Firmware For Download: October 2011

Friday, October 7, 2011

Nokia N9: First look

Today's smartphone scene is one of fierce competition and breakneck growth. Rarely though do announcements get any bigger than this. The Nokia N9 seemed forever stuck in rumorland, but never lost its grip on users' minds. The handset is rightfully enjoying as warm a reception as it would have had if it had been announced a year ago.

And you can easily see why: a spanking new OS based on some pretty impressive (and novel!) concepts, sleek unibody design, some decently powerful hardware (even if the N9 missed the dual-core train) and that magnificent 3.9" curved AMOLED of FWVGA resolution is a package that's hard to resist.

We got our hands on this baby today, and although our meeting was brief, it was enough for it to earn a special place in our geeky hearts. The Nokia N9 is an excellent device based on an exciting UI concept and boasting some sleek hardware. But what casts doubt on it is the claim that it represents a dead end in the smartphone tree of evolution.

But let’s not get all emotional now, the thing isn’t even on the market yet. And it looks like the right thing to help Nokia through the hard transition period in the second half of 2011. What we know for sure is we would love to have more whence this came from.

Nokia N9 at a glance

General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
Dimensions: 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 76 cc
Weight: 135 g
Display: 3.9" 16M-color FWVGA (480 x 854 pixels) AMOLED capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla Glass, anti-glare polarizer, curved display, multi-touch input
Chipset: 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
RAM: 1GB
OS: MeeGo OS, v1.2 Harmattan
Memory: 16/64GB storage, no microSD slot
Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and geotagging; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 2.1, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, NFC
Misc: Polycarbonate unibody, built-in accelerometer, proximity sensor, uses microSIM cards

On paper, the Nokia N9 looks like solid, if not spectacular. As soon as you set eyes on the real thing though, there's no mistaking a smartphone that will reach for the top rather than settle for anything less.

The premium finish and the outward curved screen are nothing short of outstanding. And the great news is that the good impressions don't end with the exterior. We were pleasantly surprised by the MeeGo Harmattan platform and starting to doubt whether switching to Windows Phone 7 was the only option available to Nokia.

HTC Sensation XL at a glance:

General: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
Dimensions: 132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm, 162.5 g
Display: 4.7" 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) S-LCD capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla glass
Platform: 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM 8255 Snapdragon chipset
RAM: 768MB
OS: Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread)
Memory: 16 GB storage (12.64GB user-accessible), microSD card slot
Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image stabilization; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, dual LED flash, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera; 28mm f/2.2 lens
Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio
Misc: Sense 3.5 UI, Beats audio enhancements and headphones in the package, 1600mAh battery, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, ultra-fast boot times

Granted, the single-core CPU won't give you boasting rights with your geeky friends and screen density could be pushed a bit higher. But with this one it's not so much about having the best specs on the market - it's about having specs that make sense. It's a statement that the company values user experience over PR material.

Galaxy S II for T-Mobile faster than its Exynos-packing sibling

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S II is behind the corner for T-Mobile USA customers, but if you've been keeping track of the many variations of the S II, you'll know it's not the same as the international or the AT&T version.

The Galaxy S II for T-Mobile swaps out the Exynos chipset for a Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 chipset with two 1.5GHz Scorpion cores and Adreno 220 graphics (vs. two 1.2GHz cores Cortex-A9 and Mali-400MP GPU). The screen is bigger than the one on theinternational version too - a 4.52" SuperAMOLED Plus screen with WVGA resolution.

How does the T-Mobile version of S II stack up against the Exynos versions? Well, someone already ran Quadrant and it scored 3841. In our benchmarks, the Exynos in the international Galaxy S II scored 3538 in the same benchmark.

Beats-packing HTC Sensation XL announced, has a 4.7-inch SLCD

Today HTC announces the latest member of its Android smartphone lineup called Sensation XL. The droid is the second HTC device to feature the Beats audio enhancements and a special pair of Beats headphones in its retail package.

On the inside, the Gingerbread-running HTC Sensation XL is quite similar to the Windows Phone-powered HTC Titan - Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset, featuring a 1.5 GHz Scorpion CPU (single-core) and the Adreno 205 GPU. The RAM amount has been increased from 512 MB to 768 MB, though.

Outside you get a 4.7" S-LCD of WVGA resolution, which makes up for pixel density of 199 ppi. There's a Gorilla Glass panel in front of that to protect it from scratches. The profile of the metal-clad smartphone measures just 9.9mm.

The HTC Sensation XL 8 megapixel main camera is particularly interesting as it features a 28mm wide-angle lens and bright F/2.2 lens, which should improve its low-light performance dramatically. The 720p video-recording isn't quite so impressive, though.

The HTC Sensation XL offers 16GB of internal storage, but sadly that's not expandable through a microSD card slot.

Local connectivity is nicely covered with microUSB, GPS, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth all on board. Network data speeds max out at 14.4 Mbps for downloads and 5.76 Mbps for uploads.

The final noteworthy features of the HTC Sensation XL are a 3.5mm audio jack, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and a built-in gyroscope.

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