Comparision:Galaxy Note Vs Samsung Galaxy SIII

We pitch Samsung's latest, the Galaxy S3, against the company's oversized ‘phablet', the Galaxy Note.

Form

Samsung Galaxy S3 - 136.6x70.6x8.6mm, 133g
Samsung Galaxy Note - 146.9x83x9.7mm, 178g
The form factor of the Galaxy Note is as divisive as it is large, for some, the bigger size isn't such an issue, while for others the fact that it's approaching the scale of a small tablet is just too much
On the one hand, we think it is too big for phone duties - holding it to the side of your head to talk feels weird and means the only way calls are viable is with a hands-free kit.
However, the flip side of this is that it does make a handy tablet and PDA-like device, particularly with the S-Pen stylus, and the large real estate makes it ideal for browsing, watching videos and other multimedia applications.
Visually, the design is rather like an up-scaled Galaxy S2 with an overall rectangular slate format with slightly rounded corners. There are chrome accents on the edges but otherwise the device is quite minimalist.
The phone features a textured back panel and although made from plastic has a good build quality which feels sturdy.
Samsung's Galaxy S3 is quite a far cry from the Galaxy S2 and its larger cousin, the Galaxy Note.
In terms of aesthetics the shape is more reminiscent of the Galaxy Nexus and HTC One handsets with plenty of softened edges and curvature.
The lines of the device do give it an odd appearance, however, it ends up looking bulkier at the bottom than the top which lends a strange sense of it being off-balance. Aside from this it's very clean in terms of styling, Samsung said the design was inspired by pebbles so it's appropriately minimalist.
We have to commend Samsung for choosing some interesting colour choices with either white or blue, but sadly it's not enough to draw our attention from one of the most glaring problems with the phone - its shocking build quality.
The plastic Samsung has used here is not good at all and certainly not what we've come to expect from a premium handset.
We have to say Samsung's Galaxy Note comes out better on form factor.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy Note

Display

Both of these smartphones have enormous touchscreens. The Galaxy S3 features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD capacitive display with a 1280x720 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 206 pixels-per-inch (ppi). Corning Gorilla Glass has been used to protect from scratches and the screen supports multi-touch input.
The Galaxy Note's display is very similar, except it's a bit larger at 5.3-inches and has a slightly higher resolution of 1280x800 pixels, which results in a pixel density of 285ppi. The actual difference in clarity should be fairly minimal.
We're calling this one a draw.

Winner - Draw

Storage

On the whole, both phones share similar storage setups with each having both 16GB and 32GB internal storage variants available with 1GB of RAM and micro SD capability for cards up to 32GB. However, the Galaxy S3 also has a model with 64GB onboard. This factor puts the Galaxy S3 ahead of the Galaxy Note.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Processor

Samsung's Galaxy Note is fitted with a dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor running the company's own Exynos 4210 chipset clocked at 1.4GHz with a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU).
This is pretty much the same setup found in the Samsung Galaxy S2, although clocked at 200MHz faster. Surprisingly, however, although the Galaxy Note delivers fairly good performance the majority of the time, it isn't without the occasional hiccup - something you don't get on the Galaxy S2.
Considering the difference in performance between the Note and the S2 on much the same hardware we can't help but conclude it's a problem with the added S-Pen functionality putting strain on the Galaxy Note's power plant.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S3 is on a quad core ARM Cortex-A9 on the new Exynos 4212 chip, again clocked at 1.4GHz and carrying the same Mali-300MP GPU. Admittedly we've only had limited exposure to this handset, but from what we've seen so far it is blindingly rapid and we certainly didn't see any slowdown whatsoever.
We have to side with the Galaxy S3 here.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Operating System

These are both Android devices, but where the Galaxy Note uses version 2.3 Gingerbread, the Galaxy S3 is much more up-to-date on 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
Because both handsets use Samsung's TouchWiz user interface (UI) on the surface they look very similar. However, Ice Cream Sandwich should offer a much faster and more stable Android experience and has a number of tweaks which make it better, in our view.
Amongst these is the fast app switcher from Android 3.2 Honeycomb, which allows users to jump between active apps easily. It's been updated for ICS, however, and now features a useful ‘swipe to close' functionality. Other changes include a re-jigged menu layout which is far easier to navigate.
The Galaxy Note has additional S-Pen functionality on top of Gingerbread 2.3, which means you can do clever things like double tapping the screen to bring up an ‘S-Memo' to make notes on. A hold press outside the S-Memo takes you back to whatever you were viewing, for example the web browser, and releasing the hold press brings the memo up again.
The Galaxy S3 also has added ‘intelligence' features which include ‘Smart Stay', a system where the phone's front camera watches your eye movement and toggles the screen on or off depending on whether you're looking at the device or not.
Between the two we think the most important factor is the added speed, stability and basic functionality added by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. All the other stuff is simply frilly extras, some of which are very nice, but not as important as the basics.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Camera

Both handsets sport 8-megapixel primary cameras with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution, LED flash, autofocus, touch focus, geo-tagging, image stablisation, face and smile detection, panoramic mode and multi-shot.
The Galaxy S3's camera setup uses a back-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor for allowing in more light, this should give better quality photos.
It has a particularly rapid multi-shot capable of taking 3.3 photos per second and a ‘best picture' picker. Other features include the ability to capture still images and 1080p HD video simultaneously, video stabilisation, exposure control, white balance, ISO control and HDR mode.
Each phone has a 2-megapixel secondary camera capable of video calling, the Galaxy S3's records in 720p.
Both are excellent camera offerings capable of capturing high quality pictures, however, the Galaxy S3 has the edge here with a more comprehensive suite of features.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Final Thoughts

On positive points, the Galaxy S3 has more storage capability, a faster processor, a more up-to-date operating system, better overall performance and a more tricked out camera.
The Galaxy Note has a nicer feel to the build quality, performance is reasonable but there are some issues, storage space is ample even if the top end is lower than its opponents, the camera is still excellent but doesn't have as many features as the Galaxy S3's.
We don't have a definitive conclusion here. On the one hand we find the Galaxy S3's build quality immensely off-putting, but on the other it has Android Ice Cream Sandwich and overall faster performance. The thing is, the Galaxy Note is a very good phone and we can't write it off as inferior.

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Samsung Focus 2 vs Samsung Focus(Specs)

                                   Samsung Focus                  Samsung Focus 2

Size	124.7 x 64.3 x 9.9 mm	117×60.4×10.9 mm
Weight	119.4 g	122 g
Screen	4 inch Super AMOLED	4 inch Super AMOLED
Camera	5 megapixel	5 megapixel
FF Camera	No	VGA
Storage	8 GB, microSD expandable	8 GB
Processor	1 Ghz Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon, Adreno 200 GPU	1.4 Ghz
WPBench score	56.74	89.56
Connectivity	HSDPA	LTE, HSDPA
Price at launch	$199 on contract	$39.99 on contract
Release date	November 2010	May 2012

The Samsung Focus 2 was announced today as a successor to the original Samsung Focus.
Do our readers think the improvements over the last 18 months have been significant enough? Let us know below.

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Oracle Vs Google Legal Case

Oracle vs. Google trial might end soon asJudge William Alsup that it had reached a unanimous decision on all but one question. A note was passed on to Judge William Alsup informing him of the progress, thoughthe jury foreperson also informed Alsup that the group did not agree that sending notice of the partialagreement was necessary. Alsup gave Google until Monday to provide reliable accounting paperwork itemizing how Android profit-and-loss figures were calculated and wanted the person handling thenumbers deposed.

Read More: The Verge

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Comparison:Samsung Galaxy S3 vs HTC One X, tech specs

Samsung unveiled its flagship device for 2012, the Galaxy S3 last evening. This device has been in the news for quite some time and frankly, we are relived that it is now out in the open. Apart from being Samsung’s flagship, it is also the official device of the London Olympics.

While its industrial design has been called somewhat underwhelming by the tech press there is no doubt, its a spec sheet behemoth. The device features 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD display, 8-Megapixel camera with zero shutter lag, 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos 4 Quad processor, 1GB of RAM, 2,100 mAh battery, a MicroSD card slot and it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

However, there is one device that actually does have the chops to take on the Galaxy S3, that is the HTC One X. We do a quick head-to-head comparison table below.

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Comparision:iOS 5.1 vs WP 7.5

For one week, I purchased an iPhone 4S and used it as my primary device, in order to see how Windows Phone compares to its main competitor. Some things were far better on Windows Phone, and some things were far better on iOS. Here is what I found:

Interface – Winner: Windows PhoneWindows Phone hands down has a far more intuitive and easy to use interface. I actually expected the iPhone to be ahead of the game here, since Apple is always known for making things simple and dumbed down, but most of the iPhone’s features are incredibly hidden and impossible to discover without reading instructions.
I was convinced that the iPhone had NO background media controls for current playing music, since the controls are hidden in places where a common user would never look. To skip a song from the lock screen, you have to press the home key twice. To skip a song while using the phone, you have to double-tap the home key and then swipe left on the multitasking pane. If it took me forever to find out about these, I can imagine average users truly struggling.
Also, the iPhone’s stolen version of swiping left to view pictures from the camera is completely unintuitive, since NOTHING tells you that it is possible. Windows Phone, on the other hand, gives you visual clues everywhere. The interface of Windows Phone is unmatched in terms of ease of use and being intuitive.

Apps – Winner: iPhoneThere are simply more apps on iOS than there are Windows Phone, and most of the popular ones (PayPal, Photosynth, Wells Fargo, Draw Something) are on iOS and not on Windows Phone. Also, the multitasking in iOS is far faster and better controlled. Apps will almost always open instantly from the home screen since they simply resume the version stored in RAM instead of restarting like in Windows Phone.
Also, the quality of apps on the iPhone are a notch above Windows Phone. The Facebook app in particular is a great example… it’s actually usable compared to the Windows Phone version!
Nevertheless, it can be tough to find free apps on iOS compared to Windows Phone, and I discovered that Windows Phone does have some better smaller apps for specific nitches (there’s no XDA-Developers app on iPhone for example). And I became extremely frustrated by Apple’s App Store asking me to enter my password every single time to install FREE apps!

Email - Winner: Windows Phone
With Windows Phone, you can actually search for emails. With the iPhone, you can only search for who emails are from, who they are to, and the subject line. What a joke! Also, with Windows Phone it’s possible to attach multiple photos to an email. Yeah, that’s right, the iPhone can’t send multiple pictures in an email. And to attach a photo, you have to do something completely unintuitive: Leave your email, go to the Photos app, and select a photo, and then click Send! Windows Phone wins hands down.

SMS – Winner: TIEOn the iPhone, there is a nifty little SMS progress bar when you send messages, that shows when your message is actually sent, so you know it got out. Also, if you turn your screen off before the message is sent, it’ll make a subtle “Whooop” sound when the message is sent, so you know it went through. Also, you can search through contents of your SMS threads, which is cool!
However, the iPhone completely lacks a character counter. Since messages are broken up every 160 characters (unless you’re texting someone on the same carrier), I like being able to know if my last two characters are going to send as a separate message. Windows Phone gives you a character counter once you reach about 135 characters, which is how it should be.

Notifications – Winner: iPhoneA notification manager is simply better than no notification manager. I have missed notifications from Pageonce countless times on Windows Phone, since notifications simply vanish after 10 or so seconds.

Information at a Glance – Winner: Windows PhoneBeing able to see what my next homework assignments are while also seeing my next calendar appointment is crucial to me. With the iPhone, I would have to open a homework planner app and then open the calendar app. With Windows Phone, there’s a great thing called Live Tiles (just like Widgets on Android). Just like a notification manager, every smartphone should have something like Live Tiles too.

Media – Winner: iPhoneWith the iPhone, you can quickly select where you would like to play your music (through the device’s speakers or external Bluetooth speakers for example). Also, the media and ringtone volume controls are separate, so you can turn your music down low but then you’ll still be able to hear a phone call in the morning.
However, the iPhone wouldn’t automatically reconnect to my Bluetooth speakers for some reason, and setting the iPhone to vibrate instead of ringer is slightly confusing. Nevertheless, the separate volume controls and full control over music playback destination pushed the iPhone ahead here.

Keyboard – Winner: Windows PhoneTyping is simply better on Windows Phone. On WP7, you have a dedicated comma and period button, which cuts out extra screen taps (I use commas a lot). Also, being able to see and select word suggestions as you type is far better than them being ultimate mysteries like they are on the iPhone. For example, it’s a pain to correct the word “well” to “we’ll” on the iPhone, whereas it’s dead simple on Windows Phone.

Voice Commands – Winner: iPhoneSiri is simply better than Windows Phone’s current voice controls. There are more available commands, and you can also use voice dictation anywhere (instead of just text messages on Windows Phone). Also, Siri supports multiple sentences! I hardly ever use voice dictation on Windows Phone, since I hardly ever write text messages as simple as “I’ll see you there”. With Siri, I can dictate out piles of sentences and actually be able to say what I want to say.

Maps – Winner: TIEWith Windows Phone, Bing Maps will show you restaurant reviews and store hours right on the search results. On Google Maps for iPhone, even store hours are strangely missing.
However, Google Maps is almost always more accurate, especially in other countries.

Hardware Design - Winner: Windows PhoneThe iPhone’s design may be beautiful, but it’s completely terrible functionality-wise. Wrapping a phone (which people often drop) in glass is the worst idea ever! Also, the phone’s design acts as a miniature oven… if you live in a hot climate, you could cook eggs on the phone during the summer. I appreciate utilitarian objects over superficial objects, and the iPhone is extremely superficial.

Universal Search – Winner: iPhoneIt’s nice being able to search everything on your phone from one location. The iPhone lets you do that, while on Windows Phone you would have to jump into each specific app to do so.

Battery Life – Winner: Windows Phone
At the end of the day (or the end of the article), Windows Phone gives you a longer-lasting battery in my experience. The iPhone was down to less than 20% each night, and that’s with only being connected to T-Mobile’s EDGE network! I can’t imagine what 3G would be like.

Overall, both phones are great and both phones have flaws. Deciding which phone is best overall is truly up to each individual person, since everyone has different needs.

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Sony Xperia S vs HTC One V(comparisions)

We compare HTC's One V to Sony's Xperia S

Form
HTC One V - 120.3x59.7x9.2mm, 115g
Sony Xperia S - 128x64x10.6mm, 144g

The Sony Xperia S is Sony's first Xperia handset since the company absorbed its partner Ericsson and although there are many design elements which keep the device tied to that distinctive family there are a few new twists.

Most notably, it's much more robust than its predecessors with wider edges which make it sit in the hand more comfortably, while the plastic used in its construction has a higher quality feel.

Generally the shape looks very nice and the whole handset comes across as a very ‘premium' model with flattering aesthetics.

HTC's One V is a different story altogether. Although the company has demonstrated its ability to produce some fantastic new designs with the One X and One S, the One V has been left behind and adheres more closely to HTC's earlier designs, which we found dull.

Winner - Sony Xperia S

Storage
The Xperia S has a generous 32GB of internal storage along with 1GB of RAM, though sadly there is no card slot to expand capacity further.

While the One V may only have 4GB of space, it has micro SD capability for cards up to 32GB, meaning you can effectively squeeze 4GB more out of it than Sony's offering. It has half the RAM of its rival at 512MB.

On balance we have to give this round to HTC.

Winner - HTC One V

Display
The One V has a 3.7-inch TFT LCD capacitive display with an 800x480 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 252 pixels-per-inch (ppi). For a ‘budget' model the One V has an extremely impressive screen as it's very sharp and colourful.

Sony's offering, however, is easily one of the best Android displays on the market at present.

It's a 4.3-inch LED-backlit LCD display with scratch-resistant glass and features a high resolution at 1280x720 pixels. The resultant pixel density of 342ppi even beats the acclaimed iPhone Retina display, so it surely has an advantage in sharpness over the One V.

Winner - Sony Xperia S

Processor and Operating System
The One V uses a 1GHz single core Qualcomm processor on the MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset and features an Adreno 205 graphics processing unit (GPU).

Sony's Xperia S has a dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon with an Adreno 220 GPU.

However, while HTC ships the One V with the latest build of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0, already installed, Sony has opted for the previous version, 2.3 Gingerbread, with the promise of an update to ICS later in the year.

Not only that, but HTC has updated its Sense interface overlay to a new version, 4.0, and it's much smoother and less intrusive than previous builds. Sony uses its Timescape interface, which generally runs fine on the Xperia S thanks to its processing capability, but it's a little more intrusive.

Despite the One V's lacklustre spec on paper, it actually performs rather well. This is no doubt in part due to HTC's optimisation improvements with Sense, but also the general performance boost Google has achieved with ICS. It handles multi-tasking better than you might expect bearing in mind it is single core.

As well as a performance boost, Ice Cream Sandwich is a massive improvement over Gingerbread in terms of how well the menus are laid out and the addition of some helpful multi-tasking interface features.

The Xperia S is equally fluid and smooth, but it's likely it will be able to handle even more intensive multi-tasking and even individually intensive apps and games which may tax the One V.

We have to give the victory to the Xperia S here, but the lack of Ice Cream Sandwich for now is somewhat disappointing.

Winner - Sony Xperia S

Final Thoughts
The One V may be ugly but it is a capable device when all is said and done. A considerable chunk of that capability comes from the operating system used.

It's unfortunate that Sony's Xperia S doesn't share the same up-to-date build just yet but it does have more power in the engine bay and a sharper display.

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N9 Vs. Lumia 800- Social Network Integration #MeegoVsWP

Okay down to the gritty nitty stuff, now that we’ve covered the basic Unboxing/setup as well as the basic gestures & multiasking on these two gorgeous devices we can get to where the differences really start to show. As you probably should have guessed from the title today’s video is an in depth look at the different social networking capabilities of each phone.


Before anyone bites my head off; some people on twitter who got a sneak peek of this first are telling me that the N9 in-fact does support Twitter notifications (my settings are all on but I haven’t ever received any mention notifications nor DM notif. even after multiple reboots )
Random points:

• Once again the N9 gets extra points for showing off its’ FB & Twitter Notifications on the lock-screen
• However a big point reduction for the N9 by not supporting tweet replies/FB commenting WITHOUT having to open the default FB/Twitter app (admittedly the N9 twitter app is quite decent, although it does tend to get stuck, pretend to crash then fix itself again; and of-course there’s QNeptunia for the N9 which is the equivalent of Gravity on Meego).
• Another major issue with the N9 is that there is no quick option to update your status/tweet/check-in as there is on the Lumia 800 (which is where a majority of the WP smoking comes from)
• One point I forgot to mention in the video is that the some 3rd party apps on the N9 can also publish notifications onto the Feed screen; so it that gives it a bit more versatility.
• I forgot to show off email in this video BIG MISTAKE- but in multiple tests the Lumia always loaded emails faster (I’m not referring to the delivery time, as they were both almost in sync when set to retrieve as soon as possible); on average the N9 took 3-5 seconds to load just plain text even though it was set to retrieve entire email body; while the Lumia 800 has everything pre-loaded and ready to read.
• The N9 supports Notifications for FB Friend Requests but once again requires you to open the actual FB app to confirm friend requests; which doesn’t give it much of an edge over the Lumia 800 which has the same functionality through the Default FB app as well.
• The peoples hub on the Lumia 800 gives you almost instant access to anyone you might want to contact (as it’s just one panoramic swipe away)- once you find your contact you can choose to email, text, mention, FB message, or Write on their wall which is as good as social networking gets.

Once it comes to Social networking what should be a fair fight (or even something tipped in favor of the N9) is tipped to WP favor due to the fact that Meego doesn’t support Quick reply/tweets without loading the twitter app; and the fact that for some reason they seem to think changing you chat status is more important than tweeting? (I honestly think this is one of the aspects that shows where Meego was rushed, that’s not even mentioning how uploads to twitter weren’t supported before PR1.2).
As usual guys any more suggestions of what you want me to compare just let me know down below (I plan on doing Camera + Camera UI next) also I saw that some people were suggesting I compare speaker/sound quality- however I’m not sure how to do that without violating youtube copyright laws (as well as the fact that it would depend my N8s Audio recording more than anything- so if you have a work-around/idea let me know please).
And I can’t believe I have to say this but CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS ONLY- If you want to say how superior your favorite OS without adding anything relevant while simultaneously trashing every other OS in existence (that’s not the same as personal experiences regarding the devices); I suggest you leave those comments on one of the multiple dedicated blogs for each OS.

Related articles

• Nokia Lumia 900 vs 800 vs 710 vs N9 vs N8 vs E7 vs SG2 and Galaxy Nexus (tech-gadget.co.in)
• Report: Nokia Lumia 910 pops up on Dutch website (tech-gadget.co.in)
• A bright future for the Nokia N9, indicates 'Internet Marketing Services' (tech-gadget.co.in)

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Comparision-HTC One S vs Samsung Galaxy S Advance

We see if Samsung's Galaxy S revival, the Galaxy S Advance, can compete with HTC's One S.

Form
HTC One S - 130.9x65x7.8mm, 119.5g
Samsung Galaxy S Advance - 123.2x63x9.7mm, 120g

HTC's One S is, in our view, easily the best-looking phone the company has produced to date. Gone is the dull recycled rectangular shape with slightly rounded corners, instead you've got a nicely contoured and slightly curved body shell with chiselled edges.

It looks very contemporary, in part thanks to the thin ‘bezel' of bodywork around a smaller wedge of black plastic which the screen sits inside.

The back panel has rubber-coated panels on the top and bottom and the bodywork has a high-quality and somewhat metallic feel to it, while the camera lens is housed in a coloured metal ‘porthole'. Interface control is handled by three capacitive buttons.

The Samsung Galaxy S Advance uses the same form factor as the original Galaxy S, which still manages to look appealing and keeps pace with the current market.

It has a more angular and squared-off shape and overall slightly blockier proportions. However, it is a bit chunkier than the One S at 9.7mm to the HTC's 7.8mm.

We think the design has aged well but it's not got the sleek, cutting edge charm of the HTC One S.

Winner - HTC One S

Display
The Galaxy S Advance features a 4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive multi-touch display with an 800x480 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 233 pixels-per-inch (ppi).

It uses Corning's Gorilla Glass for extra durability and should put out some pretty impressive visuals thanks to the AMOLED tech and relatively high pixel density.

HTC's One S has a slightly larger 4.3-inch capacitive display, it's still Super AMOLED, Gorilla Glass and multi-touch like its rival but has a higher 960x540 pixel resolution and consequently boasts a slightly higher pixel density of 256ppi, though we'd expect the picture quality to be somewhat comparable.

Winner - Draw

Storage
Samsung's handset has options for either 8GB or 16GB of onboard storage with 768MB of RAM and 2GB of ROM, plus a micro SD slot which allows cards up to 32GB.

The HTC One S has a fixed storage capacity of 16GB with no micro SD slot for expansion. It does, however, come with 25GB of free DropBox cloud storage integrated into the phone - all you have to do is register an account. It has more RAM than its opponent with a whole 1GB to play with.

This is something of a recurring theme with the One S, and indeed its stable-mate the One X, without micro SD capability they keep getting let down in the storage category. The Samsung Galaxy S Advance can have much more storage overall, as well as the added flexibility of micro SD.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S Advance

ProcessorBoth Samsung's Galaxy S Advance and the HTC One S use dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processors. The One S uses more up-to-date chipset technology though with Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Krait clocked at 1.5GHz with an Adreno 225 graphics processing unit (GPU), which should run 30 per cent faster than standard Cortex A9-based chipsets. Samsung's handset is clocked at 1GHz.

Although the Galaxy S Advance should still offer capable performance by current standards, Qualcomm's cutting edge chip technology is a force to be reckoned with meaning the Samsung doesn't stand a chance in this respect.

Winner - HTC One S 

Operating System
The Samsung Galaxy S Advance runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread while HTC's One S uses the latest build, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

ICS is leagues ahead of Gingerbread, it's so much better in our view that comparing the two seems almost cruel.

The new version is much, much faster on performance and navigation, it has an extensively revised menu layout which is much easier to navigate and generally makes more sense.

We're particularly fond of the new multi-tasking interface, which has a quick app switcher and features a swipe-to-close functionality.

HTC's One S takes this one easily with its up-to-date version of Google's platform, which is a more rewarding experience on the whole.

Winner - HTC One S

Camera
The One S, like other members of the One range, features some extensive camera capabilities thanks to HTC's use of backlight-illuminated sensor (BSI) technology, updated Sense interface software and the inclusion of a dedicated chip to run the show.

This means it can do some nifty tricks, such as capturing 1080p HD video and still images simultaneously and a 20-image multi-shot mode.

The One S's camera is rated at 8-megapixels with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution, an LED flash, autofocus,  geo-tagging, face and smile detection, white balance, ISO control, HDR mode and filter effects. For video it has stereo sound recording and stabilisation.

There's also a 1.3-megapixel secondary camera with video call support.

Samsung has gone for a 5-megapixel primary at 2592x1944 pixels with 720p video capture and a 1.3-megapixel secondary for video calling. It features an LED flash, autofocus, geo-tagging, touch focus and face and smile detection.

The Galaxy S Advance's camera setup is certainly nice, but HTC has gone the extra mile with a much more thorough suite of capabilities on the One S.

Winner - HTC One S

Final Thoughts
The Samsung Galaxy S Advance is a worthwhile and competent revival of the original Galaxy S which brings it well in-line with the current smartphone market. However, it is on the whole outclassed by HTC's One S which is, in our view, quite an exceptional piece of hardware. 

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HTC One X vs Sony Xperia S-Comparision

We take a look at HTC's One X flagship and compare it against Sony's Xperia S.

Form
HTC One X - 134.4x69.9x8.9mm, 130g
Sony Xperia S -128x64x10.6mm, 144g

Sony's Xperia S is almost symbolic of the company's absorption of its Ericsson partner, who's name its own sat beside on the front of all previous Xperia models.

There's enough signature Xperia styling in there to connect the device to its predecessors but it is at the same time quite distinctly  of a new generation and one with more than a nod to the aesthetic designs of Sony's other electronic goods.

The result is a slightly chunkier and more angular device than its immediate predecessor, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S. It's got broader, flatter edges which make it look more substantial, but overall it retains the interesting and elegant Xperia shape fans will be familiar with. It also feels more solid in terms of build quality thanks to the use of nicer plastics.

The HTC One X is a significant step away from the company's repeatedly bland styling in its previous handsets. Like Sony, HTC has gone with some nicer and better quality plastics which lend a premium feel and the curved bodywork has slightly contoured edges which look neat.

There's a black panel housing the screen which means that only a thin strip of the main bodywork is visible round the edge giving a very modern appearance.

We think both phones look equally good with their very different design styles.

Winner - Draw

Display
The One X is fitted with a 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD2 capacitive multi-touch display with a 1280x720 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 312 pixels-per-inch (ppi). This results in some fantastic picture quality and it's one of the best displays on any current Android phone.

The One X's display may be one of the best, but it's not necessarily the best. The Xperia S has a slightly smaller 4.3-inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen but at the same resolution as its rival it's sporting an incredibly high pixel density of 342ppi.

This not only beats the One X but also Apple's iPhone and pretty much any other handset you care to mention.

Winner - Sony Xperia S

Storage
Both devices are in the same boat on storage, each has 32GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM for the processor to use, neither has a micro SD slot to expand useable storage space.

Winner - Draw

ProcessorSony's Xperia S uses a 1.5GHz dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor on Qualcomm's MSM8260 S3 Snapdragon chipset with an Adreno 220 graphics processing unit (GPU). Not only is this quite an efficient powerhouse but as with previous Xperia phones Sony has optimised things quite well and the result is a rewardingly speedy experience.

The HTC One X uses Nvidia's quad core Tegra 3 architecture clocked at 1.5GHz with four ARM Cortex-A9 cores and an Nvidia GeForce ULP GPU. It's an astonishingly quick setup which needs to be seen to be believed. It's sure to have no trouble with the latest intensive apps and games for some time to come.

However, it should be noted that for general use of multi-tasking, navigating homescreens and running regular, low-key apps you probably won't notice a huge difference between these two handsets.

It's when running the most intensive tasks such as very graphically demanding games or streaming HD films along with multi-tasking other processes that the HTC One's Tegra 3 will really come into its own.

Currently there's not much around on Google Play that's really going to push either setup, but on paper the HTC One X is better and should be more future proof.

Winner - HTC One X

Operating SystemThe Xperia S currently runs Android Gingerbread 2.3 with Sony's Timescape interface on top, but it is due to get an upgrade to the latest build, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 very shortly.

HTC's One X has Ice Cream Sandwich already, so it's at an immediate advantage as there's a performance gain to be had with the new build along with some very useful added functionality and an overall better layout and presentation.

For now, HTC's One X wins this round by having a more up-to-date platform, but in time the Xperia S will catch up.

Winner - HTC One X

CameraThe One X comes with an 8-megapixel back-illuminated sensor (BSI) primary camera with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution.

HTC's camera overhaul with its new Sense 4.0 interface and a dedicated chip means it can capture HD 1080p video and still images at the same time. Another neat trick is you can hold the shutter down and capture up to 20 still images in quick succession. The phone can then tell you which picture is best.

Other features include autofocus, touch focus, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, panoramic capture, HDR, white balance, digital zoom, LED flash, video stabilisation and video stereo sound recording. There's also a front-facing 1.3-megapixel secondary with 720p video capture and video calling capability.

This is all well and good, but the Sony Xperia S has a 12-megapixel BSI primary with a 4000x3000 pixel resolution. Now we know it's not all about megpixel counting but having seen both cameras in action we can say the Sony produces better quality snaps.

On the features front it has an LED flash and video light, autofocus, touch focus, image and video stabilisation, geo-tagging, face and smile detection and panoramic capture and continuous video autofocus.

Video capture is 1080p and a secondary 1.3-megapixel camera captures in 720p.

Sony's setup wins this round.

Winner - Sony Xperia S

Final ThoughtsSony's Xperia S is a fantastic handset and there are some areas where it comes out ahead of HTC's One X, Sony's screen and camera are both superior, though the One X's equivalents are still excellent. The Xperia S is a very well rounded device.

However, while Sony's processor is competent and will tick along at much the same level as the One X's with normal use, the One X has that currently dormant top-end capability which will mean it can handle genuinely console-quality games and other complex tasks in the not-too-distant future of mobile tech.

Both these devices are on a similar footing in terms of the end user experience and we think each is a perfectly valid choice.

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Nokia Lumia 900 vs iPhone 4S-Video

As promised, after Alex Barrera’s first impressions hands-on video of the Nokia Lumia 900 he also reviewed the handset against the iPhone 4S, and uploaded this video above.

While the iPhone 4S is marginally faster in rendering web pages and other processor speed tests, the Nokia Lumia 900 more than holds its own in general, and Alex feels make a much better iPhone contender than the legion of plasticky Android handsets now available.

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Comparision-HTC One V vs ZTE Orbit

FormHTC One V - 120.3x59.7x9.2mm, 115g
ZTE Orbit - TBC

HTC's One V is the low-end model in its One range and this is reflected in its looks, which aren't great to put it bluntly. The overall shape is boring and very similar to HTC's older phones. It also has a weird chin on the bottom section which does it no favours. The coup de grace is the single colour choice which is a dull brown.

The ZTE Orbit is far more interesting to look at with a sweeping, rounded shape and nice proportions. The bodywork shows as a thin strip round the outside of the black front panel, which houses the touchscreen. The back panel is nicely contoured and has a textured surface.

ZTE wins this round easily.

Winner - ZTE Orbit

DisplayThe Orbit has the larger screen of the two handsets at 4-inches, it's a TFT capacitive display with multi-touch support  and an 800x480 pixel resolution. The pixel density is reasonably good at 233 pixels-per-inch (ppi).

The One V's slightly smaller 3.7-inch capacitive multi-touch display sports the same resolution, giving a higher pixel density of 252ppi.

Both displays aren't the best around but they're decent enough. HTC's touchscreen should give a slightly sharper picture quality though.

Winner - HTC One V

StorageHTC's handset has 4GB of internal storage and 512MB of RAM, plus a micro SD slot for up to 32GB of additional card storage.

ZTE's Orbit has pretty much the same setup, minus the card slot.

We have to give HTC this round as the additional micro SD space makes a difference.

Winner - HTC One V

ProcessorThe Orbit has a fairly typical Windows Phone setup, that is, a single core 1GHz Qualcomm processor which has been optimised to run Windows Phone Tango - the lower spec version of Microsoft's platform.

The HTC One V, being the lower end HTC One model has a virtually identical setup with a 1GHz Qualcomm single core processor.

Performance should be more or less even here.

Winner - Draw

Operating SystemThis is the meat and potatoes of the comparison and the area in which these phones most widely differ. On the one hand, HTC's One V runs Google's Android platform, specifically the latest version, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.

Ice Cream Sandwich is the best version to date, it's much faster, the menu layouts make more sense and it's more stable than its predecessors.

While it still maintains Android's excellent multi-tasking capability it adds a much better way to interface with this through a quick app switcher, complete with swipe-to-close functionality.

Android is also great for people who like to personalise their mobile phone experience - you've got a lot more control over placement of app icons, background wallpapers and widgets, while custom launcher apps and interfaces can be loaded onto the handset.

Another plus point is the huge number of apps on Google Play, previously known as Android Market. There are currently more than half a million apps and games available.

On the other side you have ZTE's Orbit running Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. It uses the Tango build which is designed for phones at a lower-price point with a budget spec.

Functionality-wise it's more or less the same as Windows Phone Mango for higher-end phones and has been optimised to maintain decent performance with cheaper hardware.

Windows Phone has a form of multi-tasking, but it isn't true multi-tasking like Android.

Instead of being able to switch to different apps and leave some running in the background, any non-active app goes into hibernation.

This means when you restore an app it needs to reload rather than instant-switching, furthermore, it means social networking apps, or any with updating content, won't actively update while in hibernation.

What Windows Phone does very well is contact, message and social networking aggregation.

Thanks to the People Hub you can receive and send messages to multiple contacts across multiple mail, text, instant messaging and social network platforms - plus it'll keep track of status updates too.

Compared to other platforms Windows Phone doesn't have a particularly broad app selection, the Windows Phone Marketplace has 70,000 apps to choose from but on the upside most of these are very high quality.

Windows Phone's interface is interesting, it uses colourful ‘Live Tiles' for apps on a continuous scrolling homescreen. Information from the apps these Live Tiles represent is pushed directly to the tile itself, so you can, for example see a little slideshow of your photos within the tile, or brief weather reports in a weather app's tile.

It's customisable in the sense that you can move tiles around, change wallpapers and change theme colours, but it's nowhere near as extensive as Android on this front. Generally we'd say it's much easier to use, however.

It comes down to whether you prefer ease-of-use and streamlined social networking or plenty of customisation, apps and genuine multi-tasking.

Winner - Draw

CameraBoth devices have similar camera setups, each has a 5-megapixel primary with a 2592x1944 pixel resolution, an LED flash, autofocus, geo-tagging and 720p video capture.

HTC's One V has a few more impressive tweaks though. It features a back-illuminated sensor (BSI), white balance, multi shot mode, macro mode, digital zoom, Geo tagging, night mode and a self-timer.

HTC's offering has gone the extra mile here.

Winner - HTC One V

Final ThoughtsHTC's One V isn't at all bad mid-range handset in terms of spec but its visual design is extremely off-putting. However, if you're in the market for an affordable Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone and aren't too bothered about looks it's a decent choice.

ZTE's Orbit is a great Windows Phone for those on a budget, if you're looking for something easily accessible but don't fancy Apple's iOS ecosystem (or high prices) it's a good alternative. However, if you want a bit more freedom in your operating system you might be better off with the HTC One V.

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