Samsung Mob!lers 2011 Kick-Off Event!

Earlier this month I attended the Samsung Mob!lers (Mobilers) Kick-off event at Samsung UK Headquarters, Surrey, the event was to give us Mob!lers an insight into what we were to expect in this years campaign, along with a chance to meet with some of Samsung's senior staff from UK and Korea, Mob!lers organisers and of course our fellow Mob!lers.


The event was a great success, very informative and exciting. I was made to feel right at home as a member, we were all given our first product to put through it's paces - the Samsung Galaxy Pro, and as if that wasn't enough to inspire - we got to play on the forthcoming Android Tablets - the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 & 10.1!





Big thanks go out to Samsung worldwide and the whole Mob!lers crew, stick around for some great product tests, reviews, previews and how-to's!!

RIM Vs. Android – Two expanding giants go head to head

I never thought I’d see the day when every other high-schooler was wielding a Blackberry smartphone, but with a combination of advanced technology being readily available to pretty much everybody, a couple of years of some very attractive handsets, and a generation of people who find it easier to communicate using two thumbs rather than with the aid of speech – It had to happen.

In the closing years of the last decade, with three very sleek handsets, each made to match a different personality, a new generation of blackberry user was created. The Blackberry Bold 9000, the Curve 8900 and the Pearl 8100 were designed to expand the so-called ‘business phone’ and take full advantage of its capabilities with the integration of social networking. Little were we expecting, these handsets elaborated on earlier attempts to grab a new audience and change things forever.

Since these three devices hit the market, numerous updated models have been released and popularity is still rising for Blackberry – But even newer to the smartphone industry is the Android OS, and Android powered devices are taking Web/Email oriented devices to new levels, catering for every type of customer.

The now classic design of an upright phone with a full qwerty keypad has been utilised by many mobile phone manufacturers, from Nokia’s E Series to the budget handsets produced by Alcatel, every type of user can potentially find a qwerty phone to suit their needs.

 One of the latest qwerty-equipped phones to arrive is the Samsung Galaxy Pro – Packing an 800Mhz processor, a 3MP camera, 2.8’’ full touch-screen and Android OS V2.2, this handset seems to scream ‘Blackberry alternative’! The first thing that stands out on this phone is its very efficient design, although this is not a new form factor, Samsung seem to have succeeded in giving this model individuality, with the textured rear, large screen and the four ‘Android’ hardware keys, its unmistakeably a Samsung! As this phone is a true example of a mid-budget, mid-spec ‘one for all’ device I felt it was perfect to represent Android OS in an RIM Vs. Android shootout. Yes, there are better Androids out there, but I’ll be evening it out by using the popular Blackberry Curve 8520 as an example of RIM.

Round 1: Emails & Social Networking

As Blackberry is being compared here I feel Email & Social networking would be an appropriate starting point. Social networking right now, is done on mobile phones more than it ever has been before, all the major social networks are available for free on both platforms in app-form, covering blogging, instant messengers and tweeting sites. Alternatives are available for consolidating accounts etc. but quality and cost are issues on RIM and Androids... Performance-wise I’d say RIM have the real charm here, the simplicity of sending a message or tweet, regardless of what type of account is completely idiot-proof, and battery consumption is practically nil on the Blackberry platform even if all social network apps are running. Androids without a doubt offer most choice of Social networking apps, and Android seems to have the wow-factor of appearance, functionality isn’t lacking by most people’s standards but regular use can drain most Android handset batteries in less than a day.

As for general Emailing, on both operating systems, initial start-up involves a request to setup a primary Email account, which personally, I felt was a little more user-friendly on the android due to the option of creating a new email account in a matter of seconds. Once the initial Email setup is complete, sending and receiving emails is as easy as texting for both RIM and Android, though one thing does get my goat – once opened, Emails will be marked as open on the server site, for RIM only! Also, Emails can be deleted from the server on RIM with ease – Which is another reason why I am handing this round to the Blackberry crowd!

Winner – RIM.

Round 2: Apps & Games

Recently RIM confirmed just under 36000 items are available to download on Blackberry App World, just over 12000 reported to be apps including currency converters, maps, travel aids, games etc... Android on the other hand surpassed the 200000 mark earlier this year. On RIM and Android, app capabilities do vary from device to device, though the majority of the apps are available on all models of each platform, but between both Operating Systems things are very different – for example, Android relies heavily on its touch screen capability to deliver a real interactive experience, where to get a similar experience RIM relies on ‘gestures’ by using the trackpad/trackball in various ways.

The majority of apps and games available on the Android market are free to download, this includes the full Google suite, Sky Plus, on demand TV services, social networking, games and anything you can imagine possible on a device – all available for free. Some apps & utilities do come at a small cost but most things worth downloading are free. Gaming on Android is usually a pleasant experience, using touch-screen controls to directly control moveable components, and in the absence of necessary hardware buttons, ‘virtual controls’ are usually available – for example on retro games console emulators. ‘Predominantly touch-screen gaming’ doesn’t sound like a great feature of a mobile media device but surprisingly enough, this format has made games more accessible for those who wouldn’t usually play games on their phone.

Blackberry App World is a lot lighter on downloadable content and unfortunately, most things worth downloading are NOT free, some apps that appear in App World at a cost seem to be the sort of Application which you would think twice about before downloading for free on Android, though there are a few Google apps etc... Which are free as on Android.

Gaming performance on Blackberry devices is really dependant on what type of gamer you are! There are a variety of great games such as Texas Hold em’ poker which require very little graphical content or finger dexterity, that work great, but any more complicated and it’s not really worth it – for example the pathetic Angry Birds rip-off ‘Angry Farm Lite’ (I was not prepared to purchase the full version) is too complex and hard to judge the controls due to a poorly ported control format.

Winner – Android.

Round 3: Operating system – appearance and customisation

It is hard to describe just how different RIM and Android are from each other, on first appearance what separates the two is the use of widgets and icons – Android generally has a fully customisable interface with room for 16 icons (though some Android overlays have additional features), or any number of widgets, which are icons which may incorporate up-to-date information or interactive elements, generally covering more of the area of the screen. The RIM interface is very much solid and set out for you, the only customisation of the interface available is the ability to change the theme, wallpaper and to show by default how many app icons are visible on the standby screen.

Both Operating systems work on a similar principle, including the drop-down alerts & notifications bar, apps display and folders etc... It is pretty close as to whose OS runs better for this reason. RIM being very lightweight makes Blackberry handsets operate generally smoothly, though Androids customisation options make it simpler to make your handset your own.

Winner – Android.

Round 4: Additional tools

When it comes to RIM device by device, not much changes in terms of adding features to more expensive handsets, Megapixels get higher, screen resolutions rise, and processing power goes up, just general performance is improved.

The beauty of android is that it incorporates a universal formula with room for adding physical aspects to some handsets, such as the ability to support resistive & capacitive screens, multitouch, front-facing cameras for video calling, gyroscopes, accelerometers, external storage and so-on. Development of Android phones is ongoing and the constantly expanding Android Market has supporting software for every new development.

Winner – Android.

Round 5: Design

Earlier in this article I described the Blackberry design as ‘now classic’. The design of RIM handsets has been an inspiration for many years as it is simply effective, over the years the numerous updated handsets have only got better looking, smaller, smarter etc... But one could argue – other than the classic Blackberry qwerty/bar design nothing else has really caught on, for example, the Blackberry Pearl Flip, the Storm and now the Blackberry Torch.

Android Handsets have the ability to really innovate, the formula calls out for a touch screen, a camera and that’s pretty much it, the rest is up to the manufacturers. There are tons of Android phones in all form-factors such as bar, qwerty, flip, micro etc... There is an Android out there for everyone.

Winner – Android.

 The overall winner, in terms of Operating System and capability, in my opinion is Android, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Android is the only way to go. If you are a Business user in need of a ‘no-frills’ experience, or are into social networking and are happy with your handset the way it was created then indeed, RIM is up your street – They provide a second to none service of emails which to this day, I am still impressed with. If you’re after a device which you can customise, use to pass the day, play on and you’re in to freebies then go for android.

ShredderBenjamin

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Samsung Galaxy S 2 - Full review

The Samsung Galaxy S 2 is the latest instalment of the hugely successful ensemble of Samsung Android devices, and this time, they mean business.

What the Samsung Galaxy S 2 has achieved, is to take the best and make it better – with the announcement of such competition as the HTC Sensation, Motorola Atrix and LG Optimus 2X & 3D, whom all of which are all expanding from Single-core to Dual-core technology, Samsung took the tried & tested formula of the previous Galaxy S and tweaked it in all the right places to create a much improved, yet familiar smart phone – Let’s take a closer look.

First Impressions

Upon opening the box I was instantly greeted with a huge, shiny screen which took up pretty much the whole area of the base of the packaging, the sheer flawless flat area with only a single button and small speaker grill was a refreshing welcome from the handset I hadn’t even turned on yet. Inside the box packed neatly were the standard Micro USB cable, very high quality wired stereo headset with spare in-ear plugs, standard device paperwork, and to my pleasant surprise there was a phone charger with its own attached cable, which in my opinion is much better than the now-too-common interchangeable USB/Wall charger. 

Before turning on the device I held it in my hand for a minute, admiring the feel of the handset, the phone is very slim & light weighing only 116 grams, but not at all flimsy, it feels as if all the weight of the phone is in the huge, gorilla-glass display – which is a big plus as the screen really does have a robust feel to it tapping the display with my first finger confirms this to me with solid resistance. The location of each button seems to be in exactly the correct pace, especially in my right hand. With the standby/unlock key under my right thumb, the ‘home’ key perfectly in reach and the volume ‘rocker switch’ nicely in line with my first and second fingers of my right hand, it’s easy to tell Samsung have really thought about the form factor and not just ‘thrown’ everything together. The textured rear is both visually & physically very nice, housing the camera and the ‘lip’ at the bottom of the handset actually forms quite well as part of the otherwise simple design.

Inserting the battery, SIM card and the Micro SD card was relatively straight-forward, minus the very daunting task of removing the very thin, flexible, back cover and then replacing it, which did feel rather delicate – but once the cover was carefully replaced and all the little clips were properly clipped in place, the thin back cover forms solidly as part of the very sturdy phone. 

Booting up and setting up

Once everything was in place and I turned on the handset which responded instantly – seeing the Samsung Galaxy S 2 logo for the first time was a delight, and it was less than 4 minutes before I had set up my Gmail, Wifi Connection, skipped the typing tutorials and was off on my own, exploring the pre-installed apps. The phone has Android V2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ out of the box and has the TouchWiz 4.0 interface as its overlay.

The first thing I noticed about the display is how vivid the colours are, flicking through the apps menu is like an explosion in a Skittles factory, I literally found myself flicking between screens just to see the transition of the icons which was so smooth, both in motion and richness of colour. The screen is yet another improvement on the original Samsung Galaxy S, the Super AMOLED plus, which is 480 x 800 pixels, which may be lower resolution than some newer displays, but this is the brightest display I have seen to date.

Adding new email addresses & social networking platforms is a breeze with the social hub, though I must admit, I am not a big fan of the social hub – but with android, there always is another way to do these things. Within an hour or so I did find myself reverting back to the original Facebook, Twitter and MySpace apps which are all free from the Android Market. On the other hand, Samsungs other hubs, the ‘Music Hub’, ‘Game Hub’ and the ‘Readers Hub’ are all a great way to kick-off your relationship with your new Android device, or to embellish your media collection.

The Interface

I found the factory settings of the TouchWiz interface very welcoming which made it much easier to get going, set up my social networking, and tweak the home screens to my heart’s content. The initial placement of the widgets is just a taste of the potential contained within this amazing device.

Overall I must say I am very impressed with the TouchWiz 4.0 interface – coming from a HTC Sense background the bar was already high, but for simplicity I can confidently say TouchWiz is the superior Android interface, I also love how smooth screen transitions are - though I do find it annoying that you cannot flick through the home screens in ‘loop’ fashion, for instance, flicking from the last screen to the first – especially when the default home screen is located on the far left, moving from screen number one on the far left to screen seven on the far right can feel almost a pointless waste of precious milliseconds. That said, if TouchWiz isn’t your thing after serious trial and error, there are many alternative interfaces available on the android market such as Launcherpro and Panda Home, which offer limitless options to suit anyone’s taste.

Multimedia

Web browsing is an amazing experience on the Galaxy S 2, with its large clear screen and great touch response, the onboard browser is very simple and more or less bug-free, web pages opened quickly both over Wifi & 3G, the Dual-Core 1.2GHZ processor is by far more than enough to deal with multiple tabs, and creating bookmarks couldn’t be much simpler. Flash content loaded instantly and ‘HQ’ videos on YouTube were crisp and lag-free.

Storage for media on this handset is very generous, with 16GB of onboard storage with a Micro SD slot for up to an additional 32GB, it would be difficult to fill to say the least!

Viewing Video is extremely smooth, sharp and colour-rich, large video files are loaded instantly, and the viewing angle is very generous – viewing that hilarious clip from Fail Blog with a group of friends can be done in one playback due to screen size and quality, rather than the old ‘pass it around’ method necessary on so many so-called ‘multimedia smart phones’. The onboard media player is simply brilliant, offering tons of options such as ‘virtual 5.1 sound’, EQ settings and sharing options all in a simple media player interface. When it comes to media playback, including games and video, I do question the placement of the rear speaker, which is easily obscured by fingers holding the device – and covering the speaker really does diminish the effective output. As for photos, rendering of pictures is quick and zooming in is smooth and intuitive.

 Battery

The battery on this mobile phone is a rather generous 1650mAh which allows for plenty of normal use, and after the initial few charges, normal use would drain the battery after about one and a half days, which is mighty impressive considering the power this device has. I found that by simply closing apps using the pre-loaded program monitor I managed to significantly decrease the need for ‘mid day charges’. There are other initiatives Samsung has taken to help power consumption, for example the Super AMOLED Plus consumes 18% less power despite greater contrast ratio. Another great innovation is the power-strip built into the pull-down menu which enables brightness adjustment, GPS toggling, Wifi toggling, sound/vibration switching and auto screen rotation in an instant.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S 2 Features a very impressive camera with an 8 megapixel sensor, capturing blur-free images is easy and the face recognition caters for multiple faces with great sensitivity, as you can see from a photo I took in a British summers afternoon light (below), the colours are captured with a great degree of depth, and I might add, the photo was taken on the first attempt. The camera is definitely an ample substitute for your main digital camera for days out, holidays etc. as the picture clarity is the best I’ve seen on a Smartphone.

 The 2 Megapixel camera at the front captures both pictures and video with surprising clarity which would be very handy for self-portraits.  Video calling is also achievable which is, connection permitting, very smooth and widely available on many free services from Android Market.

Gaming

One important test I made sure to take was the all-important Angry Birds test, completing the initial 10 or so levels was smooth, responsive, lag-free and addictive as ever. Again, I cannot stress enough how amazing the colours appear, especially for gaming, the Super AMOLED plus display really does complete the multimedia experience. A more intensive test was ‘Gangstar: West Coast Hustle’(A GTA-style 3D game), I did see a small amount of lag at times, particularly when a lot of action was taking place on screen, but nevertheless I was impressed with the PS2-standard gaming graphics. After only a couple of minutes the rear of the handset started to heat up and I began to fear ‘overworking’ the processor but some minutes further on the phone had stuck at a constant heat which wasn’t too threatening, though the battery had suffered – more than half an hour of intensive gaming on some of Gameloft’s graphically rich games and we’d be in low battery territory, though simpler games like Angry Birds and Ninja rush would be much less power-thirsty.

In Summary

After a week with the Samsung Galaxy S 2 I have noticed a steady increase in battery performance, due to the initial charges and being able to go without picking it up every five minutes, the battery lasts a good day and a half now, and managing applications using the pre-installed program monitor has become second-nature, which further increases the overall performance of the phone.

I am very, very impressed with this phone, it is by far enough to keep any tech-geek like myself busy indefinitely, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys media and social networking on the go. Battery life is good as long as you don’t overdo it on the games and close down un-necessary programs.

Visual performance                           *****

Battery Life                                         ****

Camera performance                       *****

Processor performance                    *****

Build Quality                                       ****

Welcome To Gadgets Tested

Gadgets Tested is a new blog dedicated to bringing the most extensive and relevant product information to you - the all important consumer! 

Over the next few weeks I will be uploading historic reviews of products still relevant today - whilst creating more content on tech of now and tomorrow.

I am here to review the tech, show the consumer, and test to death the latest technology, including mobile phones, MP3 players and even some miscellanious gear such as outdoor gadgets, gaming gear and musical equipment.