The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 continues the
Korean firm's drive to create an Android
device for every single niche in the market.
Samsung's current range has the powerhouses
of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note
3 , followed up by the less powerful yet still
impressive Galaxy S4 Mini .
Below that sits the Galaxy Ace 3, with the
Galaxy Fame and the Galaxy Young rounding
off the list.
Being one of the lower-specced handsets, it's
reasonable to assume that the pricing would
match, and you wouldn't be far wrong.
SIM prices start from around £200, $225,
with 4G contracts in the UK as low as £19pm,
or 3G for £17pm.
This puts the Galaxy
Ace 3 in square
contention with the
newly launched HTC
Desire 500 and the
Nokia Lumia 625, as
well as being a shade
more expensive than
the Samsung Galaxy
S3 Mini .
Being a more budget-
oriented device, the
Galaxy Ace 3 has a
lot to compete
against. Sitting within
the Galaxy range
should help, though -
as should an existing
user base that might
be looking to upgrade
from the original
Galaxy Ace.
In order to convince you to part with some
(though admittedly not much) of your hard-
earned cash, the Galaxy Ace 3 packs in a few
surprises. The more observant will have
noticed that it is 4G enabled, for example.
In truth, this will be the biggest selling point
of the Galaxy Ace 3, as there is not a lot else
that it has to shout about. Running only a
dual-core 1.2GHz processor, when the HTC
Desire 500 offers a quad-core, seems a
disappointing.
I'm still a little sceptical of the need for such
power in low-end devices, though, so I'll take
a look at that later.
Another key specification on the modern
smartphone is the screen. The Galaxy Ace 3
comes with a 4-inch, 480 x 800 screen,
meaning 233ppi. It's a long way off the Galaxy
S4, with its 441 ppi, but it's not too bad.
It seems a little odd that the screen matches
that of the HTC Desire 500, yet somehow
seems brighter and crisper. Then again,
Samsung is famed for putting truly spectacular
screens onto some of its devices.
To cope with that screen, the Galaxy Ace 3
measures in at 121.2 x 62.7 x 9.8mm. This
puts it in the same size bracket as the Galaxy
S4 Mini, although the extra 12g of weight is
very noticeable.
Previous TechRadar reviews have commented
that added weight can sometimes help make a
device feel more premium, but the Galaxy Ace
3 feels a little heavy.
Besides the 4G antenna and 4-inch screen, the
chassis also encases the more standard
smartphone features: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0,
GPS and GLONASS, and NFC.
The Galaxy Ace 3 is shaping up to fit nicely in
the Galaxy range, and this is aided by a strong
design ethos from Samsung. Put the Galaxy
Ace 3 alongside any of the Galaxy phones
since the Galaxy S3 and the curvier nature is
instantly recognisable.
You can pick up the Galaxy Ace 3 in two
colors. I'd tell you to guess what they are, but
black and white are too obvious to make the
game fun. Everyone would be disappointed if
it was just black, though.
There's little to say about the colors
themselves, but what is noticeable is that the
sensors by the front-facing camera are far
more noticeable on the white version. Hopes
of a notification light were also dashed.
A faux chrome band wraps around the chassis,
making it look a little more premium, as well
as breaking up the block white or black color.
As with all smartphones, the screen takes up
most of the front. The home button, as well as
the back and menu soft-keys sit below,
following the same Samsung layout first seen
on the Samsung Galaxy S .
The volume rocker sits at the top of the left-
hand side, with the power lock button
opposite on the right. This leaves the 3.5mm
port sat on the top, and the microUSB/
charger port on the base.
You knew that, though, didn't you? All Galaxy
models, from the Fame through to the S4,
follow in the same vein.
Tucked behind a removable plastic back cover
is an 1800mAh battery, as well as the Samsung
standard microSD slot. I'm really thankful for
its inclusion, although I should mention that
the Galaxy Ace 3 does come with a respectable
8GB internal storage, even if you can't use all
of it.
The added internal storage will give the Galaxy
Ace 3 a boost, as the Desire 500 has less than
1GB of accessible storage, compared with the
Ace's 5GB. It is beaten in the camera
department, with the Galaxy Ace 3 packing
only a 5MP rear sensor. A VGA sensor sits in
the top left, above the screen.
It's hard to be definitive about how much this
affects camera performance, as the Galaxy S3
Mini came with only a 5MP sensor and was
still very impressive.
In terms of size, the Galaxy Ace 3 hits a nice
medium. The race to ever-bigger screens
continues (check out the Sony Xperia Z Ultra
and its massive 6.44-inch beast), but the
smaller stature of the Galaxy Ace 3 means that
the entire screen can be accessed with one
hand.
Overall, the design of the Galaxy Ace 3 isn't
phenomenal, if only because it fits so nicely
within the Galaxy range, and that can't be a
bad thing. It has a lot to live up to, but
bringing 4G to the lower end of the market
should really help.
Interface
When it comes to any device running Android,
you're going to find a certain level of
customisation. The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 is no
exception.
Anybody who has used any Samsung device,
whether running Android or not, will be
instantly familiar. It's understandable that
Samsung is keen to have uniformity across all
its devices, as it builds a tighter ecosystem,
and it will help convince users to make the
jump to Tizen, when that arrives next year.
Not everyone will be a fan of the overlay, but
it is very easy to use, and intuitive. It is also a
lot closer to the native stock Android, as
opposed to HTC's Sense 5.0. There is definitely
no BlinkFeed to be seen.
On the hardware side of things, the Galaxy Ace
3 suffers a little. The dual-core 1.2GHz feels a
little slow. On the whole, the handset chugged
along nicely, but the Ace 3 stuttered enough
times to demand comment. The quad-core
power is noticeable on the HTC Desire 500.
Of course, though, every OS and UI should be
intuitive. After all, what is a smartphone if it
doesn't feel smart? Samsung has nailed this
with TouchWiz, and every iteration takes it to
the next step. The immediate comparison will
always be to Sense, as it is the best known UI
besides TouchWiz.
Something such as having quick settings in the
Notifications bar as an example is a massive
boost, to both usability and battery life. One
key fault here, though, is the lack of any
autobrightness feature, and it's hard to explain
that omission.
There is access to both a quick settings page
and Google's push to have a settings button
via the notifications bar. On the Galaxy Ace 3,
as with all Galaxy devices, it feels a little
redundant.
Being Android Jelly Bean , the expandable and
dismissable notifications are around, and this
is an excellent feature. The top notification
expands to show you more information, such
as multiple messages from WhatsApp, or the
ability to archive via Gmail.
Swiping left or right also allows you to remove
the notification from view, meaning that you
don't have that text or email sat there bugging
you all day. Voicemail messages, as ever, are
still sat there until you call them.
The App drawer has taken a quick lick of paint,
differentiating from the stock drawer in some
pretty handy ways. The ability to sort your
application list by date, alphabetically in a
grid or list, or even hide apps that you don't
want on there, is greatly appreciated.
As ever, folder creation isn't possible within
the app drawer, which is a tad frustrating. It
seems needlessly difficult on the home screens
too, as there is no drag and drop. This could
be due to patent litigations, or the desire to
avoid them, but it's still disappointing.
The Koreans have also had another look at the
lock screen. Widgets are possible, although
the use for them is unclear, as you need to
swipe about to alternate lock screens. Having
preferred apps there is far better.
You can also add text to the lock screen, with
the idea being that you can put your details
on, so if you lose your phone it can be
returned

HTC ends update at Anroid 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
HTC has debunked rumors that its HTC One X and HTC One X+
handsets were next in line to get the Android 4.4 KitKat by declaring
that the phones will receive no further updates.
"We can confirm that the One X+ will not receive further Android
updates & will remain on the current version of Android," tweeted the
official HTC UK Twitter account.
The company followed up these 140-character-limited remarks with a
full statement to The Verge, saying that HTC One X will be joining its
plus-sized, Tegra 3-equipped variant.
"We realize this news will be met with disappointment by some, but
our customers should feel confident that we have designed both
devices to be optimized with our amazing camera and audio
experiences."
Stuck at Android 4.2.2
Because HTC One X and HTC One X+ aren't being updated to Android
4.4, both handsets are stuck with the older Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
and the manufacturer's current Sense 5 overlay.
That means in addition to missing out on KitKat, these HTC phones
don't have Android 4.3's Bluetooth Low Energy support for constantly
syncing wearables like the Fitbit Force .
These hasn't affected all HTC One series phone owners. Android 4.4
KitKat has already rolled out to the company flagship HTC One phone,
for example.
HTC thinks its customers should feel confident with the current
software they have now, but a few are expressing their dissatisfaction
on Twitter, reminding the company that HTC One X+ is only 14 months
old.

HTC One S - Design, Features and
Connectivity
Read the review of the HTC One M8
Following swiftly in the footsteps of the HTC
One X , the HTC One S sits in the middle of
the company's new trio of One branded
Android smartphones. But while it may not
be feature packed enough to perch at the
top of HTC's pile, there's still potentially
enough here to make this one of the choice
phones of the moment.
Design
Chief among the One S' features is its
design. At just 7.8mm thick, it's the thinnest
phone HTC has ever produced and it holds a
candle to the best of them in this regard.
However, far from being a flimsy phone
that's compromised by its slenderness, the
metal chassis used here gives it a reassuring
solidity.
As well as giving strength, the metal body
looks great. The aluminium that makes up
most of the back and that wraps round the
edges has been bathed in a plasma field.
This etches the surface, giving it a matt
black (it's more of a dark grey really)
appearance, and a feel that's similar to
sandblasted metal finishes, though it's a
little rougher. Rather than being just a
cosmetic process, though, this method of
etching creates a surface that is four times
tougher than traditional anodised
aluminium, something that is immediately
noticeable.
Some people have reported this finish as
being overly slippery, and while it is quite
smooth we haven't found it any more
difficult to handle than most other phones
with a matt finish. Also, when flat on a
surface the soft touch plastic bottom section
provides a pretty good purchase so it won't
slip off – it's a shame the camera lens sticks
out in this regard.
However, while tough, this finish can't
perform miracles so for instance when we
received our review sample there were
already a few scuffs around the microUSB
socket where the steel plug of the microUSB
cable has scratched it. And during our time
with the phone it picked up a large scratch
on the back just from rummaging around in
a bag. Clearly bad fortune played a
considerable part here but it's still a little
alarming how easily this scratch was
obtained and moreover how noticeable it is
thanks to the contrasting silver of the
aluminium shining through the matt black.
You can also get this phone in a graduated
anodised finish. This looks just like a
standard sandblasted, anodised finish but
the colour fades from light to dark. It's a
beautiful effect, though you do miss out on
the extra toughness of this plasma-blasted
(micro-arc oxidised is the technical term)
finish. Then again, what scratches it does
pick up may be less noticeable.
It's almost a shame then that the metal
must be broken up by two sections of soft-
touch plastic: up top around the camera
lens, and at the bottom around the speaker.
However, this is required to let the various
wireless signals out, and overall it still looks
very nice indeed.
On the front, HTC has performed a neat
trick that gives the impression the screen
curves round the sides of the phone, when
in fact it's a perfectly flat panel. They've
done this be extending the strip of shiny
black plastic that surrounds and protects
the edges of the screen down the sides. It's
a bit of a cheat but it both looks and feels
good.
Features and Connectivity
Features wise, up top you've got the
headphone jack and power button while the
left edge is home to the microUSB socket
and on the right is the volume rocker that is
finished in a matching matt black. Joining
the main camera on the back is a single LED
flash, and there's a front facing camera too.
And finishing things off are the three touch
sensitive, backlit navigation buttons that sit
under the screen. The whole lot throws up
few surprises and ticks all the right boxes.
However, our bugbear of not being able to
unlock the screen without stretching to
reach the top edge power button rears its
head once again. That said, as the One S is a
smaller phone, the problem isn't as bad as
on the HTC One X and you soon get the
hang of it
Under the hood there has been one
potentially major slip up, though. Prize off
the small plastic section at the top
(something that is easier said than done)
and while you can add in your microSIM,
you can't add anymore storage or replace
the battery. And with only 16GB of built in
storage, this could instantly kill the appeal
of this handset for many people, especially
as only about 10GB of it is available to the
user.

HTC One X - Design and Features
Read the review of the HTC One M8
After a few years churning out a whole host
of handsets, HTC has tightened-up its lineup,
with just three Android models arriving in
the coming few months. The first to arrive,
and the top of the line, is the HTC One X,
which packs in a 4.7in HD screen, 8-
megapixel camera and quad core Nvidia
Tegra 3 processor.
Available for pre-order now from most
providers and hitting shop shelves on April
5, the HTC One X will you set you back £459
SIM free or can be had for free on £36 a
month, 24-month contracts and upwards.
Design and Features
We were sent the grey version of the HTC
One X for review and upon taking it out its
box our first impression was one of slight
disappointment. When we first saw HTC's
handset, it was in its white livery and we
thought it looked great, feeling it resembled
an oversized Nokia Lumia 800 – the best
looking phone currently on the market in
our humble opinion. However, the look
hasn't transferred well to this grey finish.
It falls down in two ways. The first is simply
that grey isn't a particularly inspiring choice
of colour, even given the nice matt finish
used on most of the handset. The second is
the shiny strip HTC have chosen to run
round the edge. Without this the HTC One X
could've passed as maybe having a sand
blasted anodised metal finish, and looked a
bit more premium because of it, but the
shiny strip just screams "I'm plastic".
Let's be clear, the HTC One X isn't an ugly
phone. The clean overall styling looks great
and certainly surpasses the recent Sony
Xperia S , but we just can't get past that grey
back. Thankfully you should be able to opt
for the white version instead, which carries
off the look much better.
Style isn't, however, the only area where the
HTC One X trips up. For a start, the back
isn't removable so you can't easily swap the
battery. Then there's the lack of expandable
memory – you get 32GB built-in, which
should be plenty, but some users will still
want the option of adding in an microSD
card to their HTC.
Another bugbear we have with the HTC One
X, particularly on these larger phones
(dimensions are 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm), is
the continual use of a top-edge-mounted
power button. It's simply too much of a
stretch for comfortable one handed use. The
Samsung Galaxy S2 , for instance, got things
spot on when it put this button on the right
edge where it falls easily under your thumb/
finger. At 130g it is at least surprisingly
lightweight.
Fret not, though. While this may read like a
catalogue of critical errors for the HTC One
X, most are merely small niggles that simply
leave the design door slightly ajar, ready for
another upcoming phone – say the Samsung
Galaxy S3 – to sneak in and become our top
smartphone pick, assuming it gets the rest
of the basics right. Currently, though,
there's nothing else that can match what the
HTC One X offers.
Connectivity
First though, let's finish looking round the
HTC One X's exterior. On the left edge is the
microUSB (MHL) socket used for charging,
connecting to your computer, and with an
appropriate cable it can connect to your TVs
HDMI input. Meanwhile the right is home to
the volume rocker, which is also glossy grey
plastic, rather than the usual chrome we
expect of HTC. As for the headphone jack,
HTC have placed it up top, and the metal
SIM slot – which takes microSIMs – pops
out with the push of a paperclip just like the
iPhone.
On the back, alongside the Beats Audio and
HTC logo are a quintet of metal dots. These
are contacts that are used for charging and
data transfer when the phone is docked in
the various compatible accessories. These
include a simple desktop dock that holds the
HTC One X horizontally and there's also a
set of car accessories that includes a dash
mounted dock, a screen-visor-mounted
Bluetooth mic/speaker and wireless receiver
to plug into your stereo for playing back
your music.
Under the HTC's screen are the three
navigation buttons, which although touch
sensitive, are not part of the main
touchscreen. This breaks somewhat with
Google's rules, as it wanted to promote
moving to completely virtual touch buttons,
but most manufacturers have implemented
separate buttons. The ones on the HTC are
responsive and easy to use.

HTC's Desire range aims for the
lower end of the market and the
Desire 300 is at the bottom of its
UK list, with specs scaled back
just about as far as it dares. It
has a less-than-HD screen, an
unremarkable processor and low-
end camera, but the price mean
it's a bargain?
Design
There's none of the metallic
casing elements of HTC's higher-
end One series here, but the
Desire 300 is made of sturdy
rubberised plastic and it feels
very solidly put together with
virtually no flex on the back
panel. There's no 4G capability,
which understandable at this
price, but you do get reasonably
nippy downloads with full 3G.
HTC Desire 300 HTC
The 4.3-inch screen is a goodly
size if you're not overly sold on
the recent trend for palm-
stetching phablets. However, it
offers a sub-HD resolution of
800x480 pixels (217ppi) which
isn't particularly impressive. Not
that it's terrible -- you can view
movies and zoom in on pics with
a good degree of clarity and
colours look fine if not especially
vibrant -- but it lacks the eye-
popping pizzazz of the better
screens and is put to shame by
the 326ppi display of the
considerably cheaper Moto G.
Android and processor
It's running the slightly long in
the tooth Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
OS, which is to be expected at
this price, though it's difficult to
recognise since it's running the
latest Sense 5 version of HTC's
own good-looking but rather
busy interface. That means it
also has Blinkfeed, the combined
news and social networking
aggregator that pulls together all
your updates in a magazine-style
interface.
The dual-core 1GHz processor is
backed by 512MB Ram and it
feels just a tad underpowered.
There's a hint of lag when
switching between apps and we
couldn't get it to run heavier
duty HD games like Real Racing 3.
Our AnTuTu benchmark test gave
it 7,837, which puts it well below
midrange rivals like the Google
Nexus 4 , Motorola's Moto G or
even ZTE's Grand S Flex .
HTC Desire 300 test photo Dave Oliver
HTC Desire 300 test photo Dave Oliver
Photography
The 5-megapixel camera is a
pared back version of the
snapper on other Desire
handsets. There's no flash and
no BSI low-light sensor, but there
is autofocus and a few settings to
play around with including face
detection and smile capture.
There's only 4GB of memory on
board for storing your pics and
vids though you can add a
microSD card up to 64GB. There's
also a bog standard VGA camera
on the front for video calls.
The 1,650mAh battery didn't set
any new records either -- it lasted
a day fairly comfortably, but
didn't promise much more.
Conclusion
The HTC Desire 300 is a perfectly
reasonable budget smartphone,
with okay screen and processor,
plus a better than expected
camera. Expandable storage is
nice too, but although it's touted
as HTC's 'most affordable' phone,
and it's certainly cheaper than a
Nexus 5, for around the same
price on PAYG you could get
yourself a genuine bargain like
the Moto G.

The HTC Amaze 4G can be quickly
described as a shutterbug's phone,
since it packs in an 8 megapixel
camera (with advanced features)
and 1080p video capture, plus a
dual LED flash. It also has all of the
features you'd expect to find in a
modern Android smarphone,
including a 1.5 GHz processor, Wi-Fi
and 4G wireless, Bluetooth, and
even NFC compatibility for wireless
payment and social media check-in
functionality when available.
It's currently available from T-
Mobile for $260 with a new two-
year service contract and a $50
mail-in rebate.
BUILD & DESIGN
The Amaze is a little more stylish than some of
the other phones I've reviewed recently, being
white with brushed silver accents. The front of
the phone is dominated by the display of
course, but there's a band of silver on the
back, embossed with the HTC logo, that also
wraps around the sides of the phone. If white's
not your thing, it's also available in black.
It fits nicely in the hand, being a bit narrower
than some of its recent competitors, but it is
somewhat thicker and heavier. If you're
concerned most about having the thinnest or
lightest phone, the Amaze isn't the one for
you, and you should look elsewhere. It's also a
bit slippery too, since the back is so smooth
there's really nothing for your fingers to catch
on when holding the phone.
I happen to like the form factor, since I don't
mind a little extra thickness and prefer a
slightly smaller display to decrease the overall
width of the device. It seems odd to say that a
screen this size is "slightly smaller", but that's
the truth in high-end models these days. And I
would definitely want a case or a silicone skin
to make it a little easier to hold on to.
Display
The display is a 4.3-inch touchscreen with a
resolution of 960 x 540. It's extremely clear
and sharp, and bright enough to see clearly
even if you're outside on a sunny day. The
display is capable of blinding brightness, in
fact, so you might want to turn down the
brightness a bit to make it more comfortable
to use when you're indoors.
Keyboard
There's no physical keyboard, so you'll be
typing on screen. It works just fine, though
you likely won't want to tap out that novel
you've been working on for the last decade.
Other Buttons & Controls
The power button and headphone jack are on
the top edge of the Amaze, while the volume
up/down button is on the right side, along
with two small buttons that start a video
recording or capture a photo when pressed.
That's a really nice feature, and much faster
than starting the camera app as usual.
On the left side you'll find the charge/sync
port, which is not the standard micro-USB
connector that you may be used to. I found it
frustrating to deal with a non-standard port; I
had to carry along the proprietary charging
cable instead of using any of my third party
solutions.

The latest addition to HTC's
bulging pockets stuffed with
Android smartphones isn't aimed
at aficionados or riders at the
high-tech gates of mobile internet
dawn. The HTC Explorer is
designed for the newcomer to the
world of "connected everything",
who's just starting to realise that
modern mobiles are about a lot
more than making calls and
sending texts.
Design
So the Explorer is very much
Android on a budget. Inside its
sturdy rubberised plastic casing
it's more or less up to date,
running Android 2.3.5
Gingerbread (the one before the
very latest 4.0 Ice Cream
Sandwich) and also has HTC's
latest 3.5 version of its rightly-
praised Sense user interface.
Actually, make that 3.5a, which is
the stripped down version that
does without the fancy dancy 3D
graphics -- much easier for the
modest 600MHz processor inside
the Explorer to handle.
The 3.2-inch screen is just about
big enough for viewing movies
and surfing the web without
squinting. And while its 480x320-
pixel resolution is far from the
sharpest, it's not obviously fuzzy
or pixelated.
Performance
Going back to the 600MHz
processor, it might look
underpowered on paper, but it
actually holds up pretty well in
practise -- not super nippy, but
not held back by obvious lag
when switching between apps
either, so long as you don't have
too many running at once.
Usefully, a Task Manager app
makes it easy to keep an eye on
what's using those precious
megahertz at any given time.
Just like more expensive
Androids, you can populate seven
home screens with all the usual
widgets and shortcuts, including
the Microsoft Outlook-compatible
calendar and FriendStream,
which pulls all your social
networking updates together.
Smartphone newbies have also
been considered with the option
of written descriptions within
apps such as messaging, so you
don't have to wonder about the
symbols for forwarding or
creating new messages.
Camera
While pricier HTCs have been
making some noteworthy
improvements to the on-board
camera, the 3-megapixel model
on the Explorer takes us back to
the bad old days of HTC snappers
-- poor colour balance, lack of
sharpness and too much
tendency to noise in less-than-
perfect light conditions. There's
no autofocus or flash and really
just there for emergencies only.
The budget specification also
extends to the lack of memory --
it can take up to 32GB microSD
cards but there's none provided
as standard and you'll certainly
need one, since there's only
90MB of storage onboard. There
are no headphones supplied
either -- not a disaster since they
wouldn't have been much good
anyway, but it means you're not
completely ready to go straight
out of the box.
With its modest screen and
processor, plus the scaled-down
UI, the Explorer's 1,230mAh
battery was able to give a fairly
good account of itself, giving
almost two days of consistent use
without the need for a recharge.
Conclusion
It's not really an object of desire,
but as a solidly built and well
equipped introduction to
smartphones, the HTC Explorer
could end up on an awful lot of
shopping lists this year, and
rightfully so.

Following the commercial success (and technical disappointment) of the original Wildfire -- which featured a miserly 528MHz CPU and QVGA display -- HTC has returned with the Wildfire S ($290). Like the Desire S and Incredible S , the company is sticking to its formula of providing incremental updates to stay competitive for 2011. Not only is this little one sporting improved hardware, but this time it's strutting around with Gingerbread. Will this be HTC's budget-line breakthrough, or will it fall face first into the land of mobile misfits? For the answer, check out the full review after the break. HARDWARE The Wildfire S is HTC's response to every consumer allegation that smartphones are getting too big and unwieldy. Measuring in at 3.99 inches (101.3mm) tall and 2.34 inches (59.4mm) wide, it's actually smaller than the Wildfire it replaces. The handset measures 0.49 inches (12.4mm) at its thickest point, but a curved back and beveled front ensure it maintains a svelte shape that's very comfortable to hold. Naturally, the device keeps its signature chin, which allows users to easily grasp the phone with one hand in landscape orientation. Aside from its chrome accents on the power button, speaker grille, volume rocker (and two thin rings surrounding the display and camera lens), the Wildfire S has a very simple appearance. We tested the tri-color version of the phone, which has a metallic sheen on the front and a darker matte variation on the soft-touch battery cover, with the lightest hue encasing the camera pod. Despite the number of contrasting shades, we never felt that its design went overboard -- or posed a threat to anyone's masculinity. If you can't stand the idea of purple (really, it's quite attractive), there are black and silver models, too. Unlike the physically flawed Wildfire, the Wildfire S feels carefully made. At 3.7oz (105g), the phone has a dense feel without being heavy. The raised volume rocker (found on the left side of the handset, above the micro-USB port) is long and slim, and feels very solid and tactile -- for instance, we were able to adjust the loudness at most points along its length. While the power / lock button (located up top with the 3.5mm stereo mini-jack) exhibited a small amount of wobble, you're unlikely to notice this effect so long as you press it with entire pad of your finger. On the front, you'll find four illuminated capacitive buttons for navigation. They work quite well, but became quite annoying when typing in portrait mode. With the space bar in such close proximity to the back button, we inadvertently dismissed the keyboard numerous times -- ultimately forcing us to type solely in landscape orientation. A green / amber light is hidden within the speaker grille, which conveys the charge status and delivers customizable notifications -- a nice touch, indeed. The 3.2-inch HVGA (480 x 320 pixel) TFT LCD display is a marked improvement over its QVGA predecessor. Despite being fashioned out of Gorilla Glass, the capacitive touchscreen is susceptible to scratches, though it does redeem itself with a bright panel, vibrant colors and decent viewing angles. Unfortunately, it's also extremely glossy and easily doubles as a mirror when it reflects light. On the back of the phone, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera is paired with an LED flash and a dedicated loudspeaker. Internally, the Wildfire S is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7227 SoC with a 600MHz CPU and an Adreno 200 GPU. We received the international version, which supports quadband GSM and dual-band HSPA (2100 / 900MHz), which unfortunately limited us to EDGE connectivity in the States. Thankfully, HTC sells a variant for our native (1900 / 850MHz) 3G bands. Considering its entry-level positioning, the Wildfire S features a comprehensive assortment of goodies, including: 512MB of memory, WiFi b/g/n (which functions as a mobile hotspot), Bluetooth 3.0, AGPS, and FM radio, along with a compass, accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensors. PERFORMANCE AND CALL QUALITY Featuring only a 600MHz processor, the Wildfire S immediately positions itself as a budget offering. That's a shame, really, because there are plenty of users who would appreciate a compact phone that's also speedy. While the handset responded nimbly when we navigated menus, viewed galleries, and browsed the internet, it noticeably faltered when we stumbled on pages with Flash animation. We also noticed that the menu in the camera application is horribly sluggish -- nearly to the point of being unusable. Put simply, the software provides a live image preview even while the user is more concerned with tweaking the settings. Unfortunately, this is too much for the Wildfire S to handle. HTC would have been wise to disable the live preview to make adjusting ISO, white balance and whatnot actually tolerable. If you happen to be listening to music at the same time, the procedure is all the more excruciating. Fortunately, if you're interested in using this phone as, you know, a phone, you'll be glad to know that call quality is superb. The earpiece is quite loud even at the medium setting, and voices sound clear and distinct even when the volume is very low. Although our friend's voice came across as sharp and edgy when we called her Verizon iPhone, we never had difficulty understanding what she was saying. Placing a call to a landline was a thoroughly rewarding experience, with natural tones on our end that were crisp and full of depth. In both cases, callers commented on the clarity of our voice, although the microphone may be overly sensitive, because they were able to distinctly hear the sounds of children in the background. If you speak quietly or have trouble hearing, the Wildfire S could be a true blessing. BATTERY LIFE With a 1230mAh battery, the phone could meet, disappoint, or exceed your expectations -- and this will all come down to how you use it. In our first test, we started with a full charge and fresh boot, enabled WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, set the display to 50 percent brightness, configured one push email account, and set Twitter and Facebook to poll every 15 minutes and one hour, respectively. When playing Lego Star Wars on a continual loop, the handset kept going for five hours and 15 minutes. In another battery torture test, we kept these settings and went about the town listening to one hour of music, capturing 60 photos (with location tagging), using GPS navigation for five minutes, talking for 20 minutes and sending 20 text messages -- all the while checking our email periodically. We then returned home to surf the web for another 20 minutes over WiFi, and managed to squeeze in 20 minutes of Angry Birds before the battery gave out. This added up to approximately five hours of use. In our final test, we disabled Bluetooth, reduced the backlight to 40 percent, and attempted to use the phone in a more tame manner. After 25 minutes of voice calls, 30 minutes of music listening, capturing ten photos, sending 20 text messages, and intermittently browsing the web and checking our email, the phone managed a full 30 hours before it hit the ten percent mark. CAMERA The five megapixel AF camera on the Wildfire S is a fine performer in ideal conditions, but it's held back by a wide range of limitations. For instance, while the phone captures a reasonable amount of detail in the near-field (which is beautifully assisted by the tap-to-focus feature), distant details will look muddy no matter where you place the focus. We also noticed the image sensor was continually overwhelmed in bright areas, which resulted in blown-out pockets. Shooting indoors is a mixed bag, where you're bound to get quite a bit of noise. Fortunately, we had better luck when manually limiting the ISO or leaning on the LED flash for assistance. Speaking of the built-in bulb, it's quite good when lighting an indoor scene that's otherwise completely dark. Unfortunately if the flash hits anything glossy, again the sensor will be overwhelmed. When we took the camera out at dusk, it struggled mightily to make sense of the situation. The software would often compensate by cranking the ISO between 600 and 800, making the scene appear as a very grainy daylight. That said, depending on the effect you're going for, it produced some interesting results at low ISO settings, which you can also manipulate with your point of focus. Video capture is limited to VGA (640 x 480) on the Wildfire S, which is a drastic improvement over the original Wildfire, but the CPU struggles to deliver a frame rate that properly conveys fluid motion. It will certainly work in a pinch, but don't expect anything mind-blowing. SOFTWARE One of the Wildfire S' key selling points is the inclusion of Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread), and naturally, it comes with Sense 2.1 layered on top. Upon setup, users are given the option to transfer information from their previous phone over Bluetooth, login to a WiFi network, choose how data is synced, opt-in to Google's location services, and configure their email and social network accounts. The handset we received was free of carrier customization, which meant little bloatware and just the usual hybrid of Google and HTC apps. Along with the seven home screens and a plethora of widgets, you'll find the HTC Hub, which allows users to further personalize their phones with a free assortment of sound sets, themes, wallpapers, and yes... more widgets. A less useful offering is HTC Likes, which aims to bring a social component to the Android Market, but its app sharing feature is largely superfluous and the software selection is a disappointment. Given that internal storage is always at a premium, we'd greatly applaud an option to remove redundant applications such as this and HTC's Twitter client, Peep. Which brings us to an interesting point. As is, HTC Sense is a "love it or leave it" proposition. While there's no doubt the company has spent a great deal of effort to refine and polish the interface, certain aspects of it continue to frustrate just as many as those who find it charming -- we're looking at you, keyboard and dialer. Given that Sense was originally created to bring ease of use to the forefront, we'd like to see an option that allows users to pick and choose between HTC and Google applications. Say you love the Sense Music app, but long for the Android calendar -- two clicks later, and that could be yours. Sure, you'll lose the cohesive interface, but why not have the choice? Given Android's openness, communication between the apps shouldn't be an issue. Put simply, if HTC were willing to let users choose their own personalized blend of Sense and Android, it wouldn't be giving away the crown jewels, but rather doubling them.

This year has been a big one for mobile at Sony. After a decade of
producing mobile phones in partnership with Ericsson, the Japanese
company officially took over the joint venture in early 2012 and began
marketing its first phones under the name “Sony.” The Xperia P is the
middle child of a trio of new Android phones from Sony. It’s not the
top of the line or largest, but it isn’t the smallest either. And like every
middle child, it’s going to catch flak from both ends. Read on as I try
not to give the P too much of a complex.
Video review
Look and feel
With a scant 4-inch screen, the Xperia P is smaller than your average
smartphone these days, with the notable exception of the iPhone 4S,
which is smaller still. While a 4-inch screen will feel cramped to some
of you, others might be relieved to see a smartphone with a screen
that isn’t pushing 5 inches.
Though it’s petite, the P’s size makes its boxy, futuristic design more
charming than larger Sony devices like the Xperia Ion . Our review unit
had a sparkly silver finish to it, which classes up Sony’s love for
straight lines. It also comes in red and black. Though I wasn’t
particularly kind to the design of the Ion, the entire look and feel is
more cohesive in the NXT trio of phones, including the P. This comes
at the cost of battery access. Like the iPhone, you cannot manually
swap your battery.
The face buttons — back, home, menu — are almost magically placed
inside a strip of clear plastic along the bottom of the phone, which is
strange, but they work, so who’s complaining? Most of the rest of the
controls are along the right side. Thin, stylish camera, volume, and
power buttons adorn the side, along with a single speaker — there’s no
matching left speaker, if you’re wondering. The speaker gets quite
loud, but does tend to break up a bit at high volume, and its
placement is exactly where the power button probably should be,
forcing it into an abnormally low position about a third of the way
down the phone. The low power button also made it awkward to reach
for the volume key. This won’t be a problem for those with smaller
hands, but I’m no Andre the Giant, so you may want to hold this
phone before committing to purchase. All three of these buttons are
also a hair on the thin side, making them somewhat uncomfortable to
press even if you can stretch your thumb to reach them.
On the left side of the phone is a micro SIM tray along with Micro
HDMI and Micro USB ports. The headphone jack is on the top right.
Overall, the Xperia P looks nice and represents an improvement over
the Ion, but has some issues with button placement.
Software and operating system
Though Android 4.0 updates are rolling out to some Xperia P users, we
have not gotten ours yet, leaving our Xperia P with the rather old and
outdated Android 2.3. If you only care about appearances, however,
this shouldn’t bother you. Sony has managed to spruce up the user
interface, adding its trademark blue, black, and white design. We don’t
have many complaints, except that you will want to avoid moving
background images as they’ll gum up the works and lag the phone
down. Just as on the Xperia Ion, Sony’s interface is clean and easy to
navigate. If you’re shopping for an Android phone, this one shouldn’t
screw with your expectations too much.
Connecting the phone to a Mac did present problems. If you have K
PC, you’re covered as the Ion comes with PC software pre-loaded, but
Mac owners, you’re out of luck. Even with the official Android File
Transfer software, I was unable to connect the Xperia P to a MacBook
Air to transfer files. Perhaps Sony has ceded MacBook Air owners to
the iPhone?
The Xperia P doesn’t come with much in the way of custom software,
which is mostly a good thing — download all you want from the
Google Play store. It does come with a few things like a custom update
app, a Power Saver app, and WhatsApp. Nothing much to get worried,
or excited, about. If the P gets picked up by a U.S. wireless carrier,
expect more bloatware.
Hardware specs
The most impressive thing about the Xperia P is its screen, but not in
a way the traditional specs would reveal. Though it measures only 4
inches across and has a 540 x 960 pixel resolution, I haven’t ever used
a phone with a brighter screen. Thanks to new “WhiteMagic” LCD
technology, the P displays whites that are brighter than a commercial
for Tide detergent. It’s a lovely screen, though it doesn’t have the wow
factor that an AMOLED screen can have.
The rest of the specs are more ordinary: The P has a 1GHz dual-core
processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal flash memory (no microSD),
an 8-megapixel rear camera, a VGA (particularly lame) front-facing
webcam, NFC, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 (old), Wi-Fi, and most other
common features and sensors.
As for Quadrant, our trusty little benchmarking test, the Xperia P
performed rather poorly, scoring only a 2,400, a bit under the Galaxy
Nexus, but far worse than newer phones like the HTC One X and
Galaxy S3, which both scored around 5,000. What does this mean to
you? Not much, but if you’re buying a phone for gaming or have any
plans to really push your smartphone to the limits, opt for another
device.
Camera
The Xperia P’s 8-megapixel camera does its job. The photos in the
comfort of our cushy office in downtown Manhattan came out all
right. Not great, mind you, but not bad. It had some issues focusing in
areas of high light, sometimes getting itself stuck in an endless loop of
refocusing on light sources, but mostly, it works. Outdoor shots look
particularly nice, and the P picks up a good amount of detail. Just
don’t expect it to match or outperform top competitors like the
iPhone 4S, HTC EVO 4G LTE, and One X.
On a sadder note, though all front-facing cameras seem to be crappy
these days, Sony has gone bottom of the barrel here with a VGA
camera only capable of 640 x 480 pixel pictures. Pictures from it will
be smaller than those you’d probably see on Facebook these days.
Talking and texting
Voice reception has been decent in NYC, and calls have been
exceptionally clear on both ends. Conversations were easily
understood on speakerphone as well. I did have a problem with the
phone app not responding once a call was over (I couldn’t hang up),
but that only happened one time. The texting app works fine, and is in
the style of the iPhone, with little chat bubbles for you and the person
you’re texting. Only the tiny size of the keys on the touch keyboard
presented an issue.
The version we’re running is unlocked and running on AT&T’s 3G
network. The Xperia P is not currently being sold by any U.S. wireless
carriers.
Battery performance
Battery life has not been a big issue, likely because the P doesn’t
connect to LTE and has a modestly sized screen. Expect to charge the
phone every night, as usual. According to Sony, the upgrade to
Android 4.0, whenever it comes, will boost the standby battery life of
the P, so more improvements will come. The P also comes with a
Power Saver app, which will help conserve battery life in tight
situations by turning off non-essential features.
Conclusion
The Xperia P is not a record-setting handset, though it’s WhiteMagic
screen is certainly a winner in my book. The design is clean and the
hardware is fast enough to satisfy most users. Assuming the update to
Android 4.0 comes through for everyone with the P (some users have
gotten it already), it could be a good option for those looking for a
smaller handset. Phones keep getting larger and larger. It’s good to see
a solid phone in a smaller size.
Highs
Super bright WhiteMagic screen
Compact size is a plus
Voice calls sound good
Sleek Sony design
Lows
Button layout uncomfortable
Android 4.0 update still pending
No microSD
Crappy front camera

Years ago, people either bought an iPhone or “a Droid." Verizon’s marketing power, those insane robot ads, and maybe that just-close- enough naming convention made the carrier's Android phones virtually synonymous with their operating system. But now I hear people every day saying "Oh, is that the new Galaxy?" or "I don't really want an iPhone. I think I'm going to get a Galaxy." Thanks to its high quality and wide availability, not to mention Samsung's sheer brute-forcing marketing effort, the Galaxy S III became the face of the Android universe. It has sold tens of millions of units , and helped Android take huge marketshare away from the iPhone. Now Samsung's back with that device’s successor, the Galaxy S4. The new handset changes little from the GS III, but it adds a lot — a bigger screen, and a laundry list of software tweaks and features. It's a variation on a theme, a safe tweak to a strategy that’s worked impossibly well for Samsung. But the landscape has changed since the Galaxy S III came out, and good cameras, big and beautiful screens, and fast performance now come virtually standard. The Galaxy S4 comes into a fiercely competitive market, with great phones on all sides and a particularly strong showing from the HTC One — is it enough of an improvement to keep Samsung atop the Android heap? I've had one for a week or so, and I have a few thoughts on the subject. Some things never change The GS4's primary competitors are the iPhone 5 and the HTC One, and from a pure design perspective that should make Samsung very, very nervous. Where Apple and HTC have both made beautiful, well- made, high-quality phones, the GS4 has Samsung back in the land of cheap, plasticky handsets. It looks for all the world like the Galaxy S III — despite having a bigger screen and more horsepower, at 7.9mm and 4.6 ounces it's actually imperceptibly thinner and lighter than the S III. But copying the S III wasn’t a good idea. I don't like holding this phone, and I can't overstate how much that informs the experience of using it. It makes an awful first impression, slippery and slimy and simply unpleasant in your hand. My white review unit is completely smooth and glossy, with a subtle checkered pattern that looks textured but is neither grippy nor textured anywhere on its body. Even the silver band around the sides, which is obviously supposed to look like metal, is plastic. Everyone I showed the GS4 to frowned and wrinkled their nose as if it smelled bad, before rubbing their fingers on the back of the phone and then handing it back to me — that's the opposite of the standard reaction to HTC’s One, which everyone wants to ogle and hold. That's going to be a huge problem for Samsung, because the GS4 and One are likely to be next to each other on store shelves, and at least on first impression there's absolutely no contest between the two. It's a shame, too, because Samsung didn’t have to do it this way. The company made tradeoffs for a removable battery and a slightly thinner body, but I’m not sure those are features worth sacrificing so much for in 2013. It's not all bad: the GS4 is thin and light, and feels durable despite its cheap materials. It's also an improvement over the S III, thanks to slightly flatter edges and shrunken bezels. The port layout is smart: power button on the right, volume on the left, headphone jack up top and Micro USB on the bottom, with the SIM card, microSD slot, and battery accessible when you peel off the removable back. I’m thrilled the GS4 has a physical home button, with capacitive Back and Menu keys on either side. It's very comfortable for such a large phone, but I can't get over the gross feeling I get holding it. Samsung's proven repeatedly that people don't care about build quality, or at least will overlook it in favor of features and performance, but the landscape's different now. The HTC One is a powerful, feature-rich device that is also beautiful and classy, while Samsung's handset feels like an overpowered children’s toy. Samsung's feature list has to be awfully long to overcome that — and it is, but I'll get there. CAN WE FINALLY DECIDE DESIGN MATTERS? In living color IT MAY NOT BE PERFECTLY ACCURATE, BUT IT LOOKS GOOD Through my entire time with the GS4, I kept imagining walking through a store and trying to pick a phone. Before even considering how Samsung can beat HTC, I wondered how such an apparently evolutionary change would convince users to upgrade from the S III, or to spring for the newer and more expensive model when the GS III is still a solid choice. The answer's simple, and luckily for Samsung it's also immediately obvious. It's the screen. The GS4's 5-inch, 1920 x 1080 display is big, beautiful, and seriously eye-catching. The latter is partially a bad thing: the S4 uses a Super AMOLED panel like many of Samsung's phones, and like many of Samsung’s phones it displays overly contrasted and vibrant colors. Those colors may not be accurate — reds and oranges absolutely explode off the screen, whether they should or not — but they certainly catch your eye. And with a ridiculous 441-pixels-per-inch, even the PenTile display matrix I usually loathe causes no problems. The glass is rigid and responsive to touch, and works even if you have gloves on — which I shouldn’t have needed to test in April in New York City, and yet here we are. For some reason, Samsung has always had trouble with screen brightness settings — the GS4 can never seem to decide how bright its screen should be, changing suddenly and drastically often and without warning. I turned automatic brightness off very quickly. I tried to pick my favorite between the One's display and the GS4's, and wound up going back and forth a dozen times before giving up. Both are incredibly high-res, bright, and crystal clear; the One is slightly more accurate, but I still periodically forget my nitpicking and get lost in the GS4's vibrant colors. You really can't lose, and that's pretty great. The lone speaker on the Galaxy S4 resides on its backside, in that wonderfully unconsidered spot where audio is both muffled by your hand and blasting directly away from your ears. Once again, HTC broke the curve by offering two big, powerful speakers pointed straight at your face — but the One aside, the GS4 offers surprisingly loud sound from rear-facing grille. It's not very rich and is very compressed, but it's loud. Loud is good. The camera Instagram deserves While HTC is trying to convince buyers that megapixels don't matter, and that its so-called Ultrapixels are better anyway, Samsung went the opposite direction. I don't know if all the pixels in the Galaxy S4's 13-megapixel sensor are the reason, or if I should credit Samsung's fast processor or the clear attention paid to its software, but the upshot is that the GS4's camera is the best Android camera I've ever used by a considerable margin, and in most cases it's every bit as good as the iPhone 5's camera. However, the One and the Nokia Lumia 920 do considerably better than the GS4 in poor lighting. When it’s dark, the GS4 takes the same soft, noisy pictures as any other smartphone camera, but without the incredible brightness capabilities of the One — there are pictures you'll get with the One or the 920 that the GS4 just can't capture. The GS4's autofocus stumbles in low light, too; I learned quickly to take three shots at night, in order to get one that was properly focused. It's actually Samsung's experience with dedicated cameras that make shooting photos with the GS4 so nice. The company borrowed a lot of the GS4's camera software from the Galaxy Camera , a concept car of sorts that clearly informed its ability to build a great cameraphone. The interface is much improved over the S III, from the scrolling Mode dial to the one-press capture of either stills or video. It's also simple and fast, two things many cellphone cameras are not. The GS4's greatest photographic achievement, though, is that it manages to be simple and fast while simultaneously offering the largest, most impressive feature set of any smartphone camera I've ever used. If you're just turning the phone to Auto and firing pictures, you're missing out. Instead, you should try turning it to Eraser Mode, which detects moving objects in your photo — like the stranger that always walks by right as you take the shot — and automatically removes them. Or scroll up to Drama Shot, which takes a series of pictures as a subject moves and then shows a whole leap, or the soccer ball's whole flight path, in one automatically-overlaid photo. Animated Photo lets you take a few seconds of video, then choose with your finger whether a part of the frame is still or in motion — you can actually create and share animated GIFs without ever leaving the camera app. Some of the more advanced features require some staging — and Drama Shot sometimes takes a couple of tries — but they're all pretty cool. All except for Dual Camera, which despite Samsung's heavy promotion remains a mystery to me. The pitch is simple enough: you take a picture with both front and rear cameras simultaneously and overlay one on the other, so the person taking the picture appears in the picture as well. It's a neat idea in theory, but in practice left me just superimposing giant versions of my head onto random buildings, inside weird postage-stamp borders or within a heart. It's a fun, silly way to take an "I'm in New York!" selfie without turning the camera on yourself, and maybe that's enough, but it's still a little odd that Samsung is putting so much marketing muscle behind such a niche feature. There are a lot of trees in this forest, some of them less than perfect, but taken as a whole the Galaxy S4's camera is a triumph. If it supplants the many terrible Android cameras posting to my Instagram feed, we'll all be better off. What comes after the kitchen sink? Speaking of forests with lots of trees: the GS4 may run Android 4.2, but Samsung has heaped so many features on top of Google's operating system that it almost feels like something entirely different. Normally I'm conditioned to believe stock Android is better than any manufacturer skin, but Samsung overhauls the software so completely that I'm less annoyed than I would be with a company like Motorola or LG, where the changes are typically a combination of aesthetic, problematic, and pointless. Some of Samsung's added features are all three, but many are downright useful. To start, the GS4 keeps all the features Samsung has debuted on various Note models and the Galaxy S III. Samsung pioneered the radio and connectivity toggles in the notification windowshade, and the GS4 offers access to more and more settings there, including a brightness slider. Samsung's big clock-and-weather widget comes on the home screen by default, and the general Touchwiz look and feel remains intact. The green-on-blue-on-gray scheme is growing on me, but Samsung's hideous Calendar app never will; likewise many of the Phone menus and screens look cartoonishly terrible, with huge icons and ugly images. What Touchwiz mostly offers is options: with a bit of effort, the GS4 can look and feel almost any way you choose. You can hide or rearrange apps in the app drawer, pick and choose quick-launch apps for the lock screen, change the order of settings and toggles, and much, much more. There's even an Easy Mode on the GS4, which turns your phone into something like John's Phone : it presents a simple dialer, shortcuts to a few common apps, huge icons for everything, and hides almost everything else. Samsung probably should’ve taken this as a sign, because if your phone needs Easy Mode you’re probably doing something wrong, but it does at least do a nice job simplifying everything the GS4 has going on. THE GALAXY S4 HAS A LOT GOING ON – MAYBE TOO MUCH And boy, is there a lot going on. There are now 18 (yes, 18) toggles in the notification pulldown, which you can see by pressing a new button at the top right — it opens up a command center of sorts, which lets you turn off everything from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to some of the wilder eye-tracking features. I kind of wish there were a Medium mode that would take away all the Minority Report stuff, and just leave a more normal Android phone. I'll never forget Samsung's launch event for the GS4 , a bizarre spectacle at Radio City Music Hall where actors went through feature after feature, explaining how they work together to make the GS4 your "Life Companion." Some of Samsung’s additions fit this bill a little more closely than others. S Health is the best example of an actual Life Companion – it's a Fitbit- or FuelBand-style app that tracks your steps, calories, sleep, and diet, offering you a way to get fit (or in my case just provide more data about my pathetically sedentary lifestyle). It's handy to have built right into your phone, and the app's pretty powerful thanks to the S4's temperature and humidity sensors — you can actually tell it how you feel, and it'll figure out how you should adjust your surroundings to feel better. S Health is a great tool, though it won't be as good as it could be until its companion accessories come out in a few months' time. My aforementioned sedentary lifestyle is also probably to blame for why I used WatchOn, Samsung's handy universal remote and search- based TV guide app, far more than S Health. It’s a great app, offering quick and easy control over your whole home theater setup via the IR blaster on top of the GS4, plus the really clever Peel-made search and recommendations interface across your cable box, Netflix, Blockbuster, and other services. More than anything, it's just convenient — I tend to have my phone in my hands while I watch TV anyway, so switching to WatchOn to change the channel is light work. There's a full-fledged suite of Office products via the Polaris suite, though I can't say there's any way to make editing a PowerPoint on your phone a pleasant experience. There’s also a built-in translator app — I bet you can guess it’s name — plus a handy tool for scanning business cards and QR codes. Carriers (in my case T-Mobile) also add some bloatware, though Samsung lets you hide most of the apps you don’t want from the drawer — yet again, the GS4 is an incredibly malleable phone. It just takes some work to get it the way you want. You can even run two apps at once, side-by-side with a system just like the Note 8.0’s, which works surprisingly well on a smaller screen because there are just so many pixels to play with. I like the apps and services Samsung adds to the Android experience here, but I'm less enamored with all the ways Samsung has reimagined how you'll want to actually interact with your cellphone. These features were touted heavily on the GS III despite the fact that I never once saw a regular person using S Beam or AllShare, and the trend continues unabated with the S4. The hand waving software is more useful — sometimes. There's Air View, which approximates the Galaxy Note's ability to recognize when you're hovering over the screen with the S Pen and unearth content without making you tap, but requires only your finger. It's handy for previewing an email without opening it, or seeing stories in Flipboard, but not much else, and it requires precision to hover a centimeter away from your target — I wound up accidentally tapping on the screen half the time anyway. Air Gestures has me completely torn. It's really impressive, letting you wave your hand over the phone to scroll up and down a webpage or flip through a gallery, and it works reliably once you figure out your hand has to pass over the top of the phone, where the IR sensor sits next to the earpiece. I started using it while my hands were wet, or if I had something in my hand. (Sadly it doesn't work with Pocket, so I can't wave my coffee-filled hand over the phone to flip pages while riding the subway.) It's overly sensitive, though, and will often scroll back when you’re just moving your hands around. It also tended to jump as I was pointing something out or showing someone a photo, which became a pain. I wound up leaving both Air View and Air Gestures on, mostly just to show people how cool they are — and because I love that I can wave at my phone to change songs. The list goes on and on, really, with Samsung offering features galore that you'll probably never use. The Story Album app lets you create scrapbooks from your photos, though there are plenty of third-party apps that do it better. Group Play is like AllShare on steroids – you can have everyone listen to the same song at the same time, play a game together, or all look at a slideshow, except everyone has to have a GS4 and jump through a bunch of hoops to get it all working. Of course there's also S Beam and NFC, plus a forthcoming security feature called Knox that separates your personal information from your work data — handy if you're bringing your GS4 to work, mostly superfluous otherwise. Much of what Samsung offers seems to be just for show, designed to give sales clerks something to demo that makes the GS4 unique. The best features get out of your way, but too many are simply obtrusive — I wound up using the GS4 like I would any other phone, with most of the additional features off, and as much as I'd be thrilled to watch people waving at their phones on the subway, I'm not betting it catches on.