CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
Some may love this and a few may not, take a little look at the Nokia Lumia 1520 running the new Windows Phone 9 concept.
CUBOT C11 MTK6572 Dual Core 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone Android 4.2 GPS 4GB Black
CUBOT C9W SmartPhone 4.0 Inch MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 3G GPS Black
Cubot GT99 4.5 Inch Smartphone MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera White
The Windows Phone 9 operating system concept is the creating of WPcentral forums user PoUria, to be fair it all looks clean with a few things that stick out that makes it fundamentals look clean.
If you look at the image below you will see WP9 on the Nokia Lumia 1520, and even though the tiles are separated nicely and the whole layout just looks rather nice, but that is our opinion, which some will not agree on.
Cubot Cell Phone
The tiles look more dynamic and more information now shows up, like the little images that show what is happening behind the tile.
One WP Central member said that it is a privilege to break the designers heart but it looks awful, they say that the Windows Phone 9 does not follow the modern UI lines, it looks cluttered and that no one would use so many buttons on the music tile, the member also goes on to say that the app list is great as it already is.
CUBOT C11 MTK6572 Dual Core 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone Android 4.2 GPS 4GB Black
CUBOT C9W SmartPhone 4.0 Inch MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 3G GPS Black
Cubot GT99 4.5 Inch Smartphone MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera White
This is why we say some will love this Windows Phone 9 concept running on the Nokia Lumia 1520, but some will not.
Do you like this WP9 concept? I've been and remain an Android fan - I still own the original Note, but I'm due an upgrade and the Lumia 1520 has got my attention for all the right reasons. No operating system is perfect and I'm sure WP has its flaws, but this appears to be a quality product and it deserves more than just a superficial glance, as offered above.
CUBOT C11 MTK6572 Dual Core 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone Android 4.2 GPS 4GB Black
CUBOT C9W SmartPhone 4.0 Inch MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 3G GPS Black
Cubot GT99 4.5 Inch Smartphone MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera White
I love it. I have been an iphone user for a while and i tried android. i really dont care too much about thousands of apps. i need quality apps, the most i will be using is aroudn twenty apps. i really love this phone. I just cant imagine 1520 with this concept. It would be awsome. windows os is very smooth and attractive. Nokia is beatiful.
2013年11月5日星期二
Cubot P9 Smart phone MTK6572W Dual Core 5.0 Inch QHD
Cubot one Phone IP67 Walkie Talkie Bluetooth FM Dual SIM Card Camera 2.2 Inch Dark Green
Cubot P9 Smart phone MTK6572W Dual Core 5.0 Inch QHD Android 4.2 3G GPS Black
Cubot A6589S SmartPhone Android 4.2 MTK6589 Quad Core 5.8 Inch HD Grey
LG recently launched the G Flex, a banana-shaped phone which makes use of a curved OLED screen, and it turns out that it's true to it's name: it seems to bend really rather a lot.
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
Engadget has gotten hold of a video which shows someone applying a reasonable amount of downwards pressure on the phone's back, and just look how much it gives. According to the source, you have to supply a "reasonable amount of force" to replicate the results, so it's unlikely to happen in everyday use. But just look at it!
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
It's also probably worth pointing out that this is a pretty dumb way to treat your electronic devices. But then, hopefully you already knew that. LG recently launched the G Flex, a banana-shaped phone which makes use of a curved OLED screen, and it turns out that it's true to it's name: it seems to bend really rather a lot.
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
Engadget has gotten hold of a video which shows someone applying a reasonable amount of downwards pressure on the phone's back, and just look how much it gives. According to the source, you have to supply a "reasonable amount of force" to replicate the results, so it's unlikely to happen in everyday use. But just look at it!
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
It's also probably worth pointing out that this is a pretty dumb way to treat your electronic devices. But then, hopefully you already knew that.
Cubot P9 Smart phone MTK6572W Dual Core 5.0 Inch QHD Android 4.2 3G GPS Black
Cubot A6589S SmartPhone Android 4.2 MTK6589 Quad Core 5.8 Inch HD Grey
LG recently launched the G Flex, a banana-shaped phone which makes use of a curved OLED screen, and it turns out that it's true to it's name: it seems to bend really rather a lot.
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
Engadget has gotten hold of a video which shows someone applying a reasonable amount of downwards pressure on the phone's back, and just look how much it gives. According to the source, you have to supply a "reasonable amount of force" to replicate the results, so it's unlikely to happen in everyday use. But just look at it!
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
It's also probably worth pointing out that this is a pretty dumb way to treat your electronic devices. But then, hopefully you already knew that. LG recently launched the G Flex, a banana-shaped phone which makes use of a curved OLED screen, and it turns out that it's true to it's name: it seems to bend really rather a lot.
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
Engadget has gotten hold of a video which shows someone applying a reasonable amount of downwards pressure on the phone's back, and just look how much it gives. According to the source, you have to supply a "reasonable amount of force" to replicate the results, so it's unlikely to happen in everyday use. But just look at it!
CUBOT C11 5.0 Inch IPS Smartphone MTK6572 Dual Core Android 4.2 GPS 4GB White
Cubot GT72 Smartphone 4.0 Inch Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS WiFi Black
Cubot GT99 Smartphone 4.5 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 12.0MP Camera Black
It's also probably worth pointing out that this is a pretty dumb way to treat your electronic devices. But then, hopefully you already knew that.
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer Especially For the Price
Less successful was the feature that allows you to search by name for "nearby places." For example, when I was searching for Ralph's (a grocery chain), I was given options for three of them that were between two and four miles away, while it completely ignored the one that was half a mile over. I was also directed toward Connecticut for waffles, so, there's that.
The messaging app got a major overhaul, too. In fact, it's been eaten by Hangouts, Google's chat app. Now SMSing and IMing are done from within the same app. You add one of your contacts to a conversation (a Hangout), and the app tells you if they're just on SMS or if they're on chat, or both (it also tells you if they're online or not). It's also now really easy to share your current location from within the app. That said, this puppy still has a lot of growing to do. For starters, there's no integration with Google Voice, which is madness, considering it's Google Voice. Worse, though, the whole UI for the app is a bit confusing. Things look cluttered, it's too easy to accidentally archive a conversation, and it's not very clear who's really online and up for a chat, or who's asleep because it's 4am their time but their phone is turned on.
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
Google Now (which we very much like) is now baked deeper into the OS. For starters, it has its own panel on the desktop, so you can just slide over to it. It's not really much simpler than sliding up from the app drawer, but we suspect a lot of people didn't know it was there before. This should make it more obvious to more people, which is a good thing. You can also now activate voice search / voice command from anywhere on the desktop (or within the Search app) by simply saying "Okay Google," then saying what you want. It's nice, but not nearly as helpful as it is on the Moto X, where you can say, "Okay Google Now" from virtually any app, or even when the screen is off.
Quickoffice is kind of a nebulous app. You can use it to "open and save files on Google Drive" or other cloud storage services. Great! It's handy for Word docs and PDFs you uploaded to Drive, but less useful if most of the stuff in your Drive was made with Google products.
Cubot DT99 Phone IP67 Walkie Talkie Bluetooth FM Dual SIM Card Camera 2.2 Inch Dark Green
Google finally stopped waiting for mobile carriers to acquiesce and just went ahead and baked Wallet more deeply into the OS. The process has become a bit more streamlined, too. As long as you have a credit card associated with your Google account you're pretty much good to go. Tap-to-pay registers are becoming increasingly common and if you ever forget your wallet (or just don't feel like digging it out), this is an extremely painless way to pay.
Cubot A6589S SmartPhone Android 4.2 MTK6589 Quad Core 5.8 Inch HD Grey
There are other improvements, too, like faster multitasking and better memory usage. There's a new, very sweet "immersive mode" which gets rid of the onscreen controls when you're reading a book or watching a video so you can maximize that screen. There's built-in support for using your phone as a pedometer (while using less power to do so) and for cloud printing, and of course the OS is less resource-hungry, so it will run on lower-end phones. For all that, though, it's still a bit rough around the edges.
Cubot P9 Smart phone MTK6572W Dual Core 5.0 Inch QHD Android 4.2 3G GPS Black
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
Camera
As good as the Nexus program has been, it's always had a photographic Achilles Heel. Or, to put it more bluntly, the cameras on the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus were awful. We are happy to say that that's no longer the case here. We were disappointed that it was just an 8MP camera when LG put a 13MP shooter into its G2 flagship, but luckily the Nexus 5 has some software help to make up the difference.
In the normal shooting mode the camera is fast, but the photos are decidedly lackluster. However, when you use KitKat's new HDR+ mode, that all changes. Not only is the dynamic range boosted (so highlights don't blow out and shadows don't get lost), but colors are enhanced and you get a lot more detail. That last note is somewhat surprising as HDR photos are typically associated with blurriness—since they're actually an amalgam of several images— but the proof is in the pudding.
Cubot A6589S SmartPhone Android 4.2 MTK6589 Quad Core 5.8 Inch HD Grey
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
HDR+ images were better almost across the board, regardless of lighting or distance. We did some head-to-head comparisons with the stock version of the Galaxy S4 (running Android 4.3) and the Nexus a lot closer in quality than we would have expected. Even without HDR, the Nexus faired pretty well, despite the Galaxy S4 having a five megapixel advantage. You can see our full photo test here.
The other much-touted camera feature on the Nexus 5 is its optical image stabilization (OIS). Again, we're happy to report that it makes a significant difference, which you can see especially in the video below. I held both phones in exactly the same way for all three of those shots. In the first clip with the ants, the Nexus 5 looks like it's on a tripod by comparison.
As you can see, the video quality is excellent. So, while this camera may not measure up to the Nokia Lumia 1020 or perhaps the iPhone 5S (to be determined), it should be more than good enough by most camera-phone metrics.
The one place it falls a bit short is in low-light. It isn't awful, but it isn't great either, and it really struggled to find focus. Also, the camera app itself has gotten slower from the version in 4.3 (slower to find focus and/or bring up the menu), which definitely shouldn't be the case, given the superhero processor inside. Also, it seems extremely limited given the phone's power. Why not the option to shoot 1080p at 60fps or 720p at 120fps for buttery super slow motion?
Like
The screen is plenty bright even in direct sun light, and pretty, too. The phone is fast. Its software is the latest and greatest from Google (and it should get fast updates in the future). We like the increased Google Now integration, easily mobile payments, and the much-improved dialer. The camera is capable of some terrific shots (still and video), and for an unlocked phone, the price is very, very right.
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
No Like
There's really only one thing about the Nexus 5 that we absolutely hate: the speaker. From the image above you'd think it's stereo, but nope, the grill on the left is the speaker and the grill on the right is the mic. While the clarity isn't awful, the speaker is way, way too quiet. I missed several calls and texts when the phone was within a few feet or in my pocket. Its location also makes it all but impossible to muffle it completely when you're playing a game (like Dead Trigger 2). Same goes for watching a video in landscape. And when you muffle it, you muffle it completely.
Other than it's just a series of smaller gripes, most of which have more to do with KitKat than the phone itself. Google Voice integration with Hangouts is a must and feel very late at this point. Why is there a Gallery app and a Photos app? Who knows. Why does Google Now try to send me somewhere far away instead of down the street? Again, who knows.
As for the hardware, it's a bummer Verizon customers can't get it. We would have liked to see a bigger battery to help fill out that hollow back.
The messaging app got a major overhaul, too. In fact, it's been eaten by Hangouts, Google's chat app. Now SMSing and IMing are done from within the same app. You add one of your contacts to a conversation (a Hangout), and the app tells you if they're just on SMS or if they're on chat, or both (it also tells you if they're online or not). It's also now really easy to share your current location from within the app. That said, this puppy still has a lot of growing to do. For starters, there's no integration with Google Voice, which is madness, considering it's Google Voice. Worse, though, the whole UI for the app is a bit confusing. Things look cluttered, it's too easy to accidentally archive a conversation, and it's not very clear who's really online and up for a chat, or who's asleep because it's 4am their time but their phone is turned on.
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
Google Now (which we very much like) is now baked deeper into the OS. For starters, it has its own panel on the desktop, so you can just slide over to it. It's not really much simpler than sliding up from the app drawer, but we suspect a lot of people didn't know it was there before. This should make it more obvious to more people, which is a good thing. You can also now activate voice search / voice command from anywhere on the desktop (or within the Search app) by simply saying "Okay Google," then saying what you want. It's nice, but not nearly as helpful as it is on the Moto X, where you can say, "Okay Google Now" from virtually any app, or even when the screen is off.
Quickoffice is kind of a nebulous app. You can use it to "open and save files on Google Drive" or other cloud storage services. Great! It's handy for Word docs and PDFs you uploaded to Drive, but less useful if most of the stuff in your Drive was made with Google products.
Cubot DT99 Phone IP67 Walkie Talkie Bluetooth FM Dual SIM Card Camera 2.2 Inch Dark Green
Google finally stopped waiting for mobile carriers to acquiesce and just went ahead and baked Wallet more deeply into the OS. The process has become a bit more streamlined, too. As long as you have a credit card associated with your Google account you're pretty much good to go. Tap-to-pay registers are becoming increasingly common and if you ever forget your wallet (or just don't feel like digging it out), this is an extremely painless way to pay.
Cubot A6589S SmartPhone Android 4.2 MTK6589 Quad Core 5.8 Inch HD Grey
There are other improvements, too, like faster multitasking and better memory usage. There's a new, very sweet "immersive mode" which gets rid of the onscreen controls when you're reading a book or watching a video so you can maximize that screen. There's built-in support for using your phone as a pedometer (while using less power to do so) and for cloud printing, and of course the OS is less resource-hungry, so it will run on lower-end phones. For all that, though, it's still a bit rough around the edges.
Cubot P9 Smart phone MTK6572W Dual Core 5.0 Inch QHD Android 4.2 3G GPS Black
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
Camera
As good as the Nexus program has been, it's always had a photographic Achilles Heel. Or, to put it more bluntly, the cameras on the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus were awful. We are happy to say that that's no longer the case here. We were disappointed that it was just an 8MP camera when LG put a 13MP shooter into its G2 flagship, but luckily the Nexus 5 has some software help to make up the difference.
In the normal shooting mode the camera is fast, but the photos are decidedly lackluster. However, when you use KitKat's new HDR+ mode, that all changes. Not only is the dynamic range boosted (so highlights don't blow out and shadows don't get lost), but colors are enhanced and you get a lot more detail. That last note is somewhat surprising as HDR photos are typically associated with blurriness—since they're actually an amalgam of several images— but the proof is in the pudding.
Cubot A6589S SmartPhone Android 4.2 MTK6589 Quad Core 5.8 Inch HD Grey
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
HDR+ images were better almost across the board, regardless of lighting or distance. We did some head-to-head comparisons with the stock version of the Galaxy S4 (running Android 4.3) and the Nexus a lot closer in quality than we would have expected. Even without HDR, the Nexus faired pretty well, despite the Galaxy S4 having a five megapixel advantage. You can see our full photo test here.
The other much-touted camera feature on the Nexus 5 is its optical image stabilization (OIS). Again, we're happy to report that it makes a significant difference, which you can see especially in the video below. I held both phones in exactly the same way for all three of those shots. In the first clip with the ants, the Nexus 5 looks like it's on a tripod by comparison.
As you can see, the video quality is excellent. So, while this camera may not measure up to the Nokia Lumia 1020 or perhaps the iPhone 5S (to be determined), it should be more than good enough by most camera-phone metrics.
The one place it falls a bit short is in low-light. It isn't awful, but it isn't great either, and it really struggled to find focus. Also, the camera app itself has gotten slower from the version in 4.3 (slower to find focus and/or bring up the menu), which definitely shouldn't be the case, given the superhero processor inside. Also, it seems extremely limited given the phone's power. Why not the option to shoot 1080p at 60fps or 720p at 120fps for buttery super slow motion?
Like
The screen is plenty bright even in direct sun light, and pretty, too. The phone is fast. Its software is the latest and greatest from Google (and it should get fast updates in the future). We like the increased Google Now integration, easily mobile payments, and the much-improved dialer. The camera is capable of some terrific shots (still and video), and for an unlocked phone, the price is very, very right.
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
No Like
There's really only one thing about the Nexus 5 that we absolutely hate: the speaker. From the image above you'd think it's stereo, but nope, the grill on the left is the speaker and the grill on the right is the mic. While the clarity isn't awful, the speaker is way, way too quiet. I missed several calls and texts when the phone was within a few feet or in my pocket. Its location also makes it all but impossible to muffle it completely when you're playing a game (like Dead Trigger 2). Same goes for watching a video in landscape. And when you muffle it, you muffle it completely.
Other than it's just a series of smaller gripes, most of which have more to do with KitKat than the phone itself. Google Voice integration with Hangouts is a must and feel very late at this point. Why is there a Gallery app and a Photos app? Who knows. Why does Google Now try to send me somewhere far away instead of down the street? Again, who knows.
As for the hardware, it's a bummer Verizon customers can't get it. We would have liked to see a bigger battery to help fill out that hollow back.
Nexus 5 Review The Best Android Can Offer
On the outside, the Nexus 5 is unremarkable. That doesn't mean bad, just that nothing really stands out. It's a slightly rounded rectangle, most reminiscent of a Galaxy S4 except a bit taller (5.43 vs 5.38 inches), a bit thicker (0.34 vs 0.31 inches), and just a hair narrower (2.72 vs 2.75 inches). The back is a brushed plastic that strikes a nice balance between smooth and grippy. The only physical buttons on it (the power button and the volume rocker) are both placed just prominently enough, and offer a satisfying click.
Really the Nexus 5's only distinguishing features are an extra-large camera lens (which is necessary for the built-in and fantastic optical image stabilization), and its big bright screen. Speaking of the latter: that IPS Plus display is sharp and plenty bright, even in direct sunlight. When compared to an AMOLED display, you can see a bit of rosiness in the whites (whereas AMOLEDs tend to skew a bit greenish) which we find pleasing, but no IPS display can come anywhere near an AMOLED when it comes to blacks. The Nexus 5 manages a respectable very dark gray, but it can't touch that vacuum-of-space blackness that the AMOLEDs have.
There is no removable battery, expandable memory, or IR blaster on the Nexus 5. There is, however, wireless charging, which actually comes in pretty handy.
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
Cubot Phone Online Store
Left to right: Moto X, Nexus 5, HTC One, Galaxy S4
Using It
Cubot One Smartphone MTK6589 Quad Core 4.7 Inch HD IPS Android 4.2 8GB Silver
The Nexus 5 is fast. We expected it to tear, and it is, indeed, the fastest Android phone we've ever used. Truth be told, it's only slightly faster than the current top-ranked speedsters like the HTC One. But slightly faster than something that's already fast as hell is still fast as hell. We'll take it! That said, if you were expecting the Snapdragon 800 when combined with stock Android would result in a phone so speedy you'd actually time-travel backwards a little every time you used it, well, it's not that, but it's the closest thing we've got.
Related
Moto X Review: The Android Phone for Everybody
Cubot C10+ Smartphone 4.5 Inch IPS Android 4.2 Dual Core MTK6572 GPS Black
When we first got our hands on the Moto X last week, we were way more impressed than we thought we'd be. We've been using and abusing it… Read…
The thing is, that speed isn't always obvious. See, most of the stuff you actually use your phone for doesn't require that much processing power. So, when we pitted the Nexus 5 against the under-powered Moto X and had them race to open a giant app like Dead Trigger 2, the Nexus only won by about 1.25 seconds. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, but until games or video editing suites for mobile take a big leap forward and require much more horsepower, the extra speed is just kind of a nice bonus rather than a life-changer at the moment. You are free, however, to feel smug about how future-proof that mad-dog engine will make your new phone.
Cubot T9 Smartphone MTK6589T Android 4.2 5.0 Inch FHD OGS Screen 16GB 13.0MP Camera White
The Nexus 5 definitely feels light for its size, and LG did a nice job on the build quality. It feels solid all the way around, and fairly scuff-resistant. At the same time, there's no wow-factor here. When you first hold the HTC One there's a whoa moment when you feel just how solid it is. Likewise,the Moto X makes you realize just how small a 4.7-inch screen can feel in your hand. The Nexus 5 is comfortable, but it's definitely not as comfortable as either of those other devices. It's missing that wow factor.
Really the Nexus 5's only distinguishing features are an extra-large camera lens (which is necessary for the built-in and fantastic optical image stabilization), and its big bright screen. Speaking of the latter: that IPS Plus display is sharp and plenty bright, even in direct sunlight. When compared to an AMOLED display, you can see a bit of rosiness in the whites (whereas AMOLEDs tend to skew a bit greenish) which we find pleasing, but no IPS display can come anywhere near an AMOLED when it comes to blacks. The Nexus 5 manages a respectable very dark gray, but it can't touch that vacuum-of-space blackness that the AMOLEDs have.
There is no removable battery, expandable memory, or IR blaster on the Nexus 5. There is, however, wireless charging, which actually comes in pretty handy.
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer (Especially For the Price)Expand
Cubot Phone Online Store
Left to right: Moto X, Nexus 5, HTC One, Galaxy S4
Using It
Cubot One Smartphone MTK6589 Quad Core 4.7 Inch HD IPS Android 4.2 8GB Silver
The Nexus 5 is fast. We expected it to tear, and it is, indeed, the fastest Android phone we've ever used. Truth be told, it's only slightly faster than the current top-ranked speedsters like the HTC One. But slightly faster than something that's already fast as hell is still fast as hell. We'll take it! That said, if you were expecting the Snapdragon 800 when combined with stock Android would result in a phone so speedy you'd actually time-travel backwards a little every time you used it, well, it's not that, but it's the closest thing we've got.
Related
Moto X Review: The Android Phone for Everybody
Cubot C10+ Smartphone 4.5 Inch IPS Android 4.2 Dual Core MTK6572 GPS Black
When we first got our hands on the Moto X last week, we were way more impressed than we thought we'd be. We've been using and abusing it… Read…
The thing is, that speed isn't always obvious. See, most of the stuff you actually use your phone for doesn't require that much processing power. So, when we pitted the Nexus 5 against the under-powered Moto X and had them race to open a giant app like Dead Trigger 2, the Nexus only won by about 1.25 seconds. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, but until games or video editing suites for mobile take a big leap forward and require much more horsepower, the extra speed is just kind of a nice bonus rather than a life-changer at the moment. You are free, however, to feel smug about how future-proof that mad-dog engine will make your new phone.
Cubot T9 Smartphone MTK6589T Android 4.2 5.0 Inch FHD OGS Screen 16GB 13.0MP Camera White
The Nexus 5 definitely feels light for its size, and LG did a nice job on the build quality. It feels solid all the way around, and fairly scuff-resistant. At the same time, there's no wow-factor here. When you first hold the HTC One there's a whoa moment when you feel just how solid it is. Likewise,the Moto X makes you realize just how small a 4.7-inch screen can feel in your hand. The Nexus 5 is comfortable, but it's definitely not as comfortable as either of those other devices. It's missing that wow factor.
Galaxy Note II White Galaxy S4
The introduction of the Galaxy S4 flagship by Samsung is one of the more polarizing releases recently from the Android smartphone-maker. On one hand, Samsung has fine tuned the Galaxy S3 and added some 160+ new features on the Galaxy S4, including welcomed additions such as a larger battery, refined styling, larger and higher resolution display, and a speedier processor that can keep up with the big flagships. On the other hand, despite all the new additions, some in the tech industry are mockingly referring to the Galaxy S4 as the Galaxy S3S, a name that beckons to Apple’s marketing–like the move from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S–showing that not enough has changed between generations and that the Galaxy S4 is basically a Galaxy S3 with slightly more under the hood. In this review, we’re going to examine both sides of the equation and see if the Galaxy S4 would be as compelling an upgrade to existing Galaxy S3 owners as it is to those who are looking for an Apple alternative in the space.
UMI CROSS Smartphone 6.44 FHD MTK6589T Android 4.2 OTG NFC HiFi 2GB 32GB White
Cubot T9 MTK6589T Quad Core Smartphone 5.0 Inch FHD Android 4.2 13.0MP Camera 16GB White
CUBOT C11 Smartphone 5.0 Inch IPS Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS 4GB White
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Design
CUBOT C11 Smartphone 5.0 Inch IPS Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS 4GB White
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
To behold is to believe. While not much has changed superficially between the two generations of Galaxy S flagships, there is definitely a pleasing feeling when you hold the Galaxy S4. It’s trimmed down by just a hair and Samsung has put the Galaxy S3 on a diet so you do get a slightly thinner, slightly lighter, and slightly less curvaceous design moving up a generation, but the difference feels nice and the subtle redesign looks elegant and modern. Whereas the white Galaxy S3 unit had a smooth white coat and the Pebble Blue Galaxy S3 had a faux metallic finish, the Galaxy S4 makes due with a fine checkered motif that’s very subtle on both the black and white editions.
White Galaxy S4 left; Pebble Blue Galaxy S3 right
White Galaxy S4 left; Pebble Blue Galaxy S3 right
The fine checkered imprinting is reminiscent of the textured rear battery covers on older Galaxy S phones. Unfortunately, like the Galaxy S3, Samsung’s filled in the design with a smooth, high gloss finish, meaning that you won’t get the texture to aid in ergonomics and held reduce the phone from falling out of your hands. That said, the more flat and less curvy design does help in maintaining a solid grip.
The bellowed out sides of the Galaxy S3 has been replace with a flat metal-looking band that surrounds the phone’s sides, something that reminds us of the design of the Motorola Droid RAZR HD and even the iPhone 4′s steel band, minus Apple’s infamous Antennagate situation.
Metal-like band wraps around the phone and provides structural support.
Metal-like band wraps around the phone and provides structural support.
Star S6 Smartphone 5.0 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 3G GPS 13.0MP Black
Samsung is continuing its trend with plastic designs with the Galaxy S4. I don’t have any qualms with this decision unlike others in the media who have been more critical of Samsung given that rivals such as Sony Mobile Communications and LG have moved to more premium glass materials while HTC is employing a premium zero-gap unibody aluminum construction. In the end, the use of plastics means that the phone will be better to handle drops than glass and won’t show scuff as easily as metal, and the thin removable plastic battery cover gives me access to a removable battery, an easily serviceable SIM card slot that doesn’t require any SIM ejector tool, and user-accessible expandable storage through a micro SD card where I can add up to a whopping 64 GB micro SDXC card.
Removing the rear polycarbonate plastic battery cover and you have access to the battery, micro SD memory card slot, and micro SIM card. On Sprint, the micro SIM is for global roaming on GSM networks and the SIM card isn't tied to the CDMA/EVDO/LTE service used domestically.
Cubot T9 MTK6589T Quad Core Smartphone 5.0 Inch FHD Android 4.2 13.0MP Camera 16GB White
Removing the rear polycarbonate plastic battery cover and you have access to the battery, micro SD memory card slot, and micro SIM card. On Sprint, the micro SIM is for global roaming on GSM networks and the SIM card isn’t tied to the CDMA/EVDO/LTE service used domestically.
Hardware
Dakele 2S Big Cola 2S Phone MTK6589T Quad Core Android 4.2 OTG 5MP 13MP 5.3 inch 2GB 32GB
Display. When you’re looking at the Galaxy S4, the thing that strikes you instantly is the large display and super skinny side bezels. By going the route of Apple’s iPad mini and slimming the bezels, Samsung was able to cram more screen in the same footprint as the Galaxy S3–it’s a nice design feat and makes for an attractive device.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe screen itself is a gorgeous display. We said that about the 720p HD Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S3, but moving to the 1080p Full HD Super AMOLED screen of the Galaxy S4, Samsung’s made some big improvements. Pixels disappear on this 441 ppi resolution display, while colors are still not quite as accurate to life as that on a Super LCD display, Samsung is using an adaptive display technology to automatically adjust the colors and saturation of the display based on what you’re doing on the phone to give you the best display settings based on your task.
And though the minimal bezels are nice, using the device with barely any bezels is an entirely different story. In my testing of the Galaxy S4, usability did suffer a bit when compared to the Galaxy S3. If you’re holding the phone in portrait orientation and are wrapping your fingers around, your fingers may touch the bezel and cause inadvertent taps on a hyper-sensitive screen. Unfortunately, Android doesn’t have the same algorithms that the iPad mini has to know if you’re just holding the phone on its thin side edges or if you’re actively trying to tap on the screen.
The screen sensitivity is also more pronounced than the Galaxy S3–Samsung’s added a number of features including the Lumia 920-borrowed screen where you can use the display with gloves on and still be able to touch and tap with pleasure. And secondly, if you’re holding the phone in landscape, you’ll end up hitting some of the side capacitive touch buttons which are placed very close to the bottom edge of the phone in portrait orientation. This is a time when I wished Samsung would follow Google’s Nexus lead and move the buttons onto the display, sacrificing a little bit of screen real estate for button placement.
You do get a nice addition with the display, however, as now you can hover over content in a number of apps to get more detailed information, similar to hovering your mouse over content on a PC. We’ll discuss this later in depth later in this review.
CPU, RAM, Network Options. Powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, all U.S. variants of the Galaxy S4 eschews Samsung’s highly coveted Exynos 5 Octa CPU in favor of Qualcomm’s internals, a decision that we heard was made due to shortages of the Exynos parts. Still the Snapdragon 600 was speedy and we noticed no slow downs in everyday tasks, video watching, streaming content with Adobe Flash in the browser, and playing some popular games.
The model that I tested is Sprint-specific, and it’s designed for CDMA, EVDO, and Sprint’s 4G LTE bands in the U.S. My Sprint model does have a micro SIM tray that’s accessible, unlike the Galaxy S3 from that carrier, signaling that this may be a world-phone from Sprint that supports GSM/3G UMTS networks while roaming abroad as well. Sprint has said that it won’t be tying its LTE service, unlike rival CDMA carrier Verizon, to a SIM card and that its SIM cards are purposed mainly for world roaming.
Users who choose the Sprint model will also benefit from the carrier’s unlimited data plan offerings. Given that you can do so much with the Galaxy S4 given the device’s sheer horsepower, an unlimited data plan will go a long way in allowing users to share, upload, download, stream, surf, and browse.
5.5-inch 720p HD display of the Galaxy Note II on left compared with 5-inch 1080p display of the Galaxy S4 on the right.
5.5-inch 720p HD display of the Galaxy Note II on left compared with 5-inch 1080p display of the Galaxy S4 on the right.
Other Sensors and Radios. At the top, the phone’s earpiece speaker is now cluttered with a number of sensors. You have the ambient light sensor to auto-adjust the screen brightness, an IR sensor to detect motion gestures, a front-facing 1.9-megapixel camera that takes surprisingly good self-portraits even in reduced lighting conditions, and a proximity sensor to turn off the screen as you’re holding the phone up too your cheeks to use it as a phone for calls. The phone also has a temperature and humidity sensor, accelerometer and gyroscope, an S View cover sensor, digital compass, and barometer. It’s a lot to pack in and all these sensors will turn every Galaxy S4 toting user a mini weather station!
Camera and Speakers. On the rear of the phone, the simplified and more minimalist camera design isn’t without compromise either. Up top, the camera pod is simplified. It still protrudes out a bit, like the Galaxy S3. Gone is the futuristic metal speaker grill that flanks the right side of the camera as the speaker has been moved towards the bottom, a design decision that has been borrowed from the Galaxy Note II. The flash has been moved from the left side on the Galaxy S3 to the bottom on the Galaxy S4.
13-megapixel camera is placed too close to the top edge, making it difficult to hold the phone to take a landscape photo, especially given the slim bezels already on the front of the device.
13-megapixel camera is placed too close to the top edge, making it difficult to hold the phone to take a landscape photo, especially given the slim bezels already on the front of the device.
The problem with this camera placement is that the camera lens has been shifted a bit up to the top of the device. This is fine for capturing images in portrait mode, but when you’re gripping the camera in landscape mode, your fingers tend to obscure and block the camera lens.
Rear loudspeaker now has moved towards the bottom of the phone, a change from the Galaxy S3's layout.
Rear loudspeaker now has moved towards the bottom of the phone, a change from the Galaxy S3′s layout.
The camera itself uses a 13-megapixel Samsung sensor and can record videos in 1080p. Samsung has also added a number of new camera tricks, through clever software, that we’ll discuss later in this review.
Other Hardware. The sides of the phone are relatively clean and minimalist in appearance. Up top, you have a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left side and a small IR blaster port on the right side used to control your TV and home entertainment center. The right edge just houses the power button.
Up top, the 3.5 mm headphone jack and the IR blaster for controlling your TV and home entertainment center.
Up top, the 3.5 mm headphone jack and the IR blaster for controlling your TV and home entertainment center.
On the bottom, you have a single micro USB port. The USB port is an MHL port so you can connect an MHL dongle to get HDMI output to your TV. Additionally, pro and advanced users will be happy to know that the UBS port also supports USB on the go, or USB OTG, so you can get an appropriate adapter and connect USB peripherals, including a flash drive, to expand your Galaxy S4.
And on the left side, you have the volume rocker which looks a lot more refined than that on the Galaxy S3.
A more refined power button flank one side and a more refined volume rocker flank the opposite side edge of the phone. The metal buttons are a nice upgrade from the Galaxy S3's faux chrome finish.
A more refined power button flank one side and a more refined volume rocker flank the opposite side edge of the phone. The metal buttons are a nice upgrade from the Galaxy S3′s faux chrome finish.
Samsung should be commended for being able to cram more phone into the same space. It’s quite the design and engineering accomplishment.
Software
Where Samsung differentiates its flagship from others is through software. Much of the hardware found on the Galaxy S4 is a commodity and would likely appear on high-end phones released in 2014–quad-core processing, 13-megapixel cameras, and 1080p HD displays are all par for the high-end course this year.
The Galaxy S4 is powered by Google’s Android 4.2.2 operating system and is layered with the Samsung TouchWiz Nature UI experience. Users who are familiar with the Galaxy S3′s software will feel right at home as that was introduced on the Galaxy S3 software-wise was carried forward to the Galaxy S4. On top of that, Samsung added a few more sensors, a lot more gestures, and a smorgasboard of features. Likely, you won’t discover all the new features right away–I know I still haven’t even after nearly a week of use.
In this review, we’ve outlined some of the novel features we’ve discovered. A few we liked, some we thought were novel, and others we dismissed as gimmicky, but at the end of the day when you’re showing off your hot new phone to friends and family, you’ll have a lot more to talk about and demo.
Easy Mode. This one is perhaps my favorite feature for the phone. Samsung had introduced Easy Mode originally on the Galaxy Note II as a set of pre-loaded widgets to get feature phone owners accustomed to a smartphone without scaring them off. Essentially, even if you’re not comfortable with a smartphone, Samsung has given you training wheels so you can grow with the phone and not outgrow the phone. Easy Mode has been refined on the Galaxy S4 to become its own skinned experience rather than just widgets.
Gone is the Sprint ID-esque pre-configured widgets from before from the Note II’s implementation. Now, Easy Mode is even more baked in and well integrated throughout the entire experience. When you launch your phone into Easy Mode, it’s like turning on a feature phone and you won’t even feel like Android is there.
Easy Mode also takes over some apps and core settings to make things more friendly. When you launch the system settings, you’ll get a more simplified UI and the camera app is stripped of some of the Samsung introduced features to make it less daunting.
If you’ve got an older relative or a tech-challenged friend who wants an easy to read phone with a large screen due to vision problems, the Galaxy S4 can serve that purpose as Easy Mode increases the font size and icon size. You can tell your older friends to toss away their Jitterbug and try Easy Mode.
The Calendar app is one app that was customized for Easy Mode. Here, in Easy Mode, it's simplified to remove clutter and focus on the basics. You won't see appointment previews, but it makes things less intimidating.
The Calendar app is one app that was customized for Easy Mode. Here, in Easy Mode, it’s simplified to remove clutter and focus on the basics. You won’t see appointment previews, but it makes things less intimidating.
Lockscreen Widgets. Outside of Easy Mode, once you return to normal mode, the Galaxy S4 will give you more controls of your lock screen than the Galaxy S3.
At its core, you still have the standard lock screen that displays the date and time, along with the Life Companion branding. However, you can add a number of widget pages to quickly launch apps.
Swiping between the standard date/time lock screen page with missed call notification to the quick app launcher lock screen widget.
Swiping between the standard date/time lock screen page with missed call notification to the quick app launcher lock screen widget.
One page will be an app shortcut page, allowing you to launch even more apps than the standard tray at the bottom of the device.
I customized another tray to show recent messaging, which pulls in messaging from various sources like emails, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other feeds. This unified messaging hub reminds me a lot of BlackBerry Hub, and I wish that Samsung would let me access it from anywhere in Android and not just as a lockscreen widget. It’s a nice touch to see all your new messages in one location.
Recent un-read messages and alerts on the Communication Notifications lock screen widget
Recent un-read messages and alerts on the Communication Notifications lock screen widget
And lastly, I have set up another page with remote controls to quickly operate the TV remote function of the Galaxy S4.
While this may not seem all too useful–it only takes a quick swipe and then a dive into the apps drawer to launch your favorite apps–for corporate users who secure their phones with a complex alphanumeric password, it will make accessing simple tasks easier. Now, rather than entering my full 12-digit password comprised of numbers and letters, I can quickly glance on the lock screen to see quick message previews and change my TV channels without having to unlock my phone. And given Samsung’s enterprise focus with the KNOX security features, this will be great for users who use one phone for work and personal life.
Touchless Gestures. Touchscreens are so 2007 when the iPhone debuted. Samsung is slowly introducing new ways for users to interact with their phones. On the Galaxy Note II, Samsung allowed users to hover over the display–and not tap it–with the S-Pen to allow users to gain more information. Now, the same hover, or Air View, feature has been ported and on the Galaxy S4, users don’t need the S-Pen. On an email, message, Flipboard, or the Samsung Hub (for movies, books, TV shows purchases), users can just point at the screen and not touch it to see more information pop-up. On an email, you get a nice message preview. It’s like hovering your mouse cursor over something on the desktop and getting a pop-up.
UMI CROSS Smartphone 6.44 FHD MTK6589T Android 4.2 OTG NFC HiFi 2GB 32GB White
Cubot T9 MTK6589T Quad Core Smartphone 5.0 Inch FHD Android 4.2 13.0MP Camera 16GB White
CUBOT C11 Smartphone 5.0 Inch IPS Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS 4GB White
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Design
CUBOT C11 Smartphone 5.0 Inch IPS Android 4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core GPS 4GB White
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
To behold is to believe. While not much has changed superficially between the two generations of Galaxy S flagships, there is definitely a pleasing feeling when you hold the Galaxy S4. It’s trimmed down by just a hair and Samsung has put the Galaxy S3 on a diet so you do get a slightly thinner, slightly lighter, and slightly less curvaceous design moving up a generation, but the difference feels nice and the subtle redesign looks elegant and modern. Whereas the white Galaxy S3 unit had a smooth white coat and the Pebble Blue Galaxy S3 had a faux metallic finish, the Galaxy S4 makes due with a fine checkered motif that’s very subtle on both the black and white editions.
White Galaxy S4 left; Pebble Blue Galaxy S3 right
White Galaxy S4 left; Pebble Blue Galaxy S3 right
The fine checkered imprinting is reminiscent of the textured rear battery covers on older Galaxy S phones. Unfortunately, like the Galaxy S3, Samsung’s filled in the design with a smooth, high gloss finish, meaning that you won’t get the texture to aid in ergonomics and held reduce the phone from falling out of your hands. That said, the more flat and less curvy design does help in maintaining a solid grip.
The bellowed out sides of the Galaxy S3 has been replace with a flat metal-looking band that surrounds the phone’s sides, something that reminds us of the design of the Motorola Droid RAZR HD and even the iPhone 4′s steel band, minus Apple’s infamous Antennagate situation.
Metal-like band wraps around the phone and provides structural support.
Metal-like band wraps around the phone and provides structural support.
Star S6 Smartphone 5.0 Inch MTK6589 Quad Core Android 4.2 3G GPS 13.0MP Black
Samsung is continuing its trend with plastic designs with the Galaxy S4. I don’t have any qualms with this decision unlike others in the media who have been more critical of Samsung given that rivals such as Sony Mobile Communications and LG have moved to more premium glass materials while HTC is employing a premium zero-gap unibody aluminum construction. In the end, the use of plastics means that the phone will be better to handle drops than glass and won’t show scuff as easily as metal, and the thin removable plastic battery cover gives me access to a removable battery, an easily serviceable SIM card slot that doesn’t require any SIM ejector tool, and user-accessible expandable storage through a micro SD card where I can add up to a whopping 64 GB micro SDXC card.
Removing the rear polycarbonate plastic battery cover and you have access to the battery, micro SD memory card slot, and micro SIM card. On Sprint, the micro SIM is for global roaming on GSM networks and the SIM card isn't tied to the CDMA/EVDO/LTE service used domestically.
Cubot T9 MTK6589T Quad Core Smartphone 5.0 Inch FHD Android 4.2 13.0MP Camera 16GB White
Removing the rear polycarbonate plastic battery cover and you have access to the battery, micro SD memory card slot, and micro SIM card. On Sprint, the micro SIM is for global roaming on GSM networks and the SIM card isn’t tied to the CDMA/EVDO/LTE service used domestically.
Hardware
Dakele 2S Big Cola 2S Phone MTK6589T Quad Core Android 4.2 OTG 5MP 13MP 5.3 inch 2GB 32GB
Display. When you’re looking at the Galaxy S4, the thing that strikes you instantly is the large display and super skinny side bezels. By going the route of Apple’s iPad mini and slimming the bezels, Samsung was able to cram more screen in the same footprint as the Galaxy S3–it’s a nice design feat and makes for an attractive device.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe screen itself is a gorgeous display. We said that about the 720p HD Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S3, but moving to the 1080p Full HD Super AMOLED screen of the Galaxy S4, Samsung’s made some big improvements. Pixels disappear on this 441 ppi resolution display, while colors are still not quite as accurate to life as that on a Super LCD display, Samsung is using an adaptive display technology to automatically adjust the colors and saturation of the display based on what you’re doing on the phone to give you the best display settings based on your task.
And though the minimal bezels are nice, using the device with barely any bezels is an entirely different story. In my testing of the Galaxy S4, usability did suffer a bit when compared to the Galaxy S3. If you’re holding the phone in portrait orientation and are wrapping your fingers around, your fingers may touch the bezel and cause inadvertent taps on a hyper-sensitive screen. Unfortunately, Android doesn’t have the same algorithms that the iPad mini has to know if you’re just holding the phone on its thin side edges or if you’re actively trying to tap on the screen.
The screen sensitivity is also more pronounced than the Galaxy S3–Samsung’s added a number of features including the Lumia 920-borrowed screen where you can use the display with gloves on and still be able to touch and tap with pleasure. And secondly, if you’re holding the phone in landscape, you’ll end up hitting some of the side capacitive touch buttons which are placed very close to the bottom edge of the phone in portrait orientation. This is a time when I wished Samsung would follow Google’s Nexus lead and move the buttons onto the display, sacrificing a little bit of screen real estate for button placement.
You do get a nice addition with the display, however, as now you can hover over content in a number of apps to get more detailed information, similar to hovering your mouse over content on a PC. We’ll discuss this later in depth later in this review.
CPU, RAM, Network Options. Powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, all U.S. variants of the Galaxy S4 eschews Samsung’s highly coveted Exynos 5 Octa CPU in favor of Qualcomm’s internals, a decision that we heard was made due to shortages of the Exynos parts. Still the Snapdragon 600 was speedy and we noticed no slow downs in everyday tasks, video watching, streaming content with Adobe Flash in the browser, and playing some popular games.
The model that I tested is Sprint-specific, and it’s designed for CDMA, EVDO, and Sprint’s 4G LTE bands in the U.S. My Sprint model does have a micro SIM tray that’s accessible, unlike the Galaxy S3 from that carrier, signaling that this may be a world-phone from Sprint that supports GSM/3G UMTS networks while roaming abroad as well. Sprint has said that it won’t be tying its LTE service, unlike rival CDMA carrier Verizon, to a SIM card and that its SIM cards are purposed mainly for world roaming.
Users who choose the Sprint model will also benefit from the carrier’s unlimited data plan offerings. Given that you can do so much with the Galaxy S4 given the device’s sheer horsepower, an unlimited data plan will go a long way in allowing users to share, upload, download, stream, surf, and browse.
5.5-inch 720p HD display of the Galaxy Note II on left compared with 5-inch 1080p display of the Galaxy S4 on the right.
5.5-inch 720p HD display of the Galaxy Note II on left compared with 5-inch 1080p display of the Galaxy S4 on the right.
Other Sensors and Radios. At the top, the phone’s earpiece speaker is now cluttered with a number of sensors. You have the ambient light sensor to auto-adjust the screen brightness, an IR sensor to detect motion gestures, a front-facing 1.9-megapixel camera that takes surprisingly good self-portraits even in reduced lighting conditions, and a proximity sensor to turn off the screen as you’re holding the phone up too your cheeks to use it as a phone for calls. The phone also has a temperature and humidity sensor, accelerometer and gyroscope, an S View cover sensor, digital compass, and barometer. It’s a lot to pack in and all these sensors will turn every Galaxy S4 toting user a mini weather station!
Camera and Speakers. On the rear of the phone, the simplified and more minimalist camera design isn’t without compromise either. Up top, the camera pod is simplified. It still protrudes out a bit, like the Galaxy S3. Gone is the futuristic metal speaker grill that flanks the right side of the camera as the speaker has been moved towards the bottom, a design decision that has been borrowed from the Galaxy Note II. The flash has been moved from the left side on the Galaxy S3 to the bottom on the Galaxy S4.
13-megapixel camera is placed too close to the top edge, making it difficult to hold the phone to take a landscape photo, especially given the slim bezels already on the front of the device.
13-megapixel camera is placed too close to the top edge, making it difficult to hold the phone to take a landscape photo, especially given the slim bezels already on the front of the device.
The problem with this camera placement is that the camera lens has been shifted a bit up to the top of the device. This is fine for capturing images in portrait mode, but when you’re gripping the camera in landscape mode, your fingers tend to obscure and block the camera lens.
Rear loudspeaker now has moved towards the bottom of the phone, a change from the Galaxy S3's layout.
Rear loudspeaker now has moved towards the bottom of the phone, a change from the Galaxy S3′s layout.
The camera itself uses a 13-megapixel Samsung sensor and can record videos in 1080p. Samsung has also added a number of new camera tricks, through clever software, that we’ll discuss later in this review.
Other Hardware. The sides of the phone are relatively clean and minimalist in appearance. Up top, you have a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left side and a small IR blaster port on the right side used to control your TV and home entertainment center. The right edge just houses the power button.
Up top, the 3.5 mm headphone jack and the IR blaster for controlling your TV and home entertainment center.
Up top, the 3.5 mm headphone jack and the IR blaster for controlling your TV and home entertainment center.
On the bottom, you have a single micro USB port. The USB port is an MHL port so you can connect an MHL dongle to get HDMI output to your TV. Additionally, pro and advanced users will be happy to know that the UBS port also supports USB on the go, or USB OTG, so you can get an appropriate adapter and connect USB peripherals, including a flash drive, to expand your Galaxy S4.
And on the left side, you have the volume rocker which looks a lot more refined than that on the Galaxy S3.
A more refined power button flank one side and a more refined volume rocker flank the opposite side edge of the phone. The metal buttons are a nice upgrade from the Galaxy S3's faux chrome finish.
A more refined power button flank one side and a more refined volume rocker flank the opposite side edge of the phone. The metal buttons are a nice upgrade from the Galaxy S3′s faux chrome finish.
Samsung should be commended for being able to cram more phone into the same space. It’s quite the design and engineering accomplishment.
Software
Where Samsung differentiates its flagship from others is through software. Much of the hardware found on the Galaxy S4 is a commodity and would likely appear on high-end phones released in 2014–quad-core processing, 13-megapixel cameras, and 1080p HD displays are all par for the high-end course this year.
The Galaxy S4 is powered by Google’s Android 4.2.2 operating system and is layered with the Samsung TouchWiz Nature UI experience. Users who are familiar with the Galaxy S3′s software will feel right at home as that was introduced on the Galaxy S3 software-wise was carried forward to the Galaxy S4. On top of that, Samsung added a few more sensors, a lot more gestures, and a smorgasboard of features. Likely, you won’t discover all the new features right away–I know I still haven’t even after nearly a week of use.
In this review, we’ve outlined some of the novel features we’ve discovered. A few we liked, some we thought were novel, and others we dismissed as gimmicky, but at the end of the day when you’re showing off your hot new phone to friends and family, you’ll have a lot more to talk about and demo.
Easy Mode. This one is perhaps my favorite feature for the phone. Samsung had introduced Easy Mode originally on the Galaxy Note II as a set of pre-loaded widgets to get feature phone owners accustomed to a smartphone without scaring them off. Essentially, even if you’re not comfortable with a smartphone, Samsung has given you training wheels so you can grow with the phone and not outgrow the phone. Easy Mode has been refined on the Galaxy S4 to become its own skinned experience rather than just widgets.
Gone is the Sprint ID-esque pre-configured widgets from before from the Note II’s implementation. Now, Easy Mode is even more baked in and well integrated throughout the entire experience. When you launch your phone into Easy Mode, it’s like turning on a feature phone and you won’t even feel like Android is there.
Easy Mode also takes over some apps and core settings to make things more friendly. When you launch the system settings, you’ll get a more simplified UI and the camera app is stripped of some of the Samsung introduced features to make it less daunting.
If you’ve got an older relative or a tech-challenged friend who wants an easy to read phone with a large screen due to vision problems, the Galaxy S4 can serve that purpose as Easy Mode increases the font size and icon size. You can tell your older friends to toss away their Jitterbug and try Easy Mode.
The Calendar app is one app that was customized for Easy Mode. Here, in Easy Mode, it's simplified to remove clutter and focus on the basics. You won't see appointment previews, but it makes things less intimidating.
The Calendar app is one app that was customized for Easy Mode. Here, in Easy Mode, it’s simplified to remove clutter and focus on the basics. You won’t see appointment previews, but it makes things less intimidating.
Lockscreen Widgets. Outside of Easy Mode, once you return to normal mode, the Galaxy S4 will give you more controls of your lock screen than the Galaxy S3.
At its core, you still have the standard lock screen that displays the date and time, along with the Life Companion branding. However, you can add a number of widget pages to quickly launch apps.
Swiping between the standard date/time lock screen page with missed call notification to the quick app launcher lock screen widget.
Swiping between the standard date/time lock screen page with missed call notification to the quick app launcher lock screen widget.
One page will be an app shortcut page, allowing you to launch even more apps than the standard tray at the bottom of the device.
I customized another tray to show recent messaging, which pulls in messaging from various sources like emails, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other feeds. This unified messaging hub reminds me a lot of BlackBerry Hub, and I wish that Samsung would let me access it from anywhere in Android and not just as a lockscreen widget. It’s a nice touch to see all your new messages in one location.
Recent un-read messages and alerts on the Communication Notifications lock screen widget
Recent un-read messages and alerts on the Communication Notifications lock screen widget
And lastly, I have set up another page with remote controls to quickly operate the TV remote function of the Galaxy S4.
While this may not seem all too useful–it only takes a quick swipe and then a dive into the apps drawer to launch your favorite apps–for corporate users who secure their phones with a complex alphanumeric password, it will make accessing simple tasks easier. Now, rather than entering my full 12-digit password comprised of numbers and letters, I can quickly glance on the lock screen to see quick message previews and change my TV channels without having to unlock my phone. And given Samsung’s enterprise focus with the KNOX security features, this will be great for users who use one phone for work and personal life.
Touchless Gestures. Touchscreens are so 2007 when the iPhone debuted. Samsung is slowly introducing new ways for users to interact with their phones. On the Galaxy Note II, Samsung allowed users to hover over the display–and not tap it–with the S-Pen to allow users to gain more information. Now, the same hover, or Air View, feature has been ported and on the Galaxy S4, users don’t need the S-Pen. On an email, message, Flipboard, or the Samsung Hub (for movies, books, TV shows purchases), users can just point at the screen and not touch it to see more information pop-up. On an email, you get a nice message preview. It’s like hovering your mouse cursor over something on the desktop and getting a pop-up.
iPhone 5s is the best phone Apple
The iPhone 5s is the best phone Apple’s produced to date and the benchmark of what a smartphone should be. Though there are some worthy competitors, the iPhone 5s is the phone I recommend without reservation and suggest people put at the top of their shopping lists. Instead of attempting to blow past the competition with bigger everything, it improves on a popular device and is now the keystone to the most mature mobile technology ecosystem.
POMP W88 5.0 inch 1280*720 HD MTK6589 Quad Core Phone Android 4.2 Smartphone 1GB 4GB Black
The iPhone 5s is the only device designed and engineered specifically for iOS 7. While the iPhone 5c and Apple’s older devices do run iOS 7, the iPhone 5s is the only iOS device that unlocks iOS 7′s full potential. If you’re heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem and have a lot of friends and family that you communicate with over FaceTime and iMessage, then there’s no better phone than the iPhone 5s.
Timmy T1 MTK6589T Quad Core Android 4.2 Smartphone 6.4 Inch 2GB 32GB White
GBM-Editors-Choice-AwardApple’s excellent quality standards, world-class customer support, and continued focus on features that are easy to use earn the iPhone 5s a Gotta Be Mobile Editors’ Choice Award. It sits firmly at the top of my recommendation list. Other phones may compare favorably to the iPhone 5s in some areas, but no other device comes close to matching the iPhone 5s in its entirety. Pomp W88s Mtk6589T Quad Core 5.0 Inch HD Android Smartphone 2GB 32GB Black
SmartQ Z Watch Android Smartphone IPX7 Water-proof Free Android Watch 4GB Red Pomp W88s Mtk6589T Quad Core 5.0 Inch HD Android Smartphone 2GB 32GB Black
For a bit of background, I use several devices as part of my duties here at Gotta Be Mobile. I’m currently using the following devices on a regular basis: iPhone 5s (Verizon, AT&T and Sprint), iPhone 5 (T-Mobile), iPhone 5c (AT&T), HTC One (AT&T), Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (AT&T) and Samsung Galaxy S4.(AT&T). While there are things I like about each of my Android phones and a couple of other flagship devices, my AT&T iPhone 5s is my favorite and my primary device.
POMP W88 5.0 inch 1280*720 HD MTK6589 Quad Core Phone Android 4.2 Smartphone 1GB 4GB Black
The iPhone 5s is the only device designed and engineered specifically for iOS 7. While the iPhone 5c and Apple’s older devices do run iOS 7, the iPhone 5s is the only iOS device that unlocks iOS 7′s full potential. If you’re heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem and have a lot of friends and family that you communicate with over FaceTime and iMessage, then there’s no better phone than the iPhone 5s.
Timmy T1 MTK6589T Quad Core Android 4.2 Smartphone 6.4 Inch 2GB 32GB White
GBM-Editors-Choice-AwardApple’s excellent quality standards, world-class customer support, and continued focus on features that are easy to use earn the iPhone 5s a Gotta Be Mobile Editors’ Choice Award. It sits firmly at the top of my recommendation list. Other phones may compare favorably to the iPhone 5s in some areas, but no other device comes close to matching the iPhone 5s in its entirety. Pomp W88s Mtk6589T Quad Core 5.0 Inch HD Android Smartphone 2GB 32GB Black
SmartQ Z Watch Android Smartphone IPX7 Water-proof Free Android Watch 4GB Red Pomp W88s Mtk6589T Quad Core 5.0 Inch HD Android Smartphone 2GB 32GB Black
For a bit of background, I use several devices as part of my duties here at Gotta Be Mobile. I’m currently using the following devices on a regular basis: iPhone 5s (Verizon, AT&T and Sprint), iPhone 5 (T-Mobile), iPhone 5c (AT&T), HTC One (AT&T), Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (AT&T) and Samsung Galaxy S4.(AT&T). While there are things I like about each of my Android phones and a couple of other flagship devices, my AT&T iPhone 5s is my favorite and my primary device.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone
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Galaxy Nexus Android 4.4 KitKat update custom ROMs
Under: Android OS, Software Lenovo S960 VIBE X
Date: November 4th, 2013
If you have the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone then you may have heard by now that this device is one that won’t be receiving the new Android 4.4 KitKat update. However, the developer community has ways round this and you can now get the Galaxy Nexus Android 4.4 KitKat update via custom ROMs.
Lenovo S960 VIBE X
Some owners of the Galaxy Nexus on certain carriers (such as those on Verizon) are still waiting to get their hands on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and they are likely to be disappointed that they will not receive Android 4.4.
Lenovo S960 VIBE X Hero 5S 4 Inch Smartphone Android 4.2 MTK6572M 4GB White Gold
The LG-made Google Nexus 5 just released already running Android 4.4, and although some Galaxy Nexus owners may upgrade to the new phone there will be others who’d still like to try out Android 4.4 for the Galaxy Nexus.
Lenovo S960 VIBE X ZOPO ZP820 5.0 Inch QHD Android 4.2 MTK6582 SmartPhone White
We should stress that at Phones Review we never recommend the use of unofficial updates for devices, and if you choose to use custom ROMs then you do so at your own risk. However, we do know that many of our Android device owners like to use custom ROMs for updates, and so for those who are confident to do so we like to bring you the relevant information.
These ROMs have been developed from the Android 4.4 source that was launched on the day the new OS version was officially announced. As is often the case with custom ROMs these do have some issues, so you should be aware of that before you go ahead. For example you may come across some graphical and animation glitches, but on the whole they seen to be working pretty smoothly. POMP W88 5.0 inch 1280*720 HD MTK6589 Quad Core Phone Android 4.2 Smartphone 1GB 4GB Black
It’s worth bearing in mind though that you might not want to use them as daily drivers considering they are early builds. Both of these Android 4.4 KitKat update ROMs for the Galaxy Nexus come courtesy of XDA developers, so for the A Taste of KitKat ROM head here, or for the SlimKat ROM head here.POMP W99A
If you want to consider using either ROM then please check out all the details, guidelines and instructions before you begin, as you alone will be responsible if anything goes awry.
Are you disappointed that the Galaxy Nexus will not be receiving Android 4.4? If you download either of these Galaxy Nexus Android 4.4 KitKat update ROMs, please let us know if everything went smoothly and what you think of the results? We’d appreciate your comments on this.
Galaxy Nexus Android 4.4 KitKat update custom ROMs
Under: Android OS, Software Lenovo S960 VIBE X
Date: November 4th, 2013
If you have the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone then you may have heard by now that this device is one that won’t be receiving the new Android 4.4 KitKat update. However, the developer community has ways round this and you can now get the Galaxy Nexus Android 4.4 KitKat update via custom ROMs.
Lenovo S960 VIBE X
Some owners of the Galaxy Nexus on certain carriers (such as those on Verizon) are still waiting to get their hands on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and they are likely to be disappointed that they will not receive Android 4.4.
Lenovo S960 VIBE X Hero 5S 4 Inch Smartphone Android 4.2 MTK6572M 4GB White Gold
The LG-made Google Nexus 5 just released already running Android 4.4, and although some Galaxy Nexus owners may upgrade to the new phone there will be others who’d still like to try out Android 4.4 for the Galaxy Nexus.
Lenovo S960 VIBE X ZOPO ZP820 5.0 Inch QHD Android 4.2 MTK6582 SmartPhone White
We should stress that at Phones Review we never recommend the use of unofficial updates for devices, and if you choose to use custom ROMs then you do so at your own risk. However, we do know that many of our Android device owners like to use custom ROMs for updates, and so for those who are confident to do so we like to bring you the relevant information.
These ROMs have been developed from the Android 4.4 source that was launched on the day the new OS version was officially announced. As is often the case with custom ROMs these do have some issues, so you should be aware of that before you go ahead. For example you may come across some graphical and animation glitches, but on the whole they seen to be working pretty smoothly. POMP W88 5.0 inch 1280*720 HD MTK6589 Quad Core Phone Android 4.2 Smartphone 1GB 4GB Black
It’s worth bearing in mind though that you might not want to use them as daily drivers considering they are early builds. Both of these Android 4.4 KitKat update ROMs for the Galaxy Nexus come courtesy of XDA developers, so for the A Taste of KitKat ROM head here, or for the SlimKat ROM head here.POMP W99A
If you want to consider using either ROM then please check out all the details, guidelines and instructions before you begin, as you alone will be responsible if anything goes awry.
Are you disappointed that the Galaxy Nexus will not be receiving Android 4.4? If you download either of these Galaxy Nexus Android 4.4 KitKat update ROMs, please let us know if everything went smoothly and what you think of the results? We’d appreciate your comments on this.
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