It's hard to not fall in love with the HTC One X on AT&T. The polycarbonate unibody design is stunning, the 720p Super LCD wraps around the front of the phone in a show of colors and crispness and the phone is fast thanks to Qualcomm's fourth generation Snapdragon "Krait" 1.5GHz CPU with Adreno 220 graphics. If that's not enough, the 8MP camera has a BSI sensor, fast lens, 1080p video recording with neato options like panorama, slow motion video and simultaneous video and photo recording. Oh, and there's fast LTE 4G with HSPA+ to fall back on, great call quality and more.
This is Samsung's most affordable Android tablet, but you get some goodies like Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. The tablet goes up against the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, and it's a great entry level tablet for those who want full Android, a GPS and dual cameras that eReader tablets lack. The Tab 2 7.0 has a 7 inch, 1024 x 600 PLS display, a dual core 1GHz CPU, 8 gigs of storage and a microSD card slot.
A quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 tablet, now that gets our attention. The Transformer Prime isn't the only Tegra 3 on the market anymore, and the Acer Iconia Tab A510 gives it a run for your money. The Acer sports such amenities as a soft touch back with the best ergonomics in the business, a very fast CPU with GeForce graphics that trounces last year's Tegra 2 for gaming and HD video playback, and a USB port that works with flash drives, keyboards and hard drives. The 32 gig, $449 tablet has a 1280 x 800 display with good colors and wide viewing angles, excellent stereo speakers with Dolby Mobile sound, dual cameras, a working GPS and the usual WiFi and Bluetooth.
The LG Viper is Sprint's most affordable LTE smartphone, and it sells for $99 with contract. In addition you get free Dropbox cloud storage and a Google Wallet credit in your account. As you'd guess, the Viper is a mid-tier phone, but it has a few nice perks like NFC with Google Wallet and a 700 nit brightness IPS display that looks very sharp and colorful. The phone has a 4", 800 x 480 display and it runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread-- sorry, no ICS here. This is a video review.
The One line is HTC's new flagship for 2012, and the One S sits at the top of T-Mobile's spring lineup. It features an anodized aluminum unibody design that's incredibly thin, and a very fast Snapdragon dual core 1.5Hz CPU based on the new 28nm process. It has a colorful 4.3" qHD Super AMOLED display and a capable 8 megapixel camera that can shoot photos while also shooting 1080p video. The smartphone has 42 Mbps HSPA+ on T-Mobile's network, WiFi Calling and 16 gigs of storage.
This is Nokia and AT&T's latest flagship phone, and it's refreshing to see Windows Phone get the leading role. The Lumia 900 looks a lot like its little brother the Lumia 800 that's sold overseas. The Lumia 900 stretches the luscious ClearBlack AMOLED display to 4.3" and adds LTE 4G for fast data. The Nokia is distinctive, attractive and durable thanks to a sculpted unibody polycarbonate housing and Gorilla Glass display. It runs Windows Phone 7.5 Mango on a 1.4GHz Snapdragon CPU with 16 gigs of storage, and it has a front video chat camera and an excellent 8MP rear camera. The smartphone sells for just $99 with contract.
Verizon Wireless' top Android LTE smartphones sell for $199 to $299, so you figure there's a catch when a phone costs on $79 on contract. In the case of the capable and very attractive LG Lucid, you actually get a very nice Android 2.3 smartphone with serious style. The Lucid has a 4" IPS display that's very colorful, sharp and bright. It has a 1.2GHz dual core Snapdragon CPU that's plenty fast and 4G LTE. The phone has an 800 x 480 display and a 5MP rear camera. This is a video review.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime has had its ups and downs, but the new newly released and less expensive Asus Transformer Pad TF300 gets it right. From strong WiFi and GPS to a more robust build, the $399 Android Ice Cream Sandwich is a pleasure to use. Like older Transformer models, it works with the optional keyboard dock that we also cover, and it can be a notebook replacement of sorts. This tablet has an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core CPU and is available in 16 and 32 gig models.
The Asus Transformer Pad TF300 vs. the Acer Iconia Tab A510. This is a tough one, folks. We're looking at two fast 10.1" Android tablets running Android 4.03 ICS on quad core Tegra 3 CPUs. They're priced within $50 of each other and are established brands. They both have WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, a GPS, dual cameras and 32 gigs of storage. Each has USB host and 5.1 audio output via HDMI. If the convertible nature of the Transformer Pad with the optional $149 is on your must have list, then the choice is clear, otherwise... read on.
What if you could have a notebook computer that looked just like your black iPhone 4s? HP has the answer with the HP Envy 14 Spectre, a Gorilla Glass-clad Ultrabook whose black glass lid is a perfect match for Apple's darling. In fact, the Envy Spectre has Gorilla Glass on three surfaces: the lid, the display and the keyboard deck. It's stunning to look at, but does the Envy Spectre have what it takes inside? HP says they developed the Spectre before the whole Ultrabook thing started, yet it happens to have a perfect storm of Ultrabook internals including Intel Core i5 and i7 ULV CPUs, Intel HD 3000 graphics and an SSD drive. This 0.8" notebook has a lovely HP Radiance IPS class display running at 1600 x 900, which puts it above average among the 13" Ultrabook competition.
Sequels aren't always that exciting, but when you take an already popular and solid smartphone and add exciting features like LTE 4G and a whopping 16 megapixel camera, you've got our attention. The second generation Titan on AT&T still features a 4.7" Super LCD and a 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU, but the exterior has gotten a cosmetic lift with pleasing and un-slippery soft touch finishes and a curved chin with curved glass. The Titan II has a front video chat camera, and the usual WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and FM radio. But it's that big screen and 16MP camera that really steal the show.
There's nothing quite like the Galaxy Note. This Android smartphone is a pocket tablet with a 5.3" display running at an impressive 1280 x 800 resolution, just like 10" Android tablets. That means the Super AMOLED HD display is extremely sharp and it boasts the usual super-saturated colors and deep blacks. The phone has a Wacom dual digitizer and comes with a pen that tucks neatly into a silo. Throw in a sharp 8MP camera, a fast dual core CPU, a strong GPS and 4G and you've got an amazing Android smartphone. This review covers the AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note and the international version.
Sprint's rolling out a new affordable 7 inch Android tablet, the ZTE Opik, and honestly it's a solid tablet for the money. The Optik sells for $99 with a 2 year contract and $349 without contract. That doesn't mean the specs are bargain basement: it has a sharp 1280 x 800 capacitive touchscreen with good viewing angles that's great for eBook reading, and a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU with a gig of RAM and 16 gigs of storage. The Optik runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb and it has Sprint 3G.
The high end Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime vs. the affordable powerhouse Asus Transformer Pad TF300: this has to be one of the oddest smackdowns we've done yet. Why? Because the classy, metal-clad and more expensive tablet might not be the best. In one corner we have top of the line specs and materials, and in the other corner: a product whose features all work. Which is the winner? Check our detailed comparison to find out!
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