Orange Santa Clara

Why it won’t be a top? It’s got the most popular (mostly in PC) Intel Atom inside along with Android. It’s exactly powered by Intel’s Medfield single-core 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 processor and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread that will upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich soon after release. Furthermore, it will have a PowerVR SGX540 graphics processor, paired with 16 GB storage and 1GB RAM. In addition it brings a wide 4.03-inch display and features an 8MP main camera.

By now everyone should be fairly familiar with Intel's smartphone strategy - by partnering with both carriers and handset vendors, Intel hopes to quickly carve out a niche of the smartphone market and demonstrate a commitment to x86 for phones and tablets. The partners so far include Lenovo with the K800, Motorola with upcoming devices, and Lava with the Xolo X900. We've already taken a look at the Lava Xolo X900 device, which was based around the first iteration of Intel's FFRD (Form Factor Reference Device) and came away pretty impressed with Intel's first phone.

The news today is about the Medfield device headed to Orange, which was previously codenamed Santa Clara and now formally named San Diego. Intel and Orange announced some availability details, including a launch date of June 6th, and pricing which is 199.99 GBP on Orange's pay as you go plan, or free with a 2 year contract. Orange's San Diego includes the same Intel Z2460 SoC and Intel XMM 6260 HSPA+ baseband we've seen before.
The Medfield platform here hasn't changed at all, but the San Diego does include a thinner form factor and some Orange-specific industrial design tweaks such as a rounded edge profile. The difference is subtle but made a definite difference in in-hand feel when last we played with it. The last we saw the San Diego was at MWC, where we snapped some photos of the device side by side with the traditional FFRD.

The first generation of Intel-powered Android phones has arrived, and while the chip maker doesn't appear to be claiming that its initial efforts are world-beaters, we've been promised a chipset that prioritizes what people want most: capable web browsing, strong camera performance and robust battery life. Although we've sampled plenty of incremental versions of this Medfield tech, Orange UK's San Diego is the first finished device to land for review. Priced at £200 ($308) it joins a large spread of wallet-friendly, entry-level smartphones in Orange's lineup. With a (1024 x 600) 4-inch LCD, 8-megapixel camera with flash, micro-HDMI port and 1GB of RAM, it looks to be a respectable, if middle-of-the-road, Android device. But the focus here lays with the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 CPU and whether it delivers on those performance and battery life promises. Does Intel have a handle on mobile processors? Is the San Diego, near-identical to Intel's own reference model, going to be attractive enough for buyers? You'll find our verdict after the break. 

Orange

Orange San Diego

Pros

• Intel's Medfield processor (mostly) gets the job done
• Long standby time
• Competitively priced

Cons

• Subpar camera
• Stuck on last year's Android 2.3
• Feels a little cheap

Summary The first Intel-powered Android phone isn't the greatest, but it's a capable, competitively priced handset that might well pave the way for more impressive devices in the future.

Hardware

Since Mobile World Congress earlier this year, the Orange San Diego (previously known as the Santa Clara), has benefited from some slight revisions. The whole frame is now much more solid, and there's no longer any hint of a creak. The soft-touch backing, while a magnet for scratches and dings, helps to separate it from an army of glossy sub-$300 Android devices, but it's certainly not the most imaginatively designed phone. The shape lies somewhere between the Galaxy S II and iPhone 3GS, although the substantial bezel below the screen stops the phone from being quite as hand-friendly as the latter. It's simply not a pretty phone, and we lay the blame on the ho-hum build materials. The black body is ringed with a silver border, and while it didn't chip during our use, it's not a particularly fancy finish. The 10mm edge houses the volume rocker, micro-SIM slot and two-stage camera button on the right, micro-USB port at the bottom, and mini-HMDI output along the left side. A fiddly power switch resides along the top edge, but once you gain purchase on them, all of the physical buttons are responsive -- including the camera button, which will also quick-launch into the camera.

Huawei Ascend D quad XL

What you think, it won’t be another choice? Why? It won the title of “world’s fastest” smartphone. It’s powered by Huawei’s K3V2 quad-core 1.5GHz processor and runs on Android v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS. It’s claimed as the most compact design among 4.5-inch smartphones, which is using a quad-core 1.5GHz processor. Huawei designed proprietary power management system delivers up to 30% in energy savings. Furthermore the smartphone brings a 4.5-inch IPS+ LCD capacitive 720P HD touchscreen display that claimed to have the industry’s most powerful 32-bit true color graphic processor, which is capable to offer crystal clear display clarity even under direct sunlight. This world’s fastest smartphone would be available in China, Australia, Europe, Asia-Pacific, North and South America, and the Middle East sometime in Q2 of 2012.

In February of this year, Huawei took to the stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to highlight its most ambitious smartphone strategy to date. Its plan: to establish a new classification system by dividing the bulk of its handsets into four core groups starting with the high-end D-series at the top and working its way down to the bargain bin Y-series. Hogging Accepting the bulk of the spotlight, however, was the Ascend D Quad XL, a "superphone" containing a homegrown quad-core CPU. For a manufacturer that hadn't even put a dual-core phone on the market (the Ascend P1 wasn't on sale yet), a launch in the second quarter of this year felt incredibly aggressive. This was Huawei's first real chance to make a legitimate name for itself outside of Asia; pushing out an impressive device in a timely fashion was imperative.

Fast-forward eight months, and we've witnessed the 2012 equivalent of the Motorola Droid Bionic: the unfortunate device has been the subject of uncertainty and countless delays. Fear not, it's finally been released. However, it faces an incredibly competitive market coming into the holiday season, with quad-core heavyweights like the Samsung Galaxy Note II, LG Optimus G and HTC One X+ ready to duke it out. We had this question when it was originally announced, and it's become even more relevant now: can the Huawei D Quad XL (and its freshly made SoC) hold up respectably amongst its new peers? Delay no further and join us after the break to get the full scoop.

Introduction:

Huawei is taking the high road that Apple and Samsung have already taken, designing an ARM-based processor of its own to power its flagship Ascend D Quad XL. The K3V2 silicon is quad-core, and Huawei made some record-breaking claims about its performance. That was way back at the MWC expo in the spring, though, and quite a lot has moved since then. How does the Huawei Ascend D quad XL stack up against the current flagship competition out there? Read on our review to find out...

 

The construction doesn’t feel solid, though, mainly thanks to the flexing back cover, which emits a hollow noise when you knock on it, hinting at the oodles of unutilized space beneath it.

The phone feels big and heavy in your hands, but is fairly comfortable to hold due to the soapy shape, rounded corners and the patterned plastic of the battery cover that helps to grip it tighter, and is very easy to pry open.

Huawei Ascend D quad XL has a thumbs up for expandability, as it offers a regular SIM card slot, and a place for a memory card. It would have nailed a holy trinity if it had a removable battery, too, but the beefy 2,600 mAh battery is under a cover with four small screws that have to be taken out. 

There is a notification light whose LED gets illuminated in different colors for missed calls and messages or hints at the charging status.

 

LG Optimus 4X HD

It’s yet another Quad core smartphone with incredible performance. It’s also claimed as the world’s only smartphone-sized 4-plus-1 core-toting. It’s featuring a 4.7-inch HD-IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display and runs on Android v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS. It will have the Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A9 processor with 4-PLUS-1 architecture that’s featuring four performance cores handling graphic intensive tasks, and paired with 16 GB onboard storage along with 1GB RAM. This Quad core smartphone from LG is now available for pre-order at Clove UK for £380 (£456 inc. VAT), which is expected to ship sometime in June.

Powerful new Quad-Core Smartphone by LG

P880

Expand All Specs

HIDE Basic Specification

• Type
• RF Band
• OPERATING SYSTEM
• CHIPSET
• CLOCK SPEED
• GRAPHICS
• Battery, Max (mAh)
• Dimension: L x W x D (mm)

• Bar phone
• HSPA+ 21 900/1900/2100, GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1900/2100
• Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• Nvidia Tegra 3
• 1.5GHz 4-PLUS-1™ Quad Core
• High Performance 12-core NVIDIA GPU
• 2100mAh (Min) / 2150mAh (Typical) Li-Ion
• 132.4 x 68.1 x 8.9

HIDE Display

• Type
• Size (inch)
• Resolution
• Colours

• TFT LCD, Capacitive Touch
• 4.7 inches
• TRUE HD IPS (1280 x 720)
• 16M+

HIDE Messaging

• THREADED SMS
• E Mail
• Instant Messaging

• Yes
• Yes
• Yes

HIDE Advanced Features

• QuickMemo™
• Internal Memory
• External Memory
• A-GPS Navigation
• Bluetooth
• Bluetooth Version
• NFC
• Document Viewer
• Accelerometer

• Yes
• Up to 16Gb
• MicroSD up to 64GB (not included)
• Yes
• Yes
• 4.0 BLE
• Yes
• Polaris Office for LG
• Yes

HIDE Connectivity

• USB
• Wi-Fi
• DLNA
• PC SYNC

• USB 2.0 HS
• (802.11b/g/n)
• Yes
• Yes

HIDE Audio / Video

• Recording
• FM Radio
• MP3

• Yes
• Yes
• Yes

HTC One X

Sure it’ll be one of the best 10 smartphones, as it’s a quad core device with latest Sense 4.0 UI. It’s the flagship smartphone from the company with a gorgeous design. It brings a 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD2 capacitive touchscreen Corning Gorilla Glass display and runs on Android v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS. It’s powered by Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, ULP GeForce GPU, 32 GB (26 GB user-available) storage, 1 GB RAM, and 8MP main camera with BSI sensor and F2.0 28mm lens. Furthermore this Quad core handset will also support NFC capability and compatible with Google Wallet. The smartphone is expected to have a global release sometime in April 2012.

Brace yourself for lightning-fast web browsing, remarkable picture quality and seamless gaming visuals thanks to the powerful quad-core processor. You’ll love the minimalist design and the camera that captures every moment (even in low light) with crisp, vivid, beautiful photos. It also lets you take a photo while shooting HD video. Plus, with Beats Audio™ you hear authentic, deep sound with true, finely-tuned details.

Specs

Size	134.36 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm
Weight	130 grams with battery
Display	4.7-inch super LCD 2
Resolution	1280 x 720 (HD, 720p)
CPU Speed	1.5 GHz, quad-core (global version) 1.5 GHz, dual-core LTE version (USA and selected countries)
Platform Android	Android™ 4.0 with HTC Sense™ 4
Memory1	Total Storage›: 32 GB RAM: 1 GB
Network2	HSPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 850/900/1900//2100 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Sensors	Gyro sensor G-Sensor Digital compass Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor
Connectivity3	3.5 mm stereo audio jack NFC Bluetooth with aptX™ enabled (Bluetooth® 4.0) Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n DLNA® for wirelessly streaming media from the phone to a compatible TV or computer micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port with mobile high-definition video link (MHL) for USB or HDMI connection (Special cable required for HDMI connection.)luetooth® 4.0)
Camera with HTC ImageSense™	8 megapixel camera with auto focus, smart LED flash, and BSI sensor (for better low-light captures) F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens 1080p HD video recording 1.3 megapixel front camera (720p for video chat) Dedicated imaging chip Capture a photo in the midst of recording HD video Continuous shooting mode captures multiple snapshots Auto flash smartly determined by distance from your subject Video stabilization feature removes annoying, shaky motion High quality slow motion video capture and playback
Sound Enhancement	Beats Audio™
Multimedia	Audio supported formats: Playback: .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9) Recording: .amr Video supported formats: Playback: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3) Recording: .mp4
Battery	Capacity: 1800 mAh
The available storage you can use will be lesser, since the phone’s software occupies some storage. Network bands in regions other than Europe and Asia Pacific may be different, depending on the mobile operator and your location. Upload and download speeds also depend on the mobile operator. NFC availability depends on the mobile operator and your location. Please check with your mobile operator.

Note: specifications are subject to change without prior notice.

Nokia 808 Pureview

We can say Symbian was almost dead, but a single announcement from Nokia during MWC 2012 makes it alive again. Yes Nokia has announced one of its flagship Symbian devices, the Nokia 808 Pureview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This handset has a giant 41-megapixel camera that able grab all attention to words the device over there. So, why it can’t be a top of the line smartphones? Furthermore the smartphone also have a 4-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen Nokia ClearBlack display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It’s powered by a 1.3 GHz ARM 11 processor, paired with 16 GB storage, 1 GB ROM, and 512 MB RAM. The smartphone will retail for 450 euros and expected to be hitting the market sometime this May.

As Nokia's Symbian hardware development comes to an end, its long awaited "Game Changer" device has finally hit the UK streets with its killer camera.
Although the Nokia N8 has long held the crown of the Finnish firm's best camera phone available, the Nokia 808 PureView has arrived with its 41MP camera.
The amount of hardware required to support its functionality causes the Nokia 808 PureView to weigh in at a hefty 169g - compared with the 140g iPhone 4S, 133g Samsung Galaxy S3 and 130g HTC One X.

As well as its weight, the Nokia 808 PureView - with its 4" AMOLED ClearBlack display - isn't exactly small measuring 123.9mm x 60.2mm x 13.9mm (expanding to 17.95mm at the camera bulge) compared with the slim iPhone 4S (9.3mm), One X (8.9mm) and S3 (8.6mm).

The Nokia 808 Pureview looks and feels like the old Nokia 5800 with a hint of the more recent Nokia Lumia 610 although both were smaller, more compact, flat-backed phones.

Although the 5800 and Lumia 610 appeared a little cheap in appearance, which was reflected in their purchase price, this is not the case for the Nokia 808 PureView with its £500 pricetag (black £519.99 or white £489.99).

The main reason for this high retail price is that none of the UK operators have decided to offer the Nokia 808 PureView, meaning that it is only available via Amazon at the SIM free, unbranded price.
Although this seems a high price to pay for a phone, when you compare it with the iPhone 4S 16GB the 808 Purview is pretty much the same, although the HTC One X weighs in 10 percent cheaper than both Nokia's and Apple's offering.