Watch this week's iReview as we talk about the possible images of an iPhone 5 being tested in the field, OS X Lion face detection feature making it to iOS 5, our follow-up on Apple being confirmed as the largest Smartphone manufacturer, and theiPhone 3GS being on sale, sort of. We also talk about our new shows starting next week where we bring the iReview style to Android and WindowsPhone 7 content. As of next week, stay tuned to our:
- Pocketnow Android Revolution every Tuesday
- Pocketnow Windows Phone View every Thursday
- Pocketnow iReview every Saturday
In the Not So Cool section we talk about iOS 4.3.5 being released and we also go through the possibility of Apple choosing cheaper materials so that they could save a couple of bucks.
It looks like Verizon will be offering the HTC Droid Incredible 2 in a new silver color to accompany the original black version -- although like many lightly-colored phones these days, the face will remain dark. Although the Incredible 2/S was never one of our favorite HTC designs, the two-tone appearance works well here, in our opinion. It's expected that the silver DI2 will maintain the same features and specs of its predecessor.
First revealed at Mobile World Congress in February, the Incredible 2 (sold globally as the Incredible S) brings an upper mid-range feature set consisting of a single-core 1GHz CPU, a healthy 768MB of RAM, four-inch WVGA Super LCD, and an eight-megapixel camera. With the LTE-capable, dual-core Droid Bionic poised to hit VZW within a month, however, the silver Incredible 2 will probably need a fairly attractive price to accumulate some market share.
If you somehow missed or didn't take advantage ofVerizon's own BOGO deal on the Motorola Droid 3, worry not, as there might be an even better deal for you. This time it's coming from LetsTalk and you can get the smartphone for nothing.
The offer is valid only for the weekend and if you decide to take advantage, you can grab a VerizonMotorola Droid 3 for free. Of course, the offer is valid if you sign a two-year contract but if you only want to upgrade your individual plan, the phone will go for $89.99. If you wanted this phone, now is the time to get it!
There's a Chinese saying that will suit most of our Western readers here: "quenching thirst by gazing at plums." Oh yes, we're talking about Dell's Streak 10 Pro alright. Just aspromised, said US company has skipped its home country to debut its first 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet in China (ka-ching!), and we happened to be at the Beijing press event for some intimate hands-on time. To be honest, you won't be needing many imaginary plums for this Android's rather mundane specs: it's equipped with the oh-so-familiar 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 T20 chip, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 1,280 x 800 LCD (with Corning's Gorilla Glass), 5 megapixel camera and 2 megapixel camera back and front, andregular-sizeSDHC expansion. That said, Chinese buyers can grab this 16GB WiFi tablet plus 2GB of cloud storage for just ¥2,999 ($465) a pop -- a slightly more attractive price compared to its competitors. Check out our impressions after the break. Update: Hands-on video added after the break. Update 2: We've also done acomparison hands-onwith our very own Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. You're welcome.
At first glance, the average Joe may not easily spot the Streak 10 Pro from a sea of 10-inch Android tablets, especially when they all share similar bezel widths. Flip to the back, though, and you'll recognize the lovely brushed aluminum design that's also featured on some of the latest Dell Latitude laptops. At 13mm thick and 727 grams heavy, this Streak is certainly no match to the likes of Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 2 when it comes to portability, but hey, you get what you pay for. The same can be said about the display -- compared to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 we had with us, Dell's offering was slightly less vibrant, less fine, and had a narrower viewing angle, though none of these points are real deal-breakers. In addition to the 40-pin dock connector at the bottom side of the tablet, Dell has thrown in a micro-USB port on the right for data transfer, while the former takes care of charging up the 24.1WH battery (that powers up to 12 hours of "typical work" usage) and dock expansion. Speaking of which, we were told that the tablet will soon receive compatible docking accessories, including a desktop dock and a multi-purpose dongle (with HDMI-out, micro-USB, and an extra 40-pin connector). In terms of general build quality, the Streak 10 Pro doesn't disappoint. The combination of the thickness and the rubbery top trim provided a comfortable grip, and we certainly couldn't flex the device. As for the software, we had a fast-responding Honeycomb 3.1 system, though only time will tell whether this performance will sustain. While we're here, it's worth pointing out that the only UI customization Dell's implemented is Dell Divide, a work-centric homescreen alternative that can be toggled by double-tapping the home button. In this zone you're given a whole load of widgets and shortcuts for enterprise apps (namely contacts, email services, calendar, etc.), along with native support for ActiveSync services. Can't say we see how consumers would benefit from this feature, but perhaps this can be useful for system admins who need to set up corporate devices.
Going back to the regular interface, you get a total of five homescreens where you can also add in Dell's Stage widgets (pictures, weather, social networking sites, etc.). Sadly, due to limitations within China, you won't find Android Market nor Google Maps on the Chinese Streak 10 Pro, though these are replaced by local services, which is a necessary move for the tablet to penetrate the market. Besides, it's only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to bypass said limitation.
It will sure be interesting to see how well Dell's tablet will do in China, where the significantly more expensive iPad 2 is already available, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has yet to make its way there at some point next month. Given Dell's strong presence in the country, we have a feeling that it'll manage to convince many of its enterprise customers anyway, but the rest is up to Honeycomb.
By now, you should be familiar with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. We've donecountlesshands-onswith the super-svelte Honeycomb slate, and evenreviewed it...twice! Now it's back, again, and this time its packing an LTE radio tuned to the frequencies of a little company known as Verizon. Outside of a few tiny cosmetic changes -- the brushed, gray plastic back and the rumoredMicro SIMslot up top, nothing else has changed. We won't waste too much time rehashing what you already know, but we figured it was worth firing up the latest version, which officially went on sale today, and putting that 4G antenna to the test. You know the routine, keep on keepin' on after the break.
Obviously, the first thing we did once we had the Galaxy Tab powered on was launch the browser and head straight for Speedtest.net. Now, we've done plenty of testing ofVerizon's LTE networkbefore, but this time something was different. The data rates we were seeing didn't just put most cable modems to shame, they were competitive with ourFiOSconnection. We ran the speed test 15 times just to make sure it wasn't some anomaly, and used a few different servers. Weaveraged28.25Mbps down and 7.93Mbps up -- theThunderbolt maxed outat 21.77Mbps. We saw speeds up to a positively face-melting 44.44Mbps down and 9.39Mbps up. Even our ping times were reliably low, never topping 75ms and averaging just shy of 67ms. The connection feels just as fast as those numbers would indicate too. The browser loaded up full desktop sites, even those weighed down with Flash, in no time at all. Engadget popped up just as quickly as did on our Thinkpad and HD clips from themovies sectionof the Android market started playing almost instantaneously.
What isn't clear is why exactly we were seeing such dramatically faster speeds. It's possible that there is beefier hardware inside the Galaxy Tab than in the LTE phones we've seen so far. But, it could also simply be that there were no 4G Verizon customers in the area, allowing us to hog those 700Mhz frequencies. Regardless, we came away impressed. We expected the slate would keep pace with its network peers, but we never anticipated it would so decidedly blow them out of the water.
