SlashPhone » reviews

SlashGear: Samsung Moment Reviews

Kim Poh Liaw — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:34:37 +0000

To be available from November 1st, the Samsung Moment smartphone is the latest Android smartphone that uses a 800 MHz processor and 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touch-screen. The device is going for $179.99 after a $50 instant savings and a $100 mail-in-rebate with a two-year service agreement, be sure to check out SlashGear Review if you are planning to purchase one this week.

QWERTY-packing Android smartphones are certainly a little rarer than their touchscreen-only counterparts, but we’d still have second thoughts about picking the Samsung Moment. While its AMOLED display is bright and clear and its keyboard pleasantly expansive (once you’ve retrained your fingers to deal with its offset layout) its stock Android 1.5 OS pales in comparison to what other manufacturers are doing to distinguish their rival handsets. Most damning, though, is the price: Sprint will ask $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and presuming a new, two-year agreement when the Moment arrives on November 1st. That’s perilously close to the $199.99 of the Verizon DROID by Motorola, and right now we can’t find enough to recommend the Samsung over the new Motorola.

SlashGear: BlackBerry Storm2 Review

Kim Poh Liaw — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:06:20 +0000

Available from Verizon Wireless for $179.99, the BlackBerry Storm2 with BlackBerry OS 5.0 has got a new SurePress “clickable” display technology and built-in Wi-Fi. Click here for the new BlackBerry Storm2 Review on SlashGear.

Our remaining doubts concern how well the Storm2 stands as a prosumer device compared to its flourishing Android, iPhone and webOS rivals. Each has areas in which they better the Storm2, whether in usability, responsiveness, browser experience or media playback, but the BlackBerry does put up a decent fight. The Storm2 falls short of delivering a knockout blow, but it’s no longer undermined by its own “unique features”. RIM has certainly done enough for the Storm2 to warrant a place on your touchscreen smartphone shortlist.

Key Features:

Smooth design and premium finish with sloped edges, chrome accents, glass lens and stainless steel backplate
Large (3.25”), dazzling high-resolution 480 x 360 display at 184 ppi
Capacitive touchscreen with integrated functions (Send, End, Menu, Escape) and new SurePress technology that makes clicking the display practically effortless
3G and global connectivity support for making phone calls in more than 220 countries and accessing data in more than 185 countries (with more than 80 destinations in 3G)
Network Connectivity: EV-DO Revision A; UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz); and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks
Supports Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
256 MB of Flash memory
2 GB of onboard media storage and a microSD™/SDHD memory card slot with a 16 GB card included

Motorola CLIQ Review Up on SlashGear

Kim Poh Liaw — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:58:28 +0000

Available in Motorola CLIQ for US and Motorola DEXT in Europe, check out SlashGear latest review on the first Motorola Android OS. The Motorola CLIQ has a 3.1-inch full touch screen, a slide-out QWERTY hardware keyboard and also featuring its unique MOTOBLUR with tight social networking site integration. “MOTOBLUR is certainly a good start, and in certain ways we prefer it to HTC’s system of integrating social networking with individual contacts but keeping them differentiated from each other. Having messages and communication from every paradigm – email, SMS, Facebook messages, tweets and more – can make communicating more straightforward, but it does require some setup. While the CLIQ attempts to automatically match contacts across the services, anything it can’t combine will need to be done manually.” Full review can be read here

SlashGear Reviews the Nokia E52 and E55

Kim Poh Liaw — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:36:05 +0000

Announced in May this year, both the Nokia E52 and E55 have an impressive battery life, giving you up to 8 hours of talk time or 28 days of standby time. The Nokia E52 comes with a traditional numeric keypad, while the E55 equipped with a half-QWERTY keyboard. According to SlashGear review, “We found that with WiFi constantly turned on, together with push-email from an Exchange server, a few phone calls each day and some SMS messaging we managed close to five days of before needing to charge the battery, making the E52 and E55 excellent choices for those prone to forgetting to charge their cellphone.” Check out the full review via this link!

SlashGear Reviews HTC Hero

Kim Poh Liaw — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:26:41 +0000

Featuring the new HTC Sense UI for Android OS, HTC Hero seems to be the best Android Smartphone for now. Check out the full reviews on SlashGear by Chris.

Back in our initial unboxing and overview of the HTC Hero, we tongue-in-cheek suggested that it could be the best Android smartphone to date. Having spent more time with it, that cavalier prediction is looking highly accurate. Android’s flexibility is, arguably, one of its biggest stumbling blocks; out of the box there’s little to guide a new owner through the platform’s capabilities. By introducing Sense, however, HTC have made the Hero instantly usable, and they’ve done so not with the bare minimum of app investment but with a range of programs that offer up-to-date functionality like social network integration.

Best of all, HTC’s dedication to developing Sense and treating UI as a long-haul process rather than a short-term prettification exercise gives us hope that the few shortfalls and omissions we’re currently seeing in version one of the Hero will be addressed over time. It’s reassuring to know that not only is the Hero a great smartphone but that it’s only likely to get better as HTC continue their tweaks. It’s safe to say that, in the HTC Hero, Android has come of age

T-Mobile Dash 3G Hands On Video on PhoneMag

Kim Poh Liaw — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:37:13 +0000

Need an affordable smartphone with QWERTY keyboard? PhoneMag has done a hands on video with initial impression on the new T-Mobile Dash 3G, which is also called HTC Snap in other regions. Compare to the Dash 3G’s predecessor, the Dash 3G has a trackball at the middle instead of the 4-way navigation keys. Check out the hands on video here or proceed to PhoneMag for the initial impression. A full review will be posted on the site soon.

MyPre Reviews the Palm Pre

Kim Poh Liaw — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:08:35 +0000

Back at CES in January, Palm surprised us all with a brand new, unleaked smartphone: something everybody realized could take on the iPhone 3G and hold its own. In the five months following, the Pre has wowed journalists, started rumors and yes, inspired websites. Now, though, the hard part begins: can the Pre turn around the ailing fortunes of Palm and Sprint? Check out the review at MyPre.com!

SlashGear Reviews T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009

Kim Poh Liaw — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:13:07 +0000

Talk about messaging phones and you’ll inevitably get to the Sidekick. T-Mobile’s screen-flipping feature-phone has a history of offering smartphone style push email, web access and social networking with a straightforward UI; now there’s a new addition to the family tree, in the shape of the Sidekick LX 2009. The simple name-change over last year’s model hides a number of improvements, however, not least a stunning display, 3G and GPS. Are they enough to maintain the Sidekick reputation, or has the feature-phone crown been snatched away? Check out the SlashGear review here.

Android Community Reviews the HTC Magic

Kim Poh Liaw — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:47:47 +0000

For a long time now, Android and the T-Mobile G1 have been pretty much synonymous, defining not only form-factor but functionality of what makes a “Google Phone”. Gatecrashing that arrangement comes the HTC Magic, second Android smartphone to reach the market and the slimmer, prettier sibling to the G1, bringing with it the latest iteration of the Google OS, version 1.5 “Cupcake”. Expectations for both hardware and software have been huge; read on for the Android Community opinion.

SlashGear Reviews Samsung Impression

Kim Poh Liaw — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:18:18 +0000

The Samsung Impression is one of the many phones AT&T dropped a few weeks back that features a full QWERTY keyboard. The Impression stands out from the rest as a full touchscreen device that uses an AMOLED display. The phone mimics many smart phone features, and has a very polished UI that reacts smoothly to the user’s command. It’s honestly a great feature phone, yet the experience using it left me feeling I was using a very limited smart phone… continue the review here