Best touchscreen phones

How You find the best touchscreen phones

Source: Cnet Australia

                     Samsung HD Icon. Credit: Samsung

Samsung has succeeded in creating the ultimate multimedia smartphone. If you have a desktop hard drive full of mixed media you wish you could take with you on the train to work, there is no better phone than the HD Icon.
RRP AU$999

The Good: Excellent AMOLED display • Best media playback options we've seen to date • DLNA and TV-out cable for media sharing • Roadsync for Outlook email • Responsive touchscreen input

The Bad: Average photo and video recording quality • Standard one-day battery life • No app store to download new tools and games

For our full review of the Samsung HD Icon, visit CNET.com.au.

                 Apple iPhone 3GS. Credit: Apple

Even substantial concerns about network reception and battery life can't stop us recommending the iPhone 3GS. The combination of its fantastic browser, the full-featured iPod media player and Apple's App Store forms a compelling trio and are together unmatched by the competition.
RRP AU$719

The Good: Multimedia messaging, video recording and voice dialling — finally • Runs faster • Promised longer battery life • Multimedia quality continues to shine

The Bad: No improvement in call quality • 3G signal reception uneven • Still no Flash Lite or USB transfer and storage • Only 8GB model available since iPhone 4 release

For our full review of the Apple iPhone 3GS, visit CNET.com.au.

                           HTC HD2. Credit: HTC

There's no doubt in our minds that the combination of power, features and good looks make the HTC HD2 the best Windows Mobile smartphone ever made.
RRP AU$829

The Good: Huge screen matched with slim, lightweight construction • Powerhouse Snapdragon processor • Wi-Fi router mode is very handy • Comparatively inexpensive • 16GB microSD included

The Bad: Memory needs to be managed to avoid major lag spikes • Keyboard auto-correction isn't as good as the iPhone

For our full review of the HTC HD2, visit CNET.com.au.

            Sony Ericsson Satio. Credit: Sony Ericsson

There are a few trade-offs, but overall we're very impressed. The Satio sports a sharp, responsive touchscreen and is possibly the 2009's best camera phone.
RRP AU$1199

The Good: Responsive touchscreen • Excellent 12MP camera • Good media playback • Great connectivity

The Bad: Poor battery life • Signal issues • No 3.5mm headphone socket

For our full review of the Sony Ericsson Satio, visit CNET.com.au.

           Nokia N900. Credit: Nokia

For users who don't mind spending a little time getting to know a new system, the Nokia N900 is truly outstanding. With multitasking and lightning-fast performance, the N900 is pushing smartphones to genius levels.
RRP AU$899

The Good: Maemo is an excellent smartphone platform • True multitasking • Zippy performance • Responsive touchscreen • Great keyboard

The Bad: New system takes time to learn • Needs a "Home" key • Camera isn't one of Nokia's best

For our full review of the Nokia N900, visit CNET.com.au.

            Samsung Galaxy S. Credit: Samsung

Sure it looks like an iPhone, but on the inside the Galaxy S is a web-browsing, media-playing beast of a smartphone, and one of the best Android phones in Australia today.
RRP AU$849

The Good: Stunning Super AMOLED display • Support for DivX and FLAC • Great online performance

The Bad: Cheap-feeling plastic chassis • iPhone look-alike • Samsung's widgets are mostly ugly

For our full review of the Samsung Galaxy S, visit CNET.com.au.

     Google Nexus One. Credit: HTC

Google's Nexus One may not be the iPhone killer, but it offers a comparable alternative to Apple's smartphone, with excellent performance and a suite of innovative and useful applications.
RRP AU$899

The Good: Outstanding design • Responsive AMOLED touchscreen • Speech-to-text integration throughout • 4GB memory card in the box

The Bad: Disappointing battery life • Apps still install to internal memory rather than expanded memory

For our full review of the Google Nexus One, visit CNET.com.au.

  LG Mini. Credit: LG

LG has outdone itself again with a beautifully crafted handset that offers a good range of features.
RRP AU$609

The Good: Stylish design • Excellent build quality • Sharp 3.2-inch WVGA display • HSDPA/HSUPA • Air Sync that lets you manage content on the handset, PC and web

The Bad: No camera flash • Facebook and Twitter clients offer incomplete functions • Limited support for Flash on WebKit browser

For our full review of the LG Mini, visit CNET.com.au.

            HTC Desire. Credit: HTC

The Desire strikes a perfect balance between design, features and performance, offering users a fun, fast user experience and some of the best communications tools available in phones today.
RRP AU$779

The Good: Excellent design with stunning AMOLED screen • Huge range of preinstalled software • First class web browser with Flash • HTC Sense is superb

The Bad: Poor 5-megapixel camera • Battery needs to be managed by the user • Needs at least 8GB of internal storage

For our full review of the HTC Desire, visit CNET.com.au.

The phones of 2012

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Mobile phones for 2012

Source: Yahoo!7
Joseph Hanlon

Future is calling

With a number of models set to hit the market in 2012, mobile phone enthusiasts are in for a treat

     Film still from 2001: A Space Odyssey, credit: Warner Bros; Morph phone concept by Nokia

If you follow the Mayan calendar, speculation about how cool next year's phones will be might seem kind of trivial. However, if the world doesn't end, then we're in for a treat next year, according to our various sources across the mobile industry.
There have been enormous leaps forward in smartphones in the last two years, with advancements in screen technologies, processing power and photo image quality to name a few, and there is no indication that we'll see smartphone designers and manufacturers slowing down in 2012. In fact, we expect to see a few exciting new technologies becoming mainstream next year, inside bigger, brighter, badder phones and tablets.

            The Samsung Galaxy Nexus
             Credit: Samsung

Bigger screens, more pixels
At the end of 2009, the Desire HD wowed us with its WVGA (800x480 pixels) 4.3-inch display. In 2011, most of the high-end handsets featured screens with this spec, some with an even higher qHD (940x540 pixels) resolution displays. From all of the conversations that we've had with people inside the major phone makers and with people within the telcos, this trend towards larger screens will continue next year.

The Samsung/Google-made Galaxy Nexus is a clear indicator of what we can expect from screens in 2012 — it features a 4.65-inch 720p HD-resolution display. This is the benchmark that the major players will be aiming to topple, including Samsung, when it announces the Galaxy S3 at MWC. But will we see this pushed much further? Definitely; our money is on 5-inch-plus displays next year, as the line between the phone and the tablet blurs.

     Credit: Fortes

Megapixels "in the teens"

One interesting titbit that we picked up from one of our many sources was to expect phones with "megapixels in the teens". The major phone players held off from launching handsets with image sensors larger than 8 megapixels in 2011, but, apparently, this will change next year. Will we finally see HTC's 16-megapixel camera phone? Our fingers are crossed.

Don't forget that image quality isn't measured in megapixels, though. "Megapixels" refers, indirectly, to the size of the photos you take, and if you had the misfortune of eating a Hungry Jack's Quad Stack burger, then you'd know that bigger isn't always better. Luckily, some of the major phone makers spent this year getting image quality right, so a 16-megapixel camera from Samsung, HTC or Apple could actually translate into a photographic experience worth printing and sharing.

    The Nvidia Tegra 3 Chipset
    Credit: Nvidia

Quad-core processors
For every dual-core smartphone or tablet we saw released this year (14 in Australia by our count), we expect to see quad-core counterparts in 2012. Rumours are already circling around HTC, suggesting that at least one quad-core phone and a tablet will be announced at Mobile World Congress in 2012. Computer makers Acer and Asus have already announced tablets with the new Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core chipset, and we expect to hear from Samsung, LG and Motorola about similarly specced hardware very soon.

Like dual-core, though, don't expect every phone in a manufacturer's range to pack the most powerful processors. We expect all of the players listed above to announce one quad-core model at MWC 2012, and one quad-core tablet at the same time.

While it's exciting, the introduction of quad-core processing has us wondering how much is too much? How will the new Android OS handle quad-core processors? Will developers, presumably game developers, take advantage of this extra power? For as much as we've enjoyed using dual-core devices this year, you could argue that there were very few applications designed to take full advantage of the dual-core architecture.

                        The HTC Holiday will be Telstra's first LTE handset
                         Credit: HTC

4G data speeds
With Telstra and Optus both formally announcing (and Telstra launching) LTE, or 4G, networks, LTE-capable devices are definitely on the way for next year. If you missed our 4G coverage from a couple of months ago, we're talking about data download speeds that are twice as fast as the current maximums in Australia, and downloads of up to three times faster, plus much lower latency than you can currently expect on the current 3G networks.

While faster web browsing is the obvious benefit of LTE networking in handsets, this new technology also opens the door for rich, new multimedia experiences. Remember those HD-resolution screens we mentioned earlier? Well, how about an HD streaming movie to view on them? Or an HD game, streamed over the web to your handset using a service like the OnLive streaming game service running in the US right now.

Cloud storage service and subscription music service are more viable alternatives to locally stored data once you have a connection to the internet to make the transfer of data feel as though it's stored on the phone's own memory, so look out for increased interest in services like Dropbox, once LTE handsets begin to hit store shelves.

    Don't expect it to make you coffee, though. Or be studded with diamonds.
    Credit: Amosu

More bang for your buck
We saw a few incredible smartphone bargains this year, but, with AU$99 smartphones in the market already, don't expect the price of phones to lower next year. Instead, you can expect better phones at each price point. We've only seen the tip of the iceberg from Chinese manufacturer Huawei, for example. So far, the telcos have only ranged a handful of Huawei cheapest models in Australia, but the company has a range of higher-spec models waiting in the wings, and when these hit stores they will be considerably cheaper than the competition from the more established brands.

What sort of handsets are we describing? Imagine an Android-powered smartphone with a 4.3-inch LCD touchscreen, and a 1.2GHz or 1.4GHz processor available for $0 on an AU$29 plan. Huawei is in a great position to release such a phone, and don't be surprised if Chinese rival ZTE makes something similar for Telstra.

                                                               Credit: Google

NFC
We're beginning to see near-field communications (NFC) connectivity trickling into current smartphones, with the BlackBerry Bold, the Samsung Nexus S and the Nokia N9 examples of phones that you can buy today using NFC. We anticipate a flood of new handsets that will include an NFC chip next year, but the million-dollar question is whether we will see accessories and services to support these chips.

So, what is NFC good for? If you bought a Nokia N9 today, you would also have the option to buy Nokia 360 speakers, which use NFC to create a wireless connection with the phone. This is an excellent time saver, but NFC becomes much more exciting when you imagine your phone as your cashless wallet. Instead of carrying around credit cards, each with a different NFC chip, your phone, along with the right app, will be able to act in the place of all of these cards. Just take a purchase to the register, wave your phone over the scanner and walk out.

The Commonwealth Bank is first to market with this sort of technology for its customers, but expect other banks and major tech players, like Google, Apple, PayPal and others, to get involved in Australia in 2012.

Is there anything you think we've missed? If you have a prediction for next year, let us know in the comments below.

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The hidden cost of iCloud, and how to avoid it

Excelent article can help for every one

Source: CNET Australia

The magic of iCloud may seem free, but it comes at a cost: your data. Find out how to avoid paying bucket loads just for the convenience of Apple's cloud syncing.

When the late Steve Jobs introduced iOS 5 during his last keynote address in June, he touted iCloud as something that "just works", saying that users would have nothing to learn. As it turns out, he was right — but only on his first point.

Not only is there a lot to learn about iCloud, but users also have little control over it once they start. So, before you jump in, it's important to know a few things about it.

What is it?

If you don't quite understand iCloud, you're not alone. Even Apple hasn't done the best job of explaining it.

In a nutshell, iCloud is more than just a cloud storage solution that gives you the first 5GB of storage for free; you can use it to store songs, apps and ebooks that you've purchased from the iTunes App Store, or photos shot with your device, on Apple's servers. It also pushes that data to up to 10 iCloud-enabled mobile devices and computers (running iTunes 10.5 or later) that belong to the same Apple ID account. So, for example, when you download an app on one iDevice, that app will also be downloaded to your iPhone, your iPod Touch and to your computer.

For the most part, it's all pushed in real time, with the speed depending on the internet connection. So by replacing the old way of syncing your mobile devices with a computer one at a time, you can keep your digital library updated as soon as you download a new song. As far as convenience goes, this seems to be a genius solution. However, you'll pay a potentially hefty price for the privilege.

The abuse of internet data and bandwidth

Let's say you want to download a game that's 20MB, which is pretty small as mobile apps go. In the past, you downloaded it to your computer using iTunes, and then synced it to your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad by plugging the devices into the computer. (Or, if you chose to download directly to an iDevice, you could transfer that app back to iTunes before syncing to other devices.) This way, no matter how many iOS devices you wanted to put the game on, you just needed to use only 20MB of your internet bandwidth for the initial download.

Turning the Automatic Download setting on within iTunes means that apps, songs and ebooks will be re-downloaded on the computer. You can save bandwidth by turning these off, plugging the iOS device in and choosing "transfer purchases". (Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CBSi)

With iCloud, this changes dramatically. Let's say that you have an iPad, an iPhone, an iPod Touch and a MacBook Pro, all with iCloud turned on. Once you have started downloading the 20MB iOS game on one of these devices, the same game will be downloaded to the other three, making the total internet data needed 80MB. (The data concern aside, you'll probably find this automatic downloading very cool — I did — at least, until you realise that there are four concurrent downloads, instead of just one, going through the pipe. This means that your internet connection will also be significantly slower for other use.)

Now let's imagine that you intend to download about 20MB of apps, songs and books from the App Store per day (20MB is equal to about six songs, by the way). With iCloud, your data use jumps to 80MB per day or 2400MB (about 2.4GB) per month — an excessive amount.

That 2.4GB is more than the first-tier data cap that most wireless carriers impose on a mobile broadband plan. So watch out when you're on the road with iOS devices, especially if you like snapping photos with your iPhone (more on this below).

On iOS devices, you can turn off certain download types from the App Store to minimise internet use. (Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CBSi)


















Note that when you use a mobile broadband modem, the router creates a small Wi-Fi network for the other mobile devices to connect to and share internet access. But remember that you're still using a carrier's data network to access the internet. So any device connected to a modem will still eat up your mobile router's data allowance, including those you have set not to use data.

Even while at home, where your internet provider offers a high monthly cap, iCloud could still put a strain on your connection.

iCloud also allows you to sync photos that you take across iDevices via Photo Stream. Yet, because these features also need to use the internet to upload the data from one device before pushing it to others, they can be even bigger bandwidth killers.

On average, each photo taken by an iDevice is about 2MB in size, so if you take 10 photos per day, the total monthly upload will be about 600MB. Keep in mind that this amount gets progressively larger if you have multiple people in the family using multiple iDevices for snapping photos.
And what would happen if different people shared one Apple ID account? Their privacy might be at risk.

When sharing the same Apple ID with others, turning Photo Stream off will not just help save internet bandwidth, but also the risk of sharing something that causes embarrassment. (Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CBSi)

 

 

 

The risk of sharing sensitive information

iOS devices, like the iPhone and the iPad, are designed to build a personal relationship between the product and the user. Unlike a PC, they don't support multiple profiles, which is why some families buy multiple tablets rather than just share one device.

Even with multiple devices, families may still share a single Apple ID. This saves them from having to buy the same app more than once; parents can monitor which apps their children use; and they can use one Find My Phone app to know the whereabouts of one another.

Before iCloud, this "sharing" scenario worked well, because regardless of how many iDevices a family has, each member could pick and choose which apps he or she wanted on the device when syncing with a PC. With iCloud, however, that's no longer the case. Anything that you buy for yourself will be downloaded on all of the devices instantly. So if you're using the same Apple ID, there may be times when books or songs not appropriate for kids will end up on their devices.

This could become even more embarrassing with Photo Stream, which, as mentioned above, automatically upload photos taken by one device and pushes them to all the others. Note that when you turn on the iCloud's Photo Stream feature, even photos taken before that will be uploaded from the device and downloaded to others that share the same Apple ID account.

What you can do to keep things in check

Now that it's pretty obvious that iCloud offers convenience at the expense of excessive use of the internet, and potential risk of privacy, there are few ways for you to keep it under control.

 Using iTunes Wi-Fi Sync is a great way to keep your iOS devices synced without using the internet. (Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CBSi)



• Use Automatic Download selectively: turn off types of automatic downloads that are not important to you. For example, you probably don't need to use the automatic download for ebooks on the iPod Touch if you only use your iPad to read books. Also note that your iDevices have different amounts of storage space. Your 8GB iPhone can't hold everything that you want to put on your 64GB iPad, so don't fill it with unnecessary downloads.

• Opt to use iTunes Wi-Fi Sync instead of iCloud: iTunes Wi-Fi Sync allows you to download purchases from the Apple Store to one computer, then sync them with other iOS devices via your local Wi-Fi network. It basically works the same way as plugging the iDevices into a computer without actually plugging it in.

• Use the traditional plugged-in-to-sync method: this works especially well for those who use the computer to charge the device anyway.
Note that, although more convenient, syncing using iCloud is not always faster than the alternative ways. This is especially true for those with a slow internet connection.

In regards to privacy, it's best not to share your Apple ID account with others if you can afford it. If not, you should turn off Photo Stream, or just be aware that photos you take with your device can be seen by others. Maybe in the future, Apple will offer a way for users to disable this feature on certain photos.

In all fairness, this doesn't mean that iCloud is not a great feature. It really is, and you should definitely turn it on for non-data-intensive applications, like contacts, calendars, bookmarks and notes. However, like all online storage-based services, you need to exert more control over it, or risk finding yourself paying more than you should, or, even worse, regretting using it at all.