Samsung Galaxy S4 to be Released to T-Mobile

The long-awaited and rumored Samsung Galaxy S4 is going to be available to Android users using T-Mobile on May 1st, 2013. It is finally going to be available to T-Mobile users after only about a month and a half after its debute on March 14, 2013. So, get ready to get your hands on these beasts of a phone as soon as you can!

Samsung Galaxy S4 Specs

The recently announced Samsung Galaxy S4 is one beast of a smartphone. With a powerful Quad-Core Cortex A15 and a Quad-Core Cortex A7 all in one phone, an incredible GPU, 13MP camera, this phone is truly one of the best smartphones on the market. Below are basic specifications for the smartphone.



Dimensions: 5.38x2.75x0.31 in

Weight: 130g (4.59 oz)

Display type: Super AMOLED Display

Resolution: 1080x1920 pixels, 5.0 inches, ~441 ppi

Multitouch: Enabled

Speaker: Yes

3.5 mm headjack: Yes

Memory Card Slot: Micro-SD, up to 64GB

Screen Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass

Storage: 16/32/64 GB, 2GB RAM

Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0

NFC and Infrared Port: Yes

USB: Micro-USB

Back Camera: 13MP, Resolution: 4128x3096

Front Camera: 2MP

Video: 1080p at 30FPS

OS: Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

Chipset: Exynos 5 Octa 5410

CPU: Quad-Core Cortex A15 1.6 GHz, Quad-Core Cortex A7 1.2 GHz (Both Quad-Cores in one phone)

GPU: PowerVR SGX 544MP3

Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, temperature, humidity, and gestures

Browser with: HTML 5 and Adobe Flash

Radio: Not Included

GPS: Yes

Java: Yes

S4 Colors: White Frost and Black Mist

Battery: Li-Ion 2600 mAh Battery

Samsung Galaxy S4 To Be Debuted March 14!

The long-awaited and rumored release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has been confirmed. It's scheduled to be debuted March 14th. The new S4 should come out as the same price as when the S3 first came out, at an estimated 700-800 US dollars.But with Google's Nexus 4 still on the market, Samsung just might have to lower their prices a bit in order to compete with the popular Nexus 4.

The S4's eight-core design is actually based on AMD, which basically means that there are 4 powerful A15 cores for powerful processing speeds. There are also four lower power cores, the Cortex-A7, for the S4 to use when it doesn't need the A15 cores, thus expanding battery life.
The S4 will include an impressive 5-inch display with a high-resolution of 1920x1080, with a ppi of around 440, which is actually much better than Apple's Retina Display.

5 Best Tablets of 2012

There were many, many interesting tablets released by many companies. Some were more than just a success, while some did not live up to most of our expectations. Here are the 5 best tablets of 2012.

Google Nexus 7

The Nexus has an excellent design, very handy software features and programs, and at a very low price. The Nexus 7 is an incredible, yet at the same time, affordable way to experience the most out of the Android OS.



Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700

The Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 is among one of the fastest Android tablets out there, with zippy fast performance and processing power. The Transformer Pad Infinity has a better, improved camera, a faster CPU, and a nice, sharp screen.


          
Google Nexus 10

Google is at it again; the Nexus 10 has an excellent design, and very comfy in the palm of your hand. It has swift performance and is one of the best Android tablets as of now.



Asus Transformer Pad TF300

Although the Asus Transformer Pad TF300 is not as thin or durable as the Transformer Pad Infinity TF700, it still offers incredible performance, but at a lower price.

                                           

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is probably the very best of Samsung tablets you'll ever find. Though you might find its price a little expensive, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is a reasonable investment.

Nexus 10

The Nexus 10 uses a micro-USB port to charge it, and that is obviously not a very efficient way to charge a powerful, high-end tablet. Charging the Nexus 10 overnight will not be a problem, but if you're in a hurry, you're in trouble.

Why might the Nexus 10 be the next top Android tablet? Well, maybe because it has a beautiful screen, with a display sharper than most tablets, and is probably the most comfortable 10-inch tablet to hold in your hand. It's durable enough to survive a drop from a few feet away. It is also the very first Android tablet to run 4.2, which brings with it a ton of new features.

The Nexus 10 has an incrediblely sharp screen display, it is light, convenient, durable, and of course, has the fastest processor of any Android tablet so far. Google's new features are improving and much more diverse.

Though the Nexus 10 might not be better than the newest generations of the iPad, it is still one of the top tablets on the market. If you don't plan on owning an Apple product/device, then the Nexus 10 should be one of your first priorities.



Design

The Nexus 10 is an excellently designed 10-inch tablet, and only weighing in at 1.33 pounds. Due to its light weight and its rounded edges, the Nexus 10 doesn't dig into your palms when your holding it. The back feels grippy and comfortable to hold, and as a bonus, also acts like protection for the Nexus 10 itself.

On the left side of the device is the headphone jack and micro-USB charging port. And, on the left corner is is the power/lock button and volume buttons. Lastly, on the right edge, is the micro-HDMI port, with a Pogo Pin charger on the bottom edge.

Along the top of the tablet's back is a textured strip, which is also removable. Sitting in the center of the textured strip is a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, next to an LED flash and a mic. And on the front, in the middle of the top bezel sits the 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera and a light sensor. Of course, smack in the middle back of the Nexus 10 is the Nexus logo.

Hardware

-1.7 GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 CPU

-Mali T-604 graphics processor

-2GB of RAM

-support for 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), MIMO Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC

-Gyroscope, barometer, accelerometer, digtal compass

Screen

The Nexus 10's PLS display is the best by far on any Android tablet and its amazing to look at. Truthfully, it is difficult to see a difference between the Nexus 10's beautiful display and the new iPad's 2048x1536-pixel Retina Display. Images are sharp on both tablets, and it can be hard to distinguish which one is clearer dispite the fact that the Nexus 10's display is a 2560x1600-pixel resolution.



Performance

The Nexus 10 is the fastest Android tablet so far. Navigating menus and opening apps shouldn't be a problem for you, and keeping up the constant speed of its performance and its high-resolution display shows the power of its Exynos processor.

Screen responsiveness has been built to be incredibly accurate and sharp. Pages and slides scroll by as you swipe and taps are almost never accidentally misread. Typing is also much more accurate than other tablets, including the iPad. Because of its size, the Nexus 10 gives your fingers more freedom.

The tablet charges by using a micro-USB port, and though it charges fine, its very, very slow. The charger has a hard time keeping up charging enough battery for you to play certain graphic-intense games, like Riptide GP and/or N.O.V.A. 3.

Conclusion

The Nexus 10 is an incredible Android tablet, even though it does has some troublesome issues, such as using a micro-USB port for charging. You'll probably want an iPad instead, but if you're going for Android, this could be perfect for you. Though you might want to get an Asus Transformer Infinity instead, the Nexus 10 is still superior in design, comfort and performance.

Google Nexus 7

The Nexus 7 has a relatively low price, an incredible battery life for prolonged use, a sharp screen with an excellent display, and topped off with a complete and open Android 4.2 software, and overall, the Nexus 7 is probably the best tablet you can get, even for its low price.

     

Even after so many months ever since its release, the Nexus 7 is still one of the top-selling tablets. The 8GB version is no longer available, and it starts at $199 for a 16GB version, and $249 gets you the 32GB version of the Nexus 7, add $50 to that and you get a 32GB Nexus 7 with HSPA+.

Design

Other than the SIM card slot and a heavier weight, the HSPA+ version of the Nexus 7 is pretty much identical to its Wi-Fi-only version. The Nexus 7 has a nice and grippy back texture for it, and though it might not seem like much, it will probably be one of the most comfortable tablets to hold in your hand. Along the borders of the Nexus 7 is a thin bezel, but thicker on the top and bottom of the Nexus 7.

The Nexus 7 is also significantly lighter than the Kindle Fire HD and some other tablets. It  has approximately the same thickness as the Kindle Fire and just a tad bit thinner than the Nook. The 1.2 megapixel camera of the Nexus 7 sits on the front of the Nexus, on the right edge near the top is the power/lock button, and close to that is the volume button. And on the bottom of the Nexus 7, is a headphone jack and and of course, a micro-USB port in the middle. Above that on the back of the device is the speaker strip, and the HSPA+ version has a micro SIM card slot near the middle left of the device.

Unfortunately, there is no way of memory expansion, and no back camera. The exclusion of these features is probably a money-saving measure, which is also why the Nexus 7 is a lot more inexpensive than most other tablets who have those features.

Hardware 

The Nexus 7 has a 1.3 GHz Tegra 3 processor, and of course, 1GB of RAM. It also includes b/g/n Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth, accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS, and support for Android Beam.



Performance

The Nexus 7 boasts a crispy-clear 1280x800-pixel resolution IPS display, but the Kindle Fire HD still has a sharper, more vibrant screen with dramatic colors. The Nook also has a higher resolution, but that doesn't make the Nexus 7's screen seem terrible. The Nexus 7's screen is also very responsive to touch and swipe around on, but sometimes the swipes are shorter. Unfortunately, the Tegra 3 processor is beginning to fall behind. On some graphic-intense games, the frame rates were usually from fair to poor.

Nexus 4 by LG Review

The Nexus 4 boasts the looks, and the specs. The Nexus 4 is a smooth, elegant device that with a large, 4.7 inch screen, HD display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor chip, and plenty more. For a starting price of $299 unlocked, it's sure to attract a whole new demographic that until recently never heard of a Nexus. Is the Nexus 4 worth buying, or is the fourth-generation offering just another target of developers' envy?

Hardware-
Once it's available, Google's newest Android smartphone will be one of the most exquisite devices you can buy. It features the sleek curves of its predecessor along the edges, along with a unibody back cover and very scratch resistant glass. At 4.9 ounches and 0.36 inches, it's a tad bit  lighter and thicker than the LG Optimus G. Both the Optimus G and the Nexus 4 use a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 chip, 2GB RAM, and sport the same 4.7 inch True HD IPS PLUS with 1280 x 768 resolution. Continuing on, there is a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front-facing camera on the top right and sensors on the top left.


On the left side of the Nexus 4 lives a volume rocker, while a secondary headphone and mic jack sit on top of the phone. Onto the right, is the power button, just barely above where your index finger rests. Moving onto the back, is the already mentioned scratch-resistant glass. It is, unfortunately, not a removable cover, so if you want to take out the battery, you're going to have to start unscrewing screws. On the top left, is an 8 megapixel camera and LED flash aligned vertically, with the famous Nexus logo sitting in the middle.

The Nexus 4 is a penta-band HSPA+ device, but this one goes up a step by offering you 42Mbps speeds. It's also quad-band GSM/EDGE, which basically means this phone will work with virtually any GSM/EDGE carrier in the world. The only true missing feature in the Nexus 4 is LTE compatibility.

Display-
The Nexus 4 has a 4.7 inch, 1280 x 768 True HD IPS PLUS display, with a sheet of Gorilla Glass 2 covering the front. Additionally, its WXGA resolution translate into a pixel density of 320 ppi, but its RGB subpixel arrangement means it actually packs more of a punch than the PenTile Super AMOLED HD screen on last year's Nexus.

Camera-
LG made sure to stick to an 8 megapixel camera on the Nexus 4. It's not the best on the market, but remember, megapixels don't tell the whole story. HDR is now natively supported and you can also adjust the white balance, select one of four scene modes and change the resolution and flash settings. Panorama mode makes a return as well. The LED on the Nexus 4 is bright, perhaps maybe even too bright. This shouldn't be too big a problem for most, but with the flash on end up some of the color of the photo was washed away.

The camcorder is capable of taking 1080p movies in MPEG-4 format, and records footage at an average of 22 fps (frames per second) with a 9 Mbps bit rate

Performance/Battery Life-
The phone has a beast of a chipset running things backstage: it's the same 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor we saw in the Optimus G, paired with an Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB RAM. You will be satisfied with the Nexus 4's overall zippy performance. It was responsive and fast, smooth multitasking and almost no lag at all.


Conclusion-
The idea that a quad-core smartphone hitting the market with a starting on dollar away from $300 can be stunning to some. And also because it is available without any contracts or carrier locks, which means you can pretty much virtually use it anywhere in the world. This is a smartphone you'd probably expect to be more expensive unlocked, but Google sets a precedent by lowering the cost of the Galaxy Nexus, keeping the Nexus 7 at $200 and is now continuing the trend on the Nexus 4.

Sure, the Nexus 4 is not without its flaws, but none of its predecessors have been perfect, either. And given the boost in real-world performance, the better camera and various other new features, its even more tempting than all those other devices.





Review © 2012 Andy Chin


© 2012 LG Electronics