HTC 8S - Review

The first device to sport Microsoft's shiny new Windows Phone 8, but how does it fare with its mid-range specs?

It has not been that long since HTC released their new mid-range windows phone called 8S, so it has a lot of competition these days, especially in the face of Nokia's Lumia series. But for a cheap device, this one is not so bad.

The design is simplistic, yet surprising. Smartphones using the Windows Phone OS usually come in a single-coloured casing, and while most of the HTC 8S is black, it has a blue-coloured stripe at the bottom, which makes it very easy to tell apart from other devices in the same category.

The buttons are uniform, like in most windows phones. The casing is built up from a sort of rubbery polycarbonate and the entire thing weighs only about 113 grams, so it feels very light in your hand.

Do not expect much from the screen. It is small, just 4 inches, but it is good enough for the operating system that this device uses, since Windows Phone 8 looks fine even on small screens. Its low resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, coming at around 233 ppi is also fine, but far from impressive.

HTC have chosen to power this mid-range handset with a dual-core 1 GHz processor and just 512 megabytes of RAM, but it is satisfactory for a cheap smartphone such as this one, and more than enough to handle the operating system without any glitches or lag.

The 8S, like most HTC smartphones, also has the iconic Beats Audio, so you will, at least, have a nice quality bass for your songs. The battery might look weak at just 1700 mAh, but it is more than enough for the weak hardware it has to power.

It is a standard practice to put 5 MP cameras in mid-range phones nowadays. Still, for a camera with such a small sensor, this one takes surprisingly good photos. You will not find many options to tinker with, though, and there are no scene modes. Note, also, that the HTC 8S lacks a frontal camera for video-calls.

If you are looking to try out Windows Phone 8 for a low price, and prefer other brands to Nokia, then the HTC 8S is definitely a viable choice, despite its low hardware specifications.

Read More

Review and Unlock Sony Xperia ZL

Unlock Sony Xperia ZL

An awkwardly placed camera, and a nerve-wacking vibration feature

How to unlock Sony Xperia ZL – Video Tutorial

At the beginning of May this year, Sony released their new high-end smartphone, the Xperia ZL. It may look like it costs too much at about 750$, but let's not forget that it is factory unlocked from the beginning, which means that, in the end, you will pay much less money than with an expensive contract. But what about the phone itself?

Well, it looks nice at first glance, and it has a smooth performance when handling apps and games, but when you look closer, you are bound to notice its oddities.

Sony are becoming famous for their weird designs these days, and the Xperia ZL is not excluded from the list. The LED indicator and the front camera are both below the screen. How anyone can find this practical can be a little hard to guess, and even though it does not technically hinder the way you work with the device, you may find it, at least, visually uncomfortable. You might also find it a little hard to not accidentally press one of the physical buttons, since most of them are on the right side of the phone.

Still, the Xperia ZL has an overall premium design, with a textured plastic back. The battery is not removable, but there is an almost unnoticeable removable lid for the SIM card and the micro-SD card.

As for the screen, it has a Full HD 1080 x 1920 resolution with about 441ppi pixel density. It also has Sony's famous Bravia 2 engine, which makes the picture crystal-clear, even when watching videos.

Unlock any SONY model with CellUnlockerPro - easy, fast and secure

The hardware performance of the phone is also nice, it runs Android 4.1.2 without any problems and handles most games and apps perfectly. This is thanks to the 2 GB of RAM, the 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm processor, and the Adreno 320 GPU. It might not benchmark as well as other devices, but the difference is unnoticeable during everyday use. Still, the bright screen and the powerful processor take their toll on the battery, so don't expect it to last very long if used continually.

The rear camera is also nice - it has a 13 MP sensor and benefits from the Superior Auto Mode setting, which assesses the lighting conditions quite quickly. Its HDR video mode is not as impressive as the one in the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4, though, as it does not balance out shadows and light very well.

Overall, this is a very nice premium-looking high-end phone. So, if the weird physical interface is not a problem for you, and you have the budget, you will be more than satisfied with this device.

Read More

The Nokia Lumia Series

A great innovation or just funny colourful handsets

Nokia’s Lumia series was a little bit weird when it started production. When the first models came out, they looked more like toys than actual smartphones, with their colourful exterior, yet simplistic and comfortable, with Windows Phone’s metro interface. They are probably the main Windows Phone competitors on the smartphone market, especially after Nokia made the deal with Microsoft, and are yet to become more popular, due to their strange concept.

A colourful plastic exterior is what people usually expect from things aimed at children, but nevertheless, Nokia’s Lumia handsets come in a variety of bright colours, which is confusing for people who have gotten used to most of the Android or Apple handsets that come in not more than one or two colours.

CellUnlockerPro

These bright colours are what people say completely removes the premium look from any Lumia phone. You can always choose a darker colour, if it is available, though. Still, the overall design is simplistic, and most phones from the series are comfortable to hold. And since Nokia have learned their lesson, some of the new models like the Lumia 925 have a much more premium build and metal elements on the casing itself.

Like most of the smartphones on the market, the Nokia Lumia smartphones can come with a variety of chipsets, but since Windows Phone 8 is not a very light operating system, a faster chipset may still have trouble handling it properly. Still most of the series performs fine, and the high-end models run smoothly and without any glitches. They might need some getting used to if you are switching to this operating system from an Android or Apple device, since the Metro interface is unlike anything we have ever seen before on a mobile device. Thankfully, Nokia have optimized the entire device to work perfectly with Windows Phone, so it is a great experience, overall.

This series might have seemed a little bit weird at first, something like Nokia’s attempt to re-establish their brand after their downfall, but right now it seems that Lumia’s popularity is growing. Hopefully, Nokia will release the newer Lumia phones with a more premium design, but what we hope for most, is that Microsoft will not let us down with their new OS and work on enhancing the user experience even more from now on

Read More

Motorola Motoluxe MT680 - Review

A budget phone suitable for everyone’s pocket

There are probably tons of budget phones out there that offer different capabilities at different prices. But what makes Motorola’s Motoluxe MT680 so different from the others? In truth, this phone offers some nice specs, without sacrificing usability and battery life, and has a nice and sleek design. Here is what this little device has to offer.

Truly, you cannot expect something very stylish from a cheap phone such as this one, but the Motorola have actually made good use of some cheaper materials, and the result us more than satisfactory. The Motoluxe MT680 has an easy-to-use classic design, with sensor-buttons below the display, a well-placed camera, and microphone, which you are unlikely to accidentally cover with your hand while using the phone.

The display is nothing special. It is an old-fashioned 4-inch capacitive TFT touchscreen with a 480x800 resolution and a 233ppi pixel density. Still, it does support multi-touch and has a nice overall picture quality, although it is a bit too-reflective in the sunlight.

While the Motoluxe MT680 lacks a frontal camera for video-calls, the main camera is satisfactory at 8 MP and takes some nice photos, although it lacks the huge array of options and technologies found in more expensive devices.

CellUnlockerPro - Factory Unlock Code

As for the chipset, it is mainly optimized for battery life, but offers enough performance to run the slightly outdated Android 2.3.7. The processor is a single-core, clocked at 1 GHz and makes use of only 512 megabytes of RAM. Still, considering that this phone uses an older operating system, these are more than enough for everything to run smoothly. I wouldn’t use it for gaming, though.

Finally, the battery is a regular Li-Ion 1390mAh and offers about 180 hours in standby. It is definitely not that easy to drain since the low-performance chipset and the old OS use minimal resources.

As far as budget smartphones go, this one is pretty nice in terms of design and usability. If you are unable to afford a more expensive model, but still want an Android smartphone, this is a very good choice.

Read More

BlackBerry – It seems the end is near

BlackBerry was definitely a great company once, with some nice innovations, but their time of glory has seemingly ended a long time ago. Owning a BlackBerry smartphone used to be something fantastic, but right now Samsung Galaxy S4 or Sony Xperia Z owners will laugh at you. Fewer and fewer people use BlackBerry these days, and for a good reason – their devices are outdated.

But why is BlackBerry failing on the market so badly?

There are actually many things that lead to BlackBerry’s death spiral. The main reason why their devices are no longer desirable is that they are a design failure.

People who follow BlackBerry’s releases probably see a recurring pattern. While other manufacturers make sure to take away any unneeded features on a phone, like a couple of buttons, BlackBerry always seems to add way too many features that make the interface ‘crowded’, so to say, and they always try to outwit everyone else by flooding the market with more and more useless gadgets.

Another one of their failures is that they never manage to stay even one step ahead from the other companies in terms of developing new technologies. Every time somebody releases something new, BlackBerry adds the same feature as well, which seems like a late ‘me too!’ response. Has anyone heard of them actually coming up with something innovative by themselves? Not at all.

Unlock your BlackBerry with CellUnlockerPro

The last great failure is the actual physical design of BlackBerry’s smartphones. Sure, the QWERTY keyboard was something comfortable back in the day, but right now it is just as outdated as BlackBerry itself. Compared to Samsung’s thin and minimalistic smartphones, BlackBerry’s devices are uncomfortable and ugly, while Samsung’s devices are works of art and are steps towards the future.

Get Unlock code for BlackBerry -

It is obvious that BlackBerry’s end is near – they have failed to introduce any type of innovation for ages now and keep making huge mistakes on the market. A lot of people are surprised that they have even managed to survive so far.

Read More

Huawei and Windows Phone

Why did they make this choice?

After Microsoft acquired Nokia’s entire handset business, it seemed that third-party developers and manufacturers would flee the Windows Phone market. One company, however, has decided not to back away and make use of this small market.

Huawei have become one of the top OEMs on the mobile market and they will not abandon Windows Phone 8 anytime soon. The company still remains one of Microsoft’s strategic partners and has decided not to go with only free-to-use platforms like Google’s Android or the new Firefox OS. But what do they hope to gain with something that takes up such a small percentage of the large mobile market? Let’s take a closer look at this operating system and find out.

Although iOS and Android fans will be reluctant to admit this, Windows Phone 8 has quite an innovative interface. Sure the OS might not be as customizable as Android, but it is also less restrictive than iOS in some aspects, but is also basically much more attractive and futuristic than both. People these days choose which smartphone to buy, according to both its physical design and according to the design of its OS and Windows Phone definitely has an advantage here.

Huawei - Factory Unlock Code - Any Network

As for the availability of apps in Windows Market Place, the numbers are growing more and more, so you have an alternative to almost everything in Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store. Basically, this operating system gives an opportunity for a better market for app developers and is bound to attract more people to Windows phones.

So, the answer to the question why Huawei have decided to stay in the Windows Phone business is obvious – this OS is bound to develop and become very desirable in the future and it is an opportunity that cannot be ignored.

Read More

SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 - REVIEW

When we talk about smartphones necessarily shoud to mention Samsung Galaxy S4. With its over 10 million units sold to customers in the first month it turns into a leader on the market. And this is not an occasion. A very few smartphones could be boast with similar characteristics. It impresses with stylish and ultra modern design. Its comfortably sizes: 5.38 inches tall by 2.75 wide by 0.31-inch thick, make it perfect companion in every situation.

It's slim enough to carry in the pocket, which helps you to have fun in every moment in your life. The screen looks great, the speakers a loud and clear, and definitely looks more premium than its competitor Iphone 5. When we mention entertainment definitely the first thing that comes to mind is the camera features. Samsug put a lot of effort into their custom camera software and hardware, and more importantly they advertise their improvements as substantial aspects of their custom software experiences. Samsungs camera features are advanced from the 8 megapixels you'll find on the S3, up to a vigorous 13 megapixel shooter. In compare with other products of this class S4 produces generally good images with high level of the detail. With the help of camera extras Dual Shot, Drama Shot and Sound & Shot you will enjoy taking photos wherever you are. With the Dual shot option, you can combine photo from the main camera and front-facing camera into one frame.

Sound & Shot allows you to take a photo while recording nine seconds of audio. This feature of the camera gives you a possibility to add a music background to an image, hearing your favourite band with a photo to go with it, for example. The third camera mode that you will also find is Drama Shot. Here you can catch the movement across an unchanging background. Another new useful feature is Erase Shot. When activated it will automatically remove unwanted moving objects in the background. The pleasure of using camera will be full with suitable application, whereby you can tinker with brightness and contrast, applying different styles and frames.

It is essential to mention something about a screen. Samsung Galaxy S4 has a good news for a movie and video fans with its magnificent Full HD (1920 x 1080) Super AMOLED Screen, which comes combined with super improved video player. This super display is 440 ppi more than the human eye can perceive.
Furthermore the new Galaxy S4 Android 4.2.2 (jelly bean) offers comprehensive package of features, which include Air View and Smart Scroll. Air view allows you to interact with the touchscreen without making contact, while Smart Scroll is a the eye-tracking feature that allows you control it with a look. You can will scroll up and down on a webpage if you tilt your hand, and will do so only if you're looking at the phone.

Thus far everything sounds good, but how this could be combined with the battery life duration. For many of us is it important to be connected with the family, colleagues, clients and friends. That means that we will want it to be able to last more than a few hours away from plug. Unfortunately, S4 is no exemption of most smartphones, which charging at least once a day is essential. The screen, processor, 4G network helps to battery to drop from full to half after few hours. To preserve S4 battery life, the experts advise: “Avoid 4G network and try to keep the screen brightness down”.
There is no so big revolution after the S3, but all of these combinations make Samsung Galaxy S4 the best Android phone on the market.

Read More

Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 - Review

Samsung’s Galaxy Ace 3 is yet another Android smartphone in the mid-range category. Truthfully, this device is not amazing or exciting to begin with and pretty much blends in with most of the other Samsung smartphones in its price range. Also, most people will find this device hard to distinguish from the other models in its product line. But still, here is what the Galaxy Ace 3 has to offer.

Unlock code for all models of Samsung - click here - CellUnlockerPro

The design of the phone is uniform at best. It suggests a connection to the high-end Samsung phones, but it is a bit more bulky and quite smaller. The button layout is also no different than the other models. Still, it is comfortable enough in your hand, but it is also easy to leave lots of fingerprints on.

It is outfitted with a 4-inch screen that has a resolution of 800 x 480, and a pixel-depth of 233ppi. The overall performance of the display is nice, with a decent brightness and a good representation of colours. The downside is that the screen is so reflective that it is hard to look at in the sunlight, even when the brightness is maxed out.

One thing that is not so bad about the Galaxy Ace 3 is the camera. The main camera is a 5-megapixel one and has a nice interface, though not as many options and functions as in the more expensive models. The overall picture quality is not bad for a mid-range phone, but there is still a lot of noise in every shot. The videos are also quite shaky, because there is no stabilization feature.

The performance of the hardware inside the phone is also nothing special. Generally, the Galaxy Ace 3 runs Android 4.2 without any lags or crashes, but when it comes to running more demanding applications like 3D games, it has trouble keeping up and almost always produces lag. This is because of the unimpressive Cortex-A9 dual-core chip, which is clocked at just 1 GHz and the weak Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU.

Looking at the battery life, the Ace 3 can drop quickly. Depending on the model, the 3G version has a 1,500 mAh battery, while the LTE version has a 1,800 mAh one, but both are pretty easy to drain.

Overall, this phone is nice for the mid-range category, but if you are looking for something with a bit more kick, you should probably consider something higher up the production line.

Read More

Xperia Z Ultra - Review

Is Sony’s brand-new flagship on the smartphone market practical for everyday use?

Undoubtedly, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra is hard to compare to anything that Sony has released so far, even the powerful Xperia Z1. This basically their first phablet, with a huge 6.4-inch screen, that also surpasses the processing speed of most tablets and Android smartphones on the market, thanks to its brand-new Qualcomm chipset.

Still, a device with such a large screen does not easily fit into your pocket and can be deemed a little impractical for everyday use. But let’s look at what this powerful device has to offer.

The Xperia Z Ultra can be described by two words – beautiful and massive.

The design of the casing and the display is truly stunning, combining a slim design with high-end materials, but the size of the device makes it a little impractical to use. Aside from that, the overall build is minimalistic, slim, and appealing. The entire thing is only 6.5mm thick and feels quite comfortable in your hand. Like the Z1, this phone is also water-resistant.

Although it makes the phone a little impractical, the Xperia Z Ultra’s 6.4-inch display is its biggest selling point. It has a depth of 344 ppi and a Full HD 1920x1080 resolution. It is truly awesome for content-consumption and has many of Sony’s enhancement features, although they have yet to reveal the basic technology used for the display.

The main camera is an 8 MP one with HD video capabilities and many features. It is a step up from the Xperia Z1, but still does not take pictures as well as the Samsung Galaxy S4, for example.

Now, the last thing to consider, which is just as important as the exterior design, is the hardware inside the phone, specifically the processor.

The Xperia Z Ultra has a brand-new Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor clocked at 2.2 GHz and an Adreno 330 GPU clocked at 450 MHz. What is awesome about the chipset is that it also has another low-power processor core at 600 MHz to assist in multimedia tasks and lower the energy consumption of the device.

The overall impression users have gotten from this device is that it is a nice portable multimedia powerhouse, with an improved battery life over its predecessors.

It only lags behind in the camera aspect and may not fit in every pocket because of its size. Still, if you want a truly powerful device, the Xperia Z Ultra is something you simply must consider.

CellUnlockerPro

Read More

Apple iPhone 5 - Review

Apple’s latest flagship in the world of smartphones

The release of Apple’s latest iPhone was surrounded by a great deal of excitement and anxiety, heightened even more by each leaked photo of the device. After the unimpressive changes from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S, users expected Apple to introduce something new and eye-catching. So let’s see what they actually did.

Apple’s new iPhone itself is actually amazingly light (about 20% lighter than the 4S). It beats its competition by weighing just 112 grams. The chassis feels nice and solid and is obviously designed for strength. Compared to the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 is much taller (123.8mm), because it has to fit the 4-inch screen. It is also a little bit thinner than its predecessor.

Unlike the iPhone 4S, the display is extended to a resolution of 640x1136 pixels, although Apple has stuck with the regular 326 ppi. The Gorilla glass is nice too, as it prevents those annoying scratches on the screen if not using a protector. The overall quality and brightness are much better than those of the iPhone 4, although the picture doesn’t look so good from extreme angles, as in the HTC One X. Still, it is clearly the best Apple display for now.

The phone has a frontal 1.2 MP camera with face-detection. The main camera on the back is and 8 MP one, with much improved functions. It seems that Apple have managed to work out the kinks from the old system, and although the specs are the same, there are lots of new features. The biggest difference is that the iPhone 5 can take photos as much as 40% faster than its predecessor and the new dynamic low-light mode improves darker images a lot, although it somewhat reduces the pixel count.

Currently, the iPhone 5 comes with the new iOS 7 operating system from Apple, which will bring many new features. The processor inside the phone is an A6 chip, which, despite the fact that it is dual-core, packs quite a punch and it is much faster than the A5 chip inside the old 4S, with each core’s clock speed reaching about 1.1 to 1.3 GHz. The RAM is just 1 GB but it is more than enough for the current iOS.

The iPhone 5 is actually a huge improvement over the older models in terms of design, functions, and hardware specs. Obviously, Apple have done their homework and finally given us something new and exciting.

Read More

HTC One - One of the best smartphones on the market

This smartphone has a well-earned title – it combines a stunning design, an awesome screen and huge hardware horsepower, which makes it one of the best on the smartphone market. It is one of the best-designed phones on the planet, by many accounts.

The HTC One has a 4.7-inch Full HD screen with the amazing pixel depth of 468 ppi (quite above the eye’s ability to discern), which brings sumptuous sharpness to the graphics on the phone.

The chassis is much thinner than that of its predecessor (the HTC One X). The phone slides quite nicely into your pocket, and although it weighs a little more than the other smartphones in the competition (the Samsung Galaxy S4, for example), the all-aluminium chassis gives it a great premium look, not to mention that it is extremely comfortable to hold and operate.

The front camera of the HTC One has been given a bump to 2.1 MP and can take great snaps. The situation with the main camera on the back of the phone is quite interesting.

The sensor itself is only 4 MP, which may seem extremely weak compared to the 13 MP sensor of the Samsung Galaxy S4, but that is completely outweighed by the technology inside. The pixels themselves are quite large and allow in more light, and more data, to make the pictures look amazing.

The Ultrapixel method is indeed to be applauded. Another thing worth mentioning is that the HTC One’s camera completely destroys the one of the Samsung Galaxy S4 while shooting in low-light conditions.

The specs of the phone are pretty neat and powerful as well. It currently runs on Android 4.2.2 and rocks a quad-core 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, as well as 2 GB of RAM, which makes it a lightning-fast fanatic’s phone.

Overall, most people would agree that this phone is at the top of its class, but whether this is the phone for you depends on your personal needs and budget.

Get Your Unlock Code NOW - CellUnlockerPro

Read More