Category Archives: Reviews: Hardware

Available from Clove for £428.88

Main features-

800MHz Processor
Google Android 2.2 with HTC Sense Interface
3.7 inch touch screen 480 x 800 resolution
5.0 Megapixel Camera with auto focus and 2 x LED flashlight
1.5GB Internal Storage
Bluetooth 2.1 with FTP/OPP, A2DP, PBAP
WiFi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
DLNA Compatible

I’m going to start this part of the review by answering some of your questions about this particular smartphone-

From Richard-

This is one of the phones on my Upgrade list with Vodafone early next year. My questions are to do with the keyboard:
1) Is it good enough to rival typing on a Bold 9700 ?
2) Is it easy to get to the keyboard (if it’s fiddly then it puts you off using it)?
3) How solid is the keyboard mechanism ? Any wobbles ?

Answers-

1) It is pretty good for typing, but in my opinion very little rivals the 9700 for data entry. It is a completely different keyboard in terms of size and key travel so some familiarity will be required to get the most out of it.

2) Very easy- much quicker than I expected.

3) Absolutely no wobbles at all- great build quality all round.

From Teabag-

Do you think it a suitable replacement for a Touch Pro2 running WM6.5?

Answer-

I would say that the keyboard on the Touch Pro2 is slightly better and the tilting screen is useful, but the OS, screen clarity and general performance of the Desire Z put it ahead by some distance (in my opinion).

From Shofar-

How does it compare to the Desire? Weight, size, screen, battery. The keyboard would be a big plus for me if it is not much thicker, heavier.

It is thicker than the Desire (14 to 12mm) and heavier (180 to 135grams), but the screen and battery are definitely better. The battery is not a huge improvement, but it is capable of getting through a busy day which the original Desire sometimes could not manage. For me it is a definite step up from the original and would be even if a keyboard was not included. The keyboard is a plus.

From Phil-

Battery life would be the most important thing for me. That and how the new HTC maps software works.

Battery life is good and one of the best Android phones I have tested in this area. It is not astonishing, but will do more than a full day with ease, at least it has for me so far.

I was impressed with the Navigation solution and really did not expect to be as I use TomTom on the iPhone. It is a pretty decent implementation of a GPS solution, but I would still rate Co-Pilot Live as a better option. The main point is that you have options in this area, lots of them.

From Paul (quite a few questions)-

Although the CPU is slower by clock speed, it’s a newer generation so in theory should be as quick as the 1GHz models. Is this true?

It feels as quick as any 1Ghz smartphone I have tested to date.

Does the keyboard layout actually work, or do you find yourself having to press extra function/ctrl/alt/shift keys all the time?

Clever placement of the functions keys worked very well for me, with practice.

How robust is the hinge?

Some seem to think it feels fragile, but it gave me a sense of confidence every time I used it.

Does skype video calling work?

I haven’t tested this yet, but will update soon.

How robust is the USB connector – some phones you feel like a bad yank on the cord will break it?!

Looks and feels strong to me- only time will tell though and certainly more than a few days will be needed to confirm

How is the screen in sunlight (if you can find any in the british winter)?

Pretty good- some washout in very bright conditions, but better than most other phone and in particular the original Desire.

How quickly does it get a GPS lock from cold?

A few seconds on the five occasions I have used Navigation.

What’s the fastest wifi speed you can achieve?

Will double check and confirm. Feels super fast though:)

From Rob-

I would like to know how well the phone works after bring dropped in a muddy puddle.

There’s always one…

I have now been playing with the Desire Z for 4 days and it has grown on me over that time. Android is an unusual operating system in that you are immediately presented with a plethora of apps and functions that confuse as much as they exhilarate and this can be difficult to control at first. Where Android excels though is in its ability to let the user do almost anything they want with the interface and the multiple home screens, themes and other tweaks help a great deal in making the phone feel like it is yours alone. When you own an iPhone, you own an interface which is the same as everyone else’s, but some prefer a sense of individuality and there is as much interface flexibility here as you could possibly need.

Besides all of the standard apps provided by Google, HTC has waded in and provided a wealth of extra; HTC Hub, HTC Likes, SoundHound, Desk Clock and Car Panel are just some of the extras, but there are other features bundled under the ‘HTC Sense’ banner that become second nature to use after just a few days. With Navigation included I struggle to see what is missing and every time I get to review a new Android phone, I get another glimpse into the Android Market. It is getting better all of the time and I am almost ready to concede that it rivals iTunes in terms of app availability and quality these days.

Anyway, how does the Desire Z perform as a smartphone? Let’s look at the individual parts-

Keyboard (8/10)

This is the only part of the Desire Z that I have not been completely impressed by. After a couple of days of familiarity I was soon used to the way it works, but still feel that it could be better. It is far from the best keyboard on the market, but with practice you will find it comfortable enough for responding to emails and keeping in touch. One other bonus that may not be considered is that the keyboard is not adding significant weight or depth to the phone so you end up with the best of both worlds. It feels like a normal touch screen phone when the keyboard is closed and you may well find yourself using it in this mode the majority of the time, but the keyboard is always there should you need it.

UPDATE: After a further 2 days of use I started to really get into the keyboard once I had forced myself to use it more. In the end the mark went up a point to 8/10 and I conclude that it works well, despite the fact that it really shouldn’t. Strange…

General Performance (9/10)

The 800Mhz processor is more than capable of providing a smooth and quick performance on every level. From video playback to running multiple apps at the same time, everything just flies. I would go as far as to say that it is one of the fastest smartphones I have used to date and there is never a feeling that things are going to slow down, ever. This phone does prove that Android maybe does not need a 1Ghz processor for 99% of the tasks it will be used for.

Screen (9/10)

Excellent. The resolution is good, the touch is smooth and it works really well in most conditions. There is some washing out in bright sunlight, but I have been more impressed with this screen that expected when the technology is considered. One annoying aspect of a very good screen is that it leaves you with little to say about it, but a comparison to my iPhone 4 does highlight just how crisp the Retina Display is in the latter. However, take the iPhone away and there is nothing wrong with being able to see the odd pixel. The screen is hard to criticise and I for one could live with quite happily.

Camera (6/10)

I was surprised by the quality of the camera for what is touted as a high-end smartphone. HTC has made great strides in this area recently, but it hasn’t quite worked out here. I found it quite difficult to take well focused shots, and the camera actually seemed to want to jump out of focus just before the shot was taken. There are many settings and tricks included which will help in some conditions, but I don’t tend to look deeply into camera settings because I believe that most other people won’t. I suspect that with some work I could improve my snaps immeasurably, but I don’t like to have to work to capture a decent photo.

Video recording is not too bad, but in my five test videos I wasn’t completed satisfied with the output given that this phone is capable of 720p recording. The ability to manually focus using a tap on the screen is useful, but was a feature I had to use every single time. Examples of photos and a video are below-

Media (8/10)

Video playback is really very good indeed (despite a quirky software interface) and the YouTube experience is one of the best I have enjoyed on a mobile. For good measure, DNLA streaming is included which is a useful feature to impress your friends with. Music quality is also very good through headphones (not the supplied ones of course) and for the first time ever I would put this phone above the iPhone 4 in this area. It is simply breathtaking how good the music playback is and I have personally not experienced this quality on a smartphone to date.

So why has it only got 8/10 for media? The reason is simple, but sadly it is one that affects many aspects of using this phone- the external speaker. It is remarkably tinny and also does not have a high volume, and when you do crank it up to the max it manages to sound distorted and too quiet which is not an easy trick to pull off. I presume this to be because of the hardware design and the need for a smaller speaker, but it is noticeable when using the phone in loudspeaker mode and the free Navigation service, which is excellent in every other respect.

Smartphones are used more often than ever to project sound without headphones and it would have been good to see HTC do a better job here, particularly on a phone that is so wonderful for all other aspects of media.

Call / Signal Quality (8/10)

Call quality to the ear is very good indeed and I could quite happily manage long conference calls with this phone. Through headphones it is even better with a crisp and deep sound that belies the speakerphone. It is a very good caller, but the speakerphone problems are as described in the Media section.

Signal quality surprised me as well and I managed to get an HSDPA signal most of the time which is high unusual for me. This is important because a phone with an inconsistent antenna usually equals a phone with inconsistent battery performance.

Battery (8/10)

Heavy use will of course weaken the battery performance, but even on a day when I pushed the Desire Z really hard I ended up with just over 10% remaining. The next day I used the phone normally and was left with 40% battery which is slightly better than what the iPhone 4 can do. Having said that, each phone is optimised for different tasks in terms of battery so you mileage will vary somewhat. I would count myself as comfortable with the battery here though.

Conclusion

There is so much to say about the HTC Desire Z and while I don’t tend to do long technical reviews covering every aspect of a smartphone, there is some temptation to do this here. The Desire Z has a lot going for it and is more than capable of delivering everything you could possibly need a smartphone for. It is extremely well built and the keyboard is a genuine enhancement that will bring customers to it who may not have considered Android before.

The camera is likely better than I managed to make it, but the speaker is weak to say the least. If you do not use the external speaker on a smartphone often I am fairly sure that you would be pleased with the Desire Z. It highlights how far HTC has come and is also an excellent vehicle to carry Android 2.2. It is, believe it or not, the only smartphone so far to make me question my iPhone 4 ownership.

Available from Clove for £428.88

Main features

800MHz Processor
Google Android 2.2 with HTC Sense Interface
3.7 inch touch screen 480 x 800 resolution
5.0 Megapixel Camera with auto focus and 2 x LED flashlight
1.5GB Internal Storage
Bluetooth 2.1 with FTP/OPP, A2DP, PBAP
WiFi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
DLNA Compatible

The Android world has been crying out for a business centric device, or at the very least a phone that includes a full-width keyboard for those that need to create data and deal with many emails and the like every day, and finally one has arrived in the form of the Android Z. The only Windows Mobile device I still see used regularly is the HTC Touch Pro2 which had a significant following amongst those who have the needs described above and it showed that the slide-out keyboard form factor can work very well if consideration is given to the fact that the keyboard will be used the majority of the time. The Desire Z takes this idea and moves it forward a few years by streamlining the overall design and making it feel like a smartphone that is accessible by more than just business people.

I am still of the opinion that a smartphone with a hardware keyboard has major advantages for people who don’t like typing on touch screens, me for example, and the inclusion of a large touch screen offers the best of both worlds. That is the theory anyway.

There is little doubt that the Desire Z is at the front of the pack in specification terms, but the 800Mhz processor may be viewed negatively by some. I personally see this as an advantage because Android 2.2 does not require 1Ghz to perform smoothly and to me a Ghz processor is not only unnecessary, but more likely to reduce battery performance.

In the box

HTC Desire Z
8GB microSD Card
Battery 1300 mAh
microUSB Data Cable
Stereo Headset
AC Adapter (UK)
Documentation

It’s the usual suspects in the box and the inclusion of an 8GB expansion card is welcome to supplement the 1.5Gb of internal space. For most users 9.5GB will suffice, but the option to expand up to 33.5Gb in total will without doubt suit almost everyone. As per usual I struggle to get excited about packaging and included accessories these days because the box ends up on a shelf within a couple of hours and the only default accessory I tend to use is the AC adaptor. The headphones here are not too bad compared to most, but I will still use my own preferred pair.

First Impressions

It’s a looker. The first thing that struck me about the Desire Z was how different it looks and feels compared to smartphones that have come before. There is an air of freshness to the design which manages to retain practicality in the way the keyboard slides and the overall placement of the hardware buttons is unobtrusive to say the least.

With the keyboard in the closed position it looks and feels like a standard touch screen phone which is unusual. Almost all full width keyboarded devices have felt thick in the past and a small wobble has been apparent when holding them. HTC has managed to make this smartphone feel like a unibody despite the keyboard and this is an impressive achievement.

The sliding mechanism is unusual, but is a tried and tested formula that HTC has used before. It looks quite mechanical when you view it from the side, but does produce a solid fit when open or closed and is fairly smooth in operation once you are used to snapping it open. I found myself trying to push it the wrong way the first couple of times, but familiarity kicked in and all became well on the first day.

Note: the surround on the keyboard is not peeling off- I forgot that I left the clear packaging cover on it.

The keyboard itself is unusually thin and I suspect that this is a bi-product of trying to keep the overall form as slim as possible. What you are left with is a wide keyboard with 4 rows that offers a novel experience the first few times you use it. The keys are almost flush and offer little travel or feedback which is disconcerting at first. I can see the logic behind the idea, but as a long time BlackBerry user this feels slightly odd. The positioning of the keys is excellent though and there are dedicated keys for full stop, comma, and ‘@’ which aids the typing process nicely. You also get two hardware shortcut keys next to the space bar which can be assigned to specific functions or apps- a nice touch and one which would be good to see in other smartphones.

I am somewhat undecided on the keyboard because it is not the best, but sometimes keyboards can grow on you so I will update on this feature in part two after a few more days use.

As I said earlier, the buttons are unobtrusive and all you get are volume buttons on the left, camera button on the right and on/off button on the top. To be fair you don’t really need anything else and they are all designed to be perfectly usable. The standard Android home, menu, back and search keys are located just below the screen and are part of the screen design which is tricky at first. The location is logical, but there is obviously no physical button as such so practice will be required. It is a non-issue, however, because buttons like this can get away with being virtual.

An optical trackpad is also positioned below the screen and works very well, on the one occasion I used it anyway. I have seen this before with Android and never use this button- I am presuming that some people do, but it would be easy to remove this feature and not affect navigation of the phone at all.

Overall the construction is plastic, but seems to be a particularly well built type of plastic which almost feels metal in its construction. The metal battery cover on the back, while small, adds an extra touch of class which elevates the Desire Z further in my mind as an extremely well built device. The overall build quality is simply superb and way ahead of many other phones; it manages to retain practicality (you feel that you could drop it in a bad and it wouldn’t get scratched) yet also includes an alluring design. Very few smartphones achieve this balance, including the iPhone 4 and Galaxy S, and the Desire Z is the first to pull it off of all the phones I have reviewed over the past few years.

In part two I will, as per usual, look at the battery, screen and all of the other bits that make up the Desire Z. It has had a good start though.

Available from Clove for £287.88 from 12th November

Highlights-

Android 2.1 (Eclair) Operating Sytem
Mobile network technology: GSM/WCDMA/Wi-Fi
7 inch touchscreen
2 Megapixel Camera
WiFi & Bluetooth
MicroSD expansion (up to 32GB)
Gravity Sensor
HD Video Playback
3.5 mm Audio jack

My first day with the S7 was enlightening in many ways; a good quality Android tablet can be built for under £300, Android does work on a tablet and the 7” form factor is much more useable than I ever expected.

Lazyboy and I had a discussion on 247 last week which went like this-

LB- “I can’t imagine how having a screen which is only half the size of the iPad’s would make any of those tasks easier.”

LB- “True. But I don’t think it’s that hard to image what the equivalent of 4 iPhones weighs in a jacket pocket.”

I can fully understand where he is coming from and the appeal of the iPad is obvious on so many levels. From iTunes through to the great battery to the large use anywhere screen, it is peerless. So why did I get rid of mine? Well, I found that I just wasn’t using it enough and I think that a lot of that came down to the size. I didn’t realise at the time, but it was a factor and it quickly became a product I used at home and nowhere else, a home that also puts a roof over a Mac Mini and a laptop.

Call me crazy all you like, but the appeal of the 7” tablet form has smacked me between the eyes in a way I never expected. It offers a superior browsing experience to a smartphone, a superior video watching experience and a superior game playing experience. The iPad does all of the above better, but you pay with the size of the unit which quickly squeezes away a huge amount of practicality.

This isn’t a case of me comparing the S7 to the iPad- I am comparing the 7” tablet to the 9.7” tablet and that small dimensional change makes a world of difference. There were rumours of a 7” iPad a couple of months ago which never came to fruition. Mr Jobs- you missed out.

To me the 7” tablet is the sweet spot of mobile computing that works on both the portable and desktop experience level. I can’t explain why it works so well, but it does and I can see keyboards being attached to devices this size and a whole new breed of laptops being born as the miniaturisation of technology gathers pace. I realise that I sound almost giddy with excitement, but this form is near perfect for me. For content creation the 800 x 480 pixel screen is not ideal because the keyboard dominates the screen once activated. It needs to dominate to be (almost) as usable as the iPads, but does leave you short on viewable real estate- it didn’t prove to be a big problem for me because I would rarely be using any tablet with an on screen keyboard for large amounts of data input. As I said earlier, stick a keyboard on this thing and it all changes again. I don’t expect the majority to agree with me here, but I won’t complain because this form just feels right for me- I’m not saying it will fit your life as well.

I think I am trying to say that if you expect to create lots of content on a tablet a 7” model may be too small. If you want to view videos, browse the web, read eBooks and play games it could be a better fit because it is more portable.

Screen (7/10)

The resistive TFT screen is not the best on paper, but it is easy to use and I had no problems with accuracy or sunlight viewing. It does get slightly washed out in bright conditions, but not ad badly as some other models. The landscaped nature will be seen as a problem to some and I can understand that when viewing web pages in that mode. However, turning it to portrait form offers a pleasing eBook experience which fits the hand much more naturally than most other tablets. All in all, I am more impressed with the screen than I expected.

Battery (6/10)

I am not convinced on the battery performance. It is better than others perceive it to be, but heavy use will mean more than one charge a day. The upside is that you can buy a spare and chuck that one in if you need to so at least options are available. I would still prefer to see a longer default battery life built in.

Performance (8.5/10)

The processor is rated at 768Mhz which seems hard to believe because 1) I have read elsewhere that it is 1Ghz and 2) it feels much quicker. Performance has been stellar so far and I have not experienced any slow downs at all even on processor heavy tasks. With multiple apps open it still chugs along and so I have few complaints.

Media (7.5/10)

Not bad at all. Video playback is smooth and the screen size is good for watching long movies and TV shows. The exterior sound quality is very loud, but it keeps the quality going even at the top level. The inclusion of a kickstand is a much bigger benefit than I expected and brings more flexibility to its use. Music playback through decent headphones is also good- it doesn’t rival the iPhone or the better BlackBerry’s, but it is good enough. I don’t personally see tablets as being devices you will often listen to music on so can excuse it not being the best in the market.

Web (7/10)

Web browsing on the S7 is a difficult one because in landscape you have to scroll a bit and in portrait you have to zoom a bit. However, the experience still feels quite ‘desktop like’ to me and I enjoyed the experience. The fact that the Android browser is so good helps a lot and the bigger screen nudged it to a desktop feel more than a smartphone feel for me.

Connectivity (9/10)

It has a phone app which you would use with headphones normally. It offers 3G / HSDPA from any SIM card and of course Wi-Fi is built in. Bluetooth 2.1 and A-GPS round off the communications and so I have to score it highly, particularly because it all works so well. I have had problems with some Android devices and Wi-Fi in the past, but so far the S7 has been faultless in this regard.

Conclusion

It is hard to conclude my thoughts on the S7 without mentioning the price. I am left with a feeling that Samsung will have to do something very special with the Galaxy Tab to justify the fact it is twice the price of the S7. The Tab has 4 times the internal memory, a higher resolution screen, better battery, Android 2.2 and a faster processor which after using the S7 leads me to believe that the Tab will be a killer device.

The S7 is way better than I expected and way better than the price point it sits at. It does almost everything well and is a good quality piece of kit that will serve you well for a variety of uses. The battery could be better, but the purchase of a spare will help to resolve that issue somewhat. The S7 has opened my eyes to Android on a tablet and proved that it is a viable platform for the future. It may not be at the high-end in terms of quality materials or specification, but it is way up there in terms of value. This is a quality product which will be accepted positively by those who don’t want to spend £500 on a tablet that will not be used as often as a smartphone, and that could be a sizeable chunk of the population.

Available from Clove for £287.88 from 12th November

Highlights-

Android 2.1 (Eclair) Operating Sytem
Mobile network technology: GSM/WCDMA/Wi-Fi
7 inch touchscreen
2 Megapixel Camera
WiFi & Bluetooth
MicroSD expansion (up to 32GB)
Gravity Sensor
HD Video Playback
3.5 mm Audio jack

The world of Android tablets is about to expand at an exponential rate. We will soon be able to buy tablets powered by Google for between £180 and £600 and choosing which to buy will be somewhat tricky. The market is following the same pricing path as Android smartphones which now range from £79 upwards of £500 so we can’t really criticise Android for a lack of choice. The Huawei S7 is price right at the bottom of the market, just about the dreadful Next Tablet, and so it would be easy to presume that this is another budget product that does not merit consideration. Well, I can start off by saying that my first 30 minutes with the S7 were immeasurably better than with the Next Tablet and that I was pleasantly surprised by the look and feel of the device.

The debate continues to rage concerning tablet sizes and there are two camps arguing the point; those who have an iPad and cannot see anything wrong with it and who thus presume a 7” tablet to be too small. On the other side are those who feel that a 7” tablet is a better, more portable, fit and in my experience these seem to be high in number. After using an iPad for some time I was in the camp that felt that the iPad size is much more practical and offers a better all round experience, but a day with the S7 has made me question that view.

In the box

I received what is supposed to be the retail version of the S7 and the box suggests that this is the case. Beside a 2-pin charger (plus a 3 pin UK charger) there is a USB sync cable in the box and that is it. To be fair this is understandable because of the price and what more could you need? Headphones are the obvious answer, but who doesn’t already own a pair, a pair that is probably much better than the sets that are bundled with smartphones and tablets.

Build Quality / Design

I was initially very surprised by the build quality of the S7. It feels sturdy and has a reassuring weight about it that brings a sense of some care taken with the design. It is slightly quirky for a tablet, but on the whole succeeds in providing a natural enough experience for most people to get up and running straight away.

It does look like a very big iPhone 3GS and even has the silver surround with a home button at the bottom, or the right depending on how you hold it. The inclusion of call start and end buttons caused some amusement in the office and you could technically use this as a normal phone, as our office clown demonstrates below-

Including voice capability in a device this size may seem odd, but think about it. You get 3G (HSDPA actually) and quad band voice with no contract and the ability to use your existing SIM card which just happens to be accessible by opening the metal backing. This also holds the replaceable 2,200mAh battery which gives you options for flexibility in the future.

On the front are the standard home, return and menu buttons which are flush to the housing. They do, however, require a proper press to activate and are not lit up when you are not touching them. This makes sense, but will require a small amount of time to get used to their positioning. They are placed well though and feel right to click with your thumb when holding the S7 in landscape position.

There is a 2 Megapixel camera in the top right which also acts as a camcorder. You will not be using it for taking serious photos, but as a web cam it has some potential and is a worthy inclusion. You can capture video and stills, but this would mean having to face the screen away from you which gives you no perception of what you are aiming at. Having said that, the claim is of 720p video capture at 30 fps.

The power key is also on the top right (logical to me) and the 3.5mm headphone jack is top left which again makes perfect sense. The volume keys are small (on the left side) but do crank up the noise when you are not using headphones. Indeed I was pleasantly surprised by the loudness and quality of the external speakers. The microUSB and power ports are placed on the right hand side with the microSD and another port (trying to work out what that one is) on the bottom.

Finally, there is a kickstand on the back for viewing the device at a more practical angle. This may feel like a gimmick, but the uses are plentiful. Sit it on a coffee table to show the time or a slideshow of photos or even on your lap to do some web browsing. I was surprised at how well it worked on my chubby thighs and allowed me to browse in much more comfort than I expected.

First Impressions

The S7 is an important product, at least for me it is.

The iPad showed me what is possible on a tablet in 2010, but I didn’t keep it past a few weeks. The price point and my potential usage didn’t quite work for me, but I would be lying if I didn’t judge it as a complete and seriously capable piece of technology.

The Next Tablet was a pile of junk that, at £180, was just so poor that no budget price tag could retrieve it from its fate of a mere replica of what a tablet should be. Products like that damage the reputation of Android and potentially the tablet market as a whole.

The S7 is £100 more expensive than the Next Tablet. It is £250 cheaper than the 16GB 3G iPad. If we consign the Next Tablet to the bucket of ‘sh*t products that should never have been made’ we are left with a direct comparison to the iPad. That may sound illogical because the iPad is bigger and is running a completely different operating system, but until the Galaxy Tab and others reach the public I have to judge it against what is already on the market.

Curiously, colleagues at work were less than positive about the S7. The die was cast for some before they even held it with comments like “Who the hell are Huawei?” and “It’s too big to be a phone” still ringing in my ears. When I took my iPad into work shortly after it was released there was much excitement, and a small queue at my desk, waiting to play with it. This tells me a lot about how people judge products like this- Apple has done a remarkable job of defining what its products do and it will probably take more time for Android tablets to do the same, if they are given the chance at all. I could put it down to ignorance when I witness people view a product like this and dismiss it, yet when they see the Apple logo they will give it every opportunity to prove itself. This is how the world works though, but it doesn’t mean that the S7 isn’t a product worthy of attention, lots of attention.

The Dell Streak was, in my opinion, not credible at only 5” and was nearer a large smartphone than a small tablet, but the addition of 2” makes the experience so much better. As I said at the start I didn’t believe that 7” tablets would offer a good enough experience, but I was wrong. In part two I will cover the various features of the device such as battery, screen etc., but for now I can sum up by saying that the S7 has shown me that the Android tablet idea is not a bad thing at all and that Apple will not have the market to itself long term. My first thought is that the iPhone feels more complete and cultured than most of the Android phones on the market. The iPad is not as far ahead of the S7 in the tablet world, and it costs less than £300.

The fact that Android is available to anyone to use it as an operating system on their products is without doubt beneficial because it greatly increases the number of devices that can run the software. However, my recent experience with the Next Tablet highlights a potential problem in terms of the type of products that can be developed under the ‘Android’ umbrella. If a succession of poor hardware is released it can only devalue the brand and turn away potential new customers who have had a bad experience.

The smartphone market of today is dominated by Symbian (Nokia), BlackBerry (RIM) and iPhone (Apple). One operating system per company and one company per operating system. Of course Android is quickly gaming market share and will likely be the leader one day, but at what price? You know what you are getting when you buy an iPhone, BlackBerry or Symbian device (good and bad) and the control is what makes these phones, on the whole, consistent and reliable.

Android is fragmented in so many ways; from the multiple devices available to the number of OS versions the current crop of phones run. It is confusing for hardened smartphone obsessives like me and I expect even more confusing for most users. To be fair though most users of Android smartphones do not care what version of Android their phone is running, if they even know it is running Android, and so their expectations do not have far to fall if the product isn’t as good as the competition.

Android has been proved to be a highly capable smartphone operating system and the Samsung Galaxy Tab and HTC Desire are just two examples of hardware that run the OS as it was intended to be. The debate is open as to Android tablets and if manufacturers should all wait for version 3 before they commit to making products that offer as good as experience as is found in the aforementioned phones. The debate is also open regarding the potential damage budget Android products will do to the reputation of the platform and the Orange San Francisco (stupid name) would appear to be the perfect example of a budget Android handset that has the potential to inflict further damage.

This phone is £99 without a contract, but boasts a specification list that seems inconceivable at such a price point-

Android 2.1 Eclair OS
3 Megapixel Rear Camera
FM Radio
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
3G+ Connectivity
150 MB Internal Memory
2 GB Pre-loaded MicroSD Card
MicroSD Card Slot Expandable Up To 32 GB
USB Port
POP3/IMAP 4 Email Supported
Orange Maps, Messenger, App Store And Orange Wednesdays

After some digging, I found out that the processor is running at 600 Mhz which is on the limit of what is needed to power Eclair. However, the Motorola FLIPOUT, Acer Liquid, Motorola Milestone XT720 and Sony Ericsson X10 Mini pack processors ranging from 600 Mhz to 720 Mhz so this is not that unusual.

It would be easy for me to continually consider the low price point of the San Francisco (stupid name) throughout this review, but I am not going to do that. Whether a smartphone is £99 or £399 it still needs to function as a smartphone and so I will put the price to the back of my mind for the time being.

In the box

As you would expect there is not a lot in the box, but then again you get an AC charger, USB cable and headphones. The charger is unusual in that you get the standard 3 pin plug (which looks like something from the 1970’s by the way) which has a short lead coming out of it with a female USB jack at the end. This potentially can be used for any device you charge with a USB lead and is a nice touch.

The headphones feel cheap and nasty with very thin wires and an design reminiscent of the older HTC style. The media volume with the supplied headphone is quite quiet and no amount of tinkering could make them louder which is a shame because the sound quality was way above expectations. I tried my iPhone headphones and they were even quieter with some interference so I will continue to test and update more on this part tomorrow.

I connected the San Francisco (stupid name) to my Mac Mini and everything worked immediately. iPhoto popped up and the SD card was available in Finder for copying music and video to. This sounds basic, but this has not always been my experience and I have encountered many problems on past devices in this area.

Overall I am fairly happy with the box contents which are rounded off by a superbly written 135 page manual and an equally as good introduction to Orange booklet.

First Impressions

The phone is very light at only 130 grams and the depth is a mere 11.8 mm. These would normally contribute to the feeling of a cheap phone that feels like a budget offering, but it is very well built indeed. There are no creaks or movement when you hold it and I would go as far as to say it is not unlike the HTC Desire to look at or to hold. The styling is a little bland on the back and somewhat dated, but the front offers a sleek slab-like appearance that belies the asking price. It really is very enjoyable to hold.

Below the screen are 3 buttons; home, menu and back which, despite their small size, work quite well. I have so far not had any problem hitting the keys I need when in a hurry. On the top left you have a microUSB which is of course a silly place to put it and along the top are the 3.5 mm headphone jack and power button. To the right are two large silver volume buttons and that’s your lot. There is no dedicated camera button and only one speaker on the right.

I expected bad things after inserting the SIM card and battery, but got another surprise when the screen lit up. The 3.5” screen (which I believe is OLED) looks great thanks to the 480 x 800 pixel resolution and it works outdoors in all conditions I have tried so far. It is a bit of a fingerprint magnet and somewhat reflective in specific conditions, but nothing an anti-glare screen protector wouldn’t take care of. I would go as far as to say that this screen is better than the HTC Desire setup because it works in many more situations and is almost the same size (3.5” v 3.7”). It is also very responsive and every finger touch so far has been greeted with an immediate response which offers a quality experience right from the start.

The real story is in the features though and how well each of them works, so here goes.

Screen (9/10)

The screen is seriously good and offers a clear resolution in most lighting conditions. It is also viewable from obtuse angles and this is the part of the phone that has surprised me more than any other. It is highly responsive and is, I kid you not, one of the best smartphone screens I have used to date.

General Performance (9/10)

The 600 MHz processor is not hugely fast, but Android 2.1 is not hugely resource hungry either. I currently have many apps open at the same time and not once has the San Francisco slowed down at all. Video playback is smooth and everything I have thrown at it has been accepted with aplomb and it just keeps puffing along.

Call and signal quality (8/10)

This is going well so far. The in ear call quality is good and offers enough clarity to give some depth to the experience. Turn on the loudspeaker and it feels even deeper, as though the phone is 2 inches deep with a small sub-woofer hidden inside. Both suffer a little in terms of the maximum volume which could be higher, but in most situations the quality makes up for the volume.

I tested the signal alongside a BlackBerry Bold 9700 on Orange and the differences were almost imperceptible. To get close to a BlackBerry for signal performance is not easy and needless to say it captured a signal much better than my friend’s iPhone 3GS, also on Orange.

Camera (4/10)

Hmmm. 3 Megapixels is not a lot these days, but it can still produce a handy snapper if the process is quick enough. I managed to capture some half-decent shots with concentration, but the time it takes to take a picture and the fiddling about is a bit of a hassle. It isn’t dreadful, but is definitely a weak point.

The camcorder function is very poor though and suffers from motion blurring, poor sound capture and generally poor quality in low lighting. There is no flash on this phone so your options are limited.

Media (7/10)

Music quality is actually very good, but there is definitely a problem with the maximum volume setting. I have now tried 4 sets of headphones and I could not attain a volume I was happy with. Admittedly I tend to ‘blast’ out my music at a very high level, but suspect that many will find this slightly annoying. This is not a problem that just affects the San Francisco because I have seen this issue on a few Android smartphones so far. There are hacks you can try to up the volume, but with a bit of luck Orange will come up with a software solution for this.

The external speaker is reasonably clear and offers enough clarity for showing video clips to friends, but again the volume is slightly too quiet.

Video playback is excellent and every clip I have tried played flawlessly. I was concerned that the processor would struggle, but so far there has been no evidence of that.

Battery (7/10)

This is a difficult one to judge so far, but it is just about acceptable. Orange quotes 4 hours of talk time and 9 days of standby which is pushing it in my opinion (how unlike a mobile manufacturer to overstate battery life). It has required a charge once a day so far and this is not unusual for most smartphones. The charging appears to be exceptionally fast though- attached to the AC adaptor it went from 15% to 85% in 20 minutes. This is, however, an area I will always mark down unless I can count battery performance in days.

Connectivity (8/10)

3G+ (HSDPA) is supported alongside Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and GPS. An FM radio is thrown in for good measure which you will not be surprised to hear is very poor. In my tests Wi-Fi worked perfectly and connected almost immediately every time and the 3G performance in a good signal area was also well above expectations.

Software (8/10)

Orange, as usual, can’t resist bundling its own apps into the OS, but this time some of them are actually quite useful and do not ruin the performance of the phone.

Noteworthy additions include Orange Maps which offers street maps, turn-by-turn directions and more if you decide to subscribe to the professional version for £2.50 / month. The Orange App Shop is included which looks like a poor attempt at revenue generation when the Android Market is also present. Orange Photos is there alongside a couple of demo games; Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and Guitar Hero 5. A Global Time app makes an appearance with Orange Wednesdays in there for good measure. Add all of this to the copious selection of Android apps pre-loaded and you are spoilt for choice before you even touch the Android Market.

I was slightly concerned about the email integration until I realised that Microsoft Exchange is supported along with Workplace Connector, IMAP, POP and pre-loaded settings for 10 other major email providers. It would take me forever to discuss each app included, so I won’t, but I can confidently say that the selection included is more than complete and of good quality the whole way through.

Conclusion

At no point in this review, or when giving markings to each feature, have I offered extra marks because of the price of this phone. If something does not work, it is irrelevant how cheap it is- value for money starts with a working product first and your wallet second.

It would be hard to underestimate the importance of the Orange San Francisco. It is a very well built smartphone that includes almost all of the high-end features you would expect from a smartphone in late 2010. The camera is poor and the overall volume needs a tweak, but who would have thought that there would come a time so quickly when a smartphone with HSDPA, Wi-Fi, WVGA OLED screen, Android 2.1, GPS and so much more could be bought for under £100. Even more important is the fact that it all works together so well. There is absolutely no way that Orange can be making a profit on this phone at this price.

If this phone was £249 I wouldn’t consider it overpriced and it really isn’t far away from the HTC Desire. It is astonishing value for money and, believe it or not, one of the best Android smartphones I have tested to date. It is better than the Motorola FLIPOUT, the Xperia X10 Mini and the HTC Wildfire. It is £99.

Available from www.orange.co.uk for £99 + £10 top-up.

Richard has been spending time with a Sony Ericsson X10 Mini and sent in the following which offer a short, but comprehensive review of what the phone is really like.

It’s small, very small (but then I knew that because I’d tested one in an O2 shop). And light. Which is great for me as I like to have as little in my pocket as possible. Admission: having said that, I was seriously considering a Dell Streak at the same time. Ahem.

It’s also very attractive. I knew that, too, but further exposure has heightened my appreciation of the job Sony have done on it. I also love the look of the larger X10 – they’ve put together a great-looking series of phones.

This is my first Android device so I’m a novice and not so sure what I expected to get from it. But I like the way Sony have used the 4 corners of the screen for app shortcuts

The absence of a qwerty keypad is, for the most part, not an issue. I’ve got the keypad set to predictive most of the time and only need to change it to multitap for entering stuff like usernames and passwords when installing some apps. Not a big deal really, once the phone is setup. It’s fine for texts and brief emails, especially if you’re coming from a T9 phone like I am (Nokia N79).

The screen is more readable than you might imagine. I could read an ebook on it quite easily. Disclosure: this is part 1 of a 2-part purchase: a Kindle to follow, which means ebook reading on the x10 mini will be limited. But certainly not a no-no. Don’t expect to watch any lengthy movies on it though – fine for YouTube, mind.

Music sounds….ok. Not over-loud though. The headphones are not too bad but when I used a better pair the music gave the occasional stutter. Might be unrelated to the headphones; I expect so.

It’s not too feminine. I did actually worry about that, but it feels ok to be seen with it as a bloke. Or so Tarquin told me. Having said that, my wife has been expressing an inordinate amount of attention in it. I’ve had to hide the spare (pink) backplate it came with. I think she’d like me to swap it for her HTC Wildfire.

Prolonged use will likely lead to cramp in the hand. but I don’t intend to use it for lengthy emailing – I’m not usually absent from a PC long enough to need to resort to that.

It needs a decent RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader. Any suggestions?

The camera looks sharp enough. I’m not expecting great results from it so will likely not be disappointed.

Battery life not yet determined. It came partially-charged and after a couple of hours fairly intensive use, with lots of downloading via wi-fi, it needed a recharge. We’ll see. If it needs charging after a day’s fairly heavy use, that’s fine.

Overall impression: a very attractive phone which is about as small as a smartphone can get without losing its essential usefulness.

Ah, the UPDATE: Well, it’s going to be re-sold. It just won’t work for me. Fine for texting – even pleasurable. But emails are a no-no – and I don’t mean writing them. The text on emails is so very small and you can neither increase font size nor change the orientation. Bad move, Sony. And, for me, holding it for any length of time does, in fact, lead to a cramped hand, which I’d prefer to be without (the cramp, not the hand).

Available from Clove. Due today for £233.83.

In part one of my FLIPOUT review I explained my thoughts on the hardware and in particular how well the form comes together to produce a unique experience that is a breath of fresh air in the smartphone world. None of that is important if the phone does not work very well so let’s find out how it performs in daily use.

General Performance

The FLIPOUT is running Android 2.1 and packing a 600Mhz processor. This processor does not sound great compared to the 1 GHz competition, but when you consider the screen size and what you are likely to use the phone for it is more than adequate. Indeed, in my tests I did not suffer any glitches at all and found it to be at least as fast as the Desire. I pushed it as far as I could by running multiple programs, but got bored before it started to slow down.

Battery

At 1170mAh the battery is not the biggest in the business, but then neither is the screen. I would, however, put the battery life as below average and you can expect one day of use as a maximum. Heavy use may mean a charge in the evening, but it ‘just’ about passes the level I would personally deem as acceptable.

Call Quality

Much better than I expected. The speakerphone was especially loud and crisp and once again I marvelled at the size of the phone and what it could produce. To the ear, which feels a little odd by the way, it was also clear, but not as loud as some other phones. Don’t get me wrong, this phone is not as clear as the BlackBerry or a Nokia, but it is pretty good and offers more than enough voice quality for most people.

Media

Music playback through headphones is above average and even better through the loudspeaker. It isn’t going to impress audio junkies, but again is of a level that most will accept. Video playback is quite good and produces yet another “How am I doing this on something so small?” moment rather than making you feel that the quality is wonderful. A screen this size and resolution will always struggle to compete in this area and to be fair it wasn’t built to.

Camera

Oh dear. It really is not good; capturing a good quality photo proved troublesome and video quality was even worse; the audio quality in the video capture was appalling and I could barely hear the words of the people I videoed. I can often say that a phone camera is useful to have, but I struggle to for this one. On the good side there is an image editor, but if you get past deleting the photos you have taken I will be impressed.

Software

Android 2.1 is impressive as always and Motorola has included Motoblur. Opinion is divided on Motoblur and I am in the camp that can take it or leave it. I tend to think positively of it because it is different from most other OS shells and appreciate the large number of extras that Motorola has included on the FLIPOUT.

As if Android does not include enough apps in its default form, there is quite a list of additions to contend with. Social networking is high on the agenda here and Happenings is one of a new breed that has been designed to brings all of your different social networks under one roof. It is a neat idea, but does not present the updates in a way that will suit those of you following lots of people on Twitter. It is more suited to Facebook and the ability to filter the app helps, but heavy users may struggle with it.

This is what you get within Motoblur-

BATTERY MANAGER
Battery Manager helps you manage your phone’s power consumption.
MESSAGING
Facebook™, MySpace and Twitter Direct Messaging
MOTOBLUR ENABLED
CALLER ID
On main display, Picture ID, Ringer ID, social network status
CUSTOMIZABLE HOME SCREEN
Widgets can be moved and resized to further personalize your seven (7) home screen panels. Enjoy access to more apps, games and widgets from Android Market™.
PHONEBOOK
Your work, personal and social networking contacts all in one place.
PHOTO SHARING
MySpace, Photobucket, Picasa™, Facebook™

On top of this there is News for RSS feeds, Google Maps Navigation which really is very impressive for a free app, Quickoffice, Places and a few other changes. Motorola has put some effort into ensuring that the FLIPOUT is as complete as can be out of the box, but again I feel that Android is already crowded enough without too many additions.

Obviously the more software the better for someone like me who has used many smartphones, but is the target market going to get close to all of the software onboard?

Screen

I quite like the screen on the FLIPOUT. It isn’t very big of course, but performed much better outdoors than I expected. The low resolution is noticeable almost all of the time and text in particular felt a little chunky, but it’s a serviceable solution that does the job. I wouldn’t expect much more for the asking price.

Conclusion

All of the above sounds as though I am relatively happy with the FLIPOUT, but that would be understating the matter. I love this little phone to bits! It is completely different to anything I have used before and for that alone it has charmed me. That is a shallow reason to like a phone I know, but if I like it this much because of the shape imagine what teenagers will think of it. And maybe this is the FLIPOUT’S biggest problem?

People who want an Android phone want a big screen or at the very least something that looks semi-serious. People who want a trendy phone that is unusual and catches the eye will want to send messages, mess about on it and do little else. The FLIPOUT is a smartphone that looks like it should be on a teenage girl’s shopping list and thus it may struggle in both markets.

Having said all of that, there is a lot to like about the FLIPOUT and for novelty value alone it is refreshing in almost every way. The fact that it is actually a very good smartphone may be lost on many people though.

Motorola FLIPOUT review

Available from Clove on pre-order. Due in September for £233.83.

Throughout the past two decades there have been very few phones that change our view of what is acceptable in terms of form factor and size.

In 1994 the Sony CM-R111 was a revolution. It had no screen and merely displayed signal coverage and battery power using LEDs, but it was unbelievably tiny and showed that small mobile phones were possible. Unfortunately it took many more years to this type of phone size to become commonplace.

Motorola released the StarTAC in 1996 and it quickly became ‘the’ mobile phone to own. It was like nothing before it and to say the design was a complete revolution would be an understatement.

In 2004 Motorola debuted the RAZR and in effect produced another StarTAC moment. It was truly beautiful to look at and to use and everyone wanted one. In fact so many people wanted the RAZR that it quickly became the biggest selling mobile phone in the world and Motorola made the mistake of producing variations on this design for far too long.

As it happens I owned all of the above phones and they were all super impressive for their time. They held that magical quality of feeling too small for what they could do and years ahead of their respective times.

Here we are in 2010 and Motorola is launching the FLIPOUT. Is this another magic moment in the history of mobile phones? The difference is that it is a smartphone, not a standard mobile, and it is competing with other advanced devices like the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini that are trying to break the mould in terms of how a mobile should be formed. This is a difficult battle and at first glance it looks as though the FLIPOUT is a gimmick waiting to bomb like so many other Motorola products from the past few years. It’s not quite that easy to judge though…

First Impressions

This is a pre-production unit so I can’t judge the packaging or accessories, but presume that an AC charger, USB cable and headphones will be included. The phone itself I can judge quite easily from a hardware perspective and I have to say that I was blown away when I first picked it up.

With a footprint of 67 x 67mm it feels impossibly small and is unlike anything I have used before. The 17mm depth is noticeable and this is not a phone that will sit in your pocket without making a bulge, but the main dimensions take the smartphone to a place it has not ventured before.

I’m not a science fiction fan, but the phone gives a feeling that you are picking something up from an episode of Star Trek. It feels light years ahead of other smartphones purely because of it diminutive dimensions and square form. It doesn’t feel like a phone, but more a tiny PDA when you hold it without the keyboard exposed and is completely unique in achieving this.

I have big hands and expected to struggle with the touch screen on such a small phone, but instead found it perfectly natural to pick up and start navigating with my finger. Even in closed mode the icons are placed perfectly below the screen and after the merest of times I felt at home with this strangest looking of phones.

Swiveling out the keyboard brings more unnaturalness to the experience because it just feels really odd the first few times you do it. I can understand why it has to be this way because there would not have been enough space for the keys if it was a slider and FLIPOUT is quite a good name so I guess that Motorola wanted to stick with that. It serves no discernible purpose at all by swiveling, but for novelty alone it may help sell a few more devices. It also looks great when a call arrives and you swivel the phone to answer it and kind of reminds me of the quick flick many people perfected with the RAZR a few years back. The screen orientation stays the same when you swivel it which is not expected, but it works, and the mechanism attaching the two parts of the phone appears to be very strong.

Motorola seems to be presuming that people will use this phone in open mode most of the time because in closed mode the volume keys are at the top and the on/off button is on the right. The microUSB is at the bottom and the 3.5mm headphone jack is just above the on/off button. In open mode everything moves and becomes more traditional; on/off and headphone jack at the top, volume keys on the left and microUSB on the right.

Personally I would like to see the buttons the other way around because I believe that most will use the touch screen to check Twitter, view bookmarks and clear alarms etc. without needing the keyboard and even more importantly are likely to close the phone before using the side buttons. It’s not a big deal, but is a slight design flaw in my opinion.

There is no touch screen keyboard here which makes sense because the screen is small at 2.8″ and the hardware keyboard is only a twist away (hmmm, the Motorola TWIST? That’s an even better name). You can’t expect much from a keyboard that is only 67mm square, but what a surprise it is. There are 5 full rows of keys including a number row and after 10 minutes I felt right at home with it. I hadn’t realised how useful a dedicated number row is, and how often I type numbers, and every part of the keyboard has been a joy to use. The over large enter key is extremely useful and even the two-key wide space bar works well with a mini navigation pad in the corner for good measure. Trust me on this, it is one of the best keyboards in the industry which is amazing considering the size and shows what can be done in a small space.

Overall the hardware is way better than I expected. From the positioning of the microSD slot, just above the battery, to the screen which works ‘much’ better than I expected in bright conditions the FLIPOUT does not feel like an exercise in miniaturisation, but a full smartphone in a tiny body.

On Tuesday I will cover the software, general performance and sum up my thoughts on the FLIPOUT, but so far it is looking very positive indeed.