Android | Gear Diary

Five Reasons Why the Samsung Galaxy S4 Is a Great Android Phone

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the newest incarnation of the most popular Android phone series in the world; it comes jam-packed with state of the art tricks and tweaks, and it is definitely the phone to choose if you want to experience things that might one day be standard on all mobile phones without waiting for that day to actually arrive. Mitchell recently reviewed the S4, and I have been using the US Verizon version for a little over a month. I have become so well acquainted with the S4 that even though I recently purchased an HTC One, I have found…

Music Diary, News & Features

Samsung Giving Away Jay-Z’s New Album, But Will It Buy Him #1 in Sales?

In the rap and hip-hop world, few artists loom as large as Jay-Z. Emerging in 1996 with a blockbuster debut that was as successful critically as it was commercially, he seemed to fade for a few years before emerging with the excellent ‘The Blueprint’. Then some more mediocre minor releases before what he claimed would be his last release, 2003’s ‘The Black Album’. Since then he has worked more as a producer and executive developing new artists than as an artist himself. That all changes on July 4th with the release of “Magna Carta Holy Grail”. But this one has…

Editorials

WWDC iOS 7 Announcement from an Android User’s Point of View

Even though I am not a regular iOS user, I still watched the 2013 WWDC keynote as much of the Gear Diary team did. The blogosphere as a whole has had a lot to say about the similarities of some iOS features. It’s undeniable that Apple has drawn from Android, WebOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 here, but unlike some Android users, I am not mad at all. In fact, if I were Google, I would take it as a complement. Apple recognized that they didn’t have some of the features that Android did, and they figured out how to make…

News & Features

The Sprint Vital Redefines the Budget Smartphone

Think budget smartphones need to be cheap? Think again. The Sprint Vital is sprint’s newest 4G LTE smartphone and it is available Friday, June 14. And while it is inexpensive-just $99 on contract plus a $50 mail-in rebate- the phone actually has some terrific high-end features. Among those features are Android 4.1.2, Jelly Bean, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and video capture, a 1-megapixel front-facing camera and Sprint 4G LTE for speed.

News & Features

Nexus Experience Coming to the HTC One

HTC has heeded the calls of the Android community: a clean Nexus version of the HTC One is coming on June 26. Based off the unlocked 32GB silver model, the HTC One Nexus Experience will be available in the Google Play store for $599. This matches the off contract price for the normal HTC One. Dispensing with the Sense customisations, this “Nexus Experience” version of the HTC One will run pure Android 4.2.2, with updates being received directly from Google rather than HTC. The move follows Samsung’s announcement of a Galaxy S 4 that will also be available in the Google…

Editorials

Market Share and Profit Dynamics – Is Android REALLY Winning?

If you listen to most pundits, Android is absolutely DESTROYING Apple. I mean, if you look at the global smartphone market, Android has more than 70% and Apple has less than 25%. Even in the US market, iPhone and Android pretty much split the market. In the larger mobile phone market, Apple has an even smaller chunk of the total product volume. But as noted here, and as I have mentioned before, Apple continues to take in the majority of mobile device profits, with more than 60% for all of 2012 and 57% for Q1 of 2013. The rest of…

Editorials

Switching Smartphones and Carriers Is Getting Harder Than Ever

Reading over Carly’s post and the comments made something clear to me – plenty of people have at least a vague sense of dissatisfaction with pretty much ALL of the available smartphone choices. iOS is ‘stale’, Android remains klunky, Blackberry is dead-end, and Windows Phone is the also-ran that just can’t seem to win. Many polls suggest general dissatisfaction with all current smartphone brands. Yet when you read about smartphone loyalty, Apple leads the way and in general most people are likely to stick with the brand and operating system they currently use. Which leads to the obvious question ……

Reviews

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Android Review

The never-ending battle for king of the smartphones has never been more interesting, with the Samsung Galaxy S 4 leading the charge. Looking much like its very successful predecessor, Samsung is banking on its new-found brand swagger to convince people its latest is indeed the greatest. The Galaxy S line has seen a level of success only felt on the smartphone scene by Apple with the iPhone, and the new Galaxy S 4 has done little to rock the boat. It has, however, packed the cargo hold full of stuff.

News & Features

Waterfield SFBags Has Your Samsung GALAXY S4 Covered!

Whenever I get a new device I always jumped over to the Waterfield SF bag website to see what the company might have to protect it. Waterfield cases, pouches and bags are high-quality, well designed accessories that promise to protect your device for its life and beyond. I can honestly say that I have used/currently use a Waterfield product with every device I own. And while I don’t have a Samsung GALAXY S4 (yet…) I know many of you do and if you are looking for a stylish way to protect the new Samsung super phone you’ll want to check…

Gear Bits

HTC First Was Last and It’s Now Almost Free

A few weeks ago we got exclusive information that the HTC First was in big trouble. As we first reported, sales number for the first phone designed specifically for Facebook Home were close to nonexistent. Our inside information told us that the pre-order and first weekend sales numbers of the HTC First were less than 500 total units on the East Coast. In other words, the HTC First was all but dead on arrival. My conclusion at the time was that: I cannot begin to imagine what stock AT&T is currently holding of the device, but I have a pretty…

Editorials

Will Samsung Suffer Due to the ‘Lackluster’ S4?

Samsung recently started delivering their new flagship, the Galaxy S4. The GS4 is the follow-up to the Galaxy S3, which is the best-selling Android phone ever made, and one of big reasons Samsung is now the largest smartphone maker in the world. The GS3 was itself the sequel to the earlier best-selling Galaxy phones – but with the GS3 Samsung went from being a ‘leader’ to becoming the de facto Android flagship and market leader. Early critical and user reviews for the new S4 have been generally solid but not exactly glowing – and with more and more issues cropping…

Reviews

HTC ONE: A Review from Two Continents

One of us is in the US while the other is in Australia; both of us have been using the HTC ONE for the last bit. With HTC pushing the phone this weekend through special sales promotions, we thought it would be a good time to share some of our thoughts. Dan: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote some of my first impressions of the HTC ONE Android Smartphone. My initial impressions have only continued to be positive, and I am more enamored with the device now than when I first gushed about it. At the time, I described…

Reviews

PhoneSuit Lightplay Media Projector with Android Review, Part 2

Welcome to the second part of Gear Diary’s review of the PhoneSuit Lightplay Media Projector with Android. Here, we will review the user experience and actual functionality of the PhoneSuit Lightplay. Feel free to head over to Part One of this review, where Dan thoroughly reviewed the Lightplay’s hardware and included accessories. Before we get into the meat of this review, let’s quickly recap some of the highlights that Dan talked about in his hardware review. The PhoneSuit Lightplay is a pico projector, the size of your palm, that has Android built right in. It comes with a gyroscopic remote/keyboard…

Gear Bits

How Do You Kill a Samsung Galaxy S III?

We’ve all done it., killed a phone at one time or another. I’ve had one die in the toilet, I almost lost my G1 in a glass of tea, and I broke my first PDA by dropping it on the floor at church. My friend from church lost his in unique way; that picture above is his Galaxy S III after it was chopped up by a bush hog lawn mower. It’s a good thing he had insurance! Come on, fess up! What is the worst thing that you have ever done to your phone? Has it changed what…

Reviews

Kogan Agora Android Smartphone Review – Dual SIM, Great Specs, & Low Price

Bargain basement Android smartphones have been around for years now, but the Kogan Agora Smartphone looks to change the landscape. Many cheap models are available for under $200, but they all eschew large screens and fast processors to keep their prices down. The Kogan Agora Smartphone is just AU$149, unlocked and free of contracts. That’s a good price on its own, but the spec sheet could easily be mistaken for phones costing over $100 more. Starting with the display, a 5.0” IPS panel, by far the largest in this price bracket. The 800 x 480 resolution doesn’t get close to the…

Reviews

A First Look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

Judie got a first look at the Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0 during Mobile World Congress, and I was immediately impressed from afar. I love the size of my iPad mini, but I still miss the ability to write on the screen without having to dal with all sorts of vectoring caused by other parts of my hand touching the screen. (I am, after all, left-handed, and it is an ongoing issue for many of us South Paws.) The Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0 has the S-Pen which lets you write on the screen to take notes, edit pictures and much more….

News & Features, Reviews

Huawei Ascend Mate Australian Launch Review

Huawei is making a splash in Australia with the launch of the new Huawei Ascend Mate, a 6.1-inch “phablet” to take on the Samsung Galaxy Note II. At the launch today in Sydney Australia, Gear Diary was able to spend some one-on-one time with the phone that Huawei describes as “Designed for a multimedia experience”. There is no question the Ascend Mate is a large phone, with a 6.1” IPS+ display dwarfing even its obvious rival, the Samsung Galaxy Note II. Just as surprising is the price, AU$429 when it launches on April 20, 2013. To put that in perspective,…

Editorials

EXCLUSIVE – The HTC First Facebook Phone Comes Up Last

I watched the Facebook Press Conference during which Facebook Home and the HTC First Android Phone with Facebook Home launched two weeks ago with a bit of amusement. I’m not a huge Facebook user, but my amusement really wasn’t just about my lack of being a Facebook fanatic at play; the idea of Facebook being my welcome screen and launcher just didn’t seem like something I would ever want. Facebook Home takes one means of connection and makes it central to my entire mobile experience. Having it on a dedicated Facebook phone means that I would need to go THROUGH…

Editorials, News & Features

PC Sales Plummet, But are Windows 8 or iPad to Blame?

There is one reality bolstered by two bits of speculation getting loads of attention today. The reality is that sales of personal computers are abysmal, in fact they just hit the lowest point since the IDC started tracking numbers nearly 20 years ago. As happens whenever numbers are released for anything, analysts swoop in to rationalize and spin, which has led to two major speculations about the origins of the decline. All we know is that PC sales plummet, but are Windows 8 or iPad to blame? Let’s look at those two, and a few more dynamics at play: Windows…

News & Features

HTC First Puts Facebook First with Their Facebook Centric Android Phone

How much do you love Facebook? As we used to say when I was in elementary school, “do you LOVE IT love it? Or do you just love it?” Well, for those of you who LOVE IT love it, HTC has just announced the First, which is “the first and only smartphone built to feature Facebook Home.” The HTC First is also the first (and only) phone to come with Instagram pre-loaded, but that’s a little less exciting when you consider that it’s a free download that should only take seconds to do, anyway … unless they mean that it is integrated more…

Reviews

Kogan Agora Mini 8 Android Tablet Review

With compact tablets like the Asus Nexus 7 and the iPad mini rapidly gaining popularity over larger 10″ models, Kogan has updated their range of slates with a new Agora Mini 8″ model. Kogan’s big claim to fame (as often is the case with Kogan products) is first and foremost its low price: AU$119 for the 8GB model, and AU$129 for the 16GB model. This significantly undercuts the 16GB iPad mini’s AU$369 starting price, as well as being almost half the cost of an Asus Nexus 7 (16GB, AU$249). Previous tablet entries have proven the adage “you get what you…