Our camera team has spent some professional time with the iPhone 4S, so check out our in-depth findings of the snapper.
The
iPhone 4S caught many by surprise, with Apple expected to release the
iPhone 5 - but instead we got an iPhone 4 with overhauled innards.
While
the masses were initially disappointed, the iPhone 4S features a glut
of top-end tech that is designed to put it on a par with the likes of
the Samsung Galaxy S2 - but does it manage to do that?
The
changes to the iPhone 4S are easy to document - the camera has been
upgraded to 8MP (with an improved aperture ratio), the CPU is now the
same dual-core A5 processor as seen in the iPad 2, and a seven time
increase in graphical processing power.
Check out our video of the iPhone 4S in action - is it the phone for you?
Also
we've got Siri, Apple's voice recognition service - will this be a game
changer for mobile phones or will it be nothing more than a gimmick? As we've mentioned, the iPhone 4S is almost identical in outward design to the iPhone 4,
which might irk those that like to show that they've got the most up to
date device from Apple when out and about with friends.
However, the flip side of this is that things like the plethora of iPhone 4 covers on the market at the moment will still fit. Apple
has slightly changed the design of the iPhone 4S somewhat though, by
changing to a dual-band aerial design, making sure it doesn't encounter
an embarrassing repeat of antenna-gate we had to endure with the iPhone
4.
See how the retina display compares to the new
iPad, and the newly released retina-ready MacBook Pro 2012 in our
close-up comparison video:
For
all those that haven't seen the older version of the phone, we'll take
you on a tour of the new handset: the top of the iPhone 4S houses the
power/lock button, as well as the headphone jack, plus a microphone for
noise cancellation.
The right-hand side of the phone is devoid of
any buttons, but holds the slot for the micro SIM card, which pops out
using the included tool (or a paperclip). The
bottom of the phone is pretty standard, with the Apple connector and
dual speakers which pump out the (actually quite decent) sound.
The
left-hand side of the phone sees the rounded volume keys, with the top
one of these also acting as the camera shutter button to make it easy to
snap with the new iPhone. We've also got the silencer switch too, which
has been slightly moved upwards from the previous iteration. As
you can see, Apple has altered its antenna band technology to move the
gaps that plagued the iPhone 4's reception to a less-touchable location.
The Orange San Diego marks a significant milestone in the mobile
industry. It's not the biggest, fastest, smallest, slimmest or cheapest
phone, but Intel is inside.
It's not even the first handset to sport an Intel chip, that accolade goes to the Lenovo K800, but the San Diego is the first Intel phone to land in Europe.
It's
now available for £169.99 on PAYG and for free on some pretty low 24
month contracts , which puts the San Diego below the likes of the Nokia Lumia 710. However, in terms of specs it challenges the more pricey Sony Xperia P and Nokia Lumia 800. Intel
is responsible for manufacturing the San Diego (through the
little-known firm ODM Gigabyte), as Orange doesn't have the capabilities
of producing its own handsets, although this isn't the first time the
network has slapped its name on a phone.
The San Diego looks to be the replacement for the Orange San Francisco 2, which in turn replaced the excellent San Francisco. There's
no fancy dual- or quad-core action here though, since Intel has stuck
its single-core 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 Medfield processor inside the San
Diego, along with a 4.03-inch (600 x 1024) display and 16GB of internal
memory.
Pop the San Diego out of its box and you'll get a bit of déjà vu, with the handset sporting a resemblance to the Samsung Galaxy S2, and the plastic, metallic coloured strip running around the edge conjuring up memories of the iPhone 4S. Although
not an original design, the San Diego is a decent looking handset, and
the rubberised back provides a secure grip in the hand.
The San
Diego is a slender device, at 9.99mm in depth, and sits comfortably in
the palm. Evenly weighted, without being heavy, it tops the scales at a
respectable 117g. Even
though the case is plastic, the San Diego feels sturdy and well built,
although we could prise the plastic trim away from the edge of the
screen with a fingernail, which may see a build up of dust and dirt over
time.
Three physical buttons adorn the Orange San Diego, with a
power/lock key located at the top of the handset, next to a 3.5mm
headphone jack and volume rocker and dedicated camera shutter buttons on
the right-hand side. The volume rocker is easy to hit, but we found the lock key on top harder to navigate, especially when held in our left hand.
There's a micro HDMI port on the left-hand side and a micro USB port flanked by speakers on the base. Orange
and Intel have gone down the micro SIM route with the San Diego, with a
pop-out tray for the chip located just above the shutter button – you
even get a fancy iPhone-esque tool for opening the tray. Yippee. Battery
aficionados will be disappointed to learn that the back cover cannot be
taken off the San Diego and thus the battery is locked away, however
Intel claims battery life has been improved thanks to its new processor
and integration methods. More on that later. The
San Diego also fails to offer expandable storage, meaning you're stuck
with the 16GB of internal, which will be plenty for most, but
frustrating for those who need more or like to pop in a memory card full
of content to consume immediately.
However, this is far more generous than the storage in the One V and Lumia 710, which offer 4GB and 8GB respectively. Other
goodies squeezed in to the Orange San Diego include an 8MP rear facing
camera with single LED flash and 1080p video recording, front-facing
1.3MP snapper, NFC technology and HD voice, which enhances voices calls, making them clearer.
The Nokia Lumia 900 enters the market as the latest flagship handset
for the Finnish firm, sporting the look of a slightly super-sized Lumia 800.
We've
written much about the Lumia 900, and virtually all of it praises the
hardware. With good reason: Nokia has outdone itself with this stylish
127.8mm tall and 68.5mm wide slab, and at 11.5mm thick, it's one of the
best-looking smartphones out there.
Available from £399 ($449.99)
SIM free, and for free on 24 month contracts starting at £26 per month,
the Lumia 900 finds itself rubbing shoulders with the high society of
the mobile world, such as the iPhone 4S, Sony Xperia S and Samsung Galaxy S2. The
Lumia 900 features a classy, unibody frame made from polycarbonate.
It's tough and feels absolutely wonderful when held in your hand;
Nokia's industrial design work has clearly not been dulled by age.
However
that unibody design comes at a cost, which in terms of the Lumia 900 is
weight. It's a hefty old device tipping the scales at 160g – a full 16g
heavier that the iPhone 4S and Xperia S and a huge 44g more than the
Galaxy S2. Nokia
provides a range of three colours for the Lumia 900's chassis; black,
white and a rather striking blue, which was certainly our favourite.
ClearBlack
technology allows the 4.3-inch screen to be used outdoors (even with
polarized sunglasses at any angle), while Corning Gorilla Glass protects
a vivid AMOLED display. The
front of the Lumia 900 is primarily a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen
with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, matching the Galaxy S2.
The
screen is raised slightly from the body, leaving a lip around its
perimeter which gives the impression its popping out of the case –
making it feel out of place on what is otherwise a very sleek phone.
A
1MP front-facing camera for video chat sits at upper left, while a very
thin gap at top hides the earpiece; three capacitive Windows Phone
buttons sit below the display for Back, Start and Search. The
left side is devoid of buttons, all of which reside on the right, with
volume rocker at top, power/lock button at centre and a two-stage
dedicated camera button below.
At first this arrangement seemed a
strange choice, but when held with the left hand, our middle finger was
conveniently aligned with the power/lock button.
However when held
in the right hand, the power/lock key was simply to far down the side
of the Lumia 900 for us to hit easily, which meant a lot of awkward
shuffling in the hand just to lock the device. Atop
the Lumia 900 is a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro-USB port (for charging
and data transfer) and micro-SIM card door, while a large speaker grille
resides at the bottom on the handset.
There's a SIM door key
included in the box, allowing you to pop the tray out, which is then
pulled out completely to reveal the card slot.
It's a bit more
flimsy and complicated than the microSIM card tray on the iPhone 4S, and
we reckon this could easily be broken if treated without care.
Luckily
the card itself is held in place quite well and it's realitivly easy to
slide back into the Lumia 900, and then press down the flap to return
the handset to its sleek and slender form. On
the back of the Lumia 900 is an 8MP auto focus camera lens with Nokia's
customary Carl Zeiss optics next to an unobtrusive dual LED flash.
While
the silver band around the lens is a nice touch, we're concerned that
over time it may attract scratches from without using a case – however,
we prefer the look of this flush lens to the obtrusive lenses found of
the likes of the HTC One S and Galaxy S2.
The
Nokia Lumia 900 comes with a modest 16GB of storage, which will suffice
for most needs, but those who consume large volumes of content will be
disappointed to learn there is no way to expand on this.
The unibody frame means you can't open up the Nokia Lumia 900, meaning no access to the battery or hidden microSD card slot.
We've updated our Samsung Galaxy Nexus review to reflect the
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update which has now been rolled out to the
handset.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was the world's first phone to run Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich and now just under a year later it's the first phone to run Android 4.1: Jelly Bean. It's an upgrade that keeps it as relevant as ever and we've updated our review to reflect the changes.
There are some gadgets in geek-world that are announced and we just could not wait to touch. The Nokia N95, the original iPhone, the T-Mobile G1 and Palm's first Pre.
The
Galaxy Nexus fitted firmly in that category back when we first reviewed
it and in many ways, coming back to it now, it still does.
The
big selling point here is not so much the handset – it's what powers
the Galaxy Nexus. With Android 4.0 Google redrew its Android OS in
probably the biggest overhaul since it launched and the Galaxy Nexus was
the flagship device for that OS.
Despite the fact that many handsets are still stuck with Android 2.3: Gingerbread, Google hasn't stood still and the result of their hard work is Android 4.1. It's
an evolution rather than a revolution, an attempt to refine what the
company did with Android 4.0. But it's no less exciting for it and once
again the Galaxy Nexus is Google's standard bearer, bringing smartphone
users their first taste of the new OS.
On top of that, the specs include a fantastic Super AMOLED HD screen, dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 5MP camera and NFC support, to name a few. The
Nexus itself is fairly big, with dimensions of 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9mm,
though it's actually slightly smaller than Samsung's flagship handset,
the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Although
it's slightly smaller it's also a little bit heavier at 135g compared
to the latter's 133g. It doesn't feel enormous, really it's at the upper
end of what we'd consider to be an ideal size for most users, but you
can tell you are not using an iPhone 4S.
The
front is probably as minimalist as you can get. It's all black and
being built from the ground up as an Android 4.0 handset there are no
buttons in sight. In
fact, all you have on the front is the screen, front facing camera and
the brightness sensor, plus a cheeky little light beneath the screen
that you don't even know exists until you get an email and it begins to
pulsate.
The sides are fairly unremarkable with power/standby on
the right along with three charging pins (for a dock accessory), volume
on the left, nothing up top and the bottom housing the charge/sync
socket and headphone jack. The whole handset has a curved shape much like that on the Samsung Galaxy S3 but it's not too severe.
The rear takes its design cues from the Samsung Galaxy S2 with a snap on cover that feels slightly coarse to give a good grip. It has both Google and Samsung branding on it. You
won't find an SD slot on the outside, or indeed, the inside.
Ridiculously, this – the flagship Google handset which is so set up as a
media device – has been crippled by having NO expandable memory. Words
fail us. And they may fail you when you realise that 16GB internal
storage is your lot.
But the screen, when lit up, looks fantastic.
It's 4.65-inches with a resolution of 720 x 1280, giving it a pixel
density of 316ppi. It really is super sharp. We would have expected
nothing less with Samsung's mobile displays among the best out there,
but it's cracking for internet and video. There is no doubt about it – this is a premium handset and is up there with the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S3 in terms of marketing position.
If you want one, there's good news: the price has dropped to just £21.50 per month on contract and £295 SIM free.
The Motorola Razr Maxx has been out in the US for a while, known as
the Droid Razr Maxx, but the rest of the world is now treated to the
smartphone.
You get everything the Motorola Razr offers, except the super-thin chassis, as the Razr Maxx has gained love handles to accommodate a huge 3,300 mAh battery.
The
Motorola Razr Maxx is available in the UK for around £430 SIM-free and
is available free on contracts starting at around £25-£30 per month. In the US you can nab a Motorola Droid Razr Maxx 4G today for $650 SIM-free, or around $200 on a two year contract.
Motorola claims that the 3,300mAh battery will provide 17.6 hours of talk time, which blows its rivals, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 (11.6 hours) and iPhone 4S (8 hours), out of the water. However,
you can't stuff a battery, which is almost twice the size of the
1,780mAh one found in the original Motorola Razr, into the same, slender
7.1mm handset.
See how good the beefed up battery is in our power test video:
This
has seen the Motorola Razr Maxx expand to 9mm in depth and add a little
more weight. The original Razr weighs 127 grams, so at 145 grams, the
Motorola Razr Maxx is slightly bulked up, but hardly fat.
For perspective that's only 10 grams more than the Galaxy Nexus, and 35 grams less than the recently released Droid 4 in the US. In
fact the flatter back and more even weight distribution actually makes
it easier to hold than its predecessor, which we found to be slightly
top-heavy.
The rest of the internal specs are identical to the
Razr, so you get a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB RAM, 8MP
rear camera with LED flash and 1080p video recording, front facing 1.3MP
camera and Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. However, an update
to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is on the way and rolling out now across Europe. We
appreciate the new balance, but we wish Motorola had taken time to
redesign the Razr without such a huge bezel, which adds unnecessary
width and length when held in the hand.
We mentioned in our Razr
review that the deep bezel made the phone's 4.3-inch Super AMOLED
display appear smaller than it really was, and the Motorola Razr Maxx
does nothing to rectify this. There's
still the fiddly micro SIM and microSD card slots hidden behind a panel
on the left-hand side of the smartphone, and while not impossible to
manipulate, we would have liked this to be easier to use.
On top
you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, along with mini USB and micro HDMI
slots, enabling you to hook the Motorola Razr Maxx up to a number of
peripherals. The
only physical buttons on the Motorola Razr Maxx are located on the
right-hand side. There's a lock key towards the top of the handset,
which we found was easy to hit, but the volume rocker key located
towards the centre of the handset is slightly more tricky to find.
As
with the Razr, you can't remove the battery from the Motorola Razr
Maxx, which may put some people off who like to have that option, just
in case they need to do a hard reset or wish to buy an additional
battery for backup.
However, we can't really complain about the
Motorola Razr Maxx's Kevlar-clad body. It feels almost as good as its
super-thin Maxx-less cousin, and that's saying something.
If you've detected a little negativity in our review, you'll not be
surprised to learn that we are not
overwhelmed by the BlackBerry Curve
9320.
Yes, it has some nifty little features such as the Media
Server capability, the Wi-Fi hotspot and FM radio, but it lets itself
down in other areas with a not-so-brilliant screen, poor memory
allocation and pants video recording.
That's not to say it's
rubbish, because it's not - some bits, such as the messaging
capabilities and battery life, really are fantastic. It's just you get
the feeling the BlackBerry Curve 9320 has tried to spread itself too
thinly, but it's now down in the very lowest BB price bracket that can
almost be forgiven.
We liked
It's great to see RIM
thinking ahead and including new elements such as an FM Radio, wireless
hotspot connectivity and even DNLA. It shows these things can be done
and aren't exclusive to top-end handsets. And if they're two things
you'll be using the BlackBerry Curve 9320 for, it'll pay for itself in
the long run.
We disliked
But the phone lets itself down
in so many other ways. Why can't RIM create a browser that works as well
as other smartphones? Why does it spend so much time including
pointless scene modes but omitting something as obvious as autofocus in
the camera?
Once again you just get the feeling that RIM got 90
per cent of the way to developing a great phone, then the workers
clocked off for the day and management marked the handset as 'ready to
ship.'
Final verdict
What we like about the BlackBerry
Curve 9320 is that it's honest. It's not trying to be better than it is
and is quite happy to portray itself as a budget smartphone with a few
little extras.
And for the people it's aimed at, those who want a
phone that makes calls, sends texts/emails and has a good battery, it
comes up trumps. Web browsers and cameras are nice to have, but won't
swing a sale here. So on that basis, it gets a thumbs up.
And now
we have the powerful sub-£100 price bracket. It's very impressive for a
phone of this capability, and willl surely see it fly off the shelves -
meaning it matches up to the likes of the Huawei Ascend G300.
We
would recommend you buy the BlackBerry Curve 9320 now it's got the
lower price point - but don't forget about the sumptious BlackBerry
Curve 9360.
