Sony Xperia Z Ultra

In the phablet niche of the smartphone market another contender just moved in and the intentions are interesting. Namely, Sony just dropped the largest phablet ever available with whole 6.4 inches size. Just very little is missing, and you would have a fully-fledged 7 inch device. Actually it is really questionable to call this release a phablet at all. Nevertheless, here it is and it is looking very fine indeed. It has all you may require from a smartphone in this price class, there are 16 GB of storage, 2 GB of RAM, LTE, microSD expansion slot, beautiful display with 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution, whereby the approximate pixel density is at 344 ppi, easily meeting the “retina” display quality requirement. By the way, I found a site with the best mobile phone offers. The website is called MobilePhoneOffers101, do check it out.

It would not be Sony, if there was not at least one exclusive gadget added to the mix. Namely, this phone is dust and water proof, whereby the water resistance is maintained up to over a meter depth. Well, to continue with the specs, inside is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, running on 2.2 GHz with the latest Adreno 330 GPU. Also included are microUSB 2.0 with MHL, USB On-the-go, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and NFC. The pretty powerful Li-Ion battery has 3050 mAh, but is non-removable. Important to mention is also the 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, capable of full HD video capture.

HTC One X Review

HTC One X is my current favourite. Enjoy the review.

The HTC One Max

HTC is truly trying to become a big player in the smartphone market. The HTC One series, with the regular HTC One and the HTC One mini, notwithstanding all the other HTC models, has received a real big brother, a behemoth of a phone, at least for HTC standards, which is supposed to combine all the positive elements of the HTC One success and the Samsung Galaxy Note series popularity. Yes, it is a somewhat expected move, every other manufacturer, except Apple, has released their “phablet”, why not HTC? It does look good, the design was great already on the HTC One, but slightly enlarge, it looks even better.

There are significant differences in comparison with the smaller HTC One, firstly, the Max has a microSD card slot for storage memory expansion. Second, it has a fingerprint sensor, which not something I was fond of on the iPhone 5. The display quality is not as intense as with the HTC One, the 1080 x 1920 pixels at approximately 373 ppi pixel density are perceivable only in direct comparison with HTC One’s 469 ppi, but in that case the display is significantly smaller, the Max has 5.9 inches and the One has 4.7. The camera seems to be exactly the same, identical specs and identical results.

It is noticeable that there is no Beats Audio sign on the Max, although Dr. Dre insisted that the collaboration with HTC will continue. It says that there is BoomSound, which may or may not be the latest what Dr. Dre has delivered, there is no info on that available. In any case, the sound is still the best sound you will get from a mobile phone, without connecting external speakers to it. If you decided not to buy the HTC One, because the display was too small for you, if you were thinking about the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but you would prefer an HTC phone, then this is the absolutely perfect phone for you. If you are only looking for a suitable phablet, then you should rather compare the Max and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and decide then.

The iPhone 5c

It is very unfortunate that Apple insisted on calling the new mid-range model of their iPhone series of smartphones the iPhone 5c. Since that it is significantly more affordable than the flagship model, the public has already determined what the c is standing in for: cheap. This derogatory view does the phone no justice, it is a great phone with great features and it is an Apple product, through and through. There should actually be no complaints, at least not according to the specs.

The display size is of “retina” quality, with four inches width, 640 x 1136 pixels at an approximate density of 326 ppi. There are models with 16 GB and 32 GB internal storage, but both have 1 GB RAM. It comes with LTE in all versions, whereby there are several back cover colours to choose from. The camera is at least as good as the one in the iPhone 4S, the operating system is the latest iOS 7.0, with upgrade capability to 7.0.3 already available.

Although the phone is supposed to target India, China and similar developing countries, many people who could not afford an Apple iPhone are rejoicing, not only because of the reviewed model iPhone 5c, but because Apple decided to keep producing the still incredible iPhone 4S and offer that as the entry level model. Once again, Apple did the right thing and will seriously compete with Samsung in markets where it was unavailable as of yet. The only people who might feel a little bad are the ones who spent a lot of money on the iPhone 4S two years ago, but the smartphone marketplace is an ever-changing wonder, such developments are nothing new.

Blackberry Z10 Video Review

Watch this video review about Blackberry Z10.

Samsung Galaxy Note Series

Hi, I am Alex and here we will review mobile phones. I decided to start with a Samsung phone, actually the whole series, but rather the latest model, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Samsung is the current market leader in the handheld market niche and as such, every new model meets high expectations. No different was the case with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Following predecessors that have sold millions, established a whole new smartphone species, the “phablet”, this phone needed to be better and more interesting than the previous model, the Note 2 and the current flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S4. This was no easy task, mind you.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has all that is technologically currently possible with a smartphone, and then some. The sleek Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen provides excellent colours on a 5.7 inch wide screen, with 1080 x 1920 pixels and a density of around 386 pixels per inch. The internal storage varies with the model chosen, 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB models are available, all of which feature whopping 3 GB of RAM. Additionally, there is a microSD card slot, which allows an expansion of additional storage capacity that can go up to 64 GB. Several versions of the Note 3 are available, the first has only a 3G connectivity, another supports dual SIM cards, and the final version has 3G and LTE connectivity. 

As the first smartphone ever, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 provides a microUSB connection in the version 3.0, thereby facilitating incredibly speedy connection capabilities. The camera is incredible 13 megapixels, but such grandiosity was expected, just like full HD video, NFC, MHL and a dozen of other gadgets. The most important and unique gadget in the Note series is the S Pen stylus. Samsung really listened to the customers and provided unparalleled interaction capabilities with the stylus. In fact, there is not a single task, which cannot be accomplished by using the pen. This marvellous contraption reduces the use of fingers to zero, because you will not smudge the display, unless you really have to.

In short, the whole Note series is unique and none of the competing models come even near. Samsung established a whole new category in the smartphone market and they own it. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a worthy successor and raises the bar even more for anybody trying to compete. It is very doubtful that anyone will succeed.