Neowin: Nokia Lumia 1020 review

Nokia arrived late to the Windows Phone party at the end of 2011 but, since then, it has come to dominate Microsoft’s mobile ecosystem. Of those manufacturers that originally launched handsets with Windows Phone 7, just Samsung and HTC remain, joined more recently by Huawei, but none have come close to the level of commitment to the platform that Nokia has invested.

Not content to be just another ‘me-too’ device manufacturer, Nokia has worked hard to differentiate its Windows Phone offering. Its use of color in its hardware design has made its devices stand out among legions of black and white handsets. It has added value to its range by developing apps exclusively available on its Lumia devices. And it has worked to augment the operating system with new features through its own firmware updates, such as the recent ‘Amber’ release, bundled with the latest GDR2 update for Windows Phone 8.

Nokia has launched other award-winning handsets with PureView imaging features – including the Lumia 920 and Lumia 925 – and each of them has proven that the company still has what it takes to lead the way in smartphone imaging. But this summer, the company announced the Lumia 1020, its first Windows Phone featuring a 41MP PureView camera.

Having first launched in the United States, exclusively on AT&T, the handset is now rolling out to markets around the world. Nokia says that “nothing else comes close” to the Lumia 1020 – but is the company’s new flagship worth a closer look, or should you be looking elsewhere?

HTC One Mini Review

On paper, the naming of the HTC One mini makes perfect sense. The mini is a mid-to-high-end aluminum-clad smartphone with a 4.3-inch display, designed for those who want a premium device without the massive size that’s often associated with its bigger and faster brother, as well as other Android 'superphones'.

HTC One mini - $480 (unlocked)

• 4.3", 1280 x 720 IPS LCD display (341 ppi)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC
• 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU, Adreno 305 GPU
• 1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage
• 4 MP “UltraPixel” camera, 1/3” sensor, f/2.0 lens, 1080p video
• BoomSound, Zoe, BlinkFeed
• 1,800 mAh, 6.9 Wh battery
• LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
• Android 4.2 ‘Jelly Bean’
• 122 grams, 9.25mm thick

Of course, there are some tradeoffs that also help bring the price down. Although the One mini includes an Ultrapixel camera, it doesn’t have optical image stabilization; and despite the body mostly being formed from aluminum, some plastic has crept into the design. For the more technically minded, HTC has also dropped down the SoC from a Snapdragon 600 to a Snapdragon 400, which naturally will affect its performance.

But will HTC’s tradeoffs have too much of an effect on the overall product, keeping it from being a great 4.3-inch device? Or will the price be just right for what you’re getting out of the box?

The HTC One mini used in this review was kindly provided by Negri Electronics. No matter where you are in the world (including Australia, US, and abroad), Negri will provide you unlocked smartphones and tablets first and for very competitive prices.

Design

Fitting right into the One line-up, the HTC One mini is styled in a similar fashion to the HTC One. The back panel is a curved piece of zero-gap aluminum, while the front sees aluminum covering the speakers. The display is protected by the usual Gorilla Glass, with the only main difference between the One and One mini – apart from the size - being the material used around the edges.

Instead of the front and back of the handset coming together as one zero-gap unit, with plastic injected around the edges, the One mini has a less refined look. HTC has ditched the injected polycarbonate for a Samsung-like gloss edge that appears to be a barrier around the phone, rather than part of a unified design. While it doesn’t look as classy as the HTC One, the white plastic surrounds match the device’s other highlights, and it’s still quite functional.

A change in edge material also brings a change in buttons. Again, the design feels less refined with the separated metallic volume buttons and the metallic power button on top, but the positioning is still good, especially for a device of this size. On the bottom the microUSB port is found, still upside-down for some bizarre reason, and the top sees the 3.5mm headphone jack.

At 9.25mm thick, the mini isn’t the slimmest phone going around, but the natural curvature of the design hides a lot of this thickness. Generally speaking the phone feels great to hold, especially due to the aluminum and glass that makes up the majority of the build. It may be a smaller and more affordable phone, but HTC hasn’t skimped on incorporating a premium design, even if they did modify the plastic used in some sections.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the HTC One mini is that it’s actually not all that mini. It’s 5mm shorter and skinnier than the HTC One, and the 4.3-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, paired with BoomSound, keeps the device rather tall. The mini is considerably (9mm) taller than the iPhone 5s with its 4-inch screen, and even compared to a range of other 4.3-inch devices like the Galaxy S II, the One mini is simply a larger device.

I know a lot of people claim 4.3-inches (or smaller) is the perfect size for a smartphone, and the One mini is certainly a very nice size, but for a small footprint increase you can snag yourself a 4.7-inch (or larger) display. I might understand the necessity for people to opt for the One mini if it was closer in size to an iPhone, but it isn’t. In my mind, this puts the size – and in some respects the whole point – of the One mini into question, as the phone doesn’t quite live up to its name. But for some, the 5mm size reduction may be perfect.

Display

HTC has included relatively high quality displays in most of their smartphones of late, and the One mini is no exception. The handset includes a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, giving it a pixel density of 341 ppi. Super LCD displays are an IPS TFT variant used exclusively in HTC devices, although companies such as Sony and Sharp are often responsible for their production.

IPS technology allows these displays to produce a picture with better quality than you can get with a TN panel, while also delivering better contrast, viewing angles and ease of use outdoors. Super LCD displays, especially the Super LCD 2 and 3, are some of the better displays I’ve used: the HTC One features a Super LCD 3 display, and it’s a spectacular, crisp panel to use, perhaps even the best I’ve seen. With the One mini’s panel being smaller, less pixel dense, and using technology that’s a year old, it’s not quite up to the standard of the HTC One, but it’s still very good for its class.

The One mini’s display, packing a 720p resolution into an area of 51 sq. cm, still features a density above 300 ppi, so individual pixels will be hard to spot unless the display is a few centimeters from your face. Photos and videos look very crisp on the panel, and text is considerably sharper than HTC’s last generation of devices at this size. I’ve been spoiled by using a range of 1080p displays recently on flagship smartphones, which are naturally a step above this display in terms of quality, but even directly up against these devices, the One mini’s screen looks great.

One reason it looks so great is due to the color reproduction, which in typical Super LCD fashion, is true to life but also vibrant. HTC has tuned this panel to perfection, delivering ideal white balance and deep blacks for a strong contrast ratio. Like many other IPS LCD’s, the color gamut is wide, and the viewing angles are very good, making it extremely easy to see the display from all angles without significant color distortion.

The area I continue to be impressed by Super LCD displays is in their ability to be very readable outdoors, due to a combination of filter layers and minimal gaps between the display crystals and the Gorilla Glass. When trying to use the HTC One mini at full brightness in direct sunlight, aside from the small portion of the display that is reflecting the sun, the rest of the panel is quite readable.

The display on the HTC One mini is one of the phone’s best features. Even though it’s smaller than a lot of the current high-end Android handsets, HTC hasn’t skimped on quality, which won’t leave anyone disappointed.

How to Reduce Your Monthly Wireless Bill: Useful Tips

Wireless providers thrive on peddling a myriad of extra features and services on top of your basic service plan. Early nights and weekends, roadside assistance, mobile TV, hotspots and GPS are all fair game and can add anywhere between a couple of bucks to $10 or more to your wireless bill each month, per service.

What’s even more concerning is that many people don’t even look at their monthly bill. Checking your bill and eliminating some of these unnecessary perks can go a long way to putting some extra dough back in your pocket each month. Here are 12 ideas to help cutting back on your wireless cell and data plan:

Use Wi-Fi whenever possible.

A most obvious tip yet equally rewarding as well... using Wi-Fi whenever possible will help cut down on data usage, especially when streaming music or video to your smartphone. I realize that some may disable Wi-Fi when not in use due to extra battery drain but forgetting to turn it back on could be a financial mistake if you don’t have an increasingly rare unlimited data plan. Just use caution when submitting sensitive information over public hotspots and you should be fine.

Negotiate a lower rate.

Despite what you’ve probably been taught, everything is negotiable. Your mileage here will vary but you’ll never know unless you ask. This usually works best in person at your local authorized retailer, but deals can be arranged over the phone as well. One way to segue into a negotiation is threatening to take your business elsewhere. I had one wireless carrier offer me a high-end phone free of charge if I agreed to sign another contract. Normally I would have had to pay $200 for said phone but I got it free simply by mentioning I was interested in another carrier.

Ask for corporate / organization / educational discounts.

Thousands of companies, organizations and educational institutions have partnerships in place with wireless carriers to offer discounts to employees, members and students. The problem is that most people don’t know about these as wireless providers don’t exactly advertise them front and center. 

Most simply require you to enter your organizational or school e-mail address to see if you qualify. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon all have discount pages for your convenience. I’ve personally seen discounts range from 10 percent to as much as 25 percent.

Nokia Lumia 925 Review

When Nokia released the Lumia 920, it was packed with some of the best hardware you could find in a Windows Phone, such as the fantastic optically-stabilized camera, PureMotion HD+ display and an OS fresh from Microsoft’s update center. But many reviewers, including myself, found that the thick and heavy design wasn’t representative of Nokia’s best effort, and didn’t give the fantastic hardware the body it deserved.

Nokia Lumia 925 - $590 (unlocked)

• 4.5-inch, 1280 x 768 AMOLED display (334 ppi)
• Super sensitive touch, Gorilla Glass 2
• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 chipset
• 1.5 GHz dual-core CPU, Adreno 225 GPU, 1 GB RAM
• 16 GB internal storage
• 8.7 MP camera, Zeiss f/2.0 lens, dual LED flash, OIS, 1080p video
• 2,000 mAh, 8.4 Wh internal battery
• LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC
• Windows Phone 8
• 139 grams, 8.5mm thick

Enter the Lumia 925, Nokia’s answer to the complaints. It ditches the thick polycarbonate shell, hefty slab of glass and space-consuming LCD display for a mostly aluminum body with an AMOLED screen. In the process of changing a few components and materials, the Lumia flagship has shed some weight, dropping to 139 grams and 8.5mm thick (from 185g/10.7mm), giving it an all new breath of life.

Aside from the size, a few other aspects of the phone have been optimized, including a some cool software tweaks by Nokia, and revamped camera firmware that should take better advantage of the 8.7-megapixel rear camera. But are the changes too late? Is this the Lumia we should have had at the launch of Windows Phone 8?

The Nokia Lumia 925 unit used in this review was kindly provided by MobiCity. Check them out for the latest smartphones unlocked and off-contract.

Design

When I first pulled the Lumia 925 out of its retail packaging, I was somewhat disappointed in what I was holding, after using the HTC One for the better part of a month. The ‘aluminum’ design is in some respects strange, as the back panel is a soft touch plastic while the only actual metal is around the edges of the phone. At a first glance it looks odd, not as solid as the Lumia 920’s design or as refined as the even better Lumia 720.

All the ports on the phone are crammed into the top section, which also looks a little strange. Right next to a somewhat loose SIM card tray (it pushes in like a button) is the microUSB charging port and the 3.5mm headphone jack, leaving the bottom panel completely blank. It’s not of great importance, but the top section of the phone looks crowded for a design that otherwise is well spaced.

The front panel is dominated by a remarkably smooth Gorilla Glass 2 panel protecting the 4.5-inch display; a panel which also protects the three soft-buttons, front-facing camera and a few sensors. Compared to other high-end phones available today, the display doesn’t use as much of the device’s face as you might like: it’s just 8mm shorter than a Galaxy S4 and is actually a few millimeters wider, but has a display half an inch smaller.

The back panel is a piece of plastic that you can’t remove, and mainly houses the rear camera situated unusually far down from the top. The camera module protrudes from the phone’s back by around 1mm, delivering a maximum thickness of 10.2mm. Nokia deceptively advertises this phone as being 8.5mm thick, but as far as my measurements go the body is actually mostly 9.2mm thick, and the back panel exhibits around 0.5mm flex, so it’s likely the piece of plastic isn’t laying flush against the internal components.

On the right hand side of the phone are the physical buttons: the volume rocker, the power button and the camera button going top-to-bottom. It’s a typical Nokia arrangement that works best on a phone of this size, as the power button is in a very comfortable position. Unfortunately the camera button isn’t as solid as I’ve seen in some of Nokia’s past designs, making it a little hard to distinguish between the focusing and capturing stages.

I mentioned earlier that initially the phone disappointed me with its design as it looks a little strange. But as I put it through its paces as my daily driver for a week or so, the design and construction began to grow on me. It’s not as nice as the Lumia 720 I’ve used previously, but the Lumia 925 is a significant step-up from the Lumia 920; the lightness and relative thinness is refreshing, making it feel like a phone having undergone a rigorous weight-loss routine.

Most importantly, though, is that the design is very comfortable. The curved edges don’t lend themselves well to making the phone look slim, but they really help with making the phone ergonomic. Combine this with materials that feel really nice in the hand and Nokia has drastically improved the usability of their flagship Windows Phone offering with the 925. After a week of use I basically forgot about the design’s visual oddities, because it’s simply a great phone to hold.

I tested the black model of the Lumia 925, which uses aluminum that isn’t quite black, tending towards purple. If I was selecting a color of 925 to purchase, the others being white and grey, I’d likely choose white as it uses aluminum’s natural color for the metal edges, which looks a little better. Unfortunately the use of aluminum means Nokia couldn’t produce the phone in their usual range of vibrant colors, though optional wireless charging backs do come in red and yellow.

Compared to the Lumia 920, the Lumia 925 is a huge step forward in the design department, producing a phone that’s ergonomic and decently attractive. The loss of weight and thickness improves how the device feels in your hands and pockets, although I still lean towards the Lumia 720’s polycarbonate unibody as having the nicest Lumia body thus far.

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Gigabyte U2442F Ultrabook Review

It was 2011 and Intel saw a surging trend in mobile computing, admittedly inspired by Apple's Macbook Air. Notebooks were to become thinner, batteries had to last more, optical drives were going away, and performance, performance didn't have to suffer too much. Moreover, manufacturers didn't seem to be doing a whole lot to get on this trend, so Intel pushed forward by investing $300 million of its own money to make it happen.

The first Ultrabook specification was based on the Huron River platform using the Sandy Bridge architecture. This specification required a minimum battery life of 5 hours, a resume from hibernation time of 7 seconds, and the laptop's body could be no more than 18mm thick for 13.3” models and 21mm thick for 14” models. The use of solid-state drives and unibody chassis were also encouraged (but not part of the specification) to help meet these criteria.

The more modern and current Chief River specification is based on Ivy Bridge. The battery life, resume time and dimensions remain the same, while a storage transfer rate of 80MB/s minimum has been added along with mandatory USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt support.

There are currently more than two dozen 'Chief River' ultrabooks available from manufacturers such as Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony and Gigabyte. Today we are checking out the latest model from Gigabyte. The U2442F is one of many U2442 variations, though as the flagship model it’s the most expensive and powerful.

Gigabyte U2442F First Impressions

Gigabyte's 14-inch ultrabook measures 339mm wide, 233mm deep and just 21mm thick at its widest point, while weighing just 1.69kg when fitted with an SSD, HDD and the Li-polymer (11.1V, 47.73Wh) battery.

Gigabyte U2442F 14" ultrabook - $1250

• 14" 1600x900 LED display
• Intel Core i7-3517U (1.9 - 3.0GHz)
• Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 2GB GDDR3
• Intel HD Graphics 4000
• 8GB of DDR3 RAM
• Crucial m4 128GB mSATA SSD
• Toshiba 750GB HDD
• SD card reader
• 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, audio jack
• 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Chiclet keyboard
• 1-button trackpad
• 6-cell Li-Polymer battery
• 339 x 233 x 21 mm, 3.7 pounds

The lid is a mere 5mm thick, featuring a thin aluminum back that gives the screen a little extra protection and looks great in the process. The 14" LED backlit screen sports a 1600x900 resolution and matte finish. Personally it makes me happy that Gigabyte didn’t go with a gloss here.

The screen has an embedded 1.3M HD webcam which blends seamlessly into the design. There is a small LED light next to it which lights up when the camera is active. Next to the small camera lens there's also a small hole for the microphone.

Moving to the keyboard, Gigabyte has included an 87 key 6-row chiclet backlit solution. As with most modern notebooks, there are function key combos to quickly enable or disable features such as wireless network, webcam, Bluetooth, trackpad and so on.

The keyboard feels great and I'd happily use it on a daily basis. We also found it easy to avoid the trackpad, which measures 95mm by 55mm. The palm rest is plastic but feels nice to rest your hands on and doesn't mark easily.

Underneath the U2442F are various small grills to let cool air in, as well as four small rubber feet that raise the laptop and stop it from marking surfaces such as a desk. It isn’t possible to remove the battery from the U2442F without taking the Ultrabook apart and in fact the only easily accessible component is the memory as a cover can be removed exposing two SO-DIMM slots.

Connectivity-wise, you'll find an SD card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port and a DC-input power jack on the right side. The left side includes a Gigabit Ethernet port, D-sub (VGA) port, two USB 2.0 ports, microphone jack, headphone jack and a Kensington lock slot.

Tiny PlayStation Vita TV console announced alongside new PS Vita

During a livestream straight from Japan, Sony has announced a new version of their PlayStation Vita, just three weeks after announcing price cuts for the handheld gaming console. The company has also revealed an interesting device called the PlayStation Vita TV, a tiny console which melds together Vita hardware with PlayStation 4-related functionality.

Starting with the redesigned PlayStation Vita, Sony claims the new handheld is 15 percent lighter and 20 percent thinner than the original model, while also packing in an additional hour of battery life. While the majority of internal hardware stays the same to maintain game compatibility, Sony has switched out the OLED display for an LCD variant, there's now a micro-USB charger, and also 1 GB of internal storage.

The new Vita, launching in Japan on October 10th, will come in six colors - black, grey, blue, pink, yellow and lime green - and will retail for 18,980 yen (~US$190) in a Wi-Fi only model. The 4 GB to 32 GB memory cards have also been reduced, now retailing between 1,554 yen (~US$15) and 6,804 yen (~US$68), and there's a new 64 GB card that will set you back 10,479 yen (~US$105).

But the more interesting of the two announcements comes in the form of the PlayStation Vita TV, a console with takes up a mere 6 x 10 cm. The unit is based on Vita hardware and connects directly to your TV, allowing you to play Vita and PSP games, as well as access various music and video services, including Sony's own Music and Video Unlimited. Vita-style apps will also be a part of the Vita TV, such as the LiveTweet Twitter client, among others.

The Vita TV also acts as a remote play client for the PlayStation 4: the unit can connect wirelessly to a PS4 in a different room, allowing you to play next-generation games "as if [you] are playing it on the PS4 system". Unfortunately the system only outputs video at a maximum resolution of 1080i, and the DualShock 3 controller that connects to the system is incompatible with some Vita games that require touch and motion controls.

Sony will be launching the Vita TV first in Japan on November 14th, with the basic bundle costing 9,480 yen (~US$95). Another bundle including an 8 GB memory card and DualShock 3 controller will also be available for 14,280 yen (~US$143).

Motorola Atrix HD Review

The Motorola Atrix HD is the follow-up to last year's Atrix 4G and Atrix 2 smartphones for AT&T. This year, the Atrix gains a much improved display, a faster processor, and better build over the older phones.

But the 2012 smartphone market is very different from 2011's, and the Atrix HD has some seriously stiff competition in AT&T's smartphone lineup with the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X. The Atrix HD has most of the specs to match the top tier Android smartphones, but does it put them together well enough to be a real competitor?

The answer to that question is a bit of yes and a bit of no. The Atrix HD excels in certain areas, but doesn't quite hit the mark in others. Fortunately, its $99 price tag makes it a great value, and it is one to be considered for those who don't want to shell out upwards of $200 on a new smartphone.

Hardware

At first glance, the Motorola Atrix HD looks like it fell from the same tree that the Motorola Droid Razr and Droid Razr MAXX came from. The design of the phone is very similar to Motorola's Verizon flagships, but the corners have been rounded a bit and the overall look of the Atrix HD is a bit softer than that of the DROID RAZRs. Fortunately, Motorola's hallmark solid build quality is present and accounted for here, and the Atrix HD is certainly a well-built device. The seams are all very tight, and though the phone is primarily plastic, the plastics used feature a soft finish, as opposed to the very glossy finish that Samsung prefers for its smartphones. At 140g (4.9oz), the Atrix HD isn't the lightest phone on the market, and that certainly helps with its solid feel.

The front of the phone features a new 4.5-inch HD ColorBoost TFT LCD display with 720 x 1280 pixels of resolution. This new display features an RGB stripe pixel layout and a pixel density of 330 PPI, besting the pixel density of almost all of the smartphones on the market today. The result of this is that images and text are very crisp, and it is all but impossible to see individual pixels with the naked eye.

The display itself is bright, and colors are punchy, if perhaps a bit over saturated. Viewing angles are excellent, and the ColorBoost screen is usable outdoors in direct sunlight, but it's not quite as good as Nokia's ClearBlack displays, which set the bar for outdoor visibility.

There is a large black border that surrounds the screen, and it makes the Atrix HD feel like its a bit wider than it needs to be. At 69.9mm (2.75in), the Atrix HD is nearly as wide as the Samsung Galaxy S III, which offers a larger 4.8-inch display. The border surrounding the screen on the Atrix is about twice as wide as that found on the Samsung, and it really feels like Motorola could have used a smaller border to increase one-handed usability while still keeping the 4.5-inch display.

Above the screen is a virtually hidden multi-color LED notification light next to a rather small earpiece. Next to that is a 1 megapixel front-facing camera. The only thing below the display is a silk-screened AT&T logo, as the Atrix HD does not have any capacitive or physical buttons on its front.

Like the RAZR line of smartphones from Motorola, the Atrix HD is appreciably thin at only 8.4mm (0.33in) thick. There is a thicker bulge towards the top of the phone that houses the camera and external speaker, as well as provides room for the 3.5mm headphone jack, micro-USB port, and micro-HDMI port. The right side of the phone is home to a volume rocker and power/sleep/unlock key, both of which were clicky and responsive on my review unit. On the left you will find a flap that hides the micro-SIM and microSD card slots. This flap is really the only part of the Atrix HD that I didn't like, as it felt a bit weak. Fortunately, it's not something that most users will have to bother with very often.

The back of the Atrix HD features a Kevlar fiber panel that provides strength and rigidity and just feels great in the hand. The panel has a soft-touch finish with a faux carbon fiber weave, which is much better than the glossy plastics used on other smartphones. Motorola also notes that the Atrix HD sports a water-repellent nano-coating, so it can withstand the occasional splash from a liquid with no ill effects. The Atrix HD is sealed all around, so users will not be able to access or swap out the 1780mAh battery that is inside.

Overall, the Atrix HD offers a level of build and display quality that you don't normally see in Android devices at this price point. The design may be a bit uninspired, but it's inoffensive and generally gets the job done.