Samsung's Galaxy Gear Is Almost Definitely Coming on September 4th

What’s weird about reporting on the potential introduction of smartphone watches is that they actually aren’t anything new – every few years it seems some OEM comes up with a wrist-mounted phone that makes for an interesting demo but doesn’t go anywhere, like the LG GD910, for instance, the talk of CES 2009. Samsung readying a smartphone watch for a September 4 unveiling, as Bloomberg reports, then seems a bit like

The so-called Galaxy Gear from Samsung would be an Android-powered smartwatch that sounds like it can operate independently of a connected smartphone device to make calls, browse the web, send and receive emails and more. The Gear won’t use Samsung’s fledgling flexible display technology, however, as that’s not quite ready for prime time, and is still in the crowd sourced contest phase of development.

Samsung will introduce Gear on September 4, a couple of days ahead of the IFA consumer gadgets show, alongside the Galaxy Note 3, Samsung’s next giant tablet/phone mashup monstrosity. Bloomberg doesn’t say much more about the Galaxy Gear or what it will look like, but we’ve already seen some hints in previous trademark and patent filings from Samsung.

So besides the fact that Samsung and LG are very different companies, what’s changed between 2009 and now that makes the Galaxy Gear a more potentially interesting product than the LG GD910? Well, Android for one. LG’s phone was essentially a dumb phone that you wore on your wrist. Samsung’s Gear should have some tricks up its sleeve thanks to Google’s smartphone OS.

Of course, working with Android on a non-standard screen size brings its own issues. The open-source OS is highly customizable, as Nvidia’s SHIELD project proves, but that device is much more similar to a phone than what a smart watch would presumably resemble. Will Gear have access to Play Store apps? How will those apps behave? Will Samsung be applying a heavily customized skin on top and supplying its own limited stock of apps? The last seems most likely, as even with a super high resolution display, Android apps operating on a smaller screen would have tiny visual elements and touch hit points.

Note also that this specifically isn’t a device that requires a smartphone to operate if Bloomberg’s sources are correct, but a “wristwatch-like smartphone,” so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of integration between smartphone and smartwatch Samsung builds in. I’m betting there has to be some kind of connection, since that’s another advantage that modern devices have that weren’t necessarily available to the GD910 and other similar devices.
Earlier this week, SamMobile reported that it had "confirmed" there would be a smartwatch at the IFA Unpacked event. During the Samsung Galaxy S4 rumor parade earlier this year, SamMobile's sources nailed a couple of key details about the Samsung flagship ahead of its announcement, so we're comfortable taking their word for it here.

For months and months, rumor blogs and reputable business publications alike have been reporting that everyone from Apple to Microsoft to Samsung are developing smartwatch technology. And it's been almost certain the Samsung watch would be amongst the first of to launch, but until now we haven't known the date. We've been skeptical all along because there are plenty of reasons to think that any smartwatch product released today would be, uh, less than awesome. Everything that has been made so far seriously misses the mark.
If this really is a full-fledged smartphone, however, it will likely be priced with one, especially if it boasts decent specs. That could make its initial appeal limited, but maybe for Samsung being first to market (especially ahead of Apple, which is said to be developing its own smartwatch) in this space that everyone’s watching was the top priority.

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Sony Xperia ZR

Introduction

It looks like Sony is going for a Samsung-like approach when it comes to its portfolio of Android handsets, as the company is continuing to release multiple models that tend to be dangerously similar to one another. The latest example is the Sony Xperia ZR, which can safely be considered a somewhat toned-down Xperia Z.

Still, with a 4.5” 720p screen, a 13-megapixel Exmor RS camera and the Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset in tow, the Xperia ZR is certainly not your average mid-range model. What's more, the phone has kept the Xperia Z's signature ability to be water-resistant, which will undoubtedly boost its appeal even further.

With the Xperia ZR, Sony is looking to offer a solid contender in the upper-mid-range space that will go up against devices like the popular HTC One mini, the Nexus 4, or the Galaxy S III, which can still be found at most retailers. It's more than an uphill battle, going against such tough opponents, but hey, if the product is as good as it seems to be on paper, it could easily give those competing devices a run for their money
Design

While the Sony Xperia ZR has kept most of the Z's design DNA, it definitely shows that it's not exactly a premium model due to its significantly thicker profile of 10.4 mm, versus the Xperia Z's remarkable 7.9 mm. Despite that, the phone feels comfortable in the hand and not bulky.

The choice of materials for the Sony Xperia ZR is another thing that reminds us of its mid-range nature. Pushing its front glass panel down, we notice that it's not made of the most firm type of glass, while the back side of the device is made of a very ordinary plastic that is sure to leave you indifferent at best. Unfortunately, it attracts a lot of fingerprint smudges, but at least it's likely to repulse bad guys that might be willing to get a hold of your smartphone.

Handsets equipped with 4.5” displays used to be considered pretty big, but now that 5” smartphones are commonplace, we actually see them as relatively compact offerings. Not that the Xperia ZR is small or anything, but it's definitely easier to handle compared to those 5” beasts. For example, the ZR's dimensions are 5.16 x 2.65 x 0.41 inches (131 x 67.4 x 10.4 mm), while the GS4 measures 5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches (136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm). In terms of weight, though, the Xperia ZR isn't the lightest handset with its 140 g, (the 5” GS4, for example, weighs 130 g). Still, that doesn't make the Xperia ZR feel heavy.
Due to the smartphone's water-resistant nature, its microUSB and 3.5mm ports are protected by tight plastic covers, with the one of the 3.5mm connector being somewhat difficult to remove. Watch out not to break your nail while struggling to open it!

We aren't really fascinated by the execution of the physical keys, all of which are situated on the handset's right hand side. Basically, all of them — which includes the power/lock key, volume rocker and camera shutter — work fine, but aren't particularly “clicky” and comfortable to use. What's more, the volume rocker has an unusual position near the lower end of the Xperia ZR's right hand side, which makes it not as easy to reach as it would have been if it was in its traditional position towards the upper end. Meanwhile, the camera button is so tiny that you can almost fail to notice it's there.

Display

The Sony Xperia ZR isn't ready to make many compromises in the display area. The sizable 4.5” screen sports a more than decent resolution of 720x1280 pixels, which works out to a satisfying pixel density of 323 pixels per inch. In comparison, the HTC One mini packs a slightly smaller display at 4.3 inches, but having the same 720p resolution, its pixel density comes in at 341 ppi.

Back to the Xperia ZR, its LCD TFT display can get reasonably bright at about 470 nits max, which isn't a staggering number, but manages to keep the screen visible under daylight.

Overall, we're pleased with the image quality of the screen, as its colors appear well-saturated and lively. Meanwhile, contrast is pretty decent in your normal, straight-on viewing position, though viewing angles are once again pretty poor (same as on most other Sony Android phones), so as soon as you start tilting the phone to one side, things get very washed out.

Thankfully, the Sony Xperia ZR hasn't missed out on the Mobile Bravia engine, which makes media content viewed on the phone's screen appear more appealing. It does nothing more than to apply some software enhancements to the image, but we enjoy it.

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HTC 8X:Full Reviews

HTC, a well-known mobile manufacturer company which provides best smartphone to its customers. Android is trending these days but windows operating system for mobile is not far behind. Windows 8 smartphones are also gaining Smartphone users attraction. Recently HTC had launched two smart phones based on windows 8 operating system named as HTC 8X and HTC 8S. in this post I am going to tell the reviews of HTC 8X. 

Design:-

The very first thing is that how the phone look like means design of the phone. If we talk about the design then it is the thing that you can always expect from HTC. Its products always look different and much more attractive than all other smartphones. This phone is very well built it flawlessly weds beautiful glass that curves at the edges with a matte unibody plastic shell. The back of the phone is also designed in such a way that is very easy to hold in hand and its light weight adds to it.

The phone is available in all color option while in India only blue and black is available. This phone is very slim and there is no cover to open as it has a unibody design. The micro-SIM slot is provided on the side, there is no SD card slot and battery is also undetectable.

If we talk of the physical buttons present on the phone than it has SIM slot, power button and camera key on the right, USB port on the bottom and headphone jack on top.

Inspite of having good design, the Physical buttons are lacking somewhere. As its traditional style. HTC provided power button closer to the front end rather than the back, which makes it harder to access the button when you are holding Phone in hand. It is harder to know whether the button you are trying to press is pressed or not and its same for all the physical buttons present on it. The position of USB port is also annoying as it is again upside down.

Overall design of this phone is very good and eye-catching.

Display:-

After design everyone look for the screen or display of the smart phone ant this HTC 8X has a 4.3 inch super LCD screen with resolution of 1280 x 720. In the recent phone of HTC the display is amazing as in HTC one X and this one also has the same. This 8X has a good display with awesome color, brightness, contrast and sunlight legibility.

If we compare this one with Nokia’s Lumia 920, these two phones are very close. Nokia Lumia 920 is ahead of this one in size and response time but the display of HTC is longer than that of Lumia 920. The aspect ratio is also much better 16:9 for HTC as compared to lumia’s 15:9.

Battery life:-

• This phone has a 1,800mAh battery. Under normal usage this phone can get you through full day.
• This phone play 1080p (full HD video) for about 5 hour and 40 minutes which is impressive.

Hardware and software:-

This HTC 8X runs on a Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 SoC, with a dual-core 1.5GHz Krait CPU and Adreno 225 GPU. This phone comes with 1GB RAM and 16 GB internal space which is non-expandable as no SD-card slot is available on the phone, even though windows 8 support expandable memory. This is the point of concern as 16 GB memory is very less it should be atleast 32 GB or even 64 GB.

If we talk about the software this phone then this phone comes with windows 8 and some pre-installed HTC apps. Windows had improved much in last few years and this new version windows 8 is very good as compared to windows 7but still there are few things which should be highlighted like in this OS has no notification center where you can get all your notifications , no option of sending file via Bluetooth until enabled from settings ,there are only three Brightness settings instead of Auto feature there is no way of having different volume levels for ringtones, music player, alarm, headphones, or anything else as we have in Android OS, these is no VPN support and this list continuous as I had mentioned only few points. Although other Operating systems also have many such or other issues but still Windows OS is most irritating among all.

Nokia had tried to reduce such problems with its many useful apps but if we talk about HTC, they had not tried to do anything and don’t provided any useful apps. At end if we talk aout the software then this phone disappoints us but still there are many features to like such as its smooth performance wonderful user interface of windows 8 and many other features.

Pros:-

•  Excellent reception quality
•  Tough scratch-resistant glass
• Good audio quality
• Great performance

Cons:-

• Average camera Quality
• Unexpandable memory (only 16 GB)
• Expensive

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LG G2 could launch same day & Specs:

Tomorrow LG is going to finally make the G2 official. Before that though, we get to peek at the phone once again as ETradeSupply has leaked some of the phone's parts. More specifically, the display and front glass panel of the G2 are displayed below.

LG hasn’t left much to the imagination where its new flagship LG G2 is concerned. While most smartphone makers go to great lengths to keep unannounced devices a secret, LG has already named its new hero phone and shared a number of details.  The phone will be unveiled during a press conference on Wednesday, August 7th, and now a new report suggests it may launch the very same day. Korean-language MK News reports that the G2 will become available for purchase in South Korea immediately following its debut at LG’s press conference in New York City. Because of the time zone difference, the phone’s actual release date will be August 8th in South Korea, if the report pans out. Unfortunately, MK News makes no mention of wider availability so it is unclear when the G2 might roll out in the United States. The G2 is expected to feature a 5.2-inch full HD 1080p display, a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel rear camera

Fingerprint recognition technology would certainly be an exciting feature for the G2 but it's lack thereof is not worth crying about. After all, as Engadget continues, the G2 will still carry "a nano-SIM slot... the G2 will offer microSD storage expansion, not to mention a removable 2,610mAh battery."

As for the specs we can look forward to, LG users and G2 hopefuls should keep an eye out for a burly 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, a crystal clear 5.2-inch LCD display, an unparalleled 3GB of memory, a sharp 13MP camera, and a probable Android 4.2.2 mobile OS. Google did recently unveil its updated Android 4.3 so the G2 may come with an available upgrade.

LG has a press event coming up this week, August 7, so there are sure to be plenty more leaked specs and photos in mere days leading up to the event. The G2 looks to be a viable device on paper and could easily compete with other high-end smartphones in dominating the market like those by Apple and Samsung. LG is known to make crystal clear LCD displays so including one on its smartphone will be a big draw and hopefully bolster the household brand recognition needed to truly compete with Apple and Samsung

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