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.

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Review and Unlock Sony Xperia ZL

Unlock Sony Xperia ZL

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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