Nokia 500 preview: First look

Introduction

The Nokia 500 is not a phone Nokia desperately needs to succeed. They've got bigger things on their mind and we don't mean Windows Phone 7. With Symbian Belle just launched on two brand new handsets, the Anna-running Nokia 500 is beyond hope of getting in the spotlight.
It's exactly phones like the Nokia 500 though that do well, giving good return of the minimum investment. They thrive in anonymity and get the job done without fanfare. Think Nokia C5-03 but duly upgraded: a 1 GHz processor and double the RAM, a capacitive touchscreen and Symbian Anna - and it will only get better with Belle.

The Nokia 500
The Nokia 500 is an entry-level smartphone and that's what Nokia are good at. It won't deliver super multimedia but it will open those internet pages for you and do it the way a true modern smartphone should - with multi-touch support. It's the complete smartphone experience with the speed of a 1GHz CPU, solid connectivity, free SatNav and multi-tasking, all in a much friendlier Symbian Anna fashion.

Nokia 500 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
• Dimensions: 111.3 x 53.8 x 14.1 mm, 73 cc; 93 g
• Display: 3.2-inch 16M-color nHD (360 x 640 pixels) TFT capacitive touchscreen
• Memory: 2 GB of inbuilt storage, microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
• OS: Symbian Anna OS
• CPU: ARM 11 1GHz processor, 256 MB RAM
• Camera: 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera with geotagging, VGA video recording @15fps
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, stereo Bluetooth v2.1, microUSB port, 3.5mm audio jack, GPS receiver with A-GPS
• Misc: Accelerometer, Stereo FM radio with RDS, Flash lite 4.0, changeable colored back-panels, proximity sensor
• Battery: 1110 mAh Li-Ion battery, quoted for up to 7h/5h talk time in GSM/HSDPA mode and 500h/455h standby.

With an upgraded processor, penta-band worldwide coverage and improved data speeds, the Nokia 500 means business. But it knows its target audience and tries to stays relevant with the feature set and customization options including exchangeable back covers.

The Nokia 500 in hand
It keeps an eye on budget too. The all-plastic finish, garden variety TFT display, fixed-focus camera with no flash and VGA-only video are compromises that had to be made. It still looks like a viable option - a young, affordable smartphone with a good speed boost and colorful personality.
Looks like an easy one to get along with. We guess we can cut the courtesies and move on. We only have time for a short preview anyway.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review: Droid at large

Introduction

Tablets are basking in well-deserved attention and manufacturers know they need to try hard and make their devices distinct and memorable. Truly unique gadgets are hard to come by these days - especially in Honeycomb land. Which is perhaps part of the reason why iPad is still the one to beat. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G is in for a challenge, and up for it.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 official photos
Shortly after launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was blessed with a custom user experience, called Touch Wiz UX, which literally puts more color into Honeycomb, offers a good selection of customizable widgets and most importantly tries to ease your way into Android for tablets.
Yet this tablet’s main advantage remains that it’s the most portable 10” slate to hit the market. It's thinner even than iPad 2 and good 42 grams lighter than Apple's frontrunner, while still promising to match its battery performance. And that's no mean feat since tablets are going hard after netbooks, so they need to back their portability with battery longevity.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, a bright 10.1" PLS TFT display of WXGA resolution, a premium set of connectivity options and plenty of storage space. Check out the full list of things going for (and against) the Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G below.

Key features

• 10.1" 16M-color PLS TFT capacitive touchscreen of WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) resolution
• Very lightweight at just 565 g
• Thinnest slate to date at just 8.6 mm
• Gorilla Glass display
• Tegra 2 chipset: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor; 1GB of RAM; ULP GeForce GPU
• Android 3.1 Honeycomb with TouchWiz UX UI
• Optional quad-band GPRS/EDGE and tri-band 3G with HSDPA 21 Mbps connectivity
• 16/32/64 GBGB of built-in memory
• 3.2 MP autofocus camera, 2048x1536 pixels, LED flash, geotagging
• 2.0 MP front-facing camera; video calls
• 720p HD video recording @ 30 fps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Proprietary 30-pin connector port for charging
• Stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• HDMI TV-out (adapter required), USB host (adapter required)
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Flash 10.3 support
• GPS with A-GPS support; digital compass
• DivX/XviD support (fullHD), MP4 support up to HD
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor; three-axis Gyroscope sensor
• Polaris office document editor comes preinstalled
• 7000 mAh Li-Po rechargeable battery

Main disadvantages

• Non-replaceable battery
• No microSD card support
• No standard USB port
• No Android Honeycomb 3.2 yet
• No GSM voice capabilities despite the available SIM slot

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 at ours
Samsung are bringing their A game in the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Not that it should be judged by sheer size but the company's biggest tablet is fit to be in charge and meet the competition head on. Whether it's watching films, browsing the web, gaming, video-calls, or imaging, this is one of the best-equipped tablets out there.
The screen quality, the added TouchWiz UX functionality, the good battery and excellent media make it a must-see. The whole package looks like the right mix of style and substance, but we just won't rush to a verdict. The Galaxy Tab had a promising start in our preview. With all the finishing touches in place, it's ready to give its best. Head on past the break to see what the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is made of.

HTC Titan and HTC Radar hands-on: HTC media event

ntroduction

HTC's pre-IFA event was (as suspected) all about Windows Phone 7 Mango. HTC had a lot to say about the new version of the OS and what they've added to it, but also showcased two new phones - the 4.7" monster called HTC Titan and the smaller HTC Radar.
 
We'll get to retelling what HTC told us about Mango, but first we'll focus on the two stars of tonight's event - the first two WP7 phones with Mango to go official.
Update, September 2nd: We added hands-on videos with the Titan and Radar, plus some more photos from the event.
The HTC Titan (formerly Eternity) is an informal successor to the HD7. It packs a 4.7" S-LCD screen with WVGA resolution. That's the biggest screen HTC have put on a phone yet and the Titan is the fastest WP7 phone (for now) with a 1.5GHz CPU.

HTC Titan official photos
It's a unibody design and it's only 9.9mm thick making it one of the thinnest Windows Phone 7 devices yet (title is shared with Samsung Focus). The phone has some heft to it though, at 160g.
The second half of the duo is the HTC Radar (used to go by Omega). It's here to take over for the Mozart and the Trophy.

The HTC Radar will be available in Metal Grey and Active White
The Radar has a 3.8" S-LCD screen with WVGA resolution and goes back to the WP7 standard 1GHz processor. It has a unibody design too, but it's slightly thicker than the Titan, measuring 10.9mm.
The Titan boasts an 8MP camera, while the Radar has a 5MP one. Both shoot 720p video and are accompanied by front-facing cameras. The Titan and Radar cameras are interesting because they have exclusive features, you wouldn’t find on other WP7 phones.

HTC Titan and Radar side by side • HTC Titan, Sensation and Radar
Anyway, we'll go over HTC's improvements of Windows Phone 7 Mango and we'll follow that with hands-on impressions from the two phones.

HTC EVO 3D review: An extra dimension

Introduction

As 3D is taking over theaters and living rooms around the world, the craze is hitting handheld too. The next thing to shake up the business or on the way to irrelevance: geeks will geek about it either way. Now that the HTC EVO 3D has grown a GSM radio, they get ready to enjoy a real 3D clash of the flagships. It doesn’t get any better than two heavyweight fighters battling it out, and someone’s got the 3D video to prove it.

HTC EVO 3D official photos
The best part is the HTC EVO 3D, like the LG Optimus 3D, is not placing all its chips on the stereoscopic screen and pair of cameras. No sir, each of those smartphones claims to have the best there is for power and speed. We are talking mighty dual-core CPUs, loads of RAM and superb connectivity. The EVO 3D can be your kind of smartphone even if you don’t care about 3D stills and videos.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual/tri-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color stereoscopic capacitive LCD touchscreen of qHD resolution (540 x 960); Gorilla glass
• Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.0
• 1.2 GHz dual Scorpion CPUs, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM and 1 GB of storage for apps
• Dual 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, massively comfortable shutter key; face detection and geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 30fps in both 2D and 3D mode
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (8GB card included)
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
• Front facing camera with video calls
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• MHL TV-out (requires MHL-to-HDMI adapter)
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)
• Office document editor

Main disadvantages

• Less than impressive screen performance outdoors
• Speed and productivity not on par with other dual-cores
• Rather heavy
• Low resolution 3D stills
• The two cameras are too far apart for good stereoscopic close-ups

Things are certainly looking promising here, but smartphones are past the my-spec-sheet-is-longer-than-yours stage as of a few years. It’s all about the user experience now and, while powerful hardware is the first step towards providing it, you need equally good software if you are to challenge the best on the market.

The HTC EVO 3D in the comfort of our office
A massive high-res screen certainly looks good on paper, but it takes inspiration and clever design to beat those Super AMOLEDs and those Retinas. A new Adreno GPU with a major speed boost might seem more than anyone will ever need, but competitors have not been sitting around either so it’s always going to be close. And you cannot say whether the EVO 3D has the spark by just looking at the specs.
We hope a full review would bring you a whole lot closer to finding the answers you need, so let’s get started. The EVO 3D gets unboxed right after the break.

Nokia C2-02 review: A simple touch

Introduction

As Nokia smartphones struggle to hold the line against the storming droids, more and more pressure falls on their feature-phone squad. It will be up to those foot soldiers to buy enough time for the heavily armed Windows Phone 7 reinforcements to arrive.

Nokia C2-02 official photos
The Nokia C2-02 is the first of a trio of handsets to try and make the most of what's probably Nokia's last remaining stronghold - simple to use phones with good looks and an attractive price tag. The Touch and Type series has been doing well for Nokia and even though they scrapped the name, the spirit will live on.
To get us started, here's what the C2-02 is all about:

Key features

• Dual-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 2.6" 65K-color resistive TFT QVGA touchscreen
• S40 6th edition
• 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera
• QCIF video recording at 15fps
• Stereo FM radio with RDS, Visual radio
• Bluetooth v2.1 (with A2DP)
• Standard microUSB port
• microSD card slot (32 GB supported, 2GB included)
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Extra smooth and precise haptic feedback
• Attractive price

Main disadvantages

• No Wi-Fi
• Doesn’t charge off USB
• No screen brightness control
• No document viewer
• No smart dialing
• No video-call camera
• No accelerometer sensor means no cool features like tap-for-time and turn-to mute
• No multitasking

If you’ve been keeping track, you’d surely find the flaw list familiar. S40 made the leap to touchscreen but Nokia still didn't bother packing it with smart dialing and multitasking – features already available on competing feature phones for years. The screen itself is nothing to shout about: a small, low-res, resistive display. But the slider form factor makes quite a bit of sense - especially if you had doubts about the first Touch and Type candybars. Sliders make better use of space: the C2-02 gives you a reasonably comfortable dial pad and a bigger screen.

Nokia C2-02 studio shots
The C2-02 is supposed to make traditional Nokia users less anxious about giving touchscreen a try. It should be a small and tentative first step - a proper keypad is still a must. What’s more, texting is a relevant feature to both the budget range and the demographic profile.
Ultimately, it's the familiarity and ease of use that will help the likes of Nokia C2-02 reach their intended audience. It's a huge pool to draw from given Nokia's strong grip on the low end of the market. Not a bad place to start at all. We, on our part, are ready to start exploring this S40 touchscreen slider. We've got a full review to do before we can say we like it as much as, say, the X3-02. The hardware inspection begins right after the break.