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.

LG breaks new ground with the G Flex , a handset with a curved form
factor and a backplate that can magically mend itself if it gets
scratched. This 6-inch 'phablet' certainly stands out thanks to its
innovative design, but it's not without its disappointments: at almost
the same price as Samsung's Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 tablet and more
expensive than almost every other smartphone, the G Flex should be
closer to perfection than it is.
The G Flex is a 6-inch phablet with a difference — it has a curved
form factor. Image: LG
Design
Most of the pre-launch talk about the LG G Flex concerned its design,
and although there's more on offer here (there are some interesting
aspects to how LG handles Android, for example), design certainly
takes centre stage.
That's because the LG G Flex is curved. You
won't be dropping this handset into your
back pocket, even if the pocket is large
enough to accommodate the phablet's 81.6
by 160.5 by 79.9mm dimensions. It simply
feels oddly awkward in a way that flat
handsets don't.
You can, in fact, bend the G Flex away
from its curved shape to a more
conventional flat design. But this isn't
something you'll be doing in order to
pocket it: we found that it required two
hands and a fair bit of pressure to get the
handset flat — and as soon as we relieved
the pressure, it popped back into its preferred curved form.
Why build a curved handset? LG says a phone that follows the curve of
your face inevitably leads to improved voice quality by placing the
microphone close to your mouth. However, people we called on the G
Flex did not gush with positive comments about how good we
sounded.
Another reason LG gives for the curvature of the G Flex is that it
makes movie watching and games playing more enjoyable. The viewing
advantage of curved screens may hold for larger devices like TVs, but
we're not sure it translates to a 6-inch phablet. We didn't notice any
great improvement in the enjoyment of either movies or games.
Nor does the LG G Flex's shape make it more or less comfortable to
hold than other similarly sized phones. LG has copied the design
convention it adopted in its excellent LG G2 of putting the power
button and volume rockers on the back. They sit in a vertical
configuration beneath the 13-megapixel camera's lens and flash.
There's an infrared zapper here too, incidentally.
With the 5.2-inch LG G2, we found this system awkward initially, but
did get used to it. On the much larger frame of the 6-inch LG G Flex it
works very well. Once we purged the idea of side-mounted buttons
from our muscle memory, prodding the rear buttons with a forefinger
became second nature. The location works equally well for right-and
left handed people.
The volume rockers have small silver nubbins that make them easy to
find when the handset is in a bag or pocket — something you'll
appreciate if you use your phone for listening to music a lot. If the LG
G Flex is sitting on a desk, you reactivate its screen with a double tap
rather than picking it up and reaching for the back button. We found
this an efficient and responsive system with the G2, but less so here as
taps had to be fairly firm to register.
With the buttons located on the back, the only role for the edges of
this handset in terms of connectivity is to house the MicroUSB and
headphone slots. Both are on the bottom edge.
The back of the G Flex uses a special scratch-resistant material.
Image: LG
The back of the LG G Flex is made from a shiny, not particularly
grippy, material featuring a membrane layer that slowly bounces back
if depressed. LG calls this a 'self-healing back cover', which, up to a
point, seems to be true: we lightly scratched the surface with keys and
the scratch did indeed disappear within a couple of hours — although
look hard with the phone side-on and you can still see traces.
We tested further by being a bit rougher with the key-scratching, and
must have permeated the membrane layer: this second scratch looks
distinctly permanent.
Returning to the screen for a moment, it's noticeable that the
resolution is somewhat lacking. For a handset that costs £642 (inc.
VAT; £535 ex. VAT) we expect better than 720 by 1,280 pixels (245
pixels per inch, or ppi). This is the resolution LG used in the much less
expensive G2, and is much lower than other flagship handsets such as
the 4.7-inch HTC One, which is now almost a year old (1,080 by 1,920
pixels, 468ppi).
The screen technology here is a new one: P-OLED. The P stands for
'Plastic substrate' and its use is a key factor in it the screen's
flexibility. Although the use of a new technology is laudable, there is
definite fuzziness to text; not only that, but whites, such as the
background on web pages, can take a blueish tinge if you're viewing at
an angle. We expect crisper, sharper images from a top-end handset.
Features
The LG G Flex is an LTE handset that accommodates a MicroSIM. You
can't get the back off, so the SIM lives in a slot on the left edge.
The SoC is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 MSM8974, which includes a
quad-core CPU running at 2.26GHz. This is complemented by a healthy
2GB of RAM. Wi-fi is bang up to date, supporting dual-band
(2.4/5GHz) 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA and the ability to act
as a hotspot. Bluetooth 4.0 is present, along with NFC and the
aforementioned infrared zapper. The 13-megapixel rear camera is
accompanied by a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera.
The MicroUSB port supports USB On the Go (OTG) and USB Host, so
you could add external data devices such as the Kingston DataTraveller
MicroDuo. We attached ours and it was instantly recognised.
LG does not offer MicroSD card support, so unless you use a USB OTG
device, you're stuck with the 23.7GB of free internal storage from the
32GB that's installed. This is always irritating on a handset that
purports to be top of the range.
The Android version is 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), which will disappoint those
who like their high-end handsets to have the very latest OS version
(4.4 KitKat in Android's case). LG's Android skinning is far from light
touch but on the whole it meets with our approval. We won't discuss
everything LG has done, but a few favourites deserve a mention.
Pop-up QSlide apps are available in the Notifications area. Image:
Sandra Vogel/ZDNet
The notifications bar offers a feature called QSlide, which allows you
to pop apps up on top of whatever you're doing. You can make these
items more or less transparent using a slider. Dual Windows lets you
run two apps at once. Not all apps are compatible with these features,
but they are good attempts to maximise the screen area.
There's a clever popup that appears when you attach devices. Attaching
our Kingston DataTraveller MicroDuo, for example, called up relevant
apps, including a file explorer, video and music players, and the
gallery. When we attached headphones we were offered music and
video players, the YouTube app and the phone dialler.
We like the fact that you can left- or right-
align the dial pad and keyboard to assist
with one-handed operation, and simply
swipe the front touch buttons to get them
to all rush to one or other side of the
screen for much easier access. You can also
reconfigure the front touch buttons into
your preferred order and add a fourth to
launch LG's Quick Memo app or pull down
the notification panel. You can even hide
the buttons in selected apps to give them
access to the entire screen.
Smart On settings use the front camera to
pause video when you look away and keep
the screen on when you're looking at it,
overriding any display timeout you may
have configured.
The final tweak we will mention is Slide
Aside, which lets you swipe leftwards on the screen to park up to three
running apps off-screen, and then pull them in as needed. Although a
neat idea, it's our least favourite Android tweak in terms of execution.
LG could rethink this into a system that's more ergonomic to use on a
device of this size.
In addition to the interface tweaks LG adds a number of apps to
Android. Quick Memo and Notebook are our favourites. Both are
obviously note-takers, the former including the ability to grab a
screenshot and scrawl on it before sending it off to an email recipient,
the latter offering more sophisticated note-making features.
The G Flex has a 3,500mAh battery — a curved lithium-polymer unit.
In our anecdotal experience the battery lasts longer than average, and
you may even be able to go two days between charges with a light
usage pattern. We found it to be an extremely fast charger too, so it
should be feasible to top up the battery quickly during the day should
the charge level become a concern.
Conclusion
LG may have hit the headlines with the G Flex's curved shape, but
there's more to this phablet than a curved chassis. The moderate
screen resolution and lack of storage expansion are disappointing, but
the way LG is working on enhancing Android shows great potential.
Having said that, LG's UI tweaks are in many cases already found in its
G2 handset and will no doubt be found in future products. Overall the
G Flex, although interesting, is simply way too expensive.

Key Features : 4.8-inch 960 x 540 pixel screen; Snapdragon 400 CPU
Manufacturer: Sony
Sony Xperia M2 review | First Impressions
Who really needs to spend £500 on a phone?
The Sony Xperia M2 is the cheapest phone in Sony's Android line-up to
offer a look that's pretty high-end. Sony's mid-ranges phones are
pretty popular, and this one offers some pretty significant design
upgrades that – on first impression – make it pretty close in some
surface respects to the Sony Xperia Z2 .
However, this phone costs less than half the price – around £180.
There are a few cut-down specs that mean it's not the bargain a Moto
G is, but some people will be willing to pay the extra for that Sony
style, and the Sony name.
SEE ALSO: Xperia M2 vs Moto G
Sony Xperia M2 – Design
A new design is probably the most important upgrade the Xperia M2
offers over the Sony Xperia M. That older phone is popular, despite
having a fairly ordinary design and spec list.
The original M's plain plastic body has been traded-up for one that
looks more like the Xperia Z2's. It's still largely plastic, but now
there's a sheet of what appears to be glass on the back. It could be
hard plastic, but my usual glass identification trick of tapping it on a
tooth would probably have gained me some unwanted attention from
Sony's staff. We'll look for clarification on this.
It has also adopted Sony's 'Omni-balance' design – the sort of term
that sets off our nonsense radar. What this means in practice is that
the eye-catching power button on the side sits bang in the middle of
the phone. There's not much to it, but I do think the M2 is a solid
aesthetic upgrade over the original Xperia M.
There's a flap on the phone's side that covers the Xperia M2's SIM and
microSD card slots, but unlike the Xperia Z2, this is not a water-
resistant phone. You'll find an exposed microUSB socket on the left
edge, further reducing the symmetry that Omni-balance promises (not
that it matters).
This is a good-looking phone, and a decent impersonation of Sony's
more expensive phones. It doesn't feel as expensive, though. It's
lighter, and in-hand it is fairly clear that the Xperia M2 is made of
plastic rather than metal. It is thicker too, but at 8.6mm it's hardly
chunky.
Flappy? Yes. Waterproof? No
Sony Xperia M2 – Screen
Aside from the loss of waterproofing, the design is pretty good for a
sub-£200 phone. However, there are some clearer compromises in the
screen.
Resolution is the most serious issue. It's a 960 x 540 pixel screen that
is 4.8-inches across. This gives a relatively low pixel density of 229ppi,
and you can tell. Text looks less sharp than it would on a Z2 or – more
importantly – a Motorola Moto G. This is a shame, and it's the one
part of the phone I find genuinely disappointing. Sony boasts about
having the largest-in-class qHD screen in its release materials, but
that's actually a bad thing.
However, the Xperia M2 does seem to benefit from the screen
calibrations improvements Sony has made recently with phones like
the Xperia Z1 Compact. Colours appear nice and vivid without
oversaturation. However, I was looking at the phone under the
unnatural lighting of the MWC 2014 show floor, so won't come to any
conclusions just yet.
In use the phone is also slightly held back by some residual visual
stuffiness in the custom Sony interface – things like the unnecessary
'outlining' of app icons in the apps menu. Sony seems to have cut this
out of the Xperia Z2, so we don't know why it's still here.
Sony Xperia M2 – Camera
If the screen is one area where the Xperia M2 loses out to the Moto
G, the camera should be one where it can win. It has an 8-megapixel
sensor that I'd bet will be of the standard 1/3.2 inch size.
Despite the Exmor RS lens we're not expecting a smartphone camera
star, but it could be able to comfortably outperform many sub-£200
rivals.
Sony Xperia M2 – Other Specs
I've compared the M2 a few times to the Moto G, and they are natural
rivals on some level. However, the M2 does have a bunch of things
missing from Motorola's budget star. You get 4G mobile internet with
this phone, and NFC.
Their processors are the same, though – a quad-core Snapdragon 400.
It's a solid mid-range CPU that will easily be able to handle most high-
end games, especially given the low screen resolution.
First Impressions
It has a few screen limitations, but I expect the Sony Xperia M2 will
sell well on the high street. It has much of the visual snazziness of
Sony's more expensive phones while selling at a fraction of the price.
However, if you're a bargain hunter and don't mind missing out on
4G, the Moto G offers a pretty alluring alternative.

The Nexus 5 is the best that Google has to offer right now. It is a lean,
mean Android machine, beyond the reach of OEM embellishment and
carrier bloatware. It delivers a streamlined experience that's stylish,
refined, and lightning fast, and it does all this at a jaw-droppingly low
price.
You can snag the 16GB version of the Nexus 5 for £299 or you can lay
down an extra £40 and get the 32GB version for £339.
In terms of hardware the Nexus 5 is a
premium smartphone, it just doesn't have a
premium price tag. The Nexus 5 can just about
hold its own with the top devices on the
market, including the iPhone 5S (starting at
£550), the Samsung Galaxy S4 (now reduced
to £420), the HTC One (which you can find for
£430), and the Sony Xperia Z1 (now reduced
to £430).
A 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset
and 2GB RAM place this on the cutting edge.
The 5-inch 1080p display is no slouch either,
and the Nexus 5 sports the very latest
platform update in Android 4.4 KitKat , with
the elegant Google Experience Launcher on
top.
If you're wondering how Google can offer the
Nexus 5 for that much less than its
competitors, then you might point an
accusatory finger at the camera and the battery life, but make no
mistake - this phone is a real bargain.
The Nexus line of smartphones may have started out as reference
devices to show off the platform, but Google has improved Android
immeasurably since the Nexus One and it has refined its strategy in
the marketplace.
The price tag makes it conceivable that you might buy the Nexus 5 off-
contract and then seek out the best deal for service. If you have the
cash ready, you'll almost certainly get a better deal that way. Just in
case you don't, O2 and Vodafone are offering it for no money down
on two-year contracts.
I never expected to fall in love with the Nexus 5, but it seduced me. It
certainly has its flaws, and we'll get into them in due course, but it's
also a beautiful phone that sets a new benchmark for Android.
The Nexus 5 is a vessel. Google's flagship is supposed to compete at
the premium end of the market, but it would prefer the software, not
the hardware to be the star of the show. To that end, it is almost
completely devoid of superfluous detail.
As I rest it vertically on the arm of my couch it conjures visions of the
monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. To soften it off and make it
more comfortable to hold, the corners are rounded.
This black slab (which also comes in white) is all about the screen and
the entire front of the Nexus 5 is glass. The only details that break it
up are the round earpiece centre top and the front-facing camera to
the left of it. There is actually an LED notification light down below the
screen, but you'll only see that when it blinks into life.
Despite having a five-inch display, the Nexus 5 measures just 137.9 x
69.2 x 8.6mm and the bezels are nice and thin.
With a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which translates to
445ppi, the Nexus 5 display looks crisp and accurate. It's an IPS
display, and while critics will point to AMOLED's superior brightness
and black levels, you'd be hard pressed to notice.
The back and sides are soft-touch, matte plastic and it only weighs
130g, just like the Galaxy S4 .
Flip it over and you'll see a couple of design flourishes. The word
"Nexus" is embossed in lowercase gloss, with a tiny LG logo below it.
Up top on the left you'll find the glaring round eye of the 8MP
camera, which is surprisingly big. A tiny LED flash is just below.
The bottom edge has a standard microUSB port and there are two
grilles either side of it - the Nexus 5 only has one speaker in there; the
other hides a microphone. Up top you'll see the standard 3.5mm
headphone port and a tiny hole for an extra microphone.
On the left spine there's a ceramic volume rocker, with no markings.
On the right spine there's a ceramic power button and the SIM tray,
which you'll need a SIM tool or a pin to pop out. The Nexus 5 does
not open, so there's no microSD card support or battery switching.
The Nexus 5 is one of the most comfortable phones I've ever used. It
is comparably slow to heat up, so there are no issues holding it while
watching movies or during extended gaming sessions. The soft-touch
finish contrasts perfectly with the ceramic buttons, which makes them
very easy to find and use without looking.
There are negatives. The camera lens protrudes enough to make you
worry about it taking the brunt of any impact when the Nexus 5 is put
down on a flat surface. That glass expanse, without any protective lip
or border, suggests that a drop could easily result in disaster and
scratches might be easy to come by.
There's also the inevitable smudging from fingerprints, which turns up
on the back and the front, but that's a common problem.
It's not a flashy design, but the Nexus 5 does feel solid and well made.
It may be a little big for easy one-handed operation if you don't have
big hands, but the extra screen size will justify that trade-off for most
people.
At this price, the design of the Nexus 5 is impressive. It's understated,
almost making the iPhone 5S look gaudy, and it feels more expensive
than the Galaxy S4.
Key features
The price
The big USP that differentiates this phone from the crowd is the value
for money it represents. £299 for a premium Android smartphone
that's this good is a steal. Even at £339 for the 32GB version, the
Nexus 5 is seriously undercutting the competition.
Apple devices are expensive. The iPhone 5S starts at £549 for the
16GB version and you'll have to lay out an extra £80 to get a 32GB
model for £629, or pay a whopping £709 if you want the 64GB
version.
While Apple is comfortable with its premium pricing strategy, you get
the sense that the Nexus 5 has really put pressure on the competing
Android flagships.
When the Samsung Galaxy S4 was first launched, it was around £600
for a SIM-free handset. It's possible to get your hands on the SIM-free
16GB Galaxy S4 for £420 now.
It's a similar story with the HTC One, which cost around £500 on
release, but can now be snapped up for as low as £430 for a SIM-free
32GB handset.
The LG G2 is significantly cheaper at £350 for the SIM-free 16GB
version and around £400 for the 32GB model. The Nexus 5 was also
manufactured by LG and is partly based on the G2, with very similar
specs, although the G2 trumps the Nexus 5's 8MP shooter with a
13MP camera, and has a much bigger 3,000mAh rated battery
compared to the 2,300mAh battery in the Nexus 5.
And now we've got the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One
M8 - both costing close to £550 or even more depending on your
capacity.
Whatever way you cut it, the Nexus 5 is a lot of phone for your
money, and it looks like a real attempt to drive prices down, which can
only be a good thing for consumers.

Average camera
Not everyone has the money to
shell out for a top-end handset, and
to be honest even if you do have
the money you might be well
advised to take a look lower down
the scale anyway. As my end of
2013 roundups showed, you can get
some superb mid-range and entry-
level handsets right now.
Sony has recently wowed us with it
top notch Xperia Z1 Compact , but
the company also has its eye on the
important mid-range and entry
level sectors. So, the Xperia M is a
sub-£200 handset that sits in a
pretty crowded part of the market –
and a part of the market that
Motorola has recently made its own
with the Moto G.
Sony has made the Xperia M fit
with its current handset line-up in
design terms, but there have been
clear compromises in build quality
and also in terms of the aesthetics.
So, on the plus side, we have the
tell-tale circular silver on/off button
just above the mid-point on the
right edge. There’s a dedicated
camera button on this edge, too,
which has the usual ability to
launch the camera if you give it a
long press – then it will focus on a
half press and take a shot on a full
press. There’s a volume rocker on
this edge, as well.
There’s also a good quality
backplate with a grippy rubber-feel
finish. Mine was black, though
there are white, purple and yellow
options too. The backplate hugs the
sides of the handset providing
protection there and ensuring a
snug fit and a tough, resilient feel.
Rather than the sides of the handset
continuing the rubbery feel, they’re
given a metal-look finish. It’s a
touch of distinctiveness I rather
like.
There’s a characteristic “thinner in
the middle” styling to the overall
design which helps make the Xperia
M comfy to hold in the hand. Its
relatively small size should increase
its appeal for those with little hands
and pockets.
The Sony Xperia M is tall, though –
far too tall, actually, for its 4in
screen. There’s a fair bit of side
bezel and a huge amount of top
and bottom bezel. I measured
18mm between the top of the screen
and the top of the handset, and a
slightly less but still plentiful 15mm
at the bottom.
Part of that bottom bezel is given
over to a horizontal notification
light. It glows red when you’re
charging the phone, and green
when the charge is complete. You
can specify colour settings for
missed calls and SMS, incoming
calls and SMS, and for alarm
notifications – white, turquoise,
yellow, green, red, blue and purple
lights are available. For some this
will be a welcome spark of
individuality, for others it will be
irritating. The latter group will be
pleased to know that as well as
having all those colour choices you
can select none and just do away
with the feature.
At 4in the screen is pretty small for
a modern handset, and it doesn’t do
justice to websites and video. The
resolution of 854 x 480 pixels does it
no favours and, because it lacks
Sony’s display frills – Triluminos
and X–Reality are absent – it’s a
pretty standard looking screen.
Viewing angles aren’t great. The
Motorola Moto G, which is selling
online for around £140 sim-free as I
write, has a 4.5in 1,280 x 720 pixel
screen. On that basis alone it is a
better buy in my book.
While I am grumbling about the
screen, it is worth pointing out a
couple of other annoyances. A strip
along its bottom edge is used for the
Android touch buttons, so you miss
out on a bit of viewing area. The
keyboard is tiny, and I found
accuracy to be an issue. Viewing
angles aren’t great either and the
keyboard seems rather a long way
under the glass front, as it were – it
looks rather last generation in that
respect.
The camera shoots stills to 5-
megapixels which is really an entry-
level specification these days, and
you’ll only get that if you don’t
mind giving up on wide 16:9
resolution in favour of 4:3. If you
want 16:9 then you’ll get 3-
megapixel snaps. You have to hold
that side button down for a fair
while before the camera app pops
up, but on the plus side there’s an
HDR option with saves the camera
from being a disappointment.
There’s also a VGA front camera on
board.
Sound is delivered through a back-
mounted speaker which goes fairly
loud, but is not of the highest
quality.
The general specifications are also
less than stellar. The processor is
dual-core and runs at 1GHz, and it’s
only got 1GB of RAM in support. To
be fair, it’s not sluggish, but still,
this does seem a bit last generation.
Even worse, Android is way back in
the dark ages at version 4.1.
A big problem with the Sony Xperia
M is its lack of storage space.
There’s just 4GB of memory
installed, but a quick check of my
review sample straight out of the
box showed just 2GB of this was
free. You’ll need a microSD card
pretty quickly – but note that the
card lives in a slot under the
backplate next to the microSIM, so
hotswapping is a bit painful.
Fans of NFC will be pleased to see it
present in such a low cost handset,
but the real silver lining has to be
battery life. I found that it easily
extended past the full day mark. Of
course if you want to game or
watch video for hours on end you’ll
deplete the 1,700 mAh battery
rather more quickly. But still,
Sony’s very useful power
management utility is a winner.
You can select three power options.
One of these lets you leave Wi-Fi off
in the knowledge that it will turn
on automatically when it comes
near a saved Wi-Fi network.
Another lets you specify what the
handset should do when the battery
gets below 30 per cent. Options
include turning off Wi-Fi, vibration,
GPS, Bluetooth, auto-sync and
mobile data, and changing the
screen brightness and time-out
settings. And a third option,
stamina mode, lets you specify
which apps will remain active when
the battery gets low.
You get the usual gamut of Sony
add-on apps which will please fans
of the company’s ecosystem, though
as already noted these and a few
additional extra apps are
responsible for eating into the fairly
slim storage capacity of the phone.
Verdict
This handset is clearly a budget
effort, and while it does have a few
pleasing features there’s not enough
of the good stuff present to warrant
any kind of strong
recommendation. Like every other
maker sniffing around the £150 to
£200 mark, the Moto G looms large
as a key rival, and quite simply,
unless you are a diehard Sony fan,
you should be looking at the Moto
smartphone rather than this one.
Specifications
Network 3G
Processor 1GHz dual-core
Qualcomm
Ram 1GB
Memory 4GB
Memory expansion microSD
Display 4in, 854 x 480 pixels
Main camera 5 megapixel
Front camera VGA
NFC Yes
Wi-Fi Yes
GPS Yes
FM radio Yes
Battery 1,700mAh
Size 62 x 9.3 x 124 (WxDxH)
Weight 115g
OS Android 4.1