Sony Xperia T, Judgement Day

Back in the day, when Sony was in cahoots with Ericsson, they never really made it in the high end market with a product capable of rivaling Apple or Samsung, now, with the new Sony Xperia T, there is a new player in the streets, ready to fight, giving its best shot on the android market.
 Sony Xperia T is as good as it gets, the new company flagship, ready to roll with a Snapdragon S4 processor, kicking it with an impressive 13 Megapixels camera and a stellar 720p display.  I can’t help it, I love this droid, folks. Let’s take a look at its main specs:

Key features

• Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with 42.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.55" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of 720p resolution (720 x 1280 pixels) with Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine; Scratch-resistant glass
• Android OS v4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU, 1 GB RAM, Adreno 225 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260A chipset
• 13 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging, Multi Angle shot
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 1.3 MP front-facing camera, 720p video recording
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage, micro SD card slot
• micro USB port with MHL and USB-host support
• Stereo Bluetooth v3.1
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Voice dialing
• Deep Facebook integration
• PlayStation Certified, access to the PS Store
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• NFC connectivity

 Full specs here.       http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

Let’s start with unboxing this marvel of technology, even if it’s not a quad core, in the end, who needs that much processing power in a telephone? Let’s get real. So, the retail box is pretty normal and mainstream, it contains a micro USB cable, a charger and a headset, the micro SD card is missing but the phone has enough internal memory to get along.

Sony Xperia T’s dimensions are 129.4 x 67.3 x 9.4 mm, for such a big screen smartphone these are pretty good specs, it’s even a compact smartphone if you compare it with other brands. As for design, it’s similar to the Xperia Arc, it has an arched shape and the back is made of rubberized plastic which provides good grip and looks very nice, the materials used in its construction are high quality ones.

On the top of the Xperia T you will find the 3.5 mm audio jack and the secondary mic, the USB port which serves for both charging and data transfers is located on the left side, on the right side there are 3 hard buttons, the power/lock, the volume rocker and the dedicated camera key, also the micro SD port plus the micro SIM compartment. The back panel houses the impressive 13 megapixels camera with LED flash and the loudspeaker grille, the panel itself is non removable, yet I’ve heard that it covers a huge 1850 mAh battery, quoted at 7 hours of talk time and over 400 hours of standby in both 2g/3g networks, that sounds like a lot to me.

During testing, the phone lasted for almost 2 days on one charging, not bad at all in my opinion.
The display is a 4.55 inch wide LCD with a resolution of 1280/720 pixels and a respectable pixel density of 323 ppi, powered by a Bravia engine, is an excellent piece of hardware and I was flabbergasted by its sharpness, contrast and vivid colors.

Despite its respectable dimensions, the Xperia T handles very well, thanks to the curved back and good balance, ergonomy is top notch.

 The smartphone comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 OS, ready for upgrade to Jelly Bean, the UI is customized by Sony yet easy recognizable for an Android enthusiast. The hardware that runs the Xperia T consists of a  Qualcomm MSM8260A Snapdragon chipset with two 1.5 GHz Krait cores and 1 GB of RAM and an Adreno 225 GPU, a pretty good configuration, ready for anything, the OS runs smooth and fast, regardless of the applications you throw at it.

The phonebook it the typical ICS one, easy to use and efficient, with SNS integration.
Telephony is high end, with smart dial and voice dial, signal reception is strong and in call sound is loud and clear, the phone features active noise cancelling, a good feature in noisy environments.
The Xperia T can manage easily any type of messages, from SMS to MMS and Email, thanks to Google Mail,  Google talk makes you the king of instant messaging, also with the Timescape app you can get your Facebook and Twitter feeds right on your screen.

The video player features some cool new options, it’s connected to Gracenote which helps you find additional information about the movies you have preloaded, you also get an app called Movie Studio, it’s a movie editor that lets you edit clips and images, the smartphone manages to play any video file type, from DivX and Xvid to HD 720p and MKV files.

The music player is the usual Sony Walkman, it features a cool interface and lots of presets and equalizers, fully customizable for audiophiles. You also get an FM radio built in with RDS and the output audio quality is pretty good, as expected from a Sony multimedia device.

 Sony Xperia T comes well prepared in the imaging department, it features a 13 megapixel camera with a back-illuminated Exmor R sensor and a single LED flash. It's capable of producing stills of 4128 x 3096px resolution, an impressive piece of hardware, I must say. The camera has a lot of options and features fully customizable, the pictures are great with a good dynamic range, and excellent macro capabilities. As for video recording, the Xperia T captures 1080p at 30 fps, as a true flagship android that it is.
You get the same customizing capabilities due to the similar interface with the still camera, including focus mode, metering, exposure value, image stabilization and so on plus continuous autofocus. The full HD videos are stored in mp4 format and the sound is recorded in stereo.

The connectivity department is also high end, The Sony Xperia T has quad-band 2G and pentaband 3G connectivity. Mobile data speeds are an impressive 42.2 Mbps of HSDPA and 5.76Mbps HSUPA.
Local connectivity is covered by Wi-Fi a/b/g/n with DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct, so you can easily share content from your phone on a DLNA TV or music player. There's also Bluetooth 3.1 with A2DP.
 You also have NFC, and SmartTags.

Web browsing is well covered with the excellent ICS internet browser, which is simple and efficient, in the minimalistic Google way, you can even opt for Google Chrome browser, which works fast and smooth, everything works like a charm, from Flash to YouTube, even HD flash games.
For business users, the Sony Xperia T comes with an excellent organizer and the Office Suite 6 which handles any type of documents, like a pro.

Of course, there is a GPS receiver on board, loaded with Google Maps and Wisepilot navigation app.
Final words, this is a true blue high end smartphone, this time Sony get it right, the dual core Krait muscle does a pretty good job, the display is stellar, the interface has some nice features and looks pretty cool with the Sony custom UI, the overall experience using the smartphone is convincing, even the price tag looks like the best bang for the buck. Add to that an excellent design and a full set of preloaded apps and you have a winner in my book.

For a good deal on a Sony Xperia T, please visit our website.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "Sony Xperia T, Judgement Day"

HTC Rhyme, Femme Fatale

Ladies and… ladies, I present to you the HTC Rhyme. Testing this phone was kind of weird for me, as the whole time I had the weird feeling of having my masculinity under some sort of an attack. Not to mention that my girlfriend gave me a hard time, among other hard things, because she was always bugging me with that dreadful question that every man is afraid of when his girlfriend sees an expensive thing: “Baby, can I have one ? Pretty please etc”. I hope you know I’m mostly kidding. This phone, despite the fact that it's clearly designed for women (if you ask me), also has the brains.

Key Features:

• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 3.7" 16M-color capacitive S-LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.5
• 1 GHz single Scorpion CPUs, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
• 768 MB RAM; 4 GB storage
• microSD card slot (class 4 8GB card in the bundle)
• 5 MP autofocus camera with single LED flash; face detection, geotagging, HDR mode, image auto-upload
• 720p video recording @ 30fps, slo-mo videos (2x at WVGA)
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensor
• Front facing camera, video call
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• Smart dial, voice dialing
• Office document editor
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Ultra-fast boot times
• Rich set of accessories

Full specs here.   http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

The box comes with some cool stuff, enough to please all of them ladies out there: the microUSB cable, charger, 8 GB microSD card, a pair of headphones with in-ear plugs for small, little ears, a phone docking station, leather clothing and the Charm cube.
When placing the Rhyme in the dock, the Dock Mode is launched, an application which features a weather widget, a clock, virtual music controls and a shortcut to the gallery’s slideshow. The Charm cube comes with a 50 cm cable which uses the 3.5 mm jack and serves the purpose of noticing the owner about a message or call by flashing desperately.

Measuring 116.8 x 61 x 10.1 mm and with a weight of 130 grams, the Rhyme has a really nice design and is comfortably in the hand and pocket. It’s also available in three marvelous colors: Plum, Clearwater and Hourglass. Wait, what ? Those are colors ? Nevermind…

The frontal part of the hot, plum colored body is taken by its 3.7 inches S-LCD screen which offers good sunlight legibility and viewing angles. Above it, you’ll find a video-call camera, the earpiece and the proximity and ambient light sensors. Below the screen are the four capacitive keys for Home, Menu, Back and a dedicated search one. They have haptic support.
The microUSB cable is protected and stands on the left side of the phone, meanwhile on the right, you’ll find the volume rocker.

The top is home for the 3.5 mm audio jack, the secondary microphone and the Power/Lock button. The lonely microphone pinhole stands at the bottom.
The back is made out of a soft, rubberized plastic and has a metal piece right under the camera lens, LED flash and loudspeaker.

HTC Rhyme is very sweet and comes with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, which is upgradeable to v4 and HTC Sense v3.5. These two are powered by a Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset with a 1 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, 768 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. It moves very smooth and I assure you it won’t cause any problems, as it fears the annoyed woman’s wrath.
Telephony is also great, the People application is used instead of a phonebook, Smart and Voice dialing are here and so is the possibility of video-calling. The secondary microphone takes good care of the call-quality and no reception issues we encountered.

Messaging is also friendly. Your SMS and MMS are organized in threads, which show you a conversation view. The on-screen QWERTY keyboard is easy to use in both portrait and landscape modes.
Coming up next is the connectivity set, which is pretty rich. You have here the HTC Portable Hotspot, quad-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE, tri-band 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA support and Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and EDR.

Surfing the web will also be an enjoyable experience, as the Rhyme comes with a simple, but smart browser, which supports multiple tabs, bookmarks, text reflow, double tab and pinch zooming and many others. The pages are loaded fast, look nice and also here are the most-welcomed full Flash and HTML5 support.
The phone comes with a 5 megapixel camera that takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels and is equipped with a single LED flash, autofocus, geotagging, face detection, some color effects and other options. The image quality is very good, with bright, accurate colors and nice contrast.
The video recorder produces 720p videos at 21 fps and does a decent job.

The music player supports formats like MP3, WAV, eAAC+ and looks very nice, coming with a Cover Flow-like interface, some equalizer presets and offers a very good audio quality.
The video player supports MP4 and MKV videos and is also decent.
When it comes to applications, the phone is a sweetheart and provides all kinds of useful stuff: a mobile Office application capable of viewing and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, a PDF viewer, Quick lookup, YouTube, Google Talk, Google search, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter and others. If still not satisfied, you can access the Android Market for more.

The phone comes with a GPS receiver with A-GPS support and for navigation, Google Maps and HTC Locations.
HTC Rhyme comes with a 1600 mAh battery and lasts for about a day of intensive usage.

My final words ? Well, this cupcake of a phone is a performer and really exceeded my expectations. If you want your girlfriend to love you forever and ever or at least for 2 months, buy her the HTC Rhyme. But be very careful when doing that and don’t you dare NOT ASK HER about the color! Or else… brother, I don’t even want to think about it. By the way, I’m surprised it isn’t a pink version, but I guess the Plum will do for the most delicate and feminine of them babes. Altogether, even if I turned this phone into a woman’s accessory, you don’t have to take for granted all of my blabbering. It’s suited for everyone and it does a great job.

 For a mobile phone deal on a HTC Rhyme, please visit our website.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "HTC Rhyme, Femme Fatale"

Sony Xperia P, Master of Reality

The Japanese from Sony have been quite busy little bees in the last year and added another member to the family, the Xperia P. Besides being a handsome performer, this fellow is quite tough too. You’ll see what I mean by saying that in the following review.

Key features

• Aluminum unibody
• Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• Bright 4" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of qHD resolution (540 x 960 pixels) with Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine and WhiteMagic (fourth white subpixel); Scratch-resistant glass
• Android OS v2.3.7 Gingerbread, planned Android 4.0 ICS update
• Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, 1 GB RAM, Mali-400 GPU, NovaThor U8500 chipset
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging, Multi Angle shot
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• VGA front-facing camera
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS
• NFC connectivity
• 16GB built-in storage (13GB user accessible)
• microHDMI port, dedicated TV launcher
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Voice dialing
• Adobe Flash 11 support
• Deep Facebook integration
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor

 Full specs here.    http://www.mobilephonedeals.com


First of all, let’s take a peek in the box. Here, we’ll find a single piece headset which comes with in-ear plugs (I welcome them because I actually have a problem with normal headphones, as they barely fit in my ears), a microUSB cable also used for boost-charging the phone and the charger head.
Measuring 122 x 59.5 x 10.5 mm and having a weight of 120 grams, the phone is light and compact although its body is metallic. The straight lines along with its sharp edges and well-built good looking design are the recipe for a dazzling phone.

The Xperia P brings a 4 inches TFT LCD “Reality display” with WhiteMagic and the Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine. The sunlight legibility and viewing angles are defined by one word: PERFECT. I guess that’s what the P stands for. Below the amazing screen is a transparent strip which hosts the capacitive buttons for Back, Home and Menu. Above the display you’ll see the VGA front facing camera, earpiece and their buddies, the ambient light and proximity sensors.
The left side of the phone is home to the unprotected microUSB and microHDMI ports and the microSIM card slot, which is behind a plastic lid. On the right side, you’ll find the loudspeaker, Power/Lock key, volume rocker and a shutter key.

The top holds the lonely 3.5 mm audio jack. Only the lanyard eyelet at the bottom.
On the aluminum-made back stands the camera, along with its LED flash companion.
The Xperia P runs Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread which is upgradeable to v4 and uses the Timescape user interface. The phone owns a 1 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor, 1 GB of RAM, a Mali-400MP GPU and 13 GB of user available storage from the 16 GB present. If it’s not enough, you have cloud integration (DropBox, Google and Box). Its speed and capacity are more than decent when multi-tasking, I’m sure you’ll have an enjoyable experience when using it.

Telephony is great. You have a secondary microphone which serves its noise-cancellation purpose, so you’ll be having an excellent call quality even if you find yourself in a nerve-racking loud environment. Smart and voice dialing are here among other useful functions, like quick contacts and the possibility to sync with your accounts (Facebook, for example).
Messaging is okay, your SMS and MMS and organized into threads, a thread looks like a conversation log. You can forward, copy, delete your messages or lock them against deletion and if you’re looking for a certain message, feel free to use the Search functionality.

The on-screen QWERTY keyboard works just fine in portrait mode even if you have big sausage-like fingers. Still, if you have enormous hands and go by the name of PAWS, the landscape mode is all you need for texting.

The phone has quite a connectivity fortune, as it will provide support for GSM/GPRS/EDGE, quad-band 2G and 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA and Hotspot, Bluetooth v2.1with A2dp and EDR and let’s not forget about the last, but not least NFC support.
The browsing experience will be pretty enjoyable, as the device has a simple, but very capable browser which supports multiple tabs, switching between them, bookmarks, find on page, copy, double tap and pinch to zoom, text reflow and others. The pages are loaded very fast and look great on the big 4 inches display. As a surprise, the full Flash 11 version joined the party.

The Xperia P is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera which comes with autofocus, a single LED flash and takes photos at a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. It has quite a lot of features included in the camera-package and I’ll write down only the ones that are really worth mentioning: face and smile detection, geotagging, image stabilization, metering, capture modes (Normal, Sweep panorama, Scene recognition, 3D Sweep Panorama, Sweep Multi Angle). The pictures are very nice, having accurate colors and good contrast.

The video recorder shoots 1080p videos at 30 fps and borrows some of settings found on the still camera, such as image stabilization, metering, exposure value and others. The video quality is also decent.
Its music player supports audio formats like MP3, eAAC+, WAV and WMA and greets you with a Cover Flow interface and some great features, like SensMe, some equalizer presets, the Infinite option and so on. The audio quality is excellent with or without your headphones on, your ears will instantly fall in love with this loud and clear sound-producing phone. FM radio with RDS is here, bringing the TrackID service.
The video player is also great, supporting DivX, XviD, MKV, MP4 and WMV.

Xperia P comes with a wealthy amount of applications. Some of them are the Office Suite, for viewing Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files, a PowerSaver, NeoReader, Google Search, YouTube, Google Talk, a World Clock and sooo many others. If wanting more, the Android Play Store is available.
A GPS receiver is also here and comes with A-GPS support. For navigation, you have Google Chrome, which comes to the rescue when you’re in need, helping if getting lost and allowing you to plan routes, go into Street View, search for points of interest and so on. Wisepilot is also here, but only for 30-free days.
The phone’s 1305 mAh battery will hang in there for a day of intensive usage, but later in the night you’ll see it begging for some energy, struggling to stay alive like a real warrior that it is.

Altogether, this guy is eager to show off its talents and good-looks and has every reason to do so. It will immediately capture the affection of your eyes, hands and pockets with that amazing design and when using and browsing a bit through it, your heart will be won by its big amount of skills.

 For a mobile phone deal, please visit us here.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "Sony Xperia P, Master of Reality"

Sony Xperia U, NXT FUN!

At the end of this year’s spring, in May, Sony delivered the Xperia U, a phone with a distinguished design and a pretty wealthy set of skills, marking the Sony’s excellent performance in the compact class smartphone market. Let’s take a closer look at the most important specs:

Key features

• Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
• 3.5" 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of Full WVGA resolution (854 x 480 pixels) with Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine
• Android OS v2.3.7 Gingerbread, planned Android 4.0 ICS update
• Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, 512 MB RAM, NovaThor U8500 chipset
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging, Multi Angle shot
• 720p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• 8 GB built-in storage (6 GB user-accessible)
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Voice dialing
• Adobe Flash 11 support
• Deep Facebook integration
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Transparent stripe changes color depending on screen content
• Replaceable cap at the bottom allows easy customization

For the full specs, please visit here.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

Let’s take a look in its box. We can see here the microUSB cable, a fast charger (your phone will be ressurected in less than an hour using this baby along with the USB cable), a microSIM adapter, the headphones, a polishing cloth and a plastic cap for the bottom of your phone. The bottom caps are available in colors like black, white, pink and yellow, depending on how much of a wacko are you. I’m just kidding, of course.

The phone measures 112 x 54 x 12 mm, weighs 110 grams and, like I’ve said before, it will surely capture your attention through its peculiar edgy appearance. Having a strong build, but still light and compact, it will sit comfortable in your hands and pockets.

Its frontal part is almost fully taken by the 3.5 inches FWVGA Bravia LCD screen, a piece of work which offers great sunlight legibility and has good viewing angles. Under the display are three capacitive controls for Back, Home and Menu and a transparent plastic strip that lights in different colors, matching the current theme or the color that sticks out the most when viewing an image from the gallery. Pretty neat, huh ? Above the screen is the front-facing VGA camera with its buddies, the earpiece and proximity sensor.
The left side hosts the microUSB port and SIM card slot, meanwhile the right side is home for the volume rocker, Power/Lock key and the shutter button.

The top has the 3.5mm audio jack and secondary microphone (for noise-cancellation). The primary microphone sits at the bottom.

The phone comes running with Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) and is upgradeable to 4.0. Inside it lives a STE U8500 chipset, the 1 GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, 512 MB of RAM memory and a Mali-400MP GPU. You can practically do anything you want and the phone will be highly responsive and work smoothly, without bugging you out with lag issues or things like that.

The call quality is great as the voices are loud and clear even in noisy environments, thanks to the secondary microphone that I’ve mentioned earlier in the review. The reception is also good and the Xperia U is kind enough to give us Smart and Voice dialing.

Messaging is also fine, your SMS and MMS are organized into threads and each thread looks like a conversation. You can forward, copy, delete your messages, search through them for a specific one and you also have an option for locking them against deletion. The on-screen portrait QWERTY keyboard may cause some issues if you have big fingers, but the landscape mode will surely solve them.
The phone’s connectivity is well packed, having support for GSM, GPRS, EDGE quad-band 2G and 3G, 14.4 Mbps HSDPA, 5.76 Mbps HSUPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA, Wi-Fi Hotspot and Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR.

The browser is pretty simple and supports double tapping and pinching to zoom, text reflow, panning, bookmarks, multiple tabs, find on page and many others. The pages are rendered smoothly and the big star here is the full Flash 11 support.

The Xperia U comes with a 5 megapixel camera which has autofocus, a LED flash and takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. Some extra features are scenes, resolution, geotagging, face and smile detection, image stabilization, focus mode and 3D sweep panorama. The photos produced are above average, with accurate colors and good contrast.

Its video camera shoots 720p clips at 30 fps and also does a good job, I have nothing to complain about.
The music player supports MP3, WMA, WAV, eAAC+ and proudly owns a Cover Flow-like interface and also has some cool features, like the Infinite button – who looks up videos on YouTube, lyrics and other information like that about your currently played song, SensMe – a functionality that filters your music by mood (dance, relaxed, emotional etc). Some equalizer presets are here too. The audio quality is pretty clear, I was impressed. FM Radio is here too and it brought its friends, RDS and TrackID.

The video player supports MP4, WMV, DivX and XviD and the image quality is good.
In terms of applications, you have Office Suite for viewing Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. You’ll have to upgrade to the paid application for editing. Cloud storage integration is assured by DropBox, Box and Google. Some other apps are the World clock, Calendar, YouTube, Gmail and many others. Another useful application available for free from the Play Store is the Media Remote, used as a remote control for Sony Blu-ray or DVD players and DLNA Bravia TVs.

The Xperia U includes a GPS receiver with A-GPS support and Google Maps for navigation and Wisepilot as an alternative (for only 30 days for free). You can plan routes, go into Street View, search for close points of interest and stuff like that.

The phone’s 1320 mAh will survive for more than one day of intensive usage, meaning you have about one hour for each task, like making calls, browsing, taking pictures, music playback and texting.
In conclusion, this is a pretty good and docile smartphone that will answer to your needs, impress your friends with its neat design and perform these things for a small amount of money.

For a good deal on a Sony Xperia U, please visit our website.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "Sony Xperia U, NXT FUN!"

Sony Xperia Tipo, Little Big Droid

The Sony Xperia Tipo is a new budget smartphone presented by Sony, made for those who want a pretty cheap device to fulfill their basic needs, but also with some quality specs.

Key features
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band UMTS support
• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 3.2" 256K-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of HVGA resolution (320 x 480)
• Android OS v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 800 MHz Cortex-A5 CPU, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7225AA chipset
• 512 MB of RAM
• 2.5GB of inbuilt storage
• microSD slot (32GB supported)
• 3.15 MP fixed-focus camera, geotagging
• VGA video @ 25fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• User-accessible battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh

Full specs here.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

Its poor box comes only with a charger and the microUSB cable, unfortunately, Sony left us wishing for some headphones and microSD card. But don’t let these details burst your bubble, I’m sure it won’t be such a problem, given the low price of the phone.
The Xperia Tipo measures 103 x 57 x 13 mm and has a weight of 99.4 grams. Very light and compact, the phone fits perfectly in my hand and is very easy to use. It’s all made of plastic, but gives the impression of a well built phone.

The front part is occupied by its 3.2 inches TFT capacitive screen, which comes with a scratch resistant glass, a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels and very decent viewing angles and sunlight legibility. Above the screen, you’ll find the proximity sensor next to the earpiece and below it, three capacitive controls for Back, Home and Menu. To get to the bottom of the phone, you’ll have to step down one level and pass through a glossy surface. After that, you’ll meet with the microphone.
The top is home to the 3.5 mm audio jack and Power/Lock key.
On the Tipo’s left side is the microUSB port, which is also used for charging. The right side hosts the volume rocker and lanyard eyelet.

On the back of the phone, you’ll see the camera lens and loudspeaker grille. I’ve really appreciated that the rear is made of a matte plastic, therefore you won’t have any fingerprint issues.
Earlier, at the beginning, I was talking about some nice specs. One of them is the operating system: the phone comes loaded with Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich), thus is a pleasure to use, as it looks great and works just fine, without any lag or issues like that. You also get a few more goodies, the chipset, a Qualcomm MSM7225AA Snapdragon which comes with an 800 MHz Cortex-A5 processor, 512 MB RAM, 2.5 GB of user available internal storage and Adreno 200 GPU.

The call quality is good and I didn’t have any reception problems. The phone supports smart dialing and has a pretty nice phonebook, which stores many contact informations, gives you the possibility to sync your contacts with Facebook and other useful options.

Messaging will be easy, the full QWERTY keyboard is decent if you don’t have hot dogs instead of fingers and if you do, the landscape mode will surely save you from any inconveniences when typing. Messages are organized in threads, you have options like searching a certain message, locking against deletion, copy and others. For instant messaging, you have Google Talk, which is compatible with clients like iChat, Ovi Contacts and Pidgin.

The connectivity package comes with Wi-Fi b/g/n, quad-band 2G, dual-band 3G with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA, Bluetooth version 2.1 with A2DP support.
The Xperia Tipo comes with the standard Android browser, which offers an enjoyable experience when surfing the internet and is replaceable with others if it doesn’t please you. It provides pinching or double-tapping to zoom, text reflow, bookmarks, multiple tabs, text-size adjusting and you have some Quick controls for Tabs, New Tab, Bookmarks, URL, More. Flash support is here to the rescue. In addition to all these offerings, the pages look nice and clear and are loaded very fast.

The device comes with a 3.15 megapixel camera that takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. You have settings for geotagging, scene modes (night, beach, snow and sports), white balance, exposure value and metering. Even if it’s a fixed focus camera and has no flash, it produces decent photos.
The video camera shoots VGA clips at 25 fps and has a few settings in common with the still camera. The videos are also of a good quality, nothing to be disappointed with here.
When it comes to audio playback, the music player supports MP3, WMA, WAV, eAAC+ and provides some equalizer presets, Album art, looks nice and gives a pretty good audio output.
FM Radio is also here, coming with RDS and TrackID.
The video player isn’t the greatest if you want to use your phone for movies, as it supports only MP4 and WMW. At least the image quality is satisfying.

Let’s talk about apps. You have the Office Suite for viewing Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files, but you’ll have to upgrade to the PRO version if wanting to edit them. DropBox, SugarSync and Google Drive are here for cloud storage integration. For more applications, the Google Play Store is at your service.
A GPS receiver can be found on the phone, along with its A-GPS feature included. For navigation, you have Google Maps, allowing you to find points of interest, get public transport information, directions for both pedestrians and drivers and so on.

The phone’s 1500 mAh battery is more than enough for this phone and I say that because I’m used to recharging my smartphone daily. Well, this fellow lasted for two days with the same amount of usage: an hour a day each for calling, browsing, music playback and I also took some silly photos of my girlfriend and her cats.

In conclusion, this phone is definitely worth buying if you value your money and want something good at a small price.

For a mobile phone deal, please visit us here.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "Sony Xperia Tipo, Little Big Droid"

Motorola MILESTONE XT720, Creative Sequel

The Motorola MILESTONE XT720 was released in the summer of 2010 and quickly aimed its weapons at the competition. You’ll find out what I’m talking about in the following review.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support

• 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support

• 3.7" 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 854 pixel) resolution

• Android OS v2.1 Eclair

• ARM Cortex A8 720MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX graphics accelerator; 256 MB of RAM

• 8 MP autofocus camera with xenon flash, AF assist light and geotagging

• 720p video recording @ 24fps

• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

• 150MB storage, microSD slot, bundled 8GB card

• Accelerometer and proximity sensor

• Ambient light sensor

• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

• Great build quality

• microHDMI port with 720p output (bundled HDMI cable)

• Excellent audio reproduction quality

• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

Full specs here.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

Let’s take a look in its box. Here, we’ll find a charger head which depends on the also present microUSB cable, a single piece headset, the HDMI cable and an 8 GB microSD card. Is it Christmas already ?

The phone measures 116 x 60.9 x 10.9 mm and has a weight of 139 grams. Despite its pretty bulky look, the phone is actually comfortable in the hand and not a burden to your pocket either. The materials used when designing this phone are of a very high quality: the case is almost fully made of metal, the back is covered by a rubberized clothing and the screen has Corning Gorilla Glass protection. All of these contribute to the solid build of the phone, making it look like a beast that brings fear in the hearts of other delicate droids.

The front of the device is taken by the 3.7 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. The sunlight legibility is okay and the viewing angles are decent. Above it, there are the proximity and ambient light sensors with the earpiece. Below the display are the four capacitive controls: the Menu, Home, Back and Search keys.

The left side houses the microUSB port, which is protected by a plastic lid. On the right side, you’ll see the volume rocker and a lump near the bottom, which hosts the camera key and a toggle key which switches between the camera modes and the gallery. 

On its top, you’ll come across the Power/Lock key, 3.5 mm audio jack and the microHDMI port. The bottom is home for the lonely mouthpiece.

When it comes to software and hardware, the phone comes packed with Android OS v2.1, a nice looking and user-friendly interface backed up by its 600 MHz Cortex-A8 processor with 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM. Using the phone will be made in a breeze, as it runs smoothly through the interface, without any lag.

The call quality is very good and so is the reception, but, unfortunately, you don’t get any smart dialing.

The phone does a pretty good job when messaging, typing is very easy and the predictive text system comes in very handy. If you get bored or tired of typing messages, you can use Google speech recognition, which can be very accurate and is really helpful.

The connectivity package carries support for quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi b/g with DLNA, dual-band 3G with HSPA, with the download speed reaching up to 10.2 Mpbs and 5.76 upload. Bluetooth comes in version 2.1 with A2DP support.

Browsing will be a wonderful experience, for the phone comes with a large display and a great browser, which supports multiple pages, double-tap and multi-touch pinch zooming and others. The pages are loaded fast and look very nice on the roomy screen.

The device comes with an 8 megapixel camera that takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels and features autofocus, geotagging, face detection and Xenon flash that does a pretty decent job. The image quality is as you would expect it to be, very nice. The video camera shoots 720p clips at 24 fps and is also okay.

The music player supports formats like MP3, WAV, AAC+ and WMA and is satisfying enough even if it lacks equalizer presets or alternative skins. You get a nice feature that enables you to search a song on YouTube or Google by holding your finger on a song. The audio quality is excellent. The MILESTONE XT720 also comes with FM Radio with RDS support.

The video player supports MP4 and WMW and is also decent. Unfortunately, the XviD support is limited.

When it comes to apps, the phone comes packed with some handy ones, like QuickOffice for viewing Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files, but for the editing option, you’ll have to make an upgrade and spend some money. You also have an YouTube application that works just fine. When you’re driving, you can use the Moto Car Home, a homescreen that has bigger icons and allows you to access what you need much faster. The Android Market is there for you if wanting more applications.

The phone comes with a GPS receiver that has A-GPS support and for navigation, it’s loaded with Google Maps and MOTONAV. The second one is only free for two months.

The 1390 mAh battery lasted for almost two days of intensive usage: I’ve made some calls, sent and received more than a dozen of emails, browsed the web for more than one hour a day, listened to music and took a few pictures. I think it did really good, don’t you ?

My final words are that if you need a really well-built phone, with a great browser, decent camera and good battery life, this one is perfect.

 For a mobile phone deal on a Motorola Milestone, please visit our website.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "Motorola MILESTONE XT720, Creative Sequel"

LG Optimus L7, Fashion Looks, Android Brains

The new LG Optimus L7 may be defined at as a cheaper Prada version, it a looks very good and slim, it has a very sharp design but the price is relatively budget friendly.  It also comes with Android ICS (ice cream sandwich) and a big/bright screen, all in all, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Also, in terms of hardware, for a midrange device that it is, it features NFC, brilliant connectivity, excellent assembly quality and is very thin also, the only thing that’s missing is a second core on its processing unit to make it a true champion. All in all, with Optimus L7 you get a cheap, well built and stocked smartphone, enough for almost anyone who is not into geek’s frenzy.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color capacitive IPS LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Android OS v4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Single-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A5 processor, Adreno 200 (enhanced) GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon chipset
• 512 MB RAM
• 4GB of inbuilt storage (2.7GB user available)
• 5 MP autofocus camera, face detection and geotagging
• VGA@30fps video recording
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
• NFC
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microSD slot up to 32GB
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Front facing VGA camera, video calls
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0, MHL TV-out
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• Polaris Office document editor
• Dolby Mobile and SRS sound enhancement


Full specs here. http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

The smartphone takes most of its design from LG Prada, which is a good thing, and along with Android, this is the recipe for success. Let’s start the review with unpacking the Optimus L7, you don’t get as many accessories as you would expect for such a classy design, all you will find in the box is a charger, a headset unit and a micro USB cable.

The shape of Optimus L7 is almost identical to the LG Prada 3.0, also the size, at 125.5 x 67 x 8.7 mm and 122 grams it weighs less than Prada yet it features a bigger battery, the design is minimalist yet strangely appealing, with a solid frame and a thin profile.

The LG Optimus L7 has a 4.3" IPS LCD display of WVGA resolution, it’s a decent display for a midrange smartphone, bright and sharp, which performs well both indoors and in the sunlight.
On the top of the screen lies a front camera of VGA resolution for video calling, a proximity sensor and the ear piece. Under it, the usual Android buttons, 2 capacitive keys, Back and Menu and the hardware Home button. On the top of the device we can find the 3.5 mm audio jack and the power/lock button, on the bottom are the microphone and the micro USB port. On the back panel the main attraction is the 5 megapixels camera with LED flash, its surface is fine textured and looks very nice, removing it reveals a respectable 1700mAh battery also the SIM and micro SD compartments (the micro SD is hot swappable), also the NFC module.

The smartphone is entirely made of plastic but is built as a rock, as I told you before, I love this minimalistic approach in terms of design, even if it’s based on a fashion item like Prada, the L7 looks very good, above its midrange class, the ergonomics are very well thought and handling is very pleasant.
The operating system is Android 4.0 ICS, it features a customized UI by LG yet it looks very familiar, the processor runs smooth and fast enough for the usual Joe, it’s clocked at 1 Ghz, nothing impressive but efficient.

The phone book is the typical Android ICS, focused on functionality and ergonomics, in terms of telephony LG Optimus L7 stands very well, the signal reception is good and also the in call sound quality. It features Smart Dial, which works impressive. Messaging is well taken care of, Optimus L7 handles any type of SMS, MMS or email, it’s also SNS integrated.

The music player is in good ICS tradition, easy to use and functional, with equalizer presets and a nice search function that works both on YouTube/internet.
There’s also an FM radio built in, without RDS support though.

The video player is mediocre, the interface is simple and reliable, it can support AVI (DivX and Xvid files), 3gp and mp4 files, also subtitles.
As for audio quality output, is pretty good for a midrange Android.

The LG Optimus L7 comes with a 5 megapixel camera, capable of capturing 2592 x 1944 resolution images and featuring a LED flash, the camera interface is well thought and with quite a few options, including geo tagging and ISO settings, the best ones are continuous autofocus and face detection. The quality of the pictures is decent, nothing out of the ordinary for such a device. Video recording is disappointing, in VGA with 30 FPS, the UI is the same as in the still camera.

The smartphone compensates in the connectivity department, where it does amazingly well for a midrange droid, it has quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE for global roaming and three-band HSDPA with 21 Mbps of download and 5.76 Mbps of upload. Wi-Fi is dual-band with b/g/n support, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct and Hotspot capabilities. There is NFC and Bluetooth 3.0 too.

Web browsing is good also, thank to the 4.3 inch screen and Android inside, the UI  is minimalist in Google tradition and lacks Flash support, you can fix that with an Android update though.
For business users, Optimus L7 comes fully loaded, with lots of apps and a document viewer/editor for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and PDF files too. There are also Google+ and Messenger preinstalled applications. For anything else, you can always visit the Google Play market or the Android Market.

 You can use the smartphone as a GPS navigation device, cell ID and Wi-Fi positioning work too, the Google Maps and Street View are available, as usual, on Android based smartphones and work like a charm.

Everything else aside, the new LG Optimus L7 convinced me, it looks very good, with that large, shiny 4.3’’ screen and the slim body, it’s very comfy to hold and use, it features a nice UI and packs quite a few tricks in its bag. Also, the battery life is impressive and at that price tag, it’s next to impossible to get a better deal.

 For a mobile phone deal on LG Optimus L7, please visit our website.

http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "LG Optimus L7, Fashion Looks, Android Brains"

BlackBerry Curve 9380, Expect the Unexpected

The BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first touchscreen phone that was accepted in the Curve clan, having some nice specs, good looks and coming at an affordable price.

Key features:

3.2" 16M-color TFT touchscreen of HVGA resolution (360 x 480 pixels)
Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA
Single-core 800MHz processor
512MB RAM
BlackBerry OS v7
BlackBerry’s proprietary email service and data security
Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity
GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded
5 megapixel fixed-focus camera and a LED flash
VGA video recording @ 30 fps
150MB of inbuilt storage
2GB MicroSD card pre-bundled
Four physical buttons at the bottom
Optical trackpad
Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
DivX and Xvid video support
Office document editor
3.5 mm audio jack
Smart dialing
Ultra-fast boot times
Solid build quality

 Full specs here.  http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

In its box, you’ll see a charger head, the micro USB cable, headset and a 2GB micro SD card. Shame on them for leaving it naked, without the classical leather cover or at least a polishing cloth.
The all plastic made body measures 109 x 60 x 11.2 mm and has the weight of 98 grams. It’s light, compact and comfortable when hand-held. The plastic offers it a quite cool and far from being cheap appearance, but on the other hand, it’s kind of glassy, so fingerprints are easily sticking to it. You’ll just have to clean it more often, that’s all.

The sleek body hosts a 3.2 inches HVGA capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 360 x 480 pixels. The colors are bright, the contrast is good and the same story goes for sunlight legibility and viewing angles. The touchscreen is also very responsive. Below the display, you’ll come across the four navigation controls for Call, End call, Menu and Back. In the middle of them stands the track pad. The status LED and earpiece are located above the display.

On the phone’s left side is a micro USB port and on the right side are the volume keys, with a mute button in between that also serves as a play/pause button when listening to music. On the same side, under the already mentioned buttons but pretty far from them, is the lonely convenience key that is assigned by default for the camera.

The top houses the Lock key and the 3.5 mm audio jack and at the bottom is only the microphone.
On the device’s back are the 5 megapixel camera lens and its LED flash companion.
The Curve 9380 comes loaded with the BlackBerry OS 7, which is friendlier than the previous version, more colorful and good looking. You won’t encounter any lag when browsing through it, as it runs nice and smooth. The phone is smart and that is also thanks to the 806 MHz processor and 512 MB RAM.
In terms of telephony, the phone does a good job, as the voices are clear and the reception is fine. Voice and Smart dialing are here.

For messaging, it comes with support for SMS, MMS, email and you also get some instant messaging applications preinstalled. The virtual QWERTY keyboard is decent enough. You’ll notice that it’s best used in landscape mode, as the portrait mode can be problematic for big fingers.
The Curve 9380 is rich in connectivity options, coming with a package that includes support for quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, dual-band Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi hotspot is here too), quad-band 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and EDR.

The phone’s web browser is very fast and responsive and it supports text selection, multi-touch zooming, panning, scrolling, text reflow and others. When using the track pad for navigation, you’ll get a mouse cursor. Even if it lacks Flash support, browsing on this phone will be an enjoyable experience.
The phone’s 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 2593 x 1944 pixels, has a single LED flash and it provides geotagging support. The image quality is very nice, as the colors are accurate and the contrast is good.

The video camera also does a great job, shooting VGA at 30 fps.
For music playback, you have an improved player that supports MP3, FLAC, WMA, WAV and eAAC+. It comes with some new icons and provides Album art and equalizer presets. The audio output is decent enough, but not great.

The video player is also decent enough and it supports MP4, WMV, MOV, DivX and XviD files up to 720p resolution.

When it comes to applications, you have Quick Office preinstalled for viewing Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. You also have the option for editing them, but not the PDF ones. If your phone gets stolen or you lose it, the BlackBerry Protect application can locate it and lock it and wipe out the data stored on it, after transferring it to another BlackBerry device.

For socializing, you get the Social Feeds app and Facebook and Twitter preinstalled applications. You also have a Password keeper, Voice recorder, Stopwatch/Timer and many others. But if you want more, App World is here to the rescue with options for services like Dropbox, for example, and a rich collection of applications.
The phone comes with a built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support and uses BlackBerry Maps for navigation.

The 1250 mAh battery will make sure that you’ll be able to use your phone for more than a day and a half of moderate usage.

My final words about the BlackBerry Curve 9380 are that it’s a mediocre good looking touchscreen, it’s not going to amaze you at any point, but, like any other BlackBerry phone, will try hard to answer your needs.

For a mobile phone deal, please visit us here: http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "BlackBerry Curve 9380, Expect the Unexpected"

BlackBerry Curve 8520, Diet BlackBerry

The pretty old now BlackBerry Curve 8520, launched 3 years ago, in 2009, represents another kind of approach from the RIM company, with that near perfect Bold on the market stealing all the glory. The Curve is the budget option from BlackBerry and this is good news, I always felt like the RIM products are somehow overpriced for what they offer.
The shocking feature of the Curve 8520 are the music keys, this is like honey for the younger audience, who generally is not attracted by the BlackBerry portfolio.

Key features

• 2.46" 65K-color TFT landscape display of QVGA resolution
• Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM support, Wi-Fi connectivity
• 2 megapixel camera with fixed focus
• 512MHz CPU
• BlackBerry OS v4.6 with responsive track pad navigation
• Hot-swappable micro SD card slot (up to 16GB)
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Decent audio quality
• Nice web browser
• Office document editor
• Smart dialing
• Dedicated music keys
• DivX and XviD video support

Full specs here.  http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

It is obvious that BlackBerry made some cuts on the hardware to keep the price down, anyway, if you want a high end device, there’s plenty to choose from. Let’s start the review.

The unpacking of the Curve 8520 is nothing special, the retail box is ordinary and it contains a micro USB data cable, a 1 GB micro SD card, a headset and a charger, nothing out of the ordinary, the accessories are actually pretty decent for a budget device.
The phone measures 109 x 60 x 13.9 mm and weighs 106 grams. It has a full plastic body, the assembly quality is ok, the back panel has a metallic appearance, the display is a   65K-color QVGA unit with a 2.46" diagonal, pretty mainstream stuff, with decent contrast and brightness. The sunlight legibility is ok, nothing out of the ordinary for such a device.
The full QWERTY keyboard is all plastic, the feedback is good and using it just as good as its predecessors, with a four row keypad and the numpad on the left.

 Underneath the display sits the optical track pad and around it are the menu and back keys plus the two call management buttons. On the left side of the device we find the 3.5 mm audio jack and the micro USB port, along with a convenience key. On the right side there’s another one, also the volume rocker. On the top, you can find the dedicated music keys, a novelty in BlackBerry devices, they are pretty large in size and hard to press.
On the back of the phone lies the 2 Megapixels camera lens, removing the plastic back cover reveals the  1150 mAh Li-Ion battery and the micro SD card slot. The battery life is impressive, it can last for up to 5-6 days with moderate use.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 runs on OS v4.6 which offers a decent performance, the track pad works like a charm, the RIM fans will not be disappointed, the OS runs smooth enough for a mid range device.
The phonebooks is pretty well organized but it looks somehow creepy, anyway, it gets the job done, it has unlimited capacity but reminded me of an ancient version of Windows.
Telephony is top notch, with smart dial which works very well with the QWERTY keyboard, the signal reception is good and the in call sound quality is decent, with no major issues whatsoever.
The messaging department is taken care of in good RIM tradition, everything from SMS, MMS and email is handled with the BB instant messenger preinstalled, emailing is the best in the business with a BlackBerry Internet Service plan.

The music player is pretty good, remember those dedicated music keys on top of the phone, it looks conservative and has some nice features like sorting the music library automatically by artist, album and genre and you can search your tracks by gradual typing. You can also create your own playlists and minimize the player in the background or adjust the sound with the equalizer presets.

In terms of audio output quality, the Curve 8520 is above average, not the best in class but pretty close to it.
The video player comes with DivX and XviD support, it can also play MPEG-4 and WMV, it features a minimalistic yet efficient interface and watching movies is a pleasant experience.
Camera doesn’t shine, being a 2 MP fixed focus device, you can’t expect miracles, the video recording is in QVGA and the videos are recorded in 3gp format.

Connectivity is not impressive for a RIM product, you don’t get 3g support but at least you have Wi-Fi
The web browser shines, the phone provides a very nice internet surfing experience, pages load fast and you benefit from the great QWERTY keyboard, the track pad makes moving about the page effortless, the speed and ergonomics of the browser are top notch.

The organizer is fully loaded and functional, it gets the job done in style, it comes with Mobile Office preinstalled and you are able to open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. You also get 5 games preinstalled, like Texas Hold’em King 2 and Sudoku.
For final words, I can say that BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a good budget option, it has the essentials a business phone needs, an affordable QWERTY messenger with music keys, it’s simple and functional with a good price tag.

For a good deal, please visit our website.  http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

continue reading "BlackBerry Curve 8520, Diet BlackBerry"

BlackBerry Torch 9810, Upgrade by Increment

Remember when you had a crush on the BlackBerry Torch 9800, not long ago? You got kind of bored of it eventually, didn’t you? Well, prepare for even stronger feelings, because its improved version is here to win your heart and make its predecessor jealous and envious on its skills. Enters BlackBerry Torch 9810, let's take a look:

Key features:

• Enhanced email and data security

• 3.2" 16M-color TFT touchscreen of VGA resolution (480 x 640 pixels)

• QWERTY slider

• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA

• Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity

• GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded, digital compass

• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a LED flash

• HD video recording, 720p@30fps

• Single-core 1.2GHz processor

• 768MB RAM

• 8GB of inbuilt storage

• BlackBerry OS v7

• Fast boot functionality (if you don't remove the battery)

• Optical track pad

• Hot-swappable micro SD card slot (up to 16GB)

• DivX and Xvid video support

• Office document editor

• 3.5 mm audio jack

• Smart dialing

 Full specs here, you can also chech out our site : http://www.mobilephonedeals.com

When opening its box, you’ll find the charger, micro USB cable, headset and a polishing cloth. Yeah, I know no micro SD card? No. But the phone has 8 GB of internal storage, doubling the size of the 9800.

At first glance, you’ll say that the phones aren’t so different. Well, that’s because they look very similar. They share the same measures: 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm and the same weight: 161g. I bet the 9800 feels quite relieved that it’s not fatter than its replacement, it would’ve been another reason to feel sad for the already depressed fellow. The difference stands in the case, which seems to be glossier, but the materials used when being designed remained the same. It’s all made of plastic, but it stands pretty far from giving the impression of being cheap. Inheriting its predecessor’s qualities, this phone is also well built and feels comfortable in the hand and also in the pocket. 

The device comes with a 3.2 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 640 pixels. It’s highly responsive, the sunlight legibility is great and the viewing angles are also good. What more can you ask?

Below the screen, you’ll see the classical controls for Call, Menu, Back, End call and the optical track pad in the middle. The slider is fine and solid, it runs smooth and I don’t think you’ll be having any problems with it after using it for a big amount of time. The QWERTY keyboard is very comfortable to use and will help big time when texting. 

Above the display, you’ll see the earpiece, proximity sensor and the status LED. The left side hosts only the micro USB port, while the right side is home to three rubbery buttons: the volume keys and the convenience one, which serves as a shutter key, by default, but you can assign it any other task.

At the top you’ll find the suite of hidden keys, with the Lock key and the Mute key that also serves as a Play/Pause button when listening to music or watching videos. The bottom is bare. On the back is the 5 megapixel camera lens with its single LED flash companion.

The BlackBerry 9810 comes with OS 7, which brings some new features, is faster than OS 6 and the user interface also looks better than the previous version, being very similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The “brain” has also been updated with a more powerful processor, of 1.2 GHz, more RAM – 768 MB and the internal storage has been doubled – 8 GB. The phone runs smoothly through the interface and you won’t have lag problems.

When it comes to telephony, this phone is great, the voice quality is excellent and the same story goes for the reception. Smart dial is here and you also have Voice dialing through the Universal Voice Search.

The phone is also a master when it comes to messaging, you can send SMS, MMS, emails and you also have some instant messaging applications preinstalled. As I’ve said before, the pleasant texting experience is completed with the classic QWERTY keyboard.

The connectivity package is also rich, you have here dual-band Wi-Fi, quad-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE support, the 3G grants extra speed with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP. The Wi-Fi hotspot is also available.

Browsing on this phone will be wonderful, as it comes with an improved browser, which is very fast, has multi-touch zooming, panning, scrolling, text selection, a virtual mouse cursor when using the track pad for navigation and others. No Flash support.

The phone’s 5 megapixel camera comes with autofocus, a LED flash and takes photos at a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. It offers several scene modes and has geotagging support. The image quality is great, as the contrast is good and the colors are accurate and bright, as they’re supposed to be.

The video camera shoots 1280 x 720px at 30 fps videos and uses the LED for lighting. The video quality is also amazing, I was quite impressed.

The music player supports MP3, WAV, WMA and comes loaded with Album art and some equalizer presets. The audio quality is okay.

The video player is also satisfying, having support for MPEG-4, WMV, MOV, DivX, XviD videos up to 720p resolution.

The phone is packed with a lot of useful applications. Quick Office allows you to view Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. Editing is also available, but not for PDF documents. You also have BlackBerry Protect, which can locate your phone if you lose it or it gets stolen and lock it and erase the information, after transferring it to another BlackBerry device. You also have a Voice recorder, Password Keeper, Stopwatch, Timer and others. For socializing, you have the Social Feeds, Facebook and Twitter applications preinstalled. If wanting to download some new apps, feel free to access the BlackBerry App World. 

The phone comes with a GPS receiver with A-GPS support. For navigation, you have the BlackBerry Maps preinstalled, but if you guys are not friends, you can download Google Maps.

The Torch 9810 comes with a 1270 mAh battery that will last a day of intensive usage. I’ve taken a lot of pictures of my cat, shot a movie clip when it was sleeping and snoring, listened to music while jogging, made a lot of calls, sent some emails and spent some time on Facebook. It survived all these and was still alive later in the night, but I guess it died when I was sleeping. 

My final words are that this phone is definitely worth buying if you want a great tool for messaging, telephony, pictures, videos and browsing. It will pleasantly surprise you with its performance and it’ll be a keeper.

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