LG Optimus 7, Lucky Number Slevin

After HTC, another Asian company decided to move into uncharted territory, I am talking here about smartphones running Windows Phone 7 OS.
 With Optimus 7, we see the first step from LG in this direction. Regardless of the hardware restrictions imposed by Microsoft, Optimus 7 is trying to distinguish itself from the crowd, with a nice design and excellent assembly quality of the device. All Windows 7 smartphones require state of the art hardware and this is not a bad thing for the end user, just a little bit of a drag from the manufacturer’s point of view. Let’s see the main specs of Lg Optimus 7:

Key features:

• 3.8" 16M-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) and HSUPA (5.76Mbps)
• Windows Phone 7 operating system
• 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 512MB RAM
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging; Panorama photos with the Panorama shot app
• 720p video recording @ 24fps
• 16GB of built-in storage
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Standard micro USB port (charging)
• Wi-Fi b/g/n; DLNA support via PlayTo
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• Accelerometer for screen auto rotation
• Landscape on-screen QWERTY keyboard
• FM radio with RDS
• Office document editor
• Social networking integration
• Built-in A-GPS receiver
• Comes with a choice of free apps via LG AppStore
• Voice-to-text functionality
• ScanSearch augmented reality app

Full specs here.


To make their baby unique, LG added a few applications, like the PlayTo app that gives the phone DLNA capabilities, the Panorama application for the 5 MP camera and Scan Search for weather forecasting and for using your phone as a guide when you’re searching for a good cup of coffee. It’s not much but nevertheless, LG tried to customize the device as humanly possible, following the strict guidelines from Microsoft.

At 3.8 inches wide, Optimus 7 has a pretty small display, compared with other Windows Phone 7 devices, but it compensates with a smaller retail price. And this is kind of important, because all WP7 phones are more or less the same in terms of hardware, so the price tag should play a significant role in choosing this kind of product.

LG’s retail package is modest, it contains the normal accessories with no extras, like the micro USB cable, the charger and the hands free set.
 There’s no micro SD card in the box, but this is by no means a deal breaker, Optimus comes with 16 GB of internal memory which is a lot.

The smartphone measures 125 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm and weighs 157 grams, it’s a pretty big and heavy device. But it impressed me with its rock solid build quality, the housing is made of metal, with round shaped corners, it is an elegant and neutral design.

The screen is a TFT LCD 3.8” and has WVGA resolution, the colors are nice and bright, sunlight legibility is average and viewing angles are pretty normal for this kind of display.
On the front panel we find the usual proximity/ambient light sensors, the earpiece and the three keys mandated by Windows Phone 7 – Back, Windows and Search. On the right we find the micro USB port that serves both at data transfer and for charging the smartphone. On the back panel is the 5 MP camera lens with autofocus, led flash and a small mirror for self portraits. Under the metal cover we find a pretty decent 1500mAh Li-Ion battery which lasted for about 2 days with heavy use.
The nice curved design of Optimus 7 is very comfy to hold and the matte plastic on the front plus the brushed metal on the back panel are fingerprint resistant.
As for OS, all WP7 phones run the exact same software, with just a couple of preinstalled apps that make some difference.

The phonebook is very well integrated with social networking, the People hub shows you a list of all your contacts (phone contacts, social network friends, email pen friends – everything), with a search shortcut and an add contact button.
In terms of telephony, LG Optimus 7 scored pretty average, the in call sound quality is good and the signal reception is trouble free in most areas. Unfortunately, Optimus 7 lacks smart dialing.

The messaging department of Windows Phone 7 is pretty basic, efficient and almost the same in any device regardless of the manufacturer, it uses threaded view to organize your messages, you’ll see a list of conversations – each conversation consists of multiple messages visualized as speech bubbles, which are ordered by the time they were sent/received.

The multi media department is covered by Zune, both music and video player. They both have pretty minimalist interfaces, very intuitive and smooth running. You will have no trouble in using them, even if you are a noob in this kind of matter. The video player can’t play AVI files; there is no DivX or XviD support. However, the Zune software on your computer will automatically convert such files to .MP4.

You also get a built in FM radio, very user friendly with RDS on board.

In terms of audio quality, the phone provides a pretty accurate and clean output, both in the loudspeaker and headphones, nothing spectacular though.

As a multimedia tool, LG E900 has a 5MP autofocus camera and LED flash. Still images have a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, while videos go up to 720p. The interface is minimalist and easy to use, LG tried to customize it a bit, the LG logo is clearly visible along with the Intelligent shot and Beauty shot modes. Image quality is average for a 5 Megapixels shooter.

The video camera interface is identical to the still camera, it has many features and settings too, you can record clips in 3 resolutions, QVGA, VGA or 720p. The camera defaults to VGA which is annoying. Videos are recorded in .MP4 file format at a ~23 fps frame rate; video recording quality is average, nothing special.

Connectivity is stellar, with Optimus 7 you get everything imaginable, world-trotting quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and fast tri-band 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 5.76Mbps HSUPA.
The local connectivity is covered by Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA support (via the PlayTo app) and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP.

For web browsing, Internet Explorer is the taster’s choice, of course, and is a very fast and easy to use browser, a major step forward from IE mobile 6, page rendering is perfect and fast, as are panning and scrolling. You don’t get Flash support though, but the 3.8 inch screen is pretty good for an enjoyable web browsing experience.
One important part of Windows Phone 7 is the Office hub, on LG Optimus is better than ever, you can view and edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint docs.
LG comes with a GPS receiver too, with Bing Maps as the usual in house app, for fun purposes you get Xbox Live at the heart of the Games hub.

In conclusion, LG Optimus 7 is a very well built device, with some high tech specs and if the price tag suits your pocket, you can go for a ride.

 For a monthly contract deal on LG Optimus 7, click here. 

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HTC HD 7, Too Big to Fail

For all Microsoft Windows 7 afficionados, the HTC HD 7 is the phone you’ve been waiting for. It was the first Windows 7 mobile device rumored to appear on the market. When we’re talking Windows 7, there is no phone too big or too powerful, actually is the bigger the better kind of thing. The whole idea behind HTC HD 7 was to get things done on the biggest mobile screen possible, and so they did, with the 4.3 inches of screen that is something else.
Let’s see what’s in store for us.

Key features:

• 4.3" 16M-color capacitive LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Dual-band 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) and HSUPA (2Mbps)
• Windows Phone 7 operating system
• 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 576MB RAM, 512MB ROM
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 25fps
• 8GB of built-in storage
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Standard microUSB port (charging)
• Dolby Mobile and SRS sound enhancement
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• Accelerometer for screen auto rotation
• Office document editor
• Facebook integration and cloud services
• Built-in A-GPS receiver
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Comes with HTC Hub and exclusive HTC apps
• Voice-to-text functionality
• Kickstand with trademark yellow accents
• Great audio quality

 Full specs here.

Starting with the hardware, the retail box is pretty standard, it contains a USB charger and a standard micro USB cable, also, a one piece headset with music controls and, of course, some manuals including a presentation CD.
The phone has a slim waistline and its dimensions are acceptable for such a huge screen. The HD7 measures at 122 x 68 x 11.2 mm and weighs 162 grams and this is no little league game, but it’s well built and solid, in the good tradition of HTC Company.
Although is big and heavy, it feels like it will last 1000 years and if the screen was any bigger, we’re talking tablet size.
 The kickstand – after all, it’s what makes the difference from the HD2 and the Desire HD.  It folds nicely around the camera deck at the rear. The whole thing has ornamental value too. The chrome kickstand is a nice accent matched by a thin strip further down the rear.
The back of the phone is matt plastic and relatively fingerprint proof. The huge LCD screen is no head turner, but to be honest, the capacitive unit has great response and silky smooth, precise performance. Watching videos and browsing, and reading text, are all nice and comfortable on a screen that size and resolution. The viewing angles and sunlight legibility are fine.
Above the display you we find   the earpiece and a status LED, as well as ambient light and proximity sensors, all embedded beneath the grill.
The bottom part of the phone features the microUSB port, the mouthpiece and the 3.5mm audio jack.
At the rear of the HTC HD7 is the 5 megapixel camera lens, placed between the loudspeaker grill and the dual LED flash.
Removing the battery cover reveals the SIM bed and the 1230 mAh battery. It is quoted at 320 hours of stand-by and five hours and twenty minutes of talks in a 3G network. The HD 7 is a solid built phone; most of its body is made of high quality matt plastic and with some metal parts on the kickstand.
The phone runs, obviously, Windows Phone 7 with some custom made HTC trademarks; the HTC added apps include Stocks, Photo Enhancer, Converter, Connection Setup and Sound Enhancer. They are all full of eye candy and fancy animations. A few more apps are available in the HTC Hub too.
In terms of telephony, HD 7 performed a decent job, the in-call sound was loud and clear and signal reception in normal limits. Unfortunately, you get no smart dialing, that’s a bummer.
You get a Zune music player and an FM radio with RDS. The music and video players are simple and have straightforward interfaces. You won’t have any difficulties using them. However there are some things missing, like equalizers but you have a nice feature called Sound Enhancer.
The large 4.3” screen with nearly widescreen aspect (it’s 15:9) makes the HD7 a good platform for movie and TV show fans.
The HTC HD7 has no AVI or DivX/XviD support, just MP4 and WMV. However, the Zune software on your computer will automatically convert unsupported video files to .WMV (up to WVGA res) so you can watch them trouble free on your phone. In terms of audio quality, HD7 performs great.
HTC’s camera is a 5 MP autofocus with dual LED flash that takes pictures at  a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, it features a simple interface and offers control over resolution, metering mode and flicker adjustment and also effects (fewer than the Photo Enhancer effects) and also Scenes presets. Video recording is 720p, default setting is VGA, and you must pay attention when recording a video if you want HD quality.
In terms of connectivity, The HTC HD7 has quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support and dual-band 3G with HSPA (7.2Mbps downlink and 2Mbps uplink).

The local connectivity is covered by Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP. Bluetooth is currently limited as to what it can do – there’s no file transfer support.

The web browser, of course, is Internet Explorer, the best mobile IE yet. But that doesn’t do it justice – it’s actually a huge leap forward compared to version 6. Coupled with the big screen of the HTC HD7, it will make you think twice before buying a tablet.

 In terms of business, Mobile Office comes preinstalled and is better than ever, we highlight the two most important apps – Word and Excel; editing is pretty straightforward and easy to use even on a mobile device.
The HTC HD7 comes with a GPS receiver built-in, the native mapping app is Bing Maps, browsing the map is easy and relatively fast.

HTC apps include The Games section which is divided into Xbox Live, Top, New, Free and finally, Categories which has the games sorted into genres.

Final words, HTC HD7 comes with the newest OS on the market and it’s one of the flagships, having the biggest screen around. So, if you want Windows Phone 7 and a big screen the HD7 has a good lead on the competition.
 You can visit here for a monthly contract deal; you can get HTC HD 7 for free.

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Nokia Lumia 800: Nokia's First Windows Phone

Nokia Lumia 800 black deals

The Nokia Lumia 800 is the first Windows Phone from Nokia, and it's mighty impressive. It might not have enough apps available to tempt established Android or Apple users, but if you're looking for a smart, fast and fun to use smart phone then it's definitely worth checking out the phone deals on the Nokia Lumia 800.

Windows Phone 7.5

Let's not beat around the bush, shall we? You want to know what Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 operating system is like, don't you. Well, in a word, it's good. In two words it's good fun. And with as many words as we like, it's a refreshing difference to the Android and Apple operating systems. It feels big, bold and modern.

On the homescreen you get two columns of 5 tiles. Now, take note that we said tiles, not icons. These things are nice and big, and you have all the essentials there: a dialler, texts, music, internet, social networks, etc. And if there's anything not there that you would like a short-cut for then you can simply add it. Or if you want a full list of apps, you simply swipe to the right.

When you select one of the apps there is a very cool little 3D effect as the tile flips over. And you get the reverse of that as you quit the app to go back to the homescreen. It's little touches like that which really make the experience of using a smart phone pleasant.

Another good feature of the Microsoft OS is that it integrates social networking in to it very nicely. For example with the messaging app you can message someone via text and through social networking sites like Facebook, and it all stays a part of the same conversation.

There's really very little to complain about with the operating system, taken in itself. However, we can't ignore the existence of Androids or iOS's any longer. The advantage they both have over a Windows Phones is that they support huge app marketplaces, Google Play and Apple's app store respectively. Windows Phone Marketplace is, by comparison, tiddly. You have some good apps there, like Amazon Kindle and Tesco Groceries, but your selection is decidedly limited. The good news is that it's growing all the time, but you're always going to have to wait quite a while for the new cool app. And it might not even get there at all. So if you want a smart phone primarily for the app selection, unfortunately a Windows Phone simply doesn't cut the mustard yet.

Other Features and Specifications

The build quality of the Nokia Lumia 800 is outstanding. It feels plenty sturdy and looks great. The front is covered with gorilla glass, making it nice and smooth, and means it should be able to stand up to the odd mishap here and there. It's also nice and slim, slipping in to a pocket with ease. The battery is not removeable though and there's no microSD slot so you're stuck with the 16GB internal storage on offer. To be fair though, that should be enough for most users.

Call quality is very good, but the camera is not a great performer. Its 3.7 inch screen is nice and responsive and uses AMOLED technology which is self illuminating, makes colours look good and creates very black blacks. It's run on a 1.4GHz processor which makes it extremely nippy, whether swiping through the menu, zooming in and out of a page or web browsing. Battery life is average for a smart phone, meaning you'll probably have to charge it every night.

For the full specs, check out Nokia's website.

Phone Deals

The Nokia Lumia 800 is undoubtedly a great smart phone so long as you're not married to the idea of being able to download countless apps for every conceivable task. If that describes you, then check out the best Nokia Lumia 800 black monthly contract deals available on the web! You also have a lot of different colours to choose from, you can also check out Nokia Lumia 800 cyan deals, Nokia Lumia 800 pink deals or Nokia Lumia 800 white deals.

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Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone Review

Nokia Lumia 900 Black, White and Cyan

If you're a fan of Windows Phones and big screens then Nokia Lumia 900 phone deals will be right up your street. If, on the other hand, you are simply looking for the best phone available whatever its creed, then it's probably a better idea to check out iPhone deals or high end Androids such as the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Why's that, you ask? Let us explain.

Nokia Lumia 900

Firstly it's important to point out that we have nothing against Windows Phones. Actually, they tend to be a refreshing difference to the little icons of an iOS or Android. With a Windows Phone you get big, bold tiles and panoramic menus and it's easy to understand why that would be popular. The problem with the Lumia 900 is that it's not much of an improvement on the Lumia 800.  For Nokia Lumia 900's full specs check out Nokia's website.

As we mentioned, the Lumia 900 has a big screen at 4.3 inches, to the Lumia 800's 3.7 inches. But the resolution is still 800 x 480 pixels so it doesn't produce the crispest of pictures. It does use the ClearBlack AMOLED technology though, which is supposed to make the blacks even blacker so that the other colours can stand out more. And to be fair, the colours are plenty vibrant, the screen simply doesn't produce the most precise image.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment with the Lumia 900 however is the processor. There has been no improvement in that area on the 1.4GHz single-core processor which the Lumia 800 also contains. In comparison, other phones in the price range have dual-core or even quad-core processors, making for much smoother operations and the ability to carry out multiple operations at the same time.

There is a possibility that web browsing will be made faster with an upgrade to the 3G network, which the Lumia 900 is ready for. However with the American counterpart of this phone getting 4G that seems like a minor consolation prize. Since 4G has yet to make the leap across the pond though, there wouldn't have been much point in giving the phone that capability.

Windows v iOS v Android

While we do appreciate the refreshing feel and look of a Windows Phone, we would be remiss if we didn't mention some of the drawbacks. One of those is that there is very little customisation available, you pretty much have to keep it the way you find it. Not much tinkering is possible, at which Android is king.

By far the bigger problem, however, is the app situation. If you have an Android or iOS then you're going to have around 500,000 apps to choose from, that number continuing to grow apace. However on the Microsoft Marketplace there are only around 80,000 apps and it's always the last to get the new cool app everyone is talking about... if it even makes it there at all.

Nokia has provided some free apps of its own to try to rectify this problem. For example NokiaDrive is a turn by turn sat nav app and is quite handy. Then there's the Mix Radio app for streaming radio and Local Scout for finding things in the vicinity. Generally though with a Windows Phone you are going to miss out on a number of apps so for many people that's going to be a deal breaker.

What's more, the Lumia 900 doesn't support Adobe Flash so you're not going to be able to view all videos on the web. That's something iOS phones also have to deal with but in that case there are so many apps available it can be dealt with quite easily. Not so with a Windows Phone.

Summary

Although there are a number of reasons you might not want to take the plunge with the Lumia 900, if you're a fan of Windows Phones, you love big screens and you can do without a vast array of apps then it's well worth checking out Nokia Lumia 900 black monthly contract deals to find the best price. You can also go for Nokia Lumia 900 white deals or NokiaLumia 900 cyan deals.

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