HP's second generation 15 inch Envy is a serious improvement over the original model in terms of battery life and portability. The 15.6" Envy weighs 5.8 pounds and can run for 5 or more hours on a charge despite the fast quad core 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 CPU and full HD 1080p IPS display. The Envy 15 has switchable graphics with the new AMD Radeon HD 7690M and 1 gig DDR5 VRAM. We've got a gaming demo video in our review, and you'll see the laptop is capable of playing today's 3D games at 1080p. The HP Envy 15 has an internal optical drive, three USB ports (two are USB 3.0), HDMI, DisplayPort and Ethernet. We look at the 3040nr model that's available as a quick ship model and is sold in stores for $1,299. It has a backlit keyboard, Beats audio with 6 speakers and a 750 gig 7200 RPM hard drive and 8 gigs of RAM. That's a lot of powerhouse portable for the money.
The Samsung Series 7 Chronos is enticingly thin and light for a 15.6" machine with a powerful Intel Core i7 CPU and Radeon HD 6750M dedicated graphics. It's understated, elegant and has a fingerprint resistant aluminum lid that just makes you want to take one home. It's priced a wee bit lower than the Windows PC competition and it has lovely amenities like a 1600 x 900 matte high bright display, the best looking backlit keyboard we've ever seen and an internal optical drive. The laptop has 6 gigs of RAM, a DVD burner, 750 gig fast hard drive, WiFi and Bluetooth.
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. It runs on Samsung's very fast 1.4GHz dual core Exynos CPU and it has 16 gigs of storage. Throw in a sharp 8MP camera, a strong GPS and AT&T 4G HSPA+ compatibility, and you've got an amazing Android smartphone. This is an import phone that's sold unlocked for use with any GSM carrier, but you will get 3G and 4G HSPA+ on AT&T in the US. This is full written review plus an in-depth video review.
The Lumia 710 might not be Nokia's flagship Windows Phone, but it's a great phone for $49 with contract. This Windows Phone 7.5 Mango smartphone has a sharp 3.7" ClearBlack display, a 1.4GHz Snapdragon CPU and a very good 5 megapixel camera. The Lumia 710 is available on T-Mobile and it has quad band HSPA+ 4G along with WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS. The design is distinctly Nokia, and we like the rounded corners and complex curves that you don't usually see on a budget-priced smartphone.
The Motorola Droid XYBoard 8.2 is the Motorola Droid XYBoard 10.1's little brother on Verizon. But it's not all that little: at 8.2" it offers more to feast your eyes on vs. more common 7" Android tablets, yet it's much more portable than 10" tablets. The XYBoard 8.2 shares many but not all specs with the 10.1" version. It has the same 1280 x 800 resolution, and IPS display, a dual core 1.2GHz TI OMAP CPU with a gig of RAM, and it's available in 16 or 32 gig capacities. It has a front 1.3MP camera and a rear 5MP camera with LED flash and the usual WiFi 8902.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and a GPS. This is a video review.
TThe Lenovo IdeaPad U400 extends Lenovo's designer-look IdeaPad U260 ultralight notebook and U300s ultrabook into a more mainstream size. This 14" notebook is indeed very stylish, unique looking and lightweight at 4.36 pounds. It's in a laptop segment that's not very crowded: a highly portable machine that's not tiny and not underpowered. It runs on full second generation Intel Core i CPUs rather than ULV low powered CPUs, and it has an optical drive and switchable graphics. Our review unit runs on a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 CPU with switchable graphics (Intel HD 3000 and AMD Radeon HD6470M with 1 gig VRAM). It has a glossy 1366 x 768 display.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon Wireless is no doubt one of the hottest phones of 2011. This is the first time you can get a Google's reference Android smartphone from one of America's largest carriers with a contract in store easily. It's the first Android phone to run Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich too. The Galaxy Nexus has a 4.65" Super AMOLED display running at 1280 x 720, and it has a dual core 1.2GHz TI CPU with hardware graphics acceleration. And there's lucsiously fast LTE 4G too. Is it worth all the hype? We'd say so. Read our full review to find out.
Motorola's second gen Android tablet earns Moto a most improved award. While the XYBoard retains the first gen Motorola Xoom's bulletproof build, the new model is as thin and light as the waifish iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that it joins on Verizon's shelves. It features a sharp 10" IPS display that supports both capacitive multi-touch and the included EMR pen for precise input. The tablet runs on a 1.2GHz dual core TI CPU and has 4G LTE on Verizon's network. Other goodies include the usual dual cameras, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and less common features like USB host and an IR blaster with AV remote to control home theater gear.
The Samsung Series 7 Slate is one of the few Windows 7 slate design tablets that runs on a powerful second generation Intel Core i5 CPU that offers performance comparable to an Ultrabook or decent laptop. The Series 7 Slate has an 11.6" dual digitizer that supports both capacitive multi-touch and an active digitizer pen. it weighs just 2 pounds and is only a half inch thick, making it almost as portable as some 10" tablets running mobile operating systems. Other goodies include a 64 or 128 gig SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM. The tablet runs all Windows apps, and is easier to use with touch than most Windows tablets.
The world's first Nvidia Tegra 3 tablet is here, but it's darned hard to find and it's a little rough around its figurative edges. The Transformer Prime is Asus' second gen Android 10" tablet and it has a lot of solid specs for the price. It has an extremely bright and high contrast IPS display with what Asus calls Super IPS + mode that brings brightness to more than 600 nits for better outdoor viewing. The tablet is supremely thin and light and features an aluminum casing that looks great but doesn't do wonders for GPS reception. This is a WiFi-only tablet, and it has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth and a GPS. This is our 30 minute Transformer Prime video review.
In this video review, we take a look at the latest MyTouch Android smartphones from T-Mobile. The pair are made by LG, and they're affordable mid-tier Android smartphones that target first time smartphone buyers. They share DNA, and both phones run on a 1GHz single core Snapdragon CPU with 512 megs of RAM and a gig of available storage. They both have a microSD card slot with a 2 gig card pre-loaded, a 5MP rear camera, WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS. Both have 4G HSPA+ with the mobile hotspot feature and WiFi calling and they run Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The MyTouch has a 3.8" AMOLED 800x 440 display while the MyTouch Q has a QWERTY slide-out keyboard and a HVGA display.
The Toshiba Thrive 7 Inch tablet is the miniature buddy to the Toshiba Thrive 10" tablet released earlier this year. It has the same rugged look and rubbery ridged back, but some of the 10 inch model's geek chic amenities are missing, like the full size USB host port for USB peripherals and the (rare on mobile OS tablets) removable battery. The Thrive 7 runs on a dual core 1GHz Tegra 2 CPU with a gig of RAM and 16 or 32 gigs of storage. It runs Android OS 3.2 Honeycomb and is a WiFi-only tablet. It features a high resolution 1280 x 800 pixel display that's ultra-sharp. This is a video review.
The Samsung Focus S is one of three new Windows Phone Mango 7.5 smartphones on AT&T. It joins the HTC Titan and the smaller and more affordable Focus Flash, and it features Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus display for super-rich colors and deep blacks. The Focus S shares a lot of DNA with the Samsung Galaxy S II on AT&T, and like the GS II it has a 4.3" display, an 8 megapixel rear camera and a very similar casing. The phone is only 0.33" thick and it weighs just 3.9 ounces. The Focus S has HSPA+ 14.4 for "4G" on AT&T, Zune music and video, XBOX Live gaming, WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS that works with Bing and AT&T Navigator.
The LG Nitro HD is definitely a phone worth getting exciting about. What's so hot about this Android smartphone? It has a 720p IPS display, and LG makes some impressive mobile displays. It runs on the same dual core 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU as the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the slightly lower clocked HTC Vivid, and it has an excellent 8 megapixel rear camera. Good stuff, no? Better yet, the Nitro HD has true 4G LTE on AT&T.
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