Windows Phone 8 Vs Android 4.1

There's no denying the latest version of Google’s Android platform, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, has made huge advancements over its predecessors. It’s now one of the sharpest and most cohesive operating systems on the market.
But that all could be about to change with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 competitor, which is expected to arrive towards the end of 2012.
In this comparison we stack the two up against each other to see which one has the advantage.

Interface and aesthetics
Google has made considerable improvements on what was already impressive groundwork laid-out by the previous builds, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and the tablet-exclusive 3.2 Honeycomb.
Honeycomb introduced a new look for Android that has progressed through ICS and into Jelly Bean. It features bright blue menu and interface elements on a black background, together with white text using a very neat and clean looking font.
This creates a very modern and almost sci-fi base to work from, but from here Android has put a contemporary spin on things with plenty of idiosyncratic elements, such as the wallpapers, seemingly inspired by art and the popular culture of all things ‘quirky’.
In ICS, and now Jelly Bean, the app shortcuts are in colourful contrast to the relatively monochrome menu layout, with bright and decorative icons designed in a smooth ‘vector art’ style.
In a similar vein, Windows Phone 8 is expanding on what Microsoft started with Windows Phone 7, the distinctive ‘Metro’ user-interface (UI), which has now expanded to most areas of Microsoft’s portfolio. The Metro UI comprises a continuously scrollable black or white screen that is populated with a selection of square or rectangular ‘Live Tiles’.
These are essentially app shortcuts and widgets rolled into one as they will push live information relevant to that app directly to the surface of the interface, whether it’s weather reports or a text messages notification.
Adding to the unique nature of the interface is the use of bright colours for the configurable ‘theme’ of your homescreen.
In Windows Phone 8 you can now include many more Live Tiles on the screen space as tiles are now customisable – you can shrink them down so that four will take up the space of a standard tile, or you can expand them into a large rectangle taking up two regular tiles worth of space (or eight mini-tiles).
This means Microsoft has introduced a level of customisation more in-line with what people expect from Android.
Microsoft has said Live Tiles can now display much more information than before, including pictures, though, this will depend on the type of app a particular Live Tile represents and how big you set it to be.
A large tile set for the People Hub, for example, is far more likely to display complete text messages and a picture of the contact than the tiny quarter-tiles, but nonetheless, the capability is there. You’ll also have a much wider range of colour choices for the tiles’ theme.
Jelly Bean has an improved drop-down notifications menu, which means you can now easily access your settings from here and it allows you to expand any alerts using a simple gesture control. This means you can, for example, read an entire text message in the notifications bar rather than going right into an app.
In this regard, both systems have taken a similar approach to getting more of your information to you at a glance, which is commendable. It is, however, difficult to discern which system will work better in practice.
Another great element brought across from the two previous builds is Jelly Bean’s fast app switcher. For a long time Android has been regarded as one of the best platform for multi-tasking, but with the app-switcher it has become much more accessible.
Tapping the button from anywhere in the interface brings up a carousel of thumbnails for open, or recently open, apps which you can flick between easily. You can also close any app simply by swiping it to the side.

Performance
As with Ice Cream Sandwich, on Jelly Bean the whole setup is much more stable and reliable than earlier versions and, importantly, it runs a lot faster.
However, Google has managed to bump things up a notch even on ICS’s impressively smooth operating performance thanks to the implementation of what it calls the ‘Butter UI’, a series of tweaks which means everything glides along. It’s now safe to say that Jelly Bean performs as well as both iOS and Windows Phone, two systems long held to be better optimised. Windows Phone never suffered from performance issues when running thanks to excellent optimisation.
That said, the top-end power for things like gaming and intensive multi-media has always been a little behind Android because of Microsoft’s hardware restrictions – Qualcomm single core processors with a top speed of 1.4GHz and 512MB of RAM.
With Windows Phone 8 that’s all set to change and we should see it closing the gap with the dual and quad core Android devices already on the market.
This also extends to device displays and you can expect Windows Phone 8 handsets to sport higher resolutions up to 720p.
Android may currently be king of multi-tasking but with support for multi-core processors there’s a good chance Windows Phone 8 will be able to offer a competitive alternative, particularly when you consider what Microsoft has done in this area with Windows 8 for tablets.
But it’s not just about raw muscle. Microsoft has included a number of additions to what it terms its Shared Windows Core – the suite of features which both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 are built around.
These new additions, which include native C and C++ code support and both Direct X and Havok physics for gaming, mean it will be capable of some very impressive applications and games as well as making developers’ jobs much easier in producing this kind of content in the first place.

Usability
One of the most distinguishing features of Android Jelly Bean is the addition of Google Now, a new service that integrates Google’s search tools, Google Voice and a number of other interesting elements to provide a really useful platform.
For the most part, it seems as though Google was aiming to take down Apple’s Siri assistant (and we think it has succeeded, for now). The voice control and responsiveness is excellent and generally far more usable than Siri in our experience so far.
But more than that, Google Now periodically feeds you relevant information based on you and your location via a handy card interface and this is very useful for avoiding traffic jams or getting weather reports.
So far, Microsoft has revealed it has been working extensively on voice control and has integrated technology from Audiable. According to Microsoft’s announcement, Windows Phone 8 will support an extensive range of voice applications and will effectively allow you to interact with an app by having a conversation with it.
A big part of this will be down to how developers make use of Microsoft’s APIs, of course, but once again there’s a lot of potential in there for some very rich content.

Conclusion

With Jelly Bean, Google has made a handful of very significant changes to the fundamental way in which users interact with the platform. The result is a much more rewarding experience than previous builds and much of this is down to the smoothness and stability.
Features such as Google Now and the interface changes are welcome additions but the overall performance is what makes Jelly Bean stand out as it has brought the platform to the forefront of viable operating systems.
Microsoft is clearly aiming for a game-changer with Windows Phone 8. There are many more sweeping changes than on Android Jelly Bean, but in some ways this is because it’s playing catch-up for things like interface customisation and hardware support.
It is, however, paving the way for more substantial advances with support for more complex apps, games and services already wired in and it could prove to be a more dynamic and engaging system in the long run.

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Galaxy Note Vs Google Nexus 7[Comparisons]

We see how the Samsung Galaxy Note ‘phablet’ compares to Google’s brand new Nexus 7 slate.
Form
Google Nexus 7 - 198.5x120x10.5mm, 340g
Samsung Galaxy Note - 146.9x83x9.7mm, 178g
At first it might seem a bit daft that we’re comparing a tablet to a smartphone, but when you consider the size difference between the two is only a couple of inches the line between phone and tablet really is beginning to blur here.
Google’s Nexus 7 is built by Asus, a manufacturer we’ve come to expect excellent build quality from and with this flagship Android Jelly Bean device the company doesn’t disappoint. It’s as robust as any of Asus’ own Transformer tablet devices with the same high-level of fit and finish.
The back panel has been rubberised and textured to ensure it won’t slip out of your hand during use and round the edge of the device is a sturdy metal bezel.
The front looks much like any other 7-inch slate but the proportions are decent-looking – Asus has made the screen bezel narrower on the longer sides while still keeping it a fairly standard thickness along the sorter edges.
This does give it more of a smartphone-like style and could mean it’s easier to grip in landscape view than portrait mode, though we doubt the portrait orientation would give you much trouble really.
The Nexus 7 measures 10.5mm thick so it’s a fairly svelte device and at only 340g it’s one of the lighter tablets out there.
The Samsung Galaxy Note takes many style cues from its smaller Galaxy S2 cousin and considering that particular device looks as contemporary as ever (despite being usurped by the Galaxy S3) this can only be a good thing.
The proportions are much the same, although scaled up, meaning it has a thin bezel along the edges and wider sections at the top and bottom of the front panel. In fact, there’s more than a passing similarity to the Nexus 7’s shape albeit in a slightly smaller package.
Overall the handset has a very solid feel to it and seems well-built, although the back panel is very thin, springy and plasticky when you remove it, but when it’s actually seated on the device it doesn’t detract from the otherwise ‘premium’ finish.
The back panel also has a textured surface making it both attractive and easier to hold. Naturally being a smaller device the Note is also thinner and much, much lighter device than the Nexus 7 at 9.7mm and 178g respectively.
Both form factors are very solid and well put together as well as being highly portable while having flattering proportions and styling.
It has to be said, however, that the Galaxy Note is certainly the more portable of the two being smaller, thinner and lighter and yet still boasting a sizeable 5.3-inch screen.
Of course, that is still a compromise as you lose a few inches from the Nexus 7’s larger display, as well as other factors such as the difference in processing power, which we’ll come to in more detail later.
In the end, these are equally viable on form factor due to the quality of build and design.
Winner – Draw


Display
As we mentioned, the Galaxy Note features a 5.3-inch display using Super AMOLED technology. It is, as might be expected, of the capacitive multi-touch variety and is reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass.
The screen resolution clocks in at 1280x800 pixels and gives a pixel density of 285 pixels-per-inch (ppi), which is well up there with some of the clearest and sharpest displays on the market.
Not only that, but the Super AMOLED means it has excellent contrast together with deep blacks, rich colour reproduction and decent brightness.
It wasn’t long ago that most tablets had very lacklustre displays, but Apple’s iPad 3 really broke away from the pack with its 264ppi Retina display. Now, however, the Nexus 7 appears to be joining this new standard of high-quality tablet touchscreens thanks to the use of a 7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD number.
It boasts a 1280x800 pixel resolution, the same as the Galaxy Note, but at this larger size the pixel density comes in considerably lower than its opponent at 216ppi. Even so, by tablet standards this is impressively sharp and the use of IPS technology means there’s plenty of brightness to be had along with colours that pop.
You’re going to get a crisp visual experience with either device as both have large, high-quality screens. The real question is whether you want to sacrifice some screen space for a bit of extra sharpness or not. If so, the Note cranks out more pixels-per-inch and should be a good deal clearer.
That said, the Nexus 7’s larger expanse of glass might bring its own rewards depending on your preferences.
Winner – Draw

Storage
Google’s Nexus 7 has two storage variant with either 8GB or 16GB depending on whether you want to spend £159 or £199 respectively, either option will also land you with 1GB of RAM for the processor to chew on. Unfortunately, there’s no micro SD slot so you’re not going to be able to beef up your storage space with cards.
The Galaxy Note has no such issue with its micro SD capability supporting cards up to 32GB. This is on top of a pair of internal storage options for 32GB or 64GB, again depending on price. Like the Nexus 7, the Galaxy Note also has 1GB of RAM onboard.
For sheer quantity of storage you get much more on the Galaxy Note and it has greater flexibility through micro SD, which the Nexus 7 lacks.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Note

Processor
This is a real dividing factor between these two devices. On the one side you have the Google Nexus 7 with its quad core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1.3GHz on Nvidia’s powerful Tegra 3 chip, with a ULP GeForce graphics processing unit (GPU) bundled in.
While benchmark tests might show other premium chips to be a little quicker on paper, there’s no arguing with the Tegra 3’s fearsome capabilities and it will run Android as fast as you’ll ever need, along with all the multi-tasking and high-end gaming you could possibly want.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note is a dual core device, also based on ARM’s Cortex-A9 processing architecture. It’s clocked at 1.4GHz and uses Samsung’s excellent Exynos chipset together with a Mali-400MP GPU.
Let’s be perfectly clear, dual core can be as good as or even better than quad and this is a perfectly competent setup, the same hardware runs very well indeed even by contemporary standards on the Galaxy S2 clocked at 200MHz slower.
However, while that spec line-up is ticking all the right boxes, when it comes to actually using the device it’s a very different story. The Galaxy Note isn’t slow by any means – it’ll run high end games with no problem, but for general use, navigation and multi-tasking it is lacking. We’ve seen the potential of this hardware before and the Note doesn’t live up to it.
There is some noticeable lag and juttering with normal operation, even when updating to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) which, on most other devices, actually delivers a performance increase. The problem here is: we know the stuttering shouldn’t be there, the Note should, by all accounts, perform better.
It’s worth pointing out that whether the Note is on Gingerbread or ICS you can see a considerable performance improvement by using a third party launcher program and you’ll still keep all the S-Pen stylus functionality. The sad part is this really shouldn’t be necessary to unlock the handset’s true power.
This doesn’t make the Galaxy Note a write-off at all, but it does mean that before you consider getting one you’ll have to take into account that in order to get the most out of it you’ll need to get into the Android spirit and do a bit of minor tweaking before it’s up to scratch.
If that isn’t an issue for you, you should be fine.
All that said, the Nexus 7 is looking like a much better prospect straight out of the box.
Winner – Google Nexus 7

Operating System
The Samsung Galaxy Note shipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread but it can now be updated to version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Meanwhile, the Nexus 7 is the flagship device for the latest build of Google’s Android platform, version 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Many of the points we raised in criticism of the Galaxy Note’s performance based on its processing power are equally relevant here as the two aspects do go hand-in-hand to quite an extent. Likewise, the point on third party launchers is particularly pertinent – you will get a faster and smoother experience by opting for a launcher program than sticking with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface.
In terms of features, Android Ice Cream Sandwich is packed with enough good ones over Gingerbread that it’s well worth taking the time to upgrade. It’s a more stable build than its predecessors, for one thing, but also has a re-jigged menu layout which is far easier to use.
On top of this there’s the fast-app switcher control which brings Android’s legendary multi-tasking right to the surface – from any point within the interface you can now bring up a carousel of active or recently used apps which you can flick between easily and you can also swipe them away to close with the flick of a finger.
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has all this and then some. The Google Search interface has been revamped to be more intuitive and now includes a faster voice search tool to boot. You also have the added bonus of the Google Now application which can be setup to feed you alerts based on information important to your daily life, such as weather reports, traffic information and news.
The touch keyboard is now easier to operate and, best of all, Google has incorporated the ‘Butter’ interface which is a series of changes to make touch control, performance and responsiveness smoother than ever, something it achieves with aplomb from what we’ve seen.
The deciding factor here is that the Nexus 7 delivers better operating performance than the Galaxy Note while at the same time incorporating a range useful new features.
Winner – Google Nexus 7

Final Thoughts
This is a tough one. There’s a lot to like about the Galaxy Note as a tablet and a phone. It’s a great little device – solidly built and highly portable with a massive, crystal clear display and plenty of storage space. It does have a few pitfalls though, most notably in the performance stakes. The fact is it can be made to run very well indeed but only with some tweaks, although these are about as minor as you could hope – it’s nothing too complex. But, it shouldn’t need it and that’s the sad part.
The Nexus 7 runs much better straight away and has a wealth of extra features. Although the display isn’t as sharp it is still clearer than average and is larger, which has a value of its own. The only area where it falls behind is storage and even then it’s quite adequate for most purposes. On the whole we feel it is the better product ‘as is’.

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Jelly Bean Vs iOS 6 [Comparison]

June has been a huge month for mobile OSes. The major players, Apple and Google, have both demonstrated and released betas of their latest smartphone/tablet operating systems.
But which OS deserves the King of the Mobile World title? We tossed each new system build into a Thunderdome-style ring to determine which one lives, and which gets tossed into the badlands while Tina Turner sings an epic ballad.
Before we start, a few caveats: Apple’s NDA prohibits Gadget Lab from writing about unannounced features in iOS 6. So, if iOS 6 has a remarkable feature that doesn’t appear in the list, it’s because we respected the developer embargo. Also, neither OS is completely locked down and final, so features can be updated, changed or even removed before the final build. Finally, we’re only comparing new features that directly go head-to-head. For example, Android has much more robust data-management features, but because iOS doesn’t even really try in this area, we didn’t include data management as a mini-battle in this article.
With all that said, release the beta-code hounds!

Siri vs. Google Now Voice Search

Google didn’t give its new challenger to Siri an official name. Instead, the voice-dictation and information-sleuthing tool is wrapped up in Jelly Bean’s Google Now search feature — and it’s just, well, there without a lot of fanfare. Perhaps Google opted out of giving voice search a name because the feature is bereft of personality. The female voice of Android’s search feature is more human-sounding than Apple’s robotic Siri, but there’s nothing very engaging about Google’s new functionality.
Siri is like a friend with a slight hearing impediment. The Google Now voice is a robot that sounds really good.
Voice quality aside, results are hit-and-miss for each system. Siri soars at presenting facts and minutia from Wolfram Alpha, while Google Now hits the more pedestrian Wikipedia for its information. On the surface, both sources are great for quick bites of knowledge, but Wolfram Alpha’s high-precision results and Siri’s presentation make Apple the go-to platform for trivia.
Unfortunately, once you receive your information in Siri, that’s about it. There’s no way to expand upon the information or search the internet unless Siri offers up search in the first place. On the flipside, Google Now presents not only the snippets of information it decided you needed, but also quick access to Google search results with an upward swipe. As for pure voice-recognition prowess, Siri has an easier time understanding natural speech queries, but Google Now was able to decipher the names of our favorite Mexican restaurants. This is something Siri was unable to grasp.

Apple has gone to great pains to ensure that Siri’s sports, weather and movie results are now informative and beautiful in iOS 6. Google calls its equivalent Jelly Bean graphics “Knowledge Graphs” — illustrated cards, more or less, that include photos, maps, and other Googly art conventions. These are informative, but not nearly as pretty as what Apple delivers.
But what really puts Apple over the top is the ability to post Facebook status updates and tweets from within Siri in iOS 6. Try the same thing in Jelly Bean, and Google’s OS informs you, “This device cannot perform the action you requested.” Considering that Android has had Facebook and Twitter integration for a while, this is a disappointment.
The final nail in Google’s coffin is Siri’s ability to open apps with your voice. This is perfect when you have hundreds of apps on your iPhone, but not so perfect if an app has an odd name. For example, when we asked Siri to launch Rdio, she kept informing us that we didn’t have an app call armadillo. Still, the app-search function usually works, and it’s a huge benefit.
Verdict: Both voice-controlled search functions work great if you know the limitations of each service. Siri looks nicer, but its social integration and app launching is what really gives it a leg up over Google Now.

Maps vs. Maps

While Apple’s new, home-grown Maps app has a wonderful satellite 3D view that makes Google’s equivalent look like someone smashed in a bunch of buildings, Google’s feature set destroys most of what Apple has to offer.
Apple lacks any sort of street view for address-by-address navigation and location searching. This is a problem, as real-world images of storefronts will always beat dull, gray overhead views of buildings. And while Jelly Bean pushes turn-by-turn navigation to another app, its turn-by-turn features still blow away iOS 6′s. Google’s offering also provides the ability to create routes that avoid tolls and freeways; user-defined mapping layers (like terrain, traffic and transit lines); and the Latitude service, which helps you geo-locate friends who opt-in.
Perhaps most importantly, Google offers offline map viewing — a glaring omission for iOS 6. Simply select an area you want to view while offline, and then download that map data to your Android device. It’s an essential tool for those times when your carrier connection has dropped out, or you’re not able to access Wi-Fi. And it’s as simple as cropping out a localized map with the drag of a finger. The city of San Francisco ate up a modest 1.5MB on our Nexus 7 tablet.
Verdict: Apple’s first attempt at a home-grown mapping app is nice, but it can’t beat years of Google experience in building out a mapping infrastructure. In fact, we’re waiting impatiently for Google Maps to appear on iOS.

Notifications

Android had proper notifications before iOS. But just because you’re first, doesn’t mean you’re best. Apple’s notification scheme does one thing that just kills Android: It pushes notifications to the lock screen (and it’s been doing this since iOS 5). Jelly Bean’s audible alert is nice, but it involves too many steps to see what needs your attention. With iOS, the information is presented right on the screen — no need to unlock the device, or pull down to view notifications.

Jelly Bean’s integration with Google+ is stunning when a photo is shared on your G+ account — the image appears full width in your Android notification’s drawer. But the world needs more than just Google+ integration. Facebook and Twitter status updates in the iOS notification screen are perfect for quick updates.

We’re fans of expanded email notifications in Jelly Bean, but even these are not enough to help Android win the notifications competition.
Verdict: Google may have been first to notifications, but Apple has mastered the game. Google needs to look beyond Google+.

Social Networking

Putting notifications aside, Jelly Bean’s deep integration with social media is stellar, and it all ties into Android’s open APIs. For example, Jelly Bean’s Gallery app is totally exposed, allowing third-party developers direct sharing access. In short, any image in your Android Gallery can be shared with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ as well as apps like GroupMe, Dropbox, Foursquare and surely more to come.
iOS 6 has deep Facebook and Twitter integration, but if you want to share something from the Photos app to another third-party network, you need to launch that service’s app.
Verdict: While Google is keen on pushing Google+ to everyone, everywhere, it still plays more democratically than Apple.

Google Play vs. iTunes Stores

Google and Apple have taken different paths when it comes to selling wares to customers. Google keeps all of its stores in one app, while Apple has split the iTunes store into multiple locations. Want an app? Launch the App Store. Need a songs? Launch iTunes. The iBooks app contains books, and even podcasts have recently been given their own app.
Android’s one-stop shop means you don’t have to open multiple apps to find what you’re looking for. However, it does lead to a cluttered UI on the main splash page where users end up selecting the portion of Google Play they want to purchase media from. Apple’s multiple apps approach cuts down on clutter, but reduces discovery. Searching for a movie won’t also lead to a result that contains that movie’s soundtrack.
In truth, both approaches are flawed. Neither is impressive, nor a horrible mess. They both work moderately well in their own ways.
Verdict: It’s a draw.

Safari vs Chrome

The browser battles are back. But instead of Netscape versus Explorer, it’s Safari (Apple) versus Chrome (Google).
OK, it’s not really like the browser wars of old, but Safari versus Chrome is still a nagging debate. When it introduced Jelly Bean Wednesday, Google announced that Chrome would be the default Android browser. Why it took so long? Google only knows.
Chrome features unlimited tabs, and the ability to sync your Google account with bookmarks and currently open tabs on other devices. But the best Chrome feature is still its unified search and URL field.
Safari also syncs bookmarks and open tabs, but it lacks a unified typing field, which is odd considering Safari for OS X will have a unified field in Mountain Lion. Regardless, Safari makes up for unified URL/search with the ability to post photos from the mobile browser to sites like Craigslist. But Safari’s real kicker is its built-in “read it later” feature called Reading List.

Verdict:
This one’s tough. We could call it a draw, but even soccer has done away with ties. While a unified field is great, the Reading List gives iOS 6 the edge.
According to our count, the iPhone wins. But just barely.
Before you Apple fans start hectoring your Android-owning friends, remember that both platforms contain other features that are just as compelling as the ones above. iOS’s over-the-air Facetime, photo streaming, VIP email and Passbook are great features. Jelly Bean’s Location-aware Google Now is your new personal assistant, and Data usage is perfect for users on a data diet.
The biggest mark against Android — and something that wasn’t mentioned in the smackdown above — is that Android users are usually stuck with the OS version that came with their handsets. So, while Jelly Bean might be the bees knees, unless you buy a new Nexus device in July, you’re saddled with whatever OS your handset maker feels like supporting. At least iPhone owners get the latest-greatest.

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Samsung Galaxy S3 Vs Asus Padfone[comparison]

Here we come with the comparison  Samsung Galaxy S3 Vs  Asus Padfone 
Form
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 136.6x70.6x8.6mm, 133g
Asus Padfone - 128x65.4x9.2mm, 129g
From the front, the Asus Padfone looks very much like any other smartphone on the current market with its rounded corners and ‘candy bar’ proportions.
The only slight difference is along the bottom edge, which has a slightly raised lip but then curves downwards under the handset. From the side you can see the device has a distinctive wedge shape going from top to bottom while on the back there’s an extremely clean and minimalist aesthetic and a brushed texture.
In terms of build quality it does seem very solid and well-made, though the materials aren’t the most premium feeling you’ll encounter.
Samsung’s Galaxy S3 is very different from its predecessor, the Galaxy S2. The Galaxy S2 had a similar overall shape to the Padfone, though being more or less flat rather than wedge-shaped.
With the Galaxy S3, Samsung has tapered the corners even further to make a much curvier device, though proportions seem on the whole fairly familiar here. It’s a pretty good looking device but the problem is when you pick it up as the feel of the materials is very sub-par.
There’s no question that the Galaxy S3 will endure the rigours of typical smartphone use, it’s not flimsy, but for the price of a premium device we’ve come to expect a better finish on the surfaces you spend much of your time gripping on to.
We’d say that on looks the Galaxy S3 probably has an edge but it’s outweighed by the issue with material quality. The Padfone might not have the most premium feel to it but it’s much better than Samsung’s slippery and shiny construction.
Winner – Asus Padfone


Display
It’s difficult to over-emphasise just how large the Galaxy S3’s display is, it utterly dominates the front of the device and pushes the bezel out to a wafer-thin strip. At 4.8-inches it’s a bit of a giant, but despite this the size of the handset hasn’t changed much from the Galaxy S2.
Samsung has managed to squeeze all that screen real estate into a fairly regular-sized body shell. It’s a Super AMOLED capacitive multi-touch screen with the resolution clocking in at 1280x720 pixels and pushing out a pixel density of 306 pixels-per-inch. The result is crystal clear visuals with great colours and contrast which, for a screen of this size is quite an impressive feat.
The Padfone’s 4.3-inch screen might not have such colossal proportions but it’s still a decent size and, importantly, it’s also Super AMOLED with a 960x540 pixel resolution. Colours and brightness are excellent and it’s still on the sharper side of things with a pixel density of 256ppi.
As nice as the Padfone’s display is, we have to say the Galaxy S3’s is much better owing to the fact it delivers excellent clarity, contrast and colour reproduction on a larger scale which is great for viewing multimedia content.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy S3

Storage
Asus’ Padfone has two storage options for either 16GB or 32GB onboard, together with 1GB of RAM and micro SD support for cards up to 32GB. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is similarly well-equipped with the same card support RAM and both 16GB and 32GB options, plus the addition of a top-tier 64GB internal storage variant.
It’s a close run thing and both devices are extremely generous for storage space, you’ll hardly be found wanting. That said, that additional 64GB model makes a difference in terms of variety and secures Samsung a win this round.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy S3

Processor
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the first quad core device from the South Korean manufacturer and as such the company has really gone to town on this hardware setup. It sports the latest design of Samsung’s own Exynos chipset, the 4212, on ARM’s Cortex-A9 architecture and clocked at 1.4GHz.
This also features a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU). Performance is snappy and responsive, make no mistake, this device runs Android as smoothly as the iPhone runs iOS and that really is saying something in our book.
The Asus Padfone is no less impressively equipped, however. It uses a Qualcomm S4 dual core Snapdragon Krait, but while it might have half the cores that doesn’t mean it has half the power.
It’s clocked at 1.5GHz and features an Adreno 225 GPU. As we’ve found on the HTC One S, this setup can easily keep up with quad core alternatives and not only is it fast it tends to run cooler than its rival, which can have a tendency to get a bit warm.
We’d say these two will consistently deliver comparable results.
Winner - Draw

Operating System
Both devices run the latest build of Google’s Android platform, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
The Padfone runs just about the most untouched and unadulterated iteration you’re likely to see, the only noticeable tweaking is some of the pre-installed apps and widgets but, of course, these are entirely optional.
On the other side of the coin, Samsung’s Galaxy S3 has a very obvious interface overlay with TouchWiz, it makes a few changes to the drop down notification menu and various Samsung themes are peppered throughout.
At its core, however, the basic operation of the system is still very much vanilla ICS, it’s just wearing a fancy suit which you might either like or loathe.
The Galaxy S3 also has a few extra tricks up its fancy sleeve with things like S-Voice and Smart Stay, which tracks your eye movement to determine whether the screen should be on or off. However, these features are often troublesome and problematic and really don’t do much to enhance the experience in our view.
More important is what’s present across both devices, that being improved performance and stability as well as restructured menus and a very useful fast app switcher for some highly satisfying multi-tasking.
Winner - Draw

Final Thoughts
The Galaxy S3 looks nicer in our view, while the Padfone is a decent runner-up in this regard. It’s not all about looks, however, and although the materials used on the Padfone aren’t the best they’re substantially superior to Samsung’s use of tacky plastics.
In terms of overall performance and other capabilities these two devices are on an even playing field as smartphones, but there is just one more twist in the tale.
The Padfone, as its name suggests, can also be transformed into a tablet with the use of a proprietary 10.1-inch dock, this can also in turn be docked to a keyboard for a laptop-like experience. Other additional peripherals include a stylus which doubles as a Bluetooth handset for receiving calls while the phone is docked.
The dock’s screen offers similarly high-quality visuals as the Padfone itself while upping the battery life. Performance is exactly the same as the phone’s guts are what’s running the show here.
We raise all this because, if you’re looking at these two handsets purely as phones, you’re left with deciding on the basis of aesthetics, build quality and whether or not you want 64GB of internal storage. Apart from that they’re evenly matched.
If, however, you’re interested in the extra functionality offered by the Padfone’s modular nature then it has a very clear advantage.
Our own choice would be the Padfone as we prefer the build quality, the Qualcomm S4 chip, the cleaner ICS interface and the option of using the additional tablet and laptop docks.

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Sony Xperia P Vs HTC One V [comparison]

We see how the budget-end HTC One V fares against the mid-range Sony Xperia P.

Form
HTC One V - 120.3x59.7x9.2mm, 115g
Sony Xperia P - 122x59.5x10.5mm, 120g
The HTC One V is not the most attractive member of the One range as, rather than sporting a brand new and slickly designed body shell like the One X and One S, it’s instead recycling the HTC Hero design.
This means it's much blockier than its stable-mates and has a sort of ‘chin’ at the bottom. Build-quality quality, however, is very much in-line with the rest of the One range, making it a very solid and well made piece of kit.
Sony’s Xperia P follows the same visual design as the company’s current flagship, the Xperia S. Like the Xperia S, it’s a more substantial device than previous Xperia 2011 models under the Sony Ericsson brand.
Instead of thin, curved edges it has broad, flat surfaces which means it sits in the hand firmly. Build quality and materials are really good giving a more premium feel to this mid-range model.
The back panel is smooth, curving along both its length and width, whilst other lines on the handset are straight and angular like its sharp 90 degree corners.
As with the other models in the 2012 Xperia range, the Xperia P features a transparent bar below the capacitive touch controls at the bottom of the device.
This is a fairly easy win for the Xperia P, which is a much better looking smartphone in our view.
Winner – Sony Xperia P

Display
HTC’s One V is equipped with a 3.7-inch capacitive LCD touchscreen with an 800x480 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 252 pixels-per-inch (ppi).
This is one of the real strengths of the handset as the display delivers a similarly sharp experience as the other devices in the One range. Colours are suitably punchy and it features good contrast with deep blacks.
The Xperia P is also highly competent when it comes to pushing out the visuals from its 4-inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive screen. It features a 960x540 pixel resolution and a pixel density at 275ppi and is powered by Sony’s Bravia Mobile engine, which enhances the visual quality considerably. This is a very clear and crisp display setup with excellent colour reproduction and contrast.
It’s a tough choice to make, we think many people would be satisfied with either display here, but ultimately we have to side with the higher pixel density screen and that belongs to the Xperia P. The use of the Bravia engine makes it even better.
Winner – Sony Xperia P

Storage
The Xperia P is at a major advantage when it comes to onboard storage capacity, having 16GB compared to the HTC One V’s 4GB. Also on RAM the Sony wins out right as well with a whole 1GB – the One V uses 512MB. Having more RAM is always preferable as it ensures improved read/write performance when running apps and system tasks.
The Xperia P falls over on additional storage, however, as the absence of a card slot means it’s stuck with just the onboard stuff. The One V supports micro SD up to 32GB.

Processor
The HTC One V has a 1GHz Qualcomm single core processor on the MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset, which also features an Adreno 205 graphics processing unit (GPU).
This delivers surprisingly snappy results owing to the fact that HTC is now pretty good at optimising hardware for the Android platform and because it’s running the latest – and most stable – build, Ice Cream Sandwich.
Sony’s Xperia P is a dual core device running ARM’s Cortex-A9 architecture clocked at 1GHz and using the ST Ericsson NovaThor U8500 with a Mali-400MP GPU.
Sony is also one of the better manufacturers with regards to optimisation and it’s done a very good job on the whole Xperia line. It may be running Gingerbread but the performance on the Xperia P is great.
The hardware might be vastly different but the end user experience is quite similar for general system use, browsing and multi-tasking. That said, we’re sure the Xperia P is going to easily handle some higher-end apps and games that the One V might struggle with thanks to its extra core and top grade GPU.
Winner – Sony Xperia P

Operating System
Both handsets are Android powered. The Xperia P uses version 2.3 Gingerbread with Sony’s Timescape interface (UI) on top while the One V has the latest build, 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, with HTC’s Sense 4.0 UI.
This is a pretty stark contrast in the sense that Timescape is quite an intrusive and noisy overlay while this new version of HTC Sense has been reeled in considerably and, on the whole, is barely noticeable.
That said, both platforms run incredibly smoothly. Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) has some added functionality which makes it more appealing, including a re-structured menu layout and a fast multi-tasking tool that allows you to switch between and close apps quickly and easily from any screen.
Generally, ICS is more stable and faster than Gingerbread, but in this case Sony has done an admirable job of bringing Gingerbread up to speed in these areas.
Despite all this, we much prefer the additional features of Ice Cream Sandwich and it’d be our preference every time.
Winner – HTC One V

Final Thoughts
Considering its overall low spec line-up the HTC One V delivers impressive performance for its level and is a relatively low-cost way of getting onto Ice Cream Sandwich.
However, the Sony Xperia P is just as competitive and has a lot more going for it in terms of the onboard hardware. It’s also worth noting that the Xperia P will be updated to ICS some time this year and with that in mind it’d be our choice of these two devices.

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Nokia Lumia 710 Vs Sony Xperia U[Comparison]

We see how two budget rivals compare with Nokia's Windows Phone-powered Lumia 710 facing off against the Android-based Sony Xperia U.

Form
Sony Xperia U - 112x54x12mm, 110g
Nokia Lumia 710  - 119x62.4x12.5mm, 125.5g
Both Nokia and Sony consistently bring interesting handset designs to the table and that’s a trend which continues with these two models.
The Xperia U follows the signature style set for the rest of Sony’s latest Xperia range having a much chunkier form factor than earlier Xperia models under the Sony Ericsson brand.
Thin, curved and wedge-shaped edges have been replaced with broad flat surfaces that ensure better grip and a more solid feel to the device. Build quality and materials are also markedly better, adding further to the appeal of the devices.
The back panel is slightly curved, both across the width and length of the phone, which breaks up the overall blocky body shape quite nicely. Like the other Xperia models, the Xperia U features a transparent bar at the bottom of the handset, embedded with icons for the capacitive controls which sit just above.
However, the Xperia U has a couple of unique twists on this theme which it doesn’t share with the Xperia P and Xperia S models.
For a start the transparent bar houses LED lights which will switch colour depending on the phone’s theme and illuminate for incoming calls or playing music tracks.
The other slightly oddball feature is that the end cap below the transparent bar is removable and can be changed with a number of different coloured variants.
The one criticism we would level at it is the screen-to-bodywork ratio is way out, which means its 3.5-inch display looks a little lost in a sea of plastic.
Where Sony’s offering is highly angular the Lumia 710 has a softer and curvier aesthetic with a tapered top and bottom and a gently sloping back panel.
As might be expected, build quality might not be on the same level as the polycarbonate unibodied Lumia 800 but it’s still very good for a budget model and won’t leave you worrying about the structural integrity of the handset.
Both devices have a very clean look to them which we appreciate even though they’re from different schools of design, one curvy and the other slab-like.
Generally speaking, we prefer the Lumia 710’s overall appearance.
Winner – Nokia Lumia 710

Display
Sony’s Xperia U has a fairly small 3.5-inch capacitive LED backlit LCD display with scratch-resistant glass and four finger multi-touch.
It sports an 854x480 pixel resolution giving an impressive pixel density of 280 pixels-per-inch (ppi) which, combined with Sony’s Bravia Mobile engine creates some very sharp and bright picture quality, which is pretty much unprecedented on a £200 device such as this.
The Lumia 710 uses a slightly larger 3.7-inch capacitive LCD with an 800x480 pixel resolution, which is not too far behind the Xperia U for pixel density at 252ppi.
It’s fitted with Corning Gorilla Glass for extra durability and comes with Nokia’s ClearBlack coating to provide better contrast and visibility in bright light conditions.
Nokia’s display is very good, but colour reproduction is a little squiffy. The Xperia U’s touchscreen really is excellent for a budget phone.
Winner – Sony Xperia U

Storage
The Sony Xperia U has 4GB of on board storage against the Lumia 710’s 8GB, while both handsets feature 512MB of RAM and neither has a card slot for memory expansion.
It’s not the best scenario in either case but the Lumia 710 comes out looking a bit better thanks to twice the on board capacity.
Winner – Nokia Lumia 710

Processor
Sony has opted for a dual core ARM Cortex-A9 setup clocked at 1GHz on the ST Ericsson NovaThor U8500 chip with a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU). This makes the Xperia U quite snappy, in part thanks to Sony’s knack for optimising things.
Apps function very well and load quickly, multi-tasking works without a hiccup and there’s no noticeable slowdown in general operation.
The Lumia 710, being a typical Windows Phone, uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon Scorpion single core processor clocked at 1GHz, specifically the MSM8255 chipset with an Adreno 205 GPU.
As usual, this is well optimised to Microsoft’s software and delivers smooth performance on a par with the Xperia U.
Despite the differences in hardware, the performance delivered by each is equally impressive. This one’s a draw.
Winner – Draw

Operating System
Sony has promised the Xperia U will be upgraded to version 4.0 of Ice Cream Sandwich at some point this year, but in the meantime it’s still not a bad experience on Gingerbread.
The Timescape interface overlay, while perhaps a little hectic, is nonetheless very well implemented and doesn’t affect system performance at all.
Windows Phone on the Lumia 710 runs just as well as it does on other Lumia models, it’s a well optimised and speedy platform and is extremely stable to boot. One of the most notable features is the People Hub, which aggregates your contacts, social networking ,email, SMS text, instant messaging and a wealth of other communication mediums into one versatile space.
You can keep tabs on what your social circle is doing at a glance and get in contact with multiple people across multiple channels simultaneously. You also have control of who’s information is prioritised by the use of contact groups.
Our main gripe with Windows Phone is the lack of true Android-style multi-tasking. It has a form of multi-tasking but it’s based around hibernation and doesn’t keep you as up-to-date via push notifications as Android does.
Windows Phone also doesn’t have as many apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace as Android’s Google Play, but generally for what is there the bar is much higher when it comes to quality.
If social networking and keeping in touch in a fast, easy way is central to your phone experience you’d be hard pressed to do better than Windows Phone, making the Lumia 710 a clear choice.
However, Android does have its strengths, it’s versatile and more customisable than Windows Phone with a much wider choice of applications.
Winner – Draw

Final Thoughts
Both of these devices represent extremely good value for money at their budget-end prices of around the £200 mark. If you’re looking for a competent but cheap Windows Phone the Lumia 710 is a good option and likewise if Android is more your thing you get a lot of bang for your buck with the Xperia U compared to other similarly priced models on the market.

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HTC Desire C Vs Sony Xperia U

We see how the new HTC Desire C compares to a similarly low-budget Sony Xperia U.

Form
Sony Xperia U - 112x54x12mm, 110g
HTC Desire C - 107.2x60.6x12.3mm, 100g
The Sony Xperia U follows the rest of the new Xperia range with a blockier appearance than their predecessors under the Sony Ericsson brand. It’s still got a curved back to create a D-shaped cross-section, which means it sits in the hand comfortably, but now the edges of the device are broad and flat giving a solid feel.
The Xperia U is on the smaller side and is very light, overall it looks very smart but some of the design proportions could be better, in particular the 3.5-inch screen looks somewhat lost in the middle of the front panel with a large expanse of bodywork on all sides.
The build quality in terms of how the Xperia U has been put together is what we’ve come to expect from Sony, meaning it’s very good. Although the quality of the materials used doesn’t feel quite up to he same standard as the Xperia P and Xperia S models it is a significant step up from the 2011 Sony Ericsson Xperia models and better than most mid-to-low end smartphones in general.
As well as having the new Xperia range’s signature transparent bar along the bottom of the device, just below the capacitive touch controls, the Xperia U features a removable bottom cap which can be swapped with different coloured variants.
Another unique feature to the Xperia U is that the transparent bar is fitted with LED lights, which change colour depending on the ‘theme’ you select for the homescreen interface.
The Desire C is in-line with HTC’s apparent design revolution of phones with better build quality and more interesting visual design, which started back with the Sensation range and has been stepped up a notch or two on the One range.
The back panel is completely rubber coated and the front bezel around the screen is made from aluminium, both materials appear to be of decent quality.
Like its opponent it’s a smaller and more compact model, but has a bit more heft than Sony’s Xperia, it’s also a thicker device than many other models in HTC’s current line-up. That said, in terms of overall proportions things are a bit more flattering than on the Xperia U and overall we think it looks pretty good.
In terms of which is actually better looking, that’s a tough one to call as one is curvy while the other is more of a rectangular slab, both design formats have their appeal and we think in this case they’re equally well-executed.
Winner – Draw

Display
Both devices feature smaller 3.5-inch displays. The Desire C has an LCD capacitive multi-touch screen with a 480x320 pixel resolution, giving a pixel density of 165 pixels-per-inch (ppi). This isn’t too bad but, as might be expected, there is some blurriness and the contrast isn’t the best, colour depth is quite good though.
Sony has something rather special here for a lower-end model. The Xperia U features an LED-backlit LCD display with a 854x480pixel resolution and 280ppi pixel density, plus the Sony Bravia Mobile engine.
The result is some very clear and sharp visuals with great contrast and colours. It also sports four-finger multi-touch and scratch-resistant glass.
Winner – Sony Xperia U

Storage
Both devices have 4GB of onboard storage space and 512MB of RAM fitted for their respective processors to put to work. The Desire C has a slight advantage of a micro SD slot which can expand memory by up to 32GB.
Neither device offers a huge amount of storage capacity but HTC’s Desire C wins here thanks to the added flexibility of card support.
Winner – HTC Desire C

Processor
The Desire C runs on a Qualcomm single core 600MHz Snapdragon processor while Sony’s Xperia U has a dual core ARM Cortex-A9 setup on the ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 chipset clocked at 1GHz with a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU).
In fairness, the Desire C’s processor offers better performance than you might expect, punching well above its weight. Navigation through the homescreens and menus of Android Ice Cream Sandwich is surprisingly responsive, but of course, no-one should come here expecting One S or One X levels of smoothness.
On the whole things are pretty good with well-handled multi-tasking. However, the lower spec is noticeable when it comes app loading speeds. That said, we’d rather have apps which load slower and run smoother than the other way around.
The Xperia U’s processor delivers fast and smooth performance on Android Gingerbread 2.3. We’ve come to expect well-optimised hardware and software combos from Sony and it doesn’t fail to deliver here with a consistent experience of smooth navigation, fast-loading apps and effortless mulit-tasking.
Although the Desire C’s performance is impressive the Xperia U offers a more consistent and cohesive experience when using the device which makes it our preferred choice in this category.
Winner - Sony Xperia U

Operating System
HTC’s Desire C ships with the latest version of Android, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) already installed and ready to go, while the Sony Xperia U uses the previous build, Android Gingerbread 2.3, with the promise from Sony of an upgrade in the not-too-distant future.
Despite not using the latest software version, the Xperia U isn’t at much of a disadvantage here as Sony has optimised things to deliver fast, stable performance, while the Timescape UI offers plenty of extra functionality.
Some may find the Timescape interface a bit hectic and intrusive, though you can always install a launcher program to replace it.
As well as ICS, the Desire C is loaded with version 4.0 of HTC’s Sense interface, which is less intrusive than the company’s previous builds and Sony’s Timescape UI.
Ice Cream Sandwich is a very slick and stable version of Android and we’re sure it’s in no small part due to ICS’s improvements that the Desire C delivers so well on performance. ICS also has an improved menu layout and customisation interface, as well as a fast app switcher with a swipe-to-close function for more intuitive control of app multi-tasking.
Although general operation is great there is that trade-off in app loading times on the Desire C. While the Xperia U has none of the ICS upgraded features and functionality performance on the whole is better with no compromise on load speeds.
There’s a clear trade-off on whether you want the added features of ICS on the Desire C or the smoothness of Sony’s tightly optimised Gingerbread setup. However, the Xperia U will be getting ICS eventually so either way it’s a fairly safe bet.
Winner – Sony Xperia U

Camera
The camera is usually the first thing to get the chop when it comes to producing a lower-cost device and that’s certainly the case with both these handsets. Each is equipped with a 5-megapixel primary with a 2592x1944 pixel resolution with autofocus and geo-tagging.
The Xperia U distinguishes itself with some extra functionality, in the form of an LED flash, touch focus, face and smile detection, 3D sweep panorama, image stabilisation and 720p video capture with a video light. It also has a secondary VGA camera on the front.
Despite all this the picture quality on both is a bit muddy and we can’t say we liked either of them very much. We’ll give this round to the Xperia U simply for having more bells and whistles but it’s a hollow victory and if you’re looking for decent imaging hardware this is not the place.
Winner – Sony Xperia U

Final Thoughts
For the price these are both great handsets, the HTC Desire C is a low-priced way of getting onto Android Ice Cream Sandwich and has a lot of benefits from using Google’s latest platform.
However, you’d be hard pushed to find a smartphone for this price point with more high-quality features than the Sony Xperia U. The display, build quality and processor are all excellent and well above typical budget model standards.

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Comparisons: Asus Transformer Prime vs Asus Tablet 600

Asus remoulded the conventional tablet design with its pioneering Transformer range of Android devices, in particular the Transformer Prime.
The concept brought together the fluidity of a touch-based tablet interface with the convenience of a physical keyboard in one handy package.
Now the company is about to challenge its own well-established product with a new twist on the idea and a different operating system – Windows 8.

Form
The Transformer Prime has an extremely high grade level of fit and finish. Being made from brushed aluminium gives it a very solid feel and we love the way it looks both open and closed.
From the front it looks much like any other tablet, a large 10.1-inch touchscreen with a decently sized black bezel around the outside to grip onto. Flip it round, however, and you’ll notice how thin it is at only 8.3mm.
The back is very sci-fi in appearance thanks to the brushed aluminium with a circular pattern going from the middle outwards.
Apart from this things are very minimalist but this compliments the overall aesthetic very well.
The keyboard dock is almost identically styled with the same proportions and thickness and the same premium-grade materials.
With the Tablet 600 Asus has opted for plastic instead of aluminium but, as we’ve seen with the Transformer 300 series, the company is more than capable of using plastic and still delivering something which feels of decent quality and well put-together.
Although we don’t yet have figures for the dimensions, in terms of proportions things are looking quite similar to the Transformer Prime as it is also a 10.1-inch slate, we suspect from the images we’ve seen it’ll also be equally thin.
Overall the design themes appear to be less ‘circular’ and more straight-edged than the Prime with a large and textured panel across the top edge in a slightly darker shade of grey than the rest of the bodywork.
Asus also seems to have gone to great effort to make the whole thing sit together in a sleeker and more cohesive way when the tablet is secured to the dock – it looks less like a tablet bolted to a keyboard and more like a true notebook.
The Transformer Prime had a particularly noteworthy feature in the form of the keyboard’s trackpad, which functioned like a true laptop trackpad registering taps as clicks and so on. It’s quite likely Asus will continue this little gem of a detail with the Tablet 600.

Hardware
Both the Transformer Prime and Asus Tablet 600 use ARM Cortex-A9 processor architecture alongside Nvidia’s powerful quad core Tegra 3 chipset.
The Transformer Prime is clocked at 1.5GHz and although Asus is yet to reveal the clock speed of the Tablet 600 it seems likely it’ll be similarly configured.
One key difference, however, is that the Tablet 600 has a whole 2GB of RAM compared to the Prime’s 1GB, which should see it performing faster.
The Transformer Prime has a couple of options for storage with either 32GB or 64GB variants available depending on how much money you want to spend. Either model comes with micro SD capability so you can boost the internal memory by up to an additional 32GB.
With the Tablet 600 there’s only one model with 32GB of onboard capacity but this is still plenty of space. Micro SD isn’t something that’s been mentioned yet, on the one hand Microsoft has limited phone manufacturers with Windows Phone from using micro SD, but on the other, this is a device with a serious amount of processing power and we doubt if using a card slot is going to impact performance
On cameras both tablets are going to be fairly similar – each has an 8-megapixel primarywith 1080p video. The difference comes in the secondary cameras with the Transformer Prime sporting a 1.2-megapixel front-facer while the Tablet 600 uses a 2-megapixel secondary.

Operating System
Asus’ Transformer Prime now runs version 4.0 of Google’s Android platform, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
This is easily one of the most stable and best performing Android builds we’ve seen to date and literally flies along with Apple-like fluidity. Android’s party trick was always multi-tasking and it’s as good at this as it ever was but now with the added capability of a fast app switcher complete with a swipe-to-close function.
This brings the multi-tasking straight to the surface of the operating system, as well as making it much easier to handle.
The Asus Tablet 600 runs Microsoft’s Windows 8, however, calling it Windows 8 isn’t entirely accurate because, as this is an ARM-based device it uses the specially made ARM optimised build known as Windows RT.
At time of writing, this is still the Release Preview non-final build in the run up to a full release later in 2012, but we’ve already been treated to some video footage of features we can expect in the full version.
Microsoft is picking up with Windows 8 where Windows Phone left off – it’s a colourful system which uses ‘Live Tiles’ as app shortcuts but also widgets which feedback live information from their respective apps.
It also has Windows Phone’s continuous scroll ‘Start’ page which is populated by these tiles. The whole approach is dubbed ‘Metro’ UI by Microsoft and it is quite an intuitive approach.
Performance also appears to be typically speedy as Microsoft has proven particularly adept at optimising its mobile platforms.
Most interestingly, this is the first tablet platform we’ve seen which fully makes use of the vast screen real-estate your typical 10-inch slate provides.
Generally, tablet interfaces are essentially blown-up versions of their smartphone equivalents, which leaves you with a lot of room to fill with undersized widgets and app icons.
With Windows RT/Windows 8, not only do you get true multi-tasking (something not present on its mobile forerunner, Windows Phone) but you can actually use multi-tasked applications simultaneously in the same screen space.
A sliding gesture from the left of the screen brings in an app switcher which, much like on Android, shows you a carousel of currently active apps in small thumbnail windows.
You can scroll through this and activate individual apps you want to use, or, alternatively, drag an active app into the screen alongside whatever else you were doing.
As with Windows 7 for PCs and OSX for Mac, you can snap multiple windows into the screen and use them simultaneously. This means you could have a mailbox and Twitter feed running alongside a web browser or Office document meaning productivity is a very real option on a tablet for the first time.
This leaning towards productivity is the major difference of Windows RT versus Android. On Android you’re pretty much limited to buying either the full version of Docs To Go or using Polaris Office, both are great programs but compared to the options on Windows they’re a workaround - Android isn't aimed at productivity.
Windows RT, meanwhile, is going to come with a fully touch-optimised version of Microsoft’s Office suite pre-installed and combined with the keyboard this is going to make it a fully blown work laptop right from the word go, as well as being as good a gaming and multimedia entertainment centre as the Transformer Prime.

Final Thoughts
The Asus Tablet 600 is very exciting stuff indeed. When we first saw the Transformer Prime it was a rewarding device to use, but tapping into that half-tablet, half-laptop niche it left us with an idea that it was simply testing the waters ahead of something which would bring far more scope to the concept. It's now looking as if the Tablet 600 is exactly that. 

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Apple iTunes Vs Samsung Music Hub

Samsung has just launched its Music Hub service so we thought it'd be a good idea to see how it compares to the old guard, Apple's iTunes platform.

Content
The most immediate way to directly compare the two is their respective music catalogues. Currently iTunes has over 20 million tracks while Samsung has clearly been rather busy as it has already accumulated around 19 million.
Apple does have more but not by a huge stretch and it's likely Samsung is still in the process of accumulating more content for its rival service as it's planning not just on tackling iTunes but other competing services such as Spotify too.
Another key difference lies between the two free and subscription based branches of each service. With iTunes you can optionally sign-up for iTunes Match for £21.99 per year.
This allows users to scan their entire music collection and iTunes Match will either upload tracks it doesn't have to the iCloud (up to 25,000 of them) or offer you access to ones which it does.
Ultimately using this you can access and stream your entire collection through the cloud from any location in the world via an iOS device or iTunes client.
Samsung's Music Hub has a similar feature but its approach to subscriptions is more broad-brush. With Music Hub you've either got the free option which lets you browse the entire 19 million track catalogue and listen to 30 second streams, but after the 30 seconds you have to buy the track to carry on listening.
The alternative is a £9.99 per month ‘Premium' account which frees up the whole catalogue for you to stream freely and store for offline use. Importantly, iTunes still doesn't let you do this.
On top of that, the premium model will do what iTunes Match does by scanning your existing music collection and allowing you to access those tracks through the Music Hub. If you've got any tracks it can't match you'll get 100GB of cloud storage and it'll upload those oddball tunes for you.
Most importantly of all, this scanning of your existing collection doesn't end at mp3 files or scanned CDs, it'll recognise content you've bought on iTunes and integrate these as well.

Accessibility
A crucial difference which could give Samsung's Music Hub the edge is that it can be used via a web browser. iTunes can be used on variety of devices by installing the iTunes client or app, but a browser-based approach is far more universal.
However, it's important to note that currently Music Hub is only available on the Samsung Galaxy S3, but this is set to change in the not-too-distant future.
Samsung is already hard at work getting things ready so that you'll be able to access it from a variety of Samsung smartphones and tablets and even Blu-Ray players, Smart TVs, speaker docks and fridges will be getting a look in. Theoretically you'll be able to access your music from any device in your home, assuming you buy mainly Samsung products, of course.
Eventually there'll also be a Music Hub app for iOS devices too so Samsung really is taking the fight to Apple's home turf. We imagine it's quite likely an Android app will be launched to make the service available on non-Samsung Android devices and there's plenty of scope for other operating systems too.

Recommendations
iTunes has the Apple Genius service which suggests new artists and tracks users might be interested in based on their existing collection. Samsung is aiming to one-up this with its own recommendation engine which allegedly will take on board a more diverse range of factors when looking for music to recommend.
Extras
The Samsung Music Hub has a few extra tricks up its sleeve which mimic other music services, such as Spotify and Last.fm, and cover areas which iTunes hasn't ventured into at all yet.
The main one is a personalised radio streaming service which will track your listening habits and pick songs based on your musical preferences or tags you select yourself. This is similar to Last.fm but it's a bit more versatile as you can also create your own playlists or throw particular songs into a customised radio setup.
Conclusion
Well, don't go ditching your iTunes account just yet. For one thing, the fact that Music Hub can use your iTunes content means the two can co-exist.
In addition there's the issue of current availability, as appealing as Music Hub sounds it won't become something to recommend until Samsung expands from just having it on the Galaxy S3. Hopefully that won't be too long as it is sounding like very impressive stuff.

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Sony Xperia S Vs HTC One XL-Comparison

We pitch the HTC One XL against the Sony Xperia S in an Android flagship battle.
Form
Sony Xperia S - 128x64x10.6mm, 144g
HTC One XL - 134.8x69.9x8.9mm, 129g
The Sony Xperia S is quite a landmark phone for Sony being the first smartphone designed without the help Ericsson. As such, there seems to be more than a slight nod to Sony's existing designs for other electronics - everything is very squared off, coloured dark grey or black and made from smooth, high-quality materials with some solid build quality.
Although there are some design cues reminiscent of earlier Sony Ericsson Xperia models, for the most part things are quite different. The Xperia S' design language is still based on a D-shaped cross-section but now features pronounced straight lines and flat edges, rather than curves and soft corners. The result is a much chunkier handset.
This does however give the phone a very sturdy feel in the hand, both in terms of ease-of-use and the reassurance that it's not going to fall apart any time soon.
HTC's One XL uses the same body shell as the One X which has an extremely high quality finish and an interestingly curved and chiseled shape.
We particularly like the way the screen isn't just plonked into the chassis but rather has a contoured black housing, giving a stepped appearance to its shape and allowing a very narrow bezel around the outside to keep things looking sleek and ultra-modern.
It's difficult to quantify the appeal of the One XL's design and build, but the best way we can think of describing it is as follows: it's as if some artist has just carved a device out of some precious mineral and handed it over to you.
HTC has nailed the two most important aspects of smartphone visual design - a stylish aesthetic and an extremely high-quality feel.
We really like the Xperia S's design and build quality, which is well above average in this regard, meaning it comes highly recommended. But it just can't compete with the HTC in the looks department.
HTC's One range has pretty much established the company at top of the pile when it comes to Android devices, particularly for the external build quality. Take not Samsung.
Winner - HTC One XL

Display
The HTC One XL has a 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD 2 capacitive display with a 1280x720 pixel resolution, Corning Gorilla Glass reinforcement and a pixel density of 312 pixels-per-inch (ppi). The results are pretty stunning – it's a very sharp, clear screen with plenty of colour depth as well as decent brightness and contrast.
As good as this is, Sony has put together a display which not only beats the One XL's but the majority of the current handset market. The Xperia S uses a 4.3-inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen with the same resolution as its opponent.
It supports 10-finger multi-touch and has a pixel density of 342ppi, topping the iPhone's Retina display and pretty much everything else.
The Xperia S is also loaded with Sony's WhiteMagic screen technology and the Sony Mobile Bravia engine that enhances the display's capabilities.
Ultimately what you end up with is the best smartphone display around with crystal clear picture quality, deep blacks, excellent brightness and vivid colour reproduction.
Sony's Xperia S is certainly the winner here, but it's important to bear in mind that any display with a pixel density over 300ppi is going to look very sharp and for all but the most discerning display aficionados either phone would likely be more than satisfactory.
Winner - Sony Xperia S

Storage

The One XL has a single storage option and sadly it's lower than the original One X at only 16GB. Likewise the Sony Xperia S has a single option but it's at a more satisfactory 32GB. Both handsets have 1GB of RAM for their respective processors and neither has micro SD capability.
This is an easy win for Sony offering twice the storage capacity as its opponent.
Winner - Sony Xperia S


Processor

Both handsets are based on Qualcomm dual core Snapdragon technology. The Sony Xperia S uses a Series 3 (S3) Snapdragon MSM8260 chip with an Adreno 220 graphics processing unit (GPU) clocked at 1.5GHz.
This is reasonably speedy and Sony has done a good job of optimising things with the Android 2.3 operating system and its own Timescape interface overlay. We were quite impressed with the review unit we used and found things ran smoothly.
HTC's One XL is fitted with Qualcomm's latest S4 Snapdragon MSM8960 ‘Krait' architecture, also clocked to 1.5GHz and featuring an upgraded Adreno 225 GPU. This is one of the fastest chipsets on the market right now being quicker and more power efficient than Nvidia's quad core Tegra 3 (found in the regular One X).
Both handsets are highly competitive on the current market and will run all high-end apps and games along with flawless multi-tasking but the One XL does have a bit more muscle, which should be noticeable during normal use and contribute considerably towards the longevity of the handset too.
Winner - HTC One XL

Operating System
The Sony Xperia S runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Sony's Timescape user interface (UI) on top, while the HTC One XL is on the latest Android build, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and uses version 4.0 of HTC's Sense UI.
Sony has Android 2.3 running extremely well on the Xperia S and the Timescape UI adds some extra functionality, though some may find the navigation and usability a little obscure.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich is much improved over Gingerbread offering better performance and increased stability. The menu layout has also been refined and is much easier to use.
Fast app switching now comes as standard in Android 4.0 letting you switch between or close apps faster than ever. It's a very intuitive approach to multi-tasking and a joy to use.
HTC Sense 4.0 is far more minimalist and less intrusive than any of its predecessors and is perfectly optimised for Android 4.0. We've yet to experience any real slowdown or stuttering whilst using it and this never used to be the case.
We have to say HTC offers the most up-to-date user experience of these two devices. For Android, there's just no beating Ice Cream Sandwich.
Winner - HTC One XL

Camera
The HTC One XL features the same camera configuration as its companion models. It's an 8-megapixel back-illuminated sensor (BSI) with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution.
The One XL is supported by a dedicated camera chip and added functionality to the HTC Sense UI. Special functionality includes the ability to capture 1080p HD video and still images at the same time, plus a 20-shot rapid multi-shot mode with a ‘best picture' selector.
On top of this it has an LED flash, autofocus, touch focus, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, video stabilisation and stereo sound recording.
There's also a 1.3-megapixel secondary with 720p video capture and vide calling.
If there's one thing Sony does well (and, in fact, there are many) it's cameras.
Sony pioneered the commercial-level Exmor R CMOS back-illuminated sensor, variations of which are now becoming almost ubiquitous in the premium smartphone world.
That exact technology features in the Xperia S's 12-megapixel primary camera with a 4000x3000 pixel resolution.
It may not have some of the fancy pants shooting modes of the One XL but it sure does make some amazing still images and 1080p video.
Features include autotfocus, LED flash, touch focus, face and smile detection, 3D sweep panoramic mode, image and video stabilisation, continuous video autofocus and a video light.
Both are extremely competent offerings capable of producing great images and video but the Xperia S pips with its higher resolution imaging.
Winner - Sony Xperia S

Final Thoughts
Sony has made a brilliant handset with the Xperia S and there's plenty to recommend about it. It has a fast processor, both the camera and touchscreen are amongst the best currently available, the visual design is pleasing and the phone is built to a high-standard.
In addition there's plenty of onboard storage. The only problem point right now is the operating system, although it will be getting upgraded to Android Ice Cream Sandwich in the not-too-distant future
The One XL is our choice here, however. HTC has just made all the right decisions when designing this device. The build quality is incredible, the screen is amazing and the processor is one of the fastest you'll encounter.
The operating system is bang up-to-date and the phone has a comprehensive and high-end camera setup. Our only gripe, and it's a minor one, is it could do with more onboard storage, but apart from that, here you've got a contender for one of the best Android phones of the year.

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Comparison: HTC One XL Vs Samsung Galaxy S3

Here We compare the HTC One XL and Samsung Galaxy S3
Form
HTC One XL - 134.8x69.9x8.9mm, 129g
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 136.6x70.6x8.6mm, 133g
With the Galaxy S3's shape, Samsung said it had been inspired by beach pebbles and this has manifested as a much curvier, more rounded design than its predecessor, the Galaxy S2.
The results aren't great. in fact we'd go so far as to say the Galaxy S2 actually looks more up-to-date than the Galaxy S3. The other thing we're not impressed with is the build quality.
We shared the view of many other reviewers with the Galaxy S2 that while the plastics used where not the worst they were also not the best but with the Galaxy S3 this is an area we expected Samsung to improve and it's actually gone the other way entirely.
The Galaxy S3 feels very tacky to touch with scratchy, low-quality plastics and is totally unsatisfactory as a premium model.
The One XL is virtually the antithesis of the Samsung Galaxy S3. The materials used have a very high quality feel and are well worthy of the premium price tag. Not only that, but the shape and design is more interesting too.
HTC has gone for a curvy phone but has also tapered and chiselled some surfaces which compliment the curvature very well indeed. The screen placement, seated into a contoured black panel, is very clever as it makes the display look larger than it actually is.
The HTC One XL is the clear choice here as it lives up to our expectations for a flagship phone wile representing a tremendous effort on HTC's part.
Winner - HTC One XL

Display
The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a large 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen with a 1280x720 pixel resolution. It uses Corning's Gorilla Glass and sports a pixel density of 306 pixels-per-inch (ppi). Visuals are very crisp and the AMOLED tech means contrast and colour reproduction are both strong.
HTC's One XL has a similarly sized 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD2 capacitive display at the same resolution as its opponent, the pixel density is slightly higher at 312ppi but the difference in clarity between the two handsets should be barely noticeable.
These devices are on a fairly even playing field in this category. It's a draw.
Winner - Draw

Storage
Samsung's Galaxy S3 has a variety of options for onboard storage, there are three variants with either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB and each comes with 1GB of RAM plus a micro SD slot which allows for cards up to 32GB.
The One XL only has one option for 16GB of internal space with 1GB of RAM and no card slot.
Samsung easily wins this round by offering two higher-tier onboard storage options and more flexibility thanks to card capability.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Processor
The Galaxy S3 is Samsung's first quad core device and uses ARM's Cortex-A9 architecture and Samsung's new Exynos 4212 chipset clocked at 1.4GHz with a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU).
This setup is as fast with initial benchmarking tests suggesting that it's one of the quickest chips on the market.
However, one of the other super-fast chips in that same elite bracket is the Qualcomm dual core S4 MSM8960 Snapdragon Krait, which the One XL uses. Like it's stable-mates it is clocked at 1.5GHz and features an Adreno 225 GPU.
This is the same setup as the HTC One S and we can say from our hands-on with the device that it is seriously quick and delivers very smooth performance.
Samsung's chip is one of the better quad core setups on the market but we'd say it's on a par with HTC's Qualcomm S4 setup.
Winner - Draw

Operating System
Both phones run on the latest build of Google's Android platform, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) which has a number of improvements over previous iterations.
The Galaxy S3 has a few extra added features including the S-Voice assistant, which is similar to Apple's Siri, but most of these features are somewhat gimmicky and we're more interested in the core platform.
Between these two there's not much to compare.
Winner - Draw

Camera
Each handset is equipped with an 8-megapixel primary camera with a back-illuminated sensor (BSI) and a 3264x2448 pixel resolution.
Common features between the two are autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, touch focus, simultaneous 1080p HD and still image capture, multi-shot mode with ‘best image' selector and image stabilisation.
The HTC One XL also has stereo sound video recording and video stabilisation. Samsung's Galaxy S3 has a 2-megapixel secondary camera with video call support and 720p video capture while the One XL has a 1.3-megapixel secondary with similar capabilities.
This one's a draw.

Final Thoughts
Overall the Samsung Galaxy S3 has a pretty decent spec. In terms of hardware it's certainly competitive with the current crop of high-end devices, though, contrary to what was expected it doesn't exceed them or re-define the market.
The problem with it, however, is the build quality, which is just not acceptable for the sort of money you're talking about parting with to get your hands on one.
The One XL is on much the same level for performance and hardware but the outer shell is not only made from better quality materials but it's also designed better, making our decision all the more easier.
The HTC One XL wins everytime.

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Comparisons: Nokia Lumia 900 Vs Samsung Galaxy S3

Here we are comparing the Nokia Lumia 900 with Samsung Galaxy SIII

Form
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 136.6x70.6 x8.6mm, 133g
Nokia Lumia 900 - 127.8x68.5x11.5mm, 160g
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is a move away from its predecessor as it abandons the angular and sharper form factor in favour of more smoothed-out surfaces and curved shapes like HTC's One S and Samsung's earlier model, the Galaxy Nexus.
Samsung has opted for some of the cheapest feeling plastic we've yet seen from the manufacturer. This is a major problem with the phone as it does not live up to expectations of a premium handset.
Nokia's Lumia 900 follows on from the Lumia 800, which in turn is styled after Nokia's older Symbian model, the N9. This means an extremely angular slab-like device with a unibody design made from polycarbonate with a very ‘premium' look and feel.
The Lumia 900 is easily the best in terms of build quality and design.
Winner - Nokia Lumia 900

Display

Samsung's Galaxy S3 features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD with a 1280x720 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 306 pixels-per-inch (ppi).
Any pixel density over 300ppi is going to look pretty good to all but the most discerning users. The Super AMOLED HD offers decent brightness, good contrast and colour depth and should be relatively battery-friendly.
The Lumia 900 also uses a 4.3-inch AMOLED display with an 800x480 pixel WVGA resolution. The pixel density is considerably lower than that of the Galaxy S3 at 217ppi, which should offer decent clarity but it'll be noticeably fuzzier than the Samsung. That said, for use in bright sunshine Nokia's use of AMOLED is excellent thanks to its own ClearBlack technology.
Samsung comes out as a winner here thanks to a much sharper image quality.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Storage

With the Lumia 900 you get a fairly typical Windows Phone storage and memory setup which includes 16GB of internal space and 512MB of RAM for processing tasks but no micro SD capability to offer memory expansion.
Samsung, as usual, has been much more generous here with a spread of onboard storage options. This includes 16GB at the lower end, a 32GB middle option and 64GB for those with cash to splash. All of these have 1GB of RAM propping up the processor along with a micro SD slot for cards up to 32GB.
The Galaxy S3 wins easily by giving more choice and flexibility, as well as offering a higher top end storage choice and more RAM.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Processor
The Galaxy S3 is the first quad core smartphone from Samsung and uses the company's fourth generation Exynos chip, the Exynos 4212. The processor setup is ARM Cortex-A9 based and clocked at 1.4GHz with a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU).

As might be expected, this is very fast, faster than Nvidia's Tegra 3 quad core setup and that ran Android flawlessly when we tried it on several devices. Some reports indicate Qualcomm's dual core S4 chip is faster, but after a certain point it becomes a bit irrelevant when they all run things so smoothly anyway.
Nokia's Lumia 900 has the same processor as the Lumia 800 and, indeed, many other Windows Phone models. Qualcomm is the order of the day here, it's a single core setup on the APQ8055 Snapdragon Scorpion chip clocked at 1.4GHz with an Adreno 205 GPU in tow.
Despite the same clock speed as its opponent, that all doesn't sound as impressive on paper, but in practice this runs Windows Phone perfectly well.
Being single core, it would have trouble with multi-tasking compared to a dual or quad core setup, but as Windows Phone doesn't even have genuine multi-tasking and instead sends apps into hibernation, this isn't an issue at all. Of course it's also been optimised for Windows Phone so performance when navigating and completing tasks is smooth.
For the Windows Phone interface and the current crop of apps and games on Windows Phone Marketplace this is a very capable setup.
This is a difficult one to call, in one sense it's a draw because, for their respective operating systems these phones both represent some of the most powerful processing configurations you'll find. However, that Exynos quad core in the Galaxy S3 is going to be capable of more intensive tasks and more impressive apps and games via Android than anything you'll find on Windows Phone.
It can also multi-task very well and will have greater longevity in terms of future app and game releases and graphical developments.
Looking at it from that latter perspective we have to say the Galaxy S3 comes out better here.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Operating System

The Lumia 900 is, as we mentioned, a Windows Phone and runs on version 7.5 ‘Mango', while Samsung's Galaxy S3 uses the latest version of Android, dubbed 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). These platforms are pretty far removed from each other, but we find ourselves liking both for different reasons.

Windows Phone is based on Microsoft's ‘Metro' user interface (UI) which uses its distinctive Live Tiles, effectively small widgets and app shortcuts rolled into one. These tiles not only let you access an app by tapping on them, but while on the homescreen they will push out information, visually or via text, relevant to that app. This means you can get snippets of information fast from the homescreen without needing to enter an app.
The homescreen is a continuous field which you can populate with Live Tiles, the more you add the further you'll be scrolling downwards to get to things. This can eventually become a bit cumbersome though if you use a lot of tiles, and considering the things you can use tiles for, such as individual contacts, this is a situation which is quite easy to get into.
As we mentioned briefly in the processor section, Windows Phone doesn't have true multi-tasking like Android, instead it uses a hibernation system where inactive apps are temporarily deactivated.
We don't find this particularly useful as it doesn't update many apps in real time during hibernation and reviving them is pretty much like just starting the app up fresh.
One of the best things about Windows Phone, and something we miss when we use other platforms, is the People Hub. The People Hub brings together all your contacts and their various channels of communication, including instant messaging, calls, texts, social networking via Facebook and Twitter, email and many more besides.
The great thing here is you get a feed of communication with contacts which spans all these channels and you can send messages to multiple contacts across different channels simultaneously.
Lastly, you can also create contact groups, which can be useful for grouping together your family in one place and different circles of friends in others.
One other beef we have with Windows Phone is the comparative lack of apps compared to other platforms. This is something Microsoft is trying to address but it's a tricky one to catch up on as Android and iOS's own catalogues are still expanding too.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich is easily the best version of Android to date. It's much more stable and has faster performance than its predecessors even on like-for-like hardware. We were very impressed with how much faster ICS ran on the Asus Transformer Prime compared to 3.2 Honeycomb, for example.
The platform has received something of a face-lift, with more colourful app icons and a change to the menu layout which makes finding that setting you're after a relatively carefree affair.
Another welcome change is a feature drawn across from the earlier Android tablet build, Honeycomb, which is the fast app switcher control.
This is just as useful on phones as it was on tablets and allows you to quickly scroll through a series of preview windows for your running apps.
However, a new addition in ICS is the introduction of a swipe-to-close feature which means you can flick running apps away off the carousel to terminate them. This is, of course, much easier and quicker than digging around in the menus for running apps and then disabling them manually.
Android now has a wealth of apps on Google Play, formerly known as Android Market and the sheer range is something we miss when using Windows Phone devices, as well as the multi-tasking, of course.
That said, we find it difficult to pick a favourite here because Windows Phone is great fun to use and has the People Hub, which is the best execution of the social hub concept we've seen so far.

Winner - Draw

Camera
Being an enlarged Lumia 800, the Lumia 900 uses the same camera configuration, which is an 8-megapixel primary with a Carl Zeiss lens and a 3264x2448 pixel resolution. Video capture is 720p.
This is also one of the few Windows Phones currently on the market with a front-facing secondary camera, it's rated at 1-megapixel, records video in VGA quality and features video calling capability. The Lumia 900 sports a dual LED flash, autofocus, geo-tagging, touch focus, exposure control, video stabilisation and continuous video autofocus.
This might sound okay but we weren't actually that impressed with it on the Lumia 800 and we're expecting the Lumia 900 to deliver similar results.
The camera on Samsung's Galaxy S3 is a much better offering. It's an 8-megapixel back-illuminated sensor (BSI) with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution. The megapixel rating and resolution might be the same as its Lumia rival but we've seen the pictures it takes and that back-illuminated sensor must make all the difference as they're much sharper.
Features include autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilisation, exposure control, white balance, ISO control, HDR and panoramic capture.
The Galaxy S3 has a few extra tricks up its sleeve, however, as it can capture 1080p HD video and still images at the same time or use a multi-shot mode to capture 3.3 photos per second and then pick the best for you. It also features video stabilisation and a secondary 2-megapixel camera for video calls which captures in 720p.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Final Thoughts
Our conclusion here is a fairly snappy one. If you're after excellent build quality, an unparalleled mobile social networking experience and an operating system that's easy to use - the Lumia 900 is the pick here.
However, if you're after something with a bit more clout and certainly something with longevity in terms of processing power then the Galaxy S3 might be more to your liking.
The only problem there is, the build quality is terrible.
Whether it's bad enough to put you off many other good features on the phone is a question you'll have to decide.
We'd recommend if you're considering a Galaxy S3 to try out a display model when it hits the shops to see if you can live with that tacky plastic or not.

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