Nokia N9 is one of the most beautiful devices Nokia has ever made. The shape, its body – every aspect of the phone speaks out how much Nokia has put into the phone. The new (not so new now) Nokia N9 is an elegant device that runs on Meego, a Linux-based Operating System, which Nokia has now killed down.

I have been playing with the device for a while now, and in a few words, I ‘d like to sum it up that if you want a phone to impress people, then this is the one to get you should get.

Top 15 Nokia N9 Applications

Moving on, I have covered here the top 5 Nokia N9 apps I have found interesting. These apps do not fall into any criteria whatsoever. These are the ones I mostly used during my playtime with the Nokia N9. And, this is not all. We are soon bringing a full review of the phone!

Foursquare

World Clock

File Manager

Sound Recorder

The Flashlight

Bord

Call Recorder

Deformer

Camera Pro

Compass

Battery Usage

Simple Mirror

Sports Tracker

Speed Display

You can download all these apps from the Ovi Store app on your Nokia N9.

Original post from: Top 15 Nokia N9 Apps
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Google Galaxy Nexus, the hottest Android phone, just launched at Verizon yesterday is now available to buy in the US for $300 (on contract). Well, we got our hands on the device and took some photos and made a quick hands-on video of the Galaxy Nexus.

Galaxy Nexus is one of the most powerful phones at this time with the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on it. It sports a beautiful 4.7-inch Contour display, HD Super AMOLED screen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 5 megapixels camera etc.

You can see our hands-on photos and videos of the Google Galaxy Nexus below.

Google Galaxy Nexus Photos

Google Galaxy Nexus Video

Original post from: Google Galaxy Nexus, Hands-On Photos and Video
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

HTC Flyer – the first tablet from HTC. We got our hands on of these and I must say, it is one solid device. It is a 7-inch Android tablet that has a layer of HTC Sense on it and below that you find Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The size may not be perfect, but it is still better than what we found on the Dell Streak, a 5-inch display. We did a quick hands-on with the tablet and looked around what it has in store for us.

HTC Flyer is powered by the 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (no dual-core), 1GB RAM, 32GB storage, 5 megapixels camera, front-facing camera for video calls and of course, Android 2.3 with HTC Sense – that certainly takes the Android experience on tablets to a whole new level.

HTC has confirmed that at sometime in the future, HTC Flyer will be getting a Honeycomb upgrade, but no definite time period for now.

You can check out the hands-on photos below. A very quick one, but I promise to bring a full review, with tons of photos and videos very soon!

Original post from: HTC Flyer – Hands-On Photos
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Stephen Elop of Nokia just announced the first MeeGo phone – the Nokia N9 (also known as Lankku). We were promised a MeeGo phone this year, and we’re glad Stephen Elop kept his word about that and has announced the world’s first no-buttons phone!

Nokia N9 will have a 3.9-inch AMOLED screen (854 x 480 resolution), OMAP3630 1 Ghz processor, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, 16GB or 64GB onboard memory. Not just this, the Nokia N9 will also have a 8 megapixels camera (Nokia N8 had 12 megapixels!), and will be capable of true 720p video recording.

For the software side, MeeGo looks really good and promising. It has unified notifications for Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds in the Events view, social networking integration in the Contacts list and features a homescreen simplified into three views: Events, Applications and Open Apps. Ovi Store is also included in MeeGo, but we seriously hope Nokia would soon allow you to run Android apps on the Nokia N9, just like BlackBerry did with its PlayBook tablet.

What Nokia N9 has to offer?

• Swipe guestures
• Unibody design
• No buttons
• Three homescreens
• 8 megapixels camera
• Fast web browser
• Nokia Maps
• Dolby Sound
• NFC-Enabled

And don’t forget, Angry Birds will be making it’s way on the Nokia N9 as well!

This phone will come in three colours: black, cyan, and magenta. We hope of getting a hands-on preview and later a full review of the device soon when it makes it to the market later this year!

Watch the introductory video below:

Original post from: Nokia N9 – The First MeeGo Phone Announced
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

I have played with both of them and when it comes to display screens, the difference is very much visible. I previously posted a similar photo of the display screens difference between the original Samsung Galaxy S vs iPhone 4.

Check out the photos below and click them to enlarge.

Samsung Galaxy S II sports a large 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, while on the other side, iPhone 4 has a Retina display (Super LCD). Last year, after the launch of the original Galaxy S (review), it was difficult to find out which display stands out better, but with the Samsung Galaxy S II now in the race, the winner is pretty much clear.

Have you tried both of these devices together? Which one do you think has a better display? Samsung Galaxy S II or iPhone 4?

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4: Display Screen
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Dell Streak 5, the first phone-tablet from Dell made its way to me so I decided to write a quick review about the device. Streak 5 was an experiment by Dell to see how people respond to a tablet-cum-phone device.

It features a 5.0-inch gorilla glass display screen with a 1 GHz Scorpion processor under the hood, and features 512MB of RAM. Dell Streak is powered by Froyo (Android 2.2.2) and was actually the first ever device to feature the gorilla glass screen. We did some pretty interesting gorilla glass test. You can catch them in the videos after the jump.

Let’s first take a look at some technical specifications of the Dell Streak.

• Display: 5.0-inch capacitive display (480 x 800 pixels)
• Processor/GPU: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon.
• Camera: 5 megapixels camera with autofocus, autofocus, dual LED flash, secondary camera for video calls
• Video: Video recording with flash at 720p.
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 16GB microSD card included, microSD slot upto 32GB
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, microUSB
• Other: Flash Player 10.3 support, A-GPS, 3.5 mm jack, accelerometer, Facebook/Twitter widgets, Dell Stage widgets.
• Battery: 1530 mAh Li-Ion
• OS: Android 2.2.2 with Dell Stage UI.

And now, the review!

Dell Streak Review

We did a quick review of the Dell Streak 5, the first Android tablet which was from Dell. Not a detailed review, but you get the point. Read below:

Dell Streak – Hardware Review

Dell Streak is almost an year old product, but the time it was first announced and later launched into the global market, it packed one of the most impressive hardware specs in an Android device. 1GHz Snapdragon processor with a dedicated GPU was good, but as later Android versions came out, they started to slow down the Streak.

The most appealing thing to me in the entire Dell Streak is the gorilla glass screen. It is solid hard with no worries of breaking so easily and no scratches! Dell Streak was the first dvice to feature the “gorilla glass” screen. See below for our gorilla glass test.

… And the more brutal one:

We also did a similar stress test of the gorilla glass in the Samsung Galaxy Tab (watch the video!).

The front panel of the Dell Streak consists of, on the right side, a front camera and sensors. On the left side, it has three 3 menu buttons: Home, Menu, Back.

On the top of the Dell Streak, you will find a 3.5mm audio jack, the volume controls, power button and the dedicated camera button. Bottom consists of just the USB port for data transfer and charging the Streak. Back side of the Dell Streak has a 5 megapixels camera, dual LED flash and a speaker.

Here are a few camera sample photos we took using the Dell Streak 5. Click on them to enlarge.

Dell Streak – Software Review

Dell Streak is powered by Android 2.2.2 which comes with custom modifications by Dell, called as Dell Stage. It features a modified launcher and some custom widgets specially for the Dell Streak.

The OS is a bit slow for the hardware that Dell Streak has, but it does the job. I tried the overall performance of the Dell Streak with other third-party launchers as well. LauncherPro gave the best performance.

During my playtime with the Dell Streak, for some weird reason, the Android Market never got updated to the new Market app. It was still the old market with the previous UI.

Overall, Dell Streak is a great device from it’s generation, but now, it’s just too slow to exist. And moreover, Dell can actually improve it by releasing Gingerbread update for the Streak, or how about Honeycomb?

For our previous Dell product reviews, check out below:

• Dell Venue Pro Review

Original post from: Review: Dell Streak 5
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – It’s faster, bigger, thinner and lighter than the iPad 2. These were my impressions when I first got to play with the Samsung’s most-anticipated tablet this year.

At the Google I/O 2011, all the attendees were given a free Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition. we never got to to try that one out, we did play with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (3G +WiFi) that will be soon available in stores.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is powered by the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 5 megapixels camera, 10.1-inch display etc. The unit I played with did not have any of Samsung’s modifications on the software side i.e TouchWiz 4.0, but the overall speed was still very fast and I didn’t feel any lag anywhere on the device!

You can check out the hands-on video and photos below. A very quick one, but I promise to bring a full review, with tons of photos and videos very soon!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Hands-On Video

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Hands-On Photos

For more reviews and hands-on photos/videos of Samsung Galaxy series, see links below:

• Samsung Galaxy S Review
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Review
• Samsung Galaxy S II Hands-On Photos, Video
• Samsung Galaxy S II Review (Coming soon!)

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1: Hands-On Photos and Videos
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play, the PlayStation Phone, is here to change the way you play games on your phone. Before the launch, it was rumoured for almost an year that Sony is working on a PlayStation-branded phone and it could be the next version of PSP, but oh well, we now have a new PSP 2 (NGP) and the Xperia Play as well.

Xperia Play is not PSP, but infact, a little more than that. It’s more of a portable gaming console with mobile capabilities. It can play PlayStation One games at the moment, and soon all the PSP games will be available as well on the Xperia Play.

Let’s begin with the review now and see how this phone performs in other features as well, apart from gaming.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Review

Sony Ericsson announced the Xperia Play earlier this year in February, at the Mobile World Congress 2011. Xperia Arc (full review) and Xperia Neo were also announced along with the Xperia Play. Sony Ericsson is known for delivering the latest Android software updates very late as compared to HTC, Samsung, Motorola etc. I hope they don’t do the smae with the latest Xperia devices i.e. Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.

The technical specifications of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play are as follows:

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Specifications

• Display: 4.0-inch LED-backlit LCD display (480 x 854 pixels)
• Processor/GPU: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
• Camera: 5 megapixels camera with autofocus, autofocus, LED flash, secondary camera for video calls
• Video: Video recording with flash at WVGA resolution.
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 400MB internal memory, 16GB microSD card included, microSD slot upto 32GB
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, microUSB, DLNA
• Other: Flash Player 10.2 support, A-GPS, 3.5 mm jack, accelerometer, Document Viewer, Facebook/Twitter integration, TrackID music recognization
• Battery: 1500 mAh Li-Ion
• OS: Android 2.3 with Sony Ercisson XPERIA UI.

And now, let’s continue with the rest of the review in detail.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play vs Xperia Arc vs Nexus S – Tweets

I regularly tweeted my views about the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play, while comparing it with other devices like the Sony Ercisson XPERIA Arc and the Google Nexus S.

I’ll quickly run down with the tweets which have my views, observations and differences among all these devices – differences that I have actually come across in my time using it. I posted most of these on my Twitter account, so I’ll just quote my tweets here:

“Nice experience so far with the #XperiaPlay”

“PlayStation controls on the #XperiaPlay works with most of the games.”

“Most of the games are ‘optimized’ for #XperiaPlay in the XPERIA Store.”

“Sony Ericsson #XperiaPlay is bulky, but pretty fast on the software side. Feels a tad bit faster than the XPERIA Arc.”

“Camera on the #XperiaPlay sucks! =\ No Exmor lens or modified Camera app. It’s stock!”

“#XperiaPlay build quality is not good either. All plastic. Samsung does plastic way better than Sony Ericsson.”

“Crazy thought, but I’m thinking of installing Launcher Pro on the #XperiaPlay. SE’s launcher is NOT that good.”

“For some reason, I wasn’t able to install #XperiaPlay PC software at home desktop.”

“#XperiaArc is almost half the size of #XperiaPlay :P Compared it quickly this morning.”

“Damn! After fudging around since yesterday, I can finally take screenshots on the #XperiaPlay and #XperiaArc. Bleh!”

“Compared #XperiaArc with #XperiaPlay. It’s half its thickness =P”

“#XperiaArc is so much faster, lighter and sexier than the #XperiaPlay. Play is all bulky and fat =\”

“After using #XperiaPlay and #XperiaArc today, I can conclude my rants with that Sony Ericsson has done some major work after the #XperiaX10″

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Design

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is fat, a bit heavy and bulgy to hold. It features the smae signature Xperia body with curved buttons at the bottom – but this device has an exception. It has has the sliding PlayStation controls, that is what makes this device thick in size.

This phone is only 16mm thick, that is way more than the XPERIA Arc (8.7mm) because of the sliding PlayStation controls. It weighs 175g.

Xperia Play is flat from the front, but all curvy at the bottom. On the front sideof the phone, you can see sensors at the top, along with the Sony Ericsson logo, the speaker and a secondary camera for video calls. You can make free video calls over WiFi using Fring or Tango, or you will soon be able to make free video and voice calls from Google Talk with the latest Google Talk update in Android 2.3.4 software update, only available for the Nexus S at the moment.

On the bottom front, three are four keys: Back, Home, Menu, Search.

Back side of the phone has a noise-cancelling second mic, 5 megapixels camera and an LED flash. It also has the XPERIA branding and the Sony Ericsson logo.

On the left side of the phone, you can find the 3.5mm audio jack and the microUSB port. Right side of the phone has the two R and L keys on the sides from the PlayStation controls and between them are the volume controls.

Top of the Xperia Play has the power button and a tiny LED light for battery notifications. The LED is situated on the power button. Mic is at the bottom of the phone.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Display

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play comes with a 4.0-inch LED-backlit LCD display, which to me, seems the same as the LCD on the Xperia X10. It was not much of a stand-out, and we still think this phone could have had the BRAVIA mobile engine, like in the Xperia Arc.

Display screen performance in direct sunlight was pretty bad as compared to the Mobile BRAVIA display technology in Xperia Arc and the Super AMOLED display on the Nexus S or Galaxy S (full review).

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Performance

Under the hood, the PlayStation Phone is powered with a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU which helps it to run PlayStation One games, with the help of the Adreno 205 GPU found in the phone hardware as well. We honestly believe this was one device that should have been powered with the new dual-core processor and GPU so that it could have run the new PSP games as well – and may be, PS2 games also.

Overall speed is good. Considering the amount of modifications Sony Ericsson has done to Android, this phone does not feel slow at all. You will notice a very slight lag when you pinch-to-zoom on the homescreen and all the widgets show up on your screen. But that is nothing big to actually worry about. That is usually because of some left out optimization in the OS, which I’m sure Sony Ericsson will iron out in the further releases.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Gaming

Gaming on the Xperia Play was fun – a new experience to try out on a phone after using handheld gaming consoles like the PSP, PSP Go etc. Sony Ericsson Xperia Play features a PSP Go-like sliding gaming controls board which has PlayStation keys, touchpad for analog controls etc. And also has the R and L buttons at the right side of the phone.

The screen automatically opens up the XPERIA Play app when you open the slider and the screen rotates to horizontal view.

I spend most of my time playing games on the Xperia Play. The phone comes preloaded with the PlayStation One game, Crash Bandicoot. Other games are available and can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store app on the phone. It also comes preloaded with Bruce Lee, FIFA 10, Star Battalion HD and The Sims 3 – from the Android Market.

There are too Sony Ericsson gaming apps on the phone as well. XPERIA Play and PlayStation Pocket apps. Xperria Play app features Android games from the Android market. It shows you a list of all the “XPERIA Play optimized” games and a list of more optimized games you can download on your Xperia Play.

Games that have been optimized for the Xperia Play are not of good graphics quality. When someone mentions that it has been specially optimized for the XPERIA Play, it mostly mens the graphics have been lowered so the game could run without any lag on the Xperia Play.

HD games like the Star Battalion worked really well on the Xperia Play, but normal games like FIFA 10, Ashphalt 6, NFS Shift have not been that good when it comes to graphics.

Gaming controls are pretty comfortable on the device though. It was almost the same experience as playing on a PSP Go. Playing with the touchpad was a bit difficult, but that I believe you can get used to it with time.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Camera/Video

Camera quality is just okay. It’s not very good, or not very bad. Sony Ericsson Xperia Play as the stock camera app of Android, without any modifications made to it. Sony Ericsson has the same modified Android UI on its Xperia Arc and Xperia Play, but they didn’t include the modifications in the camera app for some reason.

Xperia Play has a 5 megapixels camera at the back with an LED flash, and has a secondary camera at the front which can be used for making video calls to friends/family. Now that Google Talk officially supports video/voice chat, front camera even makes more sense, although the Android 2.3.4 has not yet been released for the Xperia Play.

You can still use apps like Tango, Qik or Fring to make video calls over WiFi using the secondary front camera.

Photo quality is fine. I didn’t find much difference between the photo quality of the Xperia Play and Nexus S. Photos are taken at 2592 ? 1944 pixels (maximum). You can see a few sample shots I took with the Xperia Play below. Click on the image for the full-resolution photo.

And one photo, taken in the Macro mode.

This phone can also record video with flash, but not in HD.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Body/Build Quality

Sony Ericsson has again used a plastic body on the Xperia Play. This phone is bulgy, thick and a bit heavy for normal use. Here is what I tweeted after using the phone for the first 5 min.

“#XperiaPlay build quality is not good either. All plastic. Samsung does plastic way better than Sony Ericsson.”

Xperia Play features a sliding controls board where it has PlayStation like buttons and touchpad gaming controls as well. This phone has a 4.0-inch display screen with the usual menu buttons at the bottom.

Xperia Arc is half the size of Xperia Play in thickness. I will soon be doing a comparison post between the Xperia Play and Xperia Arc. You can read about Xperia Arc vs Xperia X10 here.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Connectivity

Xperia Play offers several connectivity options such as Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, and microUSB support. Unfortunately, the Xperia Play doesn’t have a HDMI out for you to enjoy games on the big screen on TV. But an addition of that could have been really useful in this phone.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Battery

This phone is powered with a 1500 mAh battery that provides talktime of 8 hours and 25 minutes on 2G and 6 hours and 25 minutes on 3G. Standby time is of 425  hours on 2G and 413 hours on 3G.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Benchmarks

Here are some benchmark results between the Xperia Play, Xperia Arc and the Google Nexus S.

Xperia Play and Nexus S.

Due to some software issues in the Xperia Arc, we were not able to take screenshots of the phone.

Xperia Play and Xperia Arc.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Software

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is powered by the Android 2.3.2, GIngerbread, and as usual Sony Ericsson has modified almost all the areas of Android UI. The custom skin over Android 2.3.2 brings a number of social features and new apps like the Timescape, Mediascape  etc.

Timescape brings Twitter and Facebook updates fro myour friends in one single stream. You can also have a Timescape homescreen widget to flick through the tiles to check all the latest updates from friends on Twitter and Facebook. Additional extensions, like for LinkedIn, Foursquare can also be downloaded from the Android Market.

A number of custom Sony Ericsson widgets have also been added, like the a PlayStation game carousel, data traffic monitor, separate power control buttons, media controls etc. The custom skin can suffer a slight lag sometimes, but that is no big deal as the overall performance is really fast!

Camera, News & Weather and Gallery apps are untouched on the Xperia Play. Android Market has a separate column for Sony Ericsson recommended apps.

Media player is really good and can play a number of audio and video formats. Watch a vide otour of the entire Sony Ercisson’s custom Android 2.3.2 on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play:

Buy Sony Ericsson Xperia PLay in Pakistan

You can now buy the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play in Pakistan from HomeShopping!

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Gallery

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Screenshots

For more reviews and comparison, hands-on photos/videos of Sony Ericsson XPERIA series, see links below:

• Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Preview
• Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Review
• Sony Ericsson: XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10
• Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play Preview

Original post from: Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play Review
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Along with that, their came a very interesting announcement that Google is working on – the Google Chromebox. This Samsung-built Chromebox will provide the same Chrome OS experience on your desktop, more like Mac Min, but it will have the web-centric Chrome OS for desktops.

No solid details available at the moment, but soon we’ll have something to share as it gets revealed with time. It seems this was just a prototype that Smasung is working on for the Chrome OS for Google to bring the Chrome experience on desktop computers.

[Image via Engadget]

Original post from: Google Chromebox, Chrome OS for Desktops by Samsung
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Along with a Samsung Chromebook, Google also unveiled the Acer Chromebook that offers cool features as the Samsung one. This seems much lighter and smaller.

Acer Chromebook promises to have a 8 second boot time, it will be on instantly when you open the lid, will have a 6.5 hours of battery life, two USB ports, webcam, HDMI. It will will have a 11.6-inch display screen and will be always connected to the WiFi.

Acer Chromebook Specifications

• 11.6″ HD Widescreen CineCrystal^TM LED-backlit LCD
• 2.95 lbs. | 1.34 kg.
• 6 hours of continuous usage ¹
• Intel® Atom^TM Dual-Core Processor
• Built in dual-band Wi-Fi and World-mode 3G (optional)
• HD Webcam with noise cancelling microphone
• High-Definition Audio Support
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• 4-in-1 memory card slot
• HDMI port
• Fullsize Chrome keyboard
• Oversize fully-clickable trackpad

Acer Chromebook Release Date

This Chromebook will be available in 7 countries starting from June 15.

Acer Chromebook Availability

You will be able to order the Acer Chromebook from Amazon or Best Buy.

Acer Chromebook Price

Acer Chromebook will cost $349 for the WiFi version.

Original post from: Acer Chromebook Unveiled at Google I/O 2011
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung Chromebook is powered with an Intel Atom processor, 12.1-inch display screen, WiFi, optional 3G, two USB 2.0 ports, an HD webcam, trackpad and will have a battery life of continuous 8.5 hours.

Samsung Chromebook Release Date

This Chromebook will be available in 7 countries starting from June 15.

Samsung Chromebook Availability

You will be able to order the Samsung Chromebook from Amazon or Best Buy.

Samsung Chromebook Price

Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 for the WiFi version and $499 for 3G version.

Original post from: Samsung Chrome OS Chromebook Unveiled at Google I/O 2011
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

There are a lot of issues when you buy a new computer. In the beginning, the computer works just as you bought it, but slowly as time passes, your computer starts getting slow and soon you again have to upgrade or reinstall Windows or your OS again.

Google Chromebook, on the other hand, gets rid of all the problems found in full notebooks. Chromebook, is built for the web, for people who live on the web!

Here are the main advantages of Google Chromebook and why you should buy it:

• Instantly on
• Always connected
• All-day battery
• Access your stuff anywhere
• Gets better over time
• Security built in

More announcements are are being made and we hope to finally see some live Google Chromebooks from manufacturers.

Google Chromebooks are launching from 15th June!

Original post from: Chromebook: Why Buy a Google Chrome Netbook?
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc – the phone with curves. It is the most gorgeous device from Sony Ericsson. I have always liked SE because of their designs, sound quality and most of all, their camera lens which they use in their smartphones.

First, Sony Ericsson came out with the famous Cybershot phones with amazing camera quality – and not just camera, they had the best music quality as well. And now, with the XPERIA Arc, they have raised the bar again with the amazing Exmor R photography. It the same lens which is used in several Sony Cybershot cameras i.e DSC-TX7.

Let’s begin with the review now and see how this phone performs in other features as well.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Review

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc was announced at MWC’11 this year along with the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play and a couple of other phones. This is the latest flagship device from Sony Ericsson, which is also the successor to XPERIA X10. Talking about the X10, Sony Ericsson managed it quite well to mess up that phone with a very late launch, delayed OS upgrades etc. But we hope they don’t do the same with the Arc.

Here are the technical specifications of the device:

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Specifications

• Display: 4.2-inch LED-backlit LCD display (480 x 854 pixels), BRAVIA Mobile engine
• Processor/GPU: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
• Camera: 8 MP camera with autofocus, Exmor R, autofocus, LED flash, no secondary camera
• Video: HD video recording at 30 fps (720p), continuous auto-focus
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 320MB internal memory, 8GB microSD card included, microSD slot upto 32GB
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, microUSB, HDMI out
• Other: Flash Player 10.2 support, A-GPS, FM Radio, 3.5 mm jack, accelerometer, Document Viewer, Facebook/Twitter integration, TrackID music recognization
• Battery: 1500 mAh Li-Po
• OS: Android 2.3 with Sony Ercisson XPERIA UI.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Design

XPERIA Arc has those curves that we have been waiting to find in a phone. It’s really slim and curvy. This phone is only 8.7mm thin, that is just 0.2mm more than the Samsung Galaxy S II and way thinner the XPERIA Play. It weighs only 117g.

Arc is flat from the front, but all curvy at the bottom. On the front side, you can see sensors at the top, along with the Sony Ericsson logo. Unfortunately, there is no secondary camera included included in this device. I personally think SE should have included that in the XPERIA Arc, now that Google has also released video-calling to Google Talk. On the bottom front, three are three keys: Back, Home, Menu.

Back side of the phone has a noise-cancelling second mic, 8 megapixels camera and an LED flash.

On the sides, you can find the microUSB port, volume controls and the dedicated camera key on the right side, and the 3.5mm audio jack on the left. Mic is at the bottom of the phone.

Top of the Xperia Arc has a HDMI out and the power button.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Display

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc comes with a 4.2-inch large LED-backlit LCD display, powered by the BRAVIA Mobile engine. This is one major improvement over the display found in the XPERIA X10 – and even in the XPERIA Play.

BRAVIA Mobile engine on the XPERIA Play isn’t really better than Super AMOLED on the Nexus S or Galaxy S (full review), but in some cases it is. Super AMOLED still has the best contrast and vivd colours, but when it comes to using the phone out in direct sunlight, BRAVIA engine beats out Super AMOLED.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Processor/Speed

Under the hood, XPERIA Arc is powered by the 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. I honestly think this phone was worthy of a dual-core processor, but oh well. Overall speed is good. Considering the amount of modifications Sony Ericsson has done to Android, this phone does not feel slow at all. You will notice a very slight lag when you pinch-to-zoom on the homescreen and all the widgets show up on your screen.

When compared to the XPERIA Play, Arc certainly is way faster. Playing games on the XPERIA Arc is also a smooth experience, thanks to the Adreno 205 GPU in the phone.

A small benchmark test between the Google Nexus S and XPERIA Arc also proved that the Arc is certainly the faster one here. Benchmark screenshots were not possible due to a colour bug with Sony Ericsson XPERIA devices.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Camera/Video

This is where the XPERIA Arc leads all the other Android devices – till we get our hands on the Samsung Galaxy S2. The Exmor R in the XPERIA Arc is a sure treat for whoever decides to get this smartphone!

Camera is really good with lightening fast shutter speed. XPERIA Arc has a 8 megapixels camera at the back, but unfortunately, folks at Sony Ericsson thought a secondary camera won’t be of need in this phone. I guess they were not aware of Android 2.3.4 bringing video-calling to Google Talk.

Photo quality is good. For a while photos seem to be washed out, but after a little tweaking in the settings and colours, photos got perfect – just the way we wanted. You can see a few sample shots I took with the XPERIA Arc below. Click on the image for the full-resolution photo.

The XPERIA Arc is capable of recording 720p HD videos.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Body/Build Quality

XPERIA Arc and XPERIA X10

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc is very identical to the XPERIA X10. The only difference is that it’s much more thinner and is slightly bigger in size and not to forget the curves at the back! You can see our XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10 comparison here! It has a 4.3-inch screen, but the phone doesn’t feel big in hands at all.

The phone has a plastic body, more like the Galaxy S kind-of (also Galaxy SL review). But the point to be noted here is that it doesn’t feel cheap plastic when holding the phone.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Connectivity

XPERIA Arc offers several connectivity options such as Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, HDMI out and microUSB support. You can use the HDMI out to connect your phone to a high-definition TV and watch photos, videos or just for the heck of it, even play games on the big TV screen from your phone!

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Battery

This phone is powered with a 1500 mAh battery that provides talktime of 7 hours on 2G and 7 hours on 3G. Standby time is of 430 hours on 2G and 400 hours on 3G.

Thank you Rutaba Yaqub for helping out!

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Photos

For more reviews and comparison, hands-on photos/videos of Sony Ericsson XPERIA series, see links below:

• Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Preview
• Sony Ericsson: XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10
• Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play Preview
• Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play Review

Original post from: Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Review
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Nokia E7 is one of the best phones in its class. A very solid build quality, gorgeous display and runs on the (almost dead) Symbian^3 – which now has been updated to the Symbian Anna OS update.

We call it one of the best Nokia phones so far because it really is. The first feeling you get after holding the Nokia E7 in your hands is wow! Let’s dig deeper what this phone has in store for us!

Nokia E7 Review

In this Nokia E7 review, I won’t compare the phone directly with another device for every feature. I will include multiple devices like the Nokia C7, Nokia N8 etc. to compare several features of the phone.

We will cover various aspects of the phone, such as display, sound/music, OS, speed etc. Let’s take a look at its technical specifications first. Then we’ll head to the actual review of the Nokia E7.

Nokia E7: Spefications

• Display: 4-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display (360 x 640 pixels)
• Processor: 680 MHz ARM 11 processor
• Camera: 8 MP camera with fixed-focus, dual LED flash, secondary camera for video calls
• Video: 720p video recording at 25FPS.
• Memory: 256MB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 1GB ROM, no microSD slot
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, microUSB, HDMI output
• Other: Flash Lite 4.0 support, A-GPS, FM Radio, 3.5 mm jack, accelerometer, Ovi Maps, Digital Compass, Document Viewer etc.
• Battery: 1200 mAh Li-Ion
• OS: Symbian^3

Now let’s move on to the review.

Nokia E7: Design

I can keep on talking about the Nokia E7′s design all day. A very gorgeous phone with a solid build quality. On the front side, Nokia E7 has the large 4-inch ClearBlack AMOLED screen. Above the screen, you have the front-facing VGA camera for video calls, light sensor, ear piece and the Nokia logo. Below the screen, there is one physical button in the center for accessing the main applications menu or going back to the home screen.

On the back side of the Nokia E7, there is a 8 megapixels camera (fixed-focus) with dual LED flash and a stereo speaker.

Right side has the external SIM card slot, volume control which can also be used as a shortcut to access the flashlight using the dual LED flash at the back of the phone and the dedicated camera key that almost all Nokia phones have.

On the left side, there is only the sleep/wakeup key to unlock/lock the phone.

There is a microUSB slot, mini-HDMI output, the power button and the 3.5mm audio jack on the top.

Nokia E7: Display

Nokia E7 sports a 4-inch Clear Black AMOLED display – and during our tests, this is way better than the display found in the E7′s cousin, Nokia N8. Just like you would expect, the E7 has vivid colours, good contrast and excellent viewing angles.

This large screen is covered by a gorilla glass, which protects the phone from any scratching or hard hits. Too bad we couldn’t do a stress test with its screen this time. May be, later on? You can see our Samsung Galaxy Tab review to see what we do in our gorilla glass testing ;-)

Nokia E7 has a large 4-inch display and trust me, even the ugliest apps and photos look amazing on it. If you have been a past LCD screen user on your phone, then this would be a great upgrade for you in terms of display.

In our quick direct sunlight tests, Nokia E7′s AMOLED display proved to be better than the LCD display of the Nokia C7, Nokia N8.

Nokia E7: Processor/Speed

Nokia E7 is powered with a 680 MHz ARM 11 processor. Not up to the par with the current generation of smartphones, but it pretty much does the job well. Nokia doesn’t have any major resource hungry apps that need so much processing power.

As for RAM is considered, the E7 has 256MB RAM is sufficient for the device. During our play time with the Nokia E7, it hardly crashed or ran out of memory once or twice – much better than what it used to be on the Nokia C7 and Nokia N8.

We only experience a slight lag in some areas of the Symbian^3 OS, but I believe that was probably because of some software bug which should now be removed in the Symbian Anna update.

Nokia E7: Camera/Video

Camera is one major disappointment in the Nokia E7. It has a 8 megapixels camera at the back, from what I know, it is the same as the one found in the Nokia C7. It is fixed-focus which doesn’t even take half the better photos when compared to photos taken with other fixed-focus cameras. Nokia E7 also has a VGA front camera for video calls.

Photos taken from the Nokia E7 are quite blurry and not focused well. Nokia E7 could be “the Nokia phone” if only they had put in a 5 megapixels or 8 megapixels camera ‘with’ auto-foucs. Even tweaking with various camera settings didn’t help.

You can see a few sample shots I took with the Nokia E7 below. Click on the image for the full-resolution photo.

Here’s a sample video recorded from the Nokia E7:

Nokia E7: Body/Build Quality

We all know that Nokia still makes products with the best hardware. The build quality is top notch with the slider QWERTY keyboard being the best we have seen. The keyboard is flawless with keys, not too far away or not too close.

I have been using touchscreen keyboards for a while now, but typing on the Nokia E7 was very comfortable. This phone is big, but it doesn’t feel that bulky when in hands.

You make out from the photos that what a solid product the Nokia E7 is.

Nokia E7: Connectivity

Nokia E7 offers several connectivity options such as Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, HDMI out and microUSB support. It comes with a mini HDMI cable for the E71 which connects with the main HDMI cable with your TV.

Playing Angry Birds on the big TV screen was really fun! You can also use the HDMI out for watching your photos or videos.

Nokia E7: Battery

Battery timings have been relatively better than previous Nokia devices I have played with, but not better than the Nokia N8. Nokia E7 runs on a 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery. It provides talktime of 9 hours on 2G and 5 hours on 3G. Standby time is of 432 hours on 2G and 480 hours on 3G.

Nokia E7: Photos

Original post from: Nokia E7 Review
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. Here we are with the preview of the first PlayStation-certified phone aka PlayStation Phone. It’s big, bulky, fast and can indeed play PSP games!

We have only spent a little while with the Xperia Play yet, but from what we see, this device comes almost on par with the Xperia Arc (XPERIA Arc Preview). Soon, we will take the XPERIA devices: X10, Arc and Play, head-to-head with each other in a comparison.

Xperia is more a multimedia phone than just a PlayStation phone. It does games good, as well as music and video. Xperia Play was announced at MWC11 this year and was later launched in the UK a few weeks back.

Xperia Play features a 4-inch display, 5 megapixels camera, gaming controls like PSP, 1GHz Scorpion processor, 512MB RAM and Android 2.3.2.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is bulky, but pretty fast on the software side. It actually feels a tad bit faster than the Xperia Arc. Benchmarks will be included in the full review!

Build quality is not that good either. In my opinion, Samsung (Galaxy S2, Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab etc.) does plastic much better than Sony Ericsson. Playing games on the PlayStation-controls have been fun so far – quite comfortable with it. We only wish the Xperia Play was powered with a Tegra 2 CPU and could run HD games. Graphics is where the Play lacks.

This is all for now. We’ll be doing a full, detailed review of the Xperia Arc and Xperia Play soon!

Original post from: Preview: Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Three commercials have been released in the last few days by Samsung to promote the Samsung Galaxy S II phone. You can check out the videos right after the jump below. Don’t forget to check out our quick hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Samsung Galaxy S II: 3 Commercials

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S II: 3 Commercials
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

We did a preview of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA Arc a couple of days back. Our first impressions with the phone have been really good. The phone clearly beats the XPERIA X10 in speed, size, camera etc.

We did a head-to-head comparison between the XPERIA Arc and XPERIA X10 – mostly with photos. Sorry, no videos this time.

Sony Ericsson: XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc is the successor to the XPERIA X10. Much faster, runs on Gingerbread, an 8 megapixels camera, gorgeous display, thinner etc. Let’s do a specifications comparison before going towards the photos.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Specifications

• Display: 4.2-inch LED-backlit touchscreen with Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine (480 x 854 pixels)
• Processor: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
• Camera: 8 MP camera with autofocus, LED flash, no secondary camera
• Video: HD video recording at 30 fps (720p), continuous autofocus, video light
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 320MB internal memory, 8GB microSD card included, microSD slot upto 32GB
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, microUSB, HDMI port
• Other: Flash Player 10.2 support, A-GPS, FM Radio, 3.5 mm jack, accelerometer, Facebook and Twitter integration, Document Viewer, TrackID music recognition etc.
• Battery: 1500 mAh Li-Po
• OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbrad) with custom XPERIA theme.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Specifications

• Display: 4-inch TFT display (480 x 854 pixels)
• Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon chipset
• Camera: 8 MP camera with autofocus, LED flash, no secondary camera
• Video: HD video recording at 30 fps (720p), continuous autofocus
• Memory: 384MB RAM, 1GB internal memory, 8GB microSD card included, microSD slot upto 32GB
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, microUSB
• Other: Flash Player 10.2 support, A-GPS, FM Radio, 3.5 mm jack, accelerometer, Facebook and Twitter integration, Document Viewer etc.
• Battery: 1500 mAh Li-Po
• OS: Android 2.1 Eclair with custom XPERIA theme.

XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10: Display

This is something I must say, that the new Sony BRAVIA Mobile Engine really stands out on the new XPERIA Arc. Comparison between both the devices show how brighter, better, clearer and sharper the display is on XPERIA Arc.

We even compared both of these devices with Samsung’s Nexus S with Super AMOLED display. In our tests, in direct sunlight, Sony’s BRAVIA Mobile had better visibility out in direct sunlight. We couldn’t compare it with a Super LCD phone, but we’ll soon do that as well.

The difference is visible even in photos.

XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10: Body

XPERIA Arc has a plastic body all around, just like the Samsung Galaxy S (review) and Samsung Galaxy SL (review). It gives you the same cheap plastic feeling when holding it in your hands like the Samsung Galaxy phones does.

On the other side, XPERIA X10′s back gives a better grip to the phone and doesn’t even feel any plasticky like its successor, the XPERIA Arc.

XPERIA Arc is much slimmer than the XPERIA X10. The X10 is 13mm in thickness, whole the Arc is only 8.7mm thick. The former also weighs lighter than the X10.

XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10: Camera

Here are some photos taken from the XPERIA Arc. Click on the photos below to enlarge.

And here some shots from the XPERIA X10:

XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10: Battery

Battery timing was and is still a problem on both the devices. Battery drains out pretty fast. Even Gingerbread on the XPERIA Arc couldn’t optimize the battery usage.

XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10: Photos

Original post from: Sony Ericsson: XPERIA Arc vs XPERIA X10
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Phones4u, a UK retailer, has confirmed to get you the Samsung Galaxy S2 (photos, video) on April 27, but only if you pre-order now. It was not clear earlier if they would actually have the Galaxy S2 by April 27, but was later confirmed that they will be available on pre-orders only.

Just a week more before you can get your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S II. You can pre-order your phone from the link below:

Pre-order Samsung Galaxy S II from Phones4u

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S II Release in UK: On April 27
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc is one of the most gorgeous handsets I have ever used – and is available out in the market. It was announced at MWC11 this year and was launched in UK around a week ago.

This is the latest flagship device from Sony Ericsson, which is also the successor to XPERIA X10. Talking about the X10, Sony Ericsson managed it quite well to mess up that phone with a very late launch, delayed OS upgrades etc. and we hope they don’t do the same with the Arc.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc – the curve!

XPERIA Arc features a 4.2-inch screen with BRAVIA Mobile engine, 8 megapixels camera, HD video recording, 1GHz Scorpion processor, mini-HDMI output, Android 2.3 Gingerbread etc.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA series has always been my favourite when it comes to design. Our first impressions after using the phone was, amazing! Sony Ericsson has really done some hard work with this device. We couldn’t compare it with the XPERIA Play, but you will see that soon as well. XPERIA Play Preview!

The phone has a plastic body, more like the Galaxy S kind-of (also Galaxy SL review). It still feels good to hold and use. Camera is really good with lightening fast shutter speed. Gingerbread on the XPERIA Arc is really fast. No lag whatsoever. And games work even better with the Adreno 205 GPU under the hood.

XPERIA Arc and XPERIA X10

More details about the XPERIA Arc later. We’ll be doing a full review of the phone and some comparison posts between the XPERIA Arc and XPERIA X10.

Original post from: Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Preview
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

According to LG Denmark’s support site, the LG Optimus 2X will be getting the Gingerbread (Android 2.3) update sometime in June or July. No definite date yet.

Looking back at LG’s history with software updates, they have never been consistent. We won’t believe till LG actually pushes out the Gingerbread (Android 2.3) software update for LG Optimus 2X users.

If this update is actually in the FAQ of the phone, we hope LG keeps their word and release the Android 2.3 update for the Optimus 2X.

Original post from: LG Optimus 2X Gingerbread Update in June or July
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung Galaxy SL GT-I9003 is the latest in the Samsung Galaxy series which is very much a variant of the original Galaxy S with some noticeable changes under the hood.

Not too long ago, Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 phone. It was the fastest and the most powerful Android handset available at that time. You can read our full Samsung Galaxy S review here. Samsung Galaxy SL is pretty much the same, but does this phone really comes up to the mark of the original Galaxy S or not? This is what we’ll see discuss in this review.

Samsung Galaxy SL Review

In this Samsung Galaxy SL review, I will be taking the phone head to head with the original Samsung Galaxy S, and the Google Nexus S – the current Google flagship phone – and will cover various aspects of the phone, such as display, sound/music, OS, speed etc.

Like I have mentioned it before, Galaxy SL has some changes under the hood as compared to the Galaxy S. Let’s check out the technical specifications of the phone.

Samsung Galaxy SL Specifications

• Display: 4-inch Super LCD (SLCD) touchscreen (480 x 800 pixels)
• Processor: Texas Instruments OMAP 3630 1GHz processor
• Camera: 5 MP camera with autofocus, no LED flash, secondary camera for video calls
• Video: HD video recording at 30 fps (720p)
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 16GB internal memory, microSD slot upto 32GB
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, microUSB
• Other: Flash Player 10.2 support, A-GPS, FM Radio, 3.5 mm jack, accelerometer, Swype, Augmented Reality browser, e-book, office, allshare etc
• Battery: 1650 mAh Li-Po
• OS: Android 2.2.1 with TouchWiz 3.0 UI

Samsung Galaxy SL vs Galaxy S – Tweets

I’ll quickly run down with the differences between both of these devices – differences that I have actually come across in my time using it. I posted most of the differences on my Twitter account, so I’ll just quote my tweets here:

“I must say, that the Samsung Galaxy SL (with Super LCD screen) is such a turn off! No fun in using this!”

“Okay, so the Galaxy SL doesn’t have the awesome Hummingbird processor. That explains the performance drop in it as compared to the Galaxy S.”

“Galaxy S has 1500mAh battery. Galaxy SL has 1650mAh battery and made the phone a little thicker in size.”

“And it looks even more thick, thanks to Galaxy SL’s fat ass at the bottom.”

“Galaxy SL has been unplugged from the charger since over 14 hours. Still 55% battery left. Very impressive battery!”

“Samsung Galaxy SL is at 47% battery level after being unplugged from the charger for over 22 hours! Amazing!”

“Galaxy SL is on battery steroids! Have been up since over 1 day and 8 hours. Still 36% battery! http://twitpic.com/4crtq7“

“Galaxy SL does not have TV out, like the original Galaxy S.”

So yes, these have been my little tweets about some observations I made while using the Samsung Galaxy SL. Now let’s take a closer look at what other features does the Galaxy SL has to offer. Remember, this phone is no less than a beast and I believe, this is the only phone that can actually be compared to the iPhone 4 in terms of features and technical specifications.

Samsung Galaxy SL: Design

Galaxy SL is flat on the front, but have that rear-chin (I call that the famous Samsung hips ;-) ) at the back. On the front, just above the 4-inch display, you see a front-facing camera for video calls, light sensor, speaker and the Samsung logo. And onat the bottom of the screen, you see the two capacitive and one hard button: Menu, Home, Back. On the back side of the Galaxy SL, there is a 5 megapixels camera without LED flash and a stereo speaker.

On the sides, you can find the power button on the right side, and the volume controls on the left. Mic is at the bottom of the phone.

Top of the Galaxy SL has a 3.5mm audio jack that does not support TV out like in the original Galaxy S and the microUSB.

Samsung Galaxy SL: Display

Samsung Galaxy S is fitted with the Super LCD display screen, as compared to the gorgeous Super AMOLED display found in the original Samsung Galaxy S (GT-I9000) / Google Nexus S. And seriously, there is a major difference in between them.

In my opinion, the Super LCD display is a complete opposite of Super AMOLED. The colours seemed dull and faded, with low contrast ratio. This could be mainly because I have been using Super AMOLED display phones for the last 6-8 months. Super AMOLED display was one of the main hardware that set the Galaxy S at top of the line, but I wouldn’t say the same about the Galaxy SL.

Galaxy SL has a huge 4-inch 480 x 800 pixels WVGA display and trust me, even the ugliest apps and photos look amazing on it. If you have been a past LCD screen user on your phone, then this would be a great upgrade for you in terms of display.

In direct sunlight test, Galaxy SL’s Super LCD proved to be better than the Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S / Nexus S.

Samsung Galaxy SL: Processor/Speed

Samsung Galaxy SL is powered by the Texas Instruments OMAP 3630 1GHz processor under its hood. The original Galaxy S is powered by the ARM Cortex A8 1GHz CPU (called as the Hummingbird). During my play time with both the devices, I feel that Hummingbird is still the best 1GHz processor out there.

A simple test on both the devices running on Android 2.2.1 shows that the original Galaxy S has absolutely no lag or any slowing down issues with the Hummingbird CPU for the phone. But on the other hand, Galaxy SL slows down a bit and also has lag problems while using the phone.

Not just the CPU, even the GPU seems to have some issues being compatible with the new OMAP processor. Benchmarks and gameplay of various games explain that Galaxy SL hardware is just not up to the mark as it was in the Galaxy S phone. May be, because of a different CPU.

Even after these few glitches, the Samsung Galaxy SL is speedy and quite responsive as compared to other devices out in the market. If you find it even a bit slow, there are always alternative methods of rooting the phone and then applying a lag fix, which, of course, we won’t recommend.

Samsung Galaxy SL: Camera/Video

Galaxy SL has a 5 megapixels camera at the back, but no flash. 5 megapixels camera is now like a standard requirement in all smartphones. This phone also has 1.3 megapixels camera on the front for video-calls.

Photo quality at daytime is better, but at night time, the camera fails to impress in any way. A LED flash would have been very much helpful. Comparing with Nexus S’ 5 megapixels camera, I found their quality exactly the same. It shouldn’t be, but the photo results from the Galaxy SL appear to be slightly better than that of the Galaxy S.  There are lots of photo effects and scene shots that you can try for getting the best possible results.

The Samsung Galaxy SL is capable of recording 720p HD videos at 720×1280 resolution.

You can see a few sample shots I took with the Galaxy SL below. Click on the image for the full-resolution photo.

Here’s a sample video recorded from the Samsung Galaxy SL:

Samsung Galaxy SL: Body/Build Quality

Samsung Galaxy SL looks very similar to the iPhone 3GS in design and looks. A quick glance at the device makes one wonder if it is actually the iPhone 3GS. Over all, the phone is big, thansk to its 4-inch display – but relatively you don’t feel it that big when holding the phone.

As compared to the Galaxy S, this phone is 1 mm less thinner. That is because of the 1650mAh battery that powers the Samsung Galaxy SL for a longer time. That also makes the phone slightly heavier than its cousin.

Build quality is not that good. When holding the Galaxy SL, it gives you the feeling of holding something in cheap plastic – especially when you have the Nexus One or any other HTC devices in your other hand.

Samsung Galaxy SL: Connectivity

Samsung Galaxy SL offers several connectivity options such as Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi and microUSB support. Unfortunately, Samsung has not included TV-out in the Samsung Galaxy SL, unlike Galaxy S which had TV-out for watching photos and videos on the TV.

Samsung Galaxy SL: Battery

The battery in Samsung Galaxy SL is something to talk about. This phone is powered with a 1650 mAh battery that provides talktime of 15 hours on 2G and 7 hours and 30 minutes on 3G. Standby time is of 610 hours on 2G and 550 hours on 3G.

When normal usage of the phone on WiFi, several apps running in background i.e Google Talk, taking photos etc. I was able to pull out 1 day and 15-17 hours with the Samsung Galaxy SL. This was not possible with the Galaxy S, thanks to Galaxy SL’s 1650 mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy SL: TouchWiz 3.0

HTC has Sense UI for Android, similarly, Motorola has Blur. Samsung didn’t wanted to left behind and they launched TouchWiz 3.0 on the Galaxy S which takes some major inspiration from the iOS interface. The same interface can be found on the Samsung Galaxy SL. Similarly, Galaxy S2 has TouchWiz 4.0 (photo below).

TouchWiz is really snappy and comes loaded with many apps of their own and also features Sasmung Apps – a market app for Samsung devices. Along with lots of other apps, Samsung brings SocialHub to the Galaxy SL. It is a social networking dashboard from where you can add and sync your Facebook, Twitter and MySpace friends with your contacts and you can manage all your social networking from one place. This is one of my favourite features in the Samsung Galaxy SL.

Samsung Galaxy SL also comes with region-specific apps. Galaxy SL in my region runs on a Middle East ROM build, which includes apps like Holy Quran, Prayer Timings and Qiblah Directions.

Other apps that Samsung Galaxy S has are: Swype, Augmented Reality browser, e-book, office, allshare etc.

Samsung Galaxy SL: Screenshots

Samsung Galaxy SL: Photos

For more reviews and hands-on photos/videos of Samsung Galaxy series, see links below:

• Samsung Galaxy S Review
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Review
• Samsung Galaxy S2 Hands-On Photos, Video

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy SL GT-I9003 Review
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung Galaxy S2 is the next big thing from Samsung, which was unveiled at a Samsung Unpacked event last month at MWC’11. This phone features the next-gen hardware, like the dual-core processor, 1 GB RAM etc.

Our first impressions of the Galaxy S2 have been really, really good. The Super AMOLED Plus display totally blows! It has a contrast ratio that could kill your eyes (just kidding!). Amazing screen! Much, much better than the original Galaxy S’ Super AMOLED display.

Samsung Galaxy S II features a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, the gorgeous 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, only 8.49mm think, 8 megapixels camera with full HD recording, TouchWiz 4.0 and four Samsung hub apps.

Galaxy S2 is a beast, in short. Thanks to its Tegra 2 dual-core processor under the hood, I didn’t feel even a slight lag in the phone with a live wallpaper on and while using it.

The phone is not anywhere near the official launch, but according to the rumours, Galaxy S2 will probably make its way in the stores sometime in May. We’ll definitely be doing a full, detailed review of the Galaxy S2 once the launch gets near!

Thanks to Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant, Google (Pakistan) to get our hands on this amazing beast!

Samsung Galaxy S2 Hands On Video

Samsung Galaxy S2 Hands On Photos

Enjoy the hands-on photos of the Galaxy S2 below.

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S2 Hands-On Photos, Video
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

We finally have our hands on one of the best Nokia phones ever – the Nokia E7-00. This gorgeous, stylish Nokia smartphone aka E7 communicator gives you just one feeling when you hold it – Amazing!

Solid hardware, best keyboard on any Nokia phone, gorgeous large display is all neatly packed in one QWERTY slider phone. The “Clear Black” display on the Nokia E7′s 4-inch AMOLED screen is much better than it’s cousin, Nokia N8′s, display.

The QWERTY slider felt a bit weird in beginning, but soon got used to it. At first, the phone almost slipped away from my hands when trying to open the slider in a hurry to type a text message. So far, the keyboard seems flawless with keys, not too far away or not too close.

We’ll be doing  full detailed review of the Nokia E7, in the next few days!

Original post from: Nokia E7 Preview
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

XPERIA X10 Ginmgerbread update would certainly be a treat for the X10 users since Sony Ericsson seems to have dropped their plans for the Froyo (Android 2.2) update.

According to an official SE blog post,

We plan to bring an upgrade to Android Gingerbread for the XperiaTM X10 to generic trade kits end Q2 / early Q3 this year.

Sony Ericsson wants their XPERIA X10 to bring it in line with their other recently launched Android devices, the XPERIA Play and the XPERIA Arc.

Gingerbread for XPERIA X10 will only be for unlocked devices, and not for devices that are carrier locked. The roll-out is planned to start end Q2/early Q3 this year. Today, XPERIA X10 is available in the market both in generic trade version (unlocked) and in versions customized for operators. Due to the resources available in this special project, they will focus on delivering trade versions of the software.

Original post from: XPERIA X10 Gingerbread Update Coming Soon
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Galaxy S Gingerbread update was promised for March 20th by the Samsung Mobile’s Romanian team, but nothing is available so far.

Considering the number of Froyo update leaks before the official release, Samsung seems to be pretty tight with Gingerbread releases this time. Only one Galaxy S Gingerbread leak till now.

According to the latest Samsung KIES update, the Galaxy S Gingerbread is due to release on March 30th. I just hope this time they really roll out the update to all the Galaxy S users!

Original post from: Samsung KIES Updated for Galaxy S Gingerbread Update
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung announced the all new Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablets at CTIA. They are more powerful, thinner and lighter than the iPad 2.

A full pricing list is also available now for both the tablets (WiFi only).

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Price

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 will be available for $469 (16GB model) and $569 (32GB model).

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Release Date and Price

Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be available from June 8th, and will be available for $499 (16GB model), and for $599 (32GB model).

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 Price, Release Dates
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Galaxy S2 Mini will have a 3.7″ display screen, 1.4GHz processor, 5 megapixels camera with flash and Android 2.3.

This phone is expected to launch in April to Three (UK carrier).

[Engadget]

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S2 Mini Specs Leaked
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

The theme replaces the default Windows Mobile home screen with Honeycomb wallpaper, time and includes the notification bar on the top, just like Android 2.3.3 devices (Gingerbread).

You will be able to use your Windows Mobile device just like you use an Android phone with many core apps (keyboard, dialer etc) themed to look like Android as well.

All the file downloads are available at XDA-Developers are available for devices running on higher than Windows Mobile 6.5.x (This Android theme won’t work for WinMo 6.5).

Original post from: Gingerbread Theme for Windows Mobile Phone
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Galaxy Tab 8.9 is expected to be a tad bit smaller version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which was announced along with the Galaxy S II at MWC’11.

This is just a teaser and not much information has been given about the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet.

The Samsung Mobile Unpacked event is to be held on March 22 in Orlando, Florida, US.

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Teaser Video
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

I tried a few third-party apps, thinking the stock Gingerbread camera app is buggy, to make the zoom feature work, but even they said “Camera does not support zoom”.

After a little tinkering around, I checked up with a few reliable sources and found out that this is not a software issue. It is actually a hardware firmware issue from Samsung and they are aware of it. The best part is, they are working on a fix which will be available very soon.

There are a number of threads on XDA forums complaining about the Nexus S not having the zoom feature. But Samsung is working on a fix which should be soon available for the Nexus S users.

Original post from: Camera Zoom in Nexus S Fix Coming Soon
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

This new media player will sport a 5-inch display screen (Super AMOLED Plus? Maybe.) and will have Android 2.2 onboard.

Samsung Galaxy Player 70 is for Korea only at the moment, but will likely be launched in other countries as well.

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy Player 70: 5-Inch Display, Android 2.2
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

We knew the day won’t be far when we’ll see a leaked Galaxy S i900 Android 2.3.2 ROM. And today is the day when the first Gingerbread (XWJV1) leaked build makes its way on the Internet.

Samsung Galaxy S has always had a good record of leaked ROMs before the official release. Froyo roms started showing up 8 weeks before the official update was out via Samsung KIES.

Android 2.3.2 (XWJV1) ROM for Galaxy S i900 is in its early beta stage with many things not working. It does not have TouchWiz 4 (like the Galaxy S II), Market works, screen lock animation has been added and the ROM has already been rooted.

You can grab this early beta release from over at XDA. Watch a quick look video from below!

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3.2 ROM Leaked
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Nexus S with Android 2.4 has been spotted by some Chinese consumers who recently bought the device, which in fact, has Android 2.4 on board.

Android 2.4, as far as we know, is not coming anytime soon as the Gingerbread update just started rolling out. This could be Android 2.3.2, spoofed to look like Android 2.4, but that is hard to believe.

We all know how easy it is to modify Android version numbers once the phone has been rooted, but if you take a closer look at the images above, notice the ‘test keys’ & ‘user debug’ in the build string. This is probably a very early build of Android 2.4 running with an old kernel build.

It is also reported that this Nexus S in China has a Super LCD, instead of the Super AMOLED screen.

[via xda]

Original post from: Nexus S with Android 2.4 Early Build Spotted
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Motorola XOOM is expected not to come with Flash Player on-board. This comes as a surprise when all the manufacturers have been advertising that their Android tablets can run Flash content.

This was spotted at the Motorola Xoom pre-order site: “Adobe Flash expected Spring 2011″. Sad news, really. I hope Adobe manages to release Flash Player real soon for all the Android tablets.

Motorola XOOM goes on sale this Thursday for $800 and is currently also available for pre-order.

[Via Ubergizmo]

Original post from: Motorola Xoom, No Adobe Flash at Launch
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Dell recently introduced the all new Dell Streak 7, which is a successor to the previous tablet from Dell, the Dell Streak. This tablet goes head to head with the other tablets of its generation, the iPad, Galaxy Tab etc.

Dell Streak 7 has been extensively reviewed by Ubergizmo explaining design, display, performance and many other factors of the device.

Head over to Ubergizmo to see if this tablet is actually worth buying or not: Dell Streak 7 Review

Original post from: Dell Streak 7 Review by Ubergizmo
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

If you thought BlackBerry will be done with touch handsets after the failure of BlackBerry Torch 9800, well, it doesn’t seem like that. A video was posted on YouTube of an unannounced BlackBerry device, rumoured to be the BlackBerry Storm 3 – but was soon pulled off.

This device has been codenamed Monaco and is Verizon branded with a very early OS build running on it. You can clearly see the lag in the menus.

BlackBerry Storm 3 Specifications

The expected specifications of the Storm 3 will be as follows:

• Processor – Qualcomm 1.2GHz processor
• Display – 3.7″ 800×480 resolution
• Radio – Dual band CDMA, EV-DO Rev A, Quad band EDGE/Single band UMTS
• Camera – 5 MegaPixel + Flash with 720p video recording
• Memory – 4GB storage, expandable via MicroSD
• Connectivity – WiFi and GPS + Bluetooth 2.1
• Sensors – Magnetometer, Accelerometer, Proximity
• Software – Enhanced BlackBerry SW v6.1

And it is also rumoured that the new BlackBerry Storm 3 will come with NFC. More details about this device is expected at BlackBerry World in May.

[Via Neowin]

Original post from: BlackBerry Storm 3 Video Leaked
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

In yesterday’s HTC lineup update, they also announced the new HTC Wildfire S – with a slight redesign, higher screen resolution and ofcourse, the new Android 2.3 update on it.

Just like the updated HTC Desire S, HTC Wirldfire S doesn’t bring any big changes either. All it does is up the screen resolution to 320×480 and brings Android 2.3 to the same old hardware.

Take a look at the HTC Wildfire S specifications below. Comparing it with the old HTC Wildfire specs, there is nothing different other than the two things I mentioned above.

HTC Wildfire S Specifications

• Processor: 600 MHz
• Platform: Android™ with HTC Sense™
• Camera 5 megapixel colour camera with auto focus and flash
• Memory / ROM: 512 MB RAM / 512 MB The actual available internal phone storage may differ depending on the software configuration of your phone
• Dimensions: 101.3 x 59.4 x 12.4 mm
• Weight: 105 grams (3.7 ounces) with battery
• Display: 3.2-inch touch screen with 320 x 480 resolution
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery Capacity: 1230 mAh

Original post from: HTC Wildfire S: High Screen Resolution, Android 2.3
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

HTC announced several new Android-based devices today, starting their updated lineup of phones from the HTC Desire series – HTC Desire S.

HTC Desire S has been announced at MWC’11 which is powered by the Qualcomm’s new 1GHz Snapdragon MSM8255 processor and now has a 3.7-inch display screen.

As a successor to the popular and award-winning HTC Desire, the new HTC Desire S blends stunning design with power and speed. Inspired by the HTC Legend™ smartphone’s aluminium design, the HTC Desire S is sculpted out of a single block of aluminum making it feel solid and natural in your hand. With Qualcomm’s new 1GHz Snapdragon™ MSM8255 processor, the HTC Desire S offers snappy performance and power. It offers dual front and back cameras, High-Definition video recording and the 3.7-inch WVGA display presents multimedia content brilliantly.

In my opinion, HTC needs to seriously start working on the design of their new phones. They all have the same look/design as we first saw in the Nexus One. HTC Desire S don’t seem to bring any significant changes as how Samsung and LG have updated their lineup.

Original post from: HTC Desire S: 1GHz Processor, 3.7-Inch Display
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung announced the new Galaxy S II at the Samsung Unpacked event in Barcelona, Spain on the February 13th, just a day before the official kick-off of the Mobile World Congress 2011.

Galaxy S II is the successor to the Galaxy S, an Android phone based on the latest Gingerbread OS. It is expected to launch later this month.

Samsung Galaxy S II features a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, the gorgeous 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, only 8.49mm think, 8 megapixels camera with full HD recording, TouchWiz 4.0 and four Samsung hub apps.

They have decided to take it big this time, and in my opinion, Samsung has come out with the perfect Galaxy S successor. I can’t wait till I get my hands on this device.

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S II – It’s Official
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Yes, this is the new upcoming Samsung Galaxy S2 press image, leaked just a day before the official announcement is to be made.

Samsung Galaxy S2 press shot was first spotted by MovePlayer, but that image was too blurry and not much was made out from it. But a little spy work led Samsung Hub to capture the high-resolution press image of the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Samsung Galaxy S II Specifications – Leaked

Leaked features of the Galaxy S2 suggest that this device will be 8.49mm thick as compared to original Galaxy S which was 9.9mm. Other features include: 4.3-inch Super AMOLED+ display, 1GHz dual-core (Orion or Snapdragon) processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread with a new UI (a new TouchWiz) and weighs just 116g.

More details and news to follow up after the official Samsung unveiling of the next-generation Galaxy S2 tomorrow.

[Via Samsung Hub]

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S2 Image Leaked
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Yes, you see it right! That is Sony’s next-generation PlayStation Portable, codenamed as NGP.

This new hand-held gaming device will revolve around five key concepts: Revolutionary User Interface, Social Connectivity, Location-based Entertainment, Converging Real and Virtual Reality. Rumours had that Sony will be unveiling the new PSP sometime soon, but they finally did it today in Japan.

PlayStation Portable (NGP) Specifications

Here are some specifications of the new PSP:

• Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor
• 5-inch touchscreen OLED display (960 x 544 resolution)
• Front and back cameras
• Dual analog sticks
• Connectivity: 3G, WiFi, GPS
• Rear-mounted touchpad
• Accelerometer / gyroscope motion sensing
• Digital compass

Games will be available on a “new media” and the display screen has now quadrupled the pixel count from the original PSP – yes, this is something big!

PSP2 will feature a brand new UI,called as LiveArea, which has multiple homescreens and built-in social networking through PlayStation Network.

PlayStation Portable (NGP) Specifications

PSP2 (NGP) is announced to to be available this holiday season!

Official Press Release below:

SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES ITS NEXT GENERATION PORTABLE ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM

Ultimate Portable Entertainment System Makes Its Debut This Year,
Further Expanding the PlayStation® Business in the Portable Gaming Market

Tokyo, January 27, 2011– Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced its next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP), which delivers the ultimate portable entertainment experience. NGP will make its debut at the end of the year 2011.

NGP is designed to offer unparalleled interactive entertainment that is only possible on PlayStation®. This new system offers a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context, made possible by leveraging SCE’s experience from both PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and PlayStation®3 (PS3®) entertainment systems.

Deep and immersive gaming is at the core of PlayStation’s DNA, and NGP is the latest embodiment of this vision. By having both Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity, together with various applications, NGP will enable infinite possibilities for users to “encounter,” “connect,” “discover,” “share” and “play” with friends wherever they are. Within the device are a range of features that provide a genuinely cutting-edge, next generation ultimate portable entertainment experience.
?Stunning OLED and Revolutionary User Interface

NGP incorporates a beautiful multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display. A high-performance CPU / GPU combined with OLED enables rich, visually striking graphics never seen before on a portable entertainment system, for both games and other digital entertainment content. The new system also incorporates a unique multi-touch pad on the rear, and together with the front touch display, NGP offers new game play allowing users to interact directly with games in three dimension-like motion, through “touch, grab, trace, push and pull” moves of the fingers.
?Super Oval Design and Dual Analog Sticks

While succeeding the basic design philosophy of PSP, NGP adopts the Super Oval Design form factor, created to fit comfortably in users’ hands. For the first time, a portable entertainment system will feature two analog sticks, which enable a wider range of game genres to be brought into the portable experience.
?LiveArea™

Every game title for NGP will be provided with a space called “LiveArea™” where users can share the fun and excitement with other players. Users will have access to the latest information of games provided from SCE and 3rd party developers and publishers through PlayStation®Network. Additionally, NGP users will be able to view an “Activity” log that is constantly updated with accomplishments from users who are playing the same game, which in turn can trigger active real-time communication among users.
?Near

SCE will also provide location-based services on NGP as part of the basic features utilizing PlayStation Network. The new application called “Near,” developed specifically for this service and the network, will be pre-installed in the system to let users find out what their friends in the vicinity are playing now or what they were playing recently. Users can meet their friends and new players virtually, regardless of what games they are playing, simply by sharing their game information across different dimensions of time and distance.
?New Game Medium

NGP adopts a new game medium, a small flash memory based card, dedicated for NGP software titles. Taking advantage of the flash memory feature, this innovative card can store the full software titles plus add-on game content or the game save data directly on to the card. By adopting flash memory based card, SCE will be able to provide game cards with higher capacity in the future, allowing developers to store more game data to deliver rich and immersive games.

NGP will also come equipped with two cameras on its front and rear, as well as three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass, all of which are designed to enable users to enjoy the world of entertainment that is linked with real life experiences.

PlayStation®Suite (PS Suite), announced today, will also closely coordinate with NGP. The newly developed and released game content for Android™ based portable devices can also be enjoyed on NGP. As a result, users will have access to not only the most leading-edge content, but also some of the more casual experiences that typify the mobile market place.

SCE will vigorously promote NGP towards the launch as the next generation portable entertainment platform and deploy various measures to further expand the portable gaming market.

Via Engadget.

Original post from: Sony PlayStation Portable 2, Codenamed NGP
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung will be unveiling the next-generation Galaxy S 2 phone at the first day of the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2011 – MWC’11. The teaser site is already up with Samsung putting up the first preview of the upcoming product on February 1st.

Some new rumoured features that this phone will have are:

• 8 megapixels camera
• 4.3-inch Super-AMOLED display
• Full HD (1080p) video recording

Other features are already pretty much known, which include that the Galaxy S 2 will have Android 2.3, will feature Orion – Samsung’s dual-core processor, 1GB RAN and NFC.

Excited? Atleast, I am! The date to watch out first is February 1st, when Samsung will release the first preview teaser of the device.

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S 2: New Rumoured Specifications
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Samsung is back with another teaser website, and we know that this time, “something big is coming”.

Yes, Samsung will be announcing the long rumoured Samsung Galaxy S2 in Barcelona next month at 13th February, 2011 at this year’s Mobile World Congress.

The teaser website only features the old Samsung Galaxy S along with a new hidden product image which says, “Evolution is Fate”.The first preview teaser featuring this new Samsung product will go online on Feb 1.

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy S 2 Coming Soon Next Month
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Google Maps 5.0 was released last month for all the Android devices and one the major new feature added was the 3D vector graphics.

This new Google Maps 5.0 was demonstrated on a tablet for the first time by Andy Rubin on the Motorola prototype running Honeycomb at D: Dive Into Mobile – but no other tablets enjoyed Google Maps 5.0 on a big screen.

We installed it on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and woah, it worked so much better than the other GPS devices. I can’t wait for vector graphics in Google Maps 5.0 to launch for every city/country.

You can watch a demo of Google Maps 5.0 on the Galaxy Tab below:

Original post from: Google Maps 5.0 on Samsung Galaxy Tab
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Yes, we finally got our hands on the best Android tablet (cum phone) available in the market right now – the Samsung Galaxy Tab. So far, I have spent almost a week playing with it: watched videos and listened to music, made voice and video calls, social networks, emails etc.

In this review, I won’t compare it with the iPad (See: Galaxy Tab vs iPad) or if it comes on par with it, but will do it with the Samsung Galaxy S (See: Galaxy S Review). Full review after the jump!

Samsung Galaxy Tab Specifications

• Display: 7-inch TFT display (1024 x 600 pixels)
• Processor: ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor (Hummingbird)
• Camera: 3.2 MP camera, no autofocus, LED flash, secondary camera for video calls.
• Video: Supports video recording.
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 16GB internal memory, microSD slot upto 32GB
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, microUSB, SIM card
• Other: Flash 10.1 support, A-GPS, 3.5 mm jack, TV out, accelerometer, Swype, e-book, office, allshare etc
• Battery: 4000 mAh, 7 hours of video playback
• OS: Android 2.2 with TouchWiz UI

It actually sounds like an over-sized Galaxy S phone, isn’t it? Well, I won’t call the Tab an over-sized phone just because it runs on Android and can make calls. You can always use it without a SIM card or with just a data package.

Design

Galaxy Tab is flat on the front, but a slight curve at the back. On the front, just above the large 7-inch display, you see a front-facing camera for video calls, light sensor, and the Samsung logo. And on the bottom of the screen, you see the four standard capacitive buttons: Menu, Home, Back and Search keys. On the back side of the Tab, there is a 3.2 megapixels camera along with LED flash.

On the sides, you can find the power button, volume controls, microSD card slot and the SIM card slot, while on the left side, there is the built-in mic for making voice calls or to record audio.

Top of the Galaxy Tab has a 3.5mm audio jack that also supports TV out and at the bottom, there is a speaker that supports 5.1 surround sound and the USB. Galaxy Tab has it’s own USB cable, and doesn’t support micro or mini USB cables.

Check out the Galaxy Tab in the video below:

Display

The TFT capacitive display screen is certainly not the best we have seen, but features a great touch response on the Galaxy Tab. Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S beats the Samsung Galaxy Tab’s TFT display to the punch, but we never had any issues with the viewing angle of the screen or when watching HD videos. But a 7-inch Super AMOLED display would certainly have been a treat for our eyes.

And not to mention, Samsung Galaxy Tab has a gorilla glass screen that means a solid, scratch-less screen. We took it through a stress test – video below.

Processor / Speed

Samsung Galaxy Tab is powered by the ARM Cortex A8 1GHz CPU (called as the Hummingbird). Hummingbird is way better than the 1GHz Snapdragon CPU featured in the Nexus One and HTC Desire, plus several other HTC devices. Not to forget, Hummingbird is also used in the iPhone 4.

Tab also has the same powerful mobile GPU as featured in the Galaxy S, and is the most powerful tablet atleast till Nvidia Tegra 2 devices start to show up. The GPU alone is capable enough to produce 36% of PlayStation 3′s processing power!

Overall, the Galaxy Tab is very fast and responsive. As compared to the initial releases of Froyo on the Galaxy S, Tab is very speedy and gave better benchmarking results. Even though there is a lagfix (same as the Galaxy S) available for the Galaxy Tab, but you don’t really need it as the Froyo build on Tab is a very optimized release.

Here’s a video of the Galaxy Tab running Angry Birds and Need For Speed: Shift.

Camera

This is where Samsung always disappoints me. Galaxy S had a poor 5 megapixels camera, and same is the case with the Galaxy Tab. It features a 3.2 megapixels camera with LED flash and is no better than a standard 2 megapixels camera.

Photo and video quality is not up to the mark. Photos come out with faded colours and are very blurry. It features autofocus, but not touch-to-focus like the Galaxy S phones.

Front-camera works best with video calling apps like Fring or Tango. I Tango-ed with a Galaxy S using the Galaxy Tab.

If you tune the Camera app settings according to your liking, I’m sure you can get the desired results. Same is the case with the Galaxy S phone camera. You have to fine tune the settings to get best possible results.

You can see a few sample shots I took with the Galaxy Tab below. Click on the image for the full-resolution photo.

Here’s a sample video recorded from the Samsung Galaxy Tab:

Connectivity

Samsung Galaxy Tab offers several connectivity options such as Bluetooth, WiFi and Samsung USB cable support. Direct TV output is also included which is one useful feature for viewing photos and HD videos on your TV. Unfortuanetely, the TV out cable is not included in the box. I used the cable that came with my old Nokia N96 to try out!

Unlike the Galaxy S phones, the Galaxy Tab P1000 has no GPS issues and is very quick in getting your accurate location. Geo-location supporting apps like Seesmic for Android, Foursquare, Google Maps worked like a charm! And in my opinion, they were far more better on the Tab instead of the Galaxy S.

TouchWiz UI

TouchWiz with Froyo on the Samsung Galaxy Tab is much faster than the version on the Galaxy S phones. It is very fast, responsive and optimized for the tablet screen size. Galaxy S users who like TouchWiz won’t have any problems in getting along with the UI.

It features a new/modified homescreen and the apps drawer and allows you to modify it in every possible way. Even you don’t like the TouchWiz UI, there is always an option to get other third-party Launcher apps from the Android Market – for free!

Galaxy Tab offers Need For Speed: Shift full game download for free from the Samsung Apps store, unlike Asphalt 5 on the Galaxy S.

Check out the TouchWiz tour on the Galaxy Tab video below:

Screenshots

Galaxy Tab Photos

Original post from: Samsung Galaxy Tab Review
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Google partnered with Samsung to bring the pure Google Android experience on a mobile phone in the form of, the Nexus S, which was unveiled a couple of days back along with the next Android OS update – Ginngerbread Android 2.3.

Nexus S is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy S family in technical specifications, and from that is where Google decided to work on the Nexus S, unlike the Nexus One which was made from scratch.

Read More: Google Nexus S vs Nexus One

Here is a Google Nexus S vs Samsung Galaxy S comparison chart where you can see how similar both of these devices are.

Original post from: Google Nexus S vs Samsung Galaxy S
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Chrome OS just got announced along with the Chrome netbook that does nothing but the pure web experience right inside of the Chrome browser.

The Chrome OS event is live right now and going through the Q&A session.

Chrome Netbooks Release Date

Chrome OS powered netbooks are expected to ship next year (2011) through Verizon. No specific date mentioned. The current limited CR48 hardware will be available to Google employees and some CIOs for testing.

Chrome Netbooks Price

According to Sundar of Google, there are still many factors to consider by manufacturers – so in other words, they have no word on the pricing yet for the Chrome netbooks.

Original post from: Chrome OS Netbooks Release Date And Price
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

One of the first Google Nexus S previews has been done by Engadget, in their hands-on with the device at D: Dive Into Mobile conference in San Francisco.

Google Nexus S is the next Google flagship phone which will offer users the pure Google experience – completely stock and with no third-party additions.

This new Google device with Ginerbread (Android 2.3) on board will serve as a reference for future upcoming devices of this generation of Android phones.

Catch the full Nexus S preview by Engadget here.

Original post from: Google Nexus S Preview, Hands-On by Engadget
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

Google Nexus S was announced today by Google, along with the Android 2.3 software update launch.

Nexus One was the first phone by Google which has the latest Android 2.1 on it and this year, Google has launched the Nexus S with some minor improvements in features.

Here’s a comparison of the Nexus S and Nexus One with their technical features in detail.

Original post from: Google Nexus S vs Google Nexus One
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.

I’m still waiting for the Nexus One Android 2.3 software update on my phone, but I’m sure it is somewhere around and will show up soon.

Download Android 2.3 software update on Nexus One as soon as it shows up. Read here for more Android 2.3 features.

[Via Engadget]

Original post from: Nexus One Android 2.3 Software Update Released
See here for more posts: Sizzled Core - Android, Internet Media, Gadget Reviews - A technology blog based on Android, iPhone, brings you a wide coverage of Internet media news, gadgets reviews and tips/tricks that you won't find anywhere else! Learn how to tweak Firefox, Facebook tricks, unlock iPhone, iPad and root Android phones.