredibly difficult to pick up off a tablet without sliding it around, potentially scratching it.
iPad 5 looks like it will feature much smaller bezels, but this means it’ll be an even tighter fit for all of the guts inside. Hopefully battery life doesn’t take a hit, and fingers crossed it doesn’t run any hotter than the current iPads do.
Dear HTC,
I like the One Mini a lot. I think you’ve largely succeeded in bringing a nicer experience to the mid range Android ecosystem. The fit and finish are outstanding, and in many ways it out shines its bigger brother One. There are a few things I’m going to be critical about when I wrap up my review, but honestly there aren’t any severe deal breakers here. It’s a great little phone.
You know what is bothering me about the HTC One Mini however? Your advertising for the phone.
You remember two sentences ago, when I said it was “…a great little phone”? The problem is, it’s not THAT little. In fact it’s ever so slightly bigger than the Moto X. This wouldn’t be a problem by itself. The phone IS smaller than the original One, so you have every right to call it the “Mini”. I guess I’m just a little disappointed to continue seeing press pictures of the Mini like this on your official HTC site:
Nice! That makes the Mini look like it’s a tiny wunder-phone. A Mighty Mouse here to save the day from all of these gargantuan mini-tablets! Huzzah!
Unfortunately reality look more like this:
Yeah… See that’s not what you showed us it would be. That’s actually pretty close in size to the original One. This is the problem with forced perspective and Photoshop. Moving the Mini in front of the One would actually make the One appear to be smaller as it would be slightly farther away from the “camera”. To recreate the size difference you showcase I actually had to move the One closer to the camera:
I know, I know a LOT of tech has to be crammed in there like a 4.3″ 720p screen and those terrific Boomsound speakers. I get it. But you didn’t have to lie to us.
Ahem, I mean, you didn’t have to exaggerate the differences in size for dramatic effect.
Love,
SomeGadgetGuy
P.S.
Click here to watch my video first impressions of the HTC One Mini.