Sony Xperia J review

The Sony Xperia J is the smaller and cheaper brother to James Bond's Xperia T, but don't expect to find this handset mingling with scantily clad women - the Xperia J is far more reserved, less flamboyant, happier to stay out of the limelight and just get on with life without frenzied car chases through the French Riviera.

There's a less flamboyant price as well, with the Sony Xperia J setting you back a manageable £175 (around $275/AU$265) SIM-free, or you can have it for free on contracts starting at as little as £13 per month on a two year deal.

With that price the Xperia J is left fighting against the Orange San Diego, HTC Desire C, BlackBerry Curve 9320 and the slightly cheaper Sony Xperia Miro.

Looks wise the Sony Xperia J is very similar to the Xperia T, with both handsets taking design cues from the popular Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia Arc S.

The iconic arched back of the Xperia J is the strongest nod to the past Sony Ericsson handsets, and provides a unique design which we found pleasing to the eye.

This also means that the Sony Xperia J sits nicely in the palm, and at 124g we reckon it's pretty spot on in terms of weight, with a perfect balance in the hand and its slender 124.3 x 61.2 x 9.2 mm chassis is certainly not overbearing.

It's a sturdy handset, with a good build quality, and while the rear plastic case is a little on the thin side, it's easy enough to remove, unlike the one found on the Nokia Lumia 820.

On the front you're greeted by a 4-inch display which is relatively bright, but at 480x854 isn't too sharp, especially when you consider the San Diego has a 600x1024 offering.

That's not to say it's a poor screen and Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich looks perfectly acceptable, with a single-core 1GHz processor and 512MB running the show.

Below the display is a bezel housing back, home and menu keys, with Sony not opting for on-screen controls, nor replacing the menu button with the multi-tasking function Google recommends.

There's also a front facing, VGA camera above the display while on the left there's a microUSB port for charging and connecting the Xperia J to a computer.

It's not a location we're fond of, as a charging port at the base of a handset makes it much easier to use when plugged in.

On the right there's a power/lock key at the top, with a volume rocker switch below. We found the power/lock key too small and difficult to press, making it a chore to do the simple task of locking the Xperia J, or waking the screen.

Up top there's just a centralised 3.5mm jack, which according to Nokia and its Lumia 920 makes it easier to slip a phone into your pocket when headphones are plugged in.

Round the back of the Xperia J, the curved rear cover sports a slightly rubberised finish, and while it's not quite as grippy as the Desire C, we didn't feel like we were prone to dropping the handset.

You get a 5MP rear camera flanked by a single LED flash in the top left corner, while at the base there's a speaker grill.

Hit the power/lock key and a ambient light will radiate out from the silver strip of bezel on the base of the Xperia J – these lighting touches are popular with Sony (and previously Sony Ericsson), and we can trace them all the way back to the w850i with its pulsating orange menu button.

The Sony Xperia J is an attractive, solid and well appointed handset set at a reasonable price which is sure to tempt some.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/sony-xperia-j-1093684/review

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Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini release date: when will you get it?

Who wants a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini?

The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini flaunts itself as the little brother of the big, powerful Galaxy S3 - which took the mobile market by storm this year.

Samsung is yet to give us an official Galaxy S3 Mini release date, but according to the Phones4U website, it will start shipping the smartphone from November 2.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini offers up a 4-inch, 480 x 800 Super AMOLED display, 1GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, 5MP rear camera with flash, micro SD card slot and comes running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

We've been hunting down the UK networks and retailers to find out who's offering it, and at what price.

Phones4U - the high street retailer has got ahead of the pack and already has its pre-order page up for the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, with a range of tariffs from O2, Orange and Vodafone for you to select.

You can pick up a free Galaxy S3 Mini on contracts starting at £25 per month, and the first 350 customers to pre-order will also get a free Samsung S Pebble – a mini MP3 player which pairs with the phone.

Carphone Warehouse – there's nothing currently on the Carphone website, so we contacted the retailer to find out its plans, and a spokesperson has confirmed it will be stocking the Galaxy S3 Mini.

Vodafone – took to Twitter soon after Samsung's announcement to declare that it will indeed be selling the Galaxy S3 Mini – however all it said was that it's "coming soon", with no word on price.

O2 – while various O2 tariffs are listed on the Phones4U pre-order page, the bubbly network is yet to confirm whether if will be offering the Galaxy S3 Mini directly.

Orange – we've contacted Orange and asked if the Galaxy S3 Mini would be gracing its line-up, but we're still waiting on a response.

However thanks to Phones4U, we can be pretty sure the colour- or fruit-inspired network will offer the Galaxy S3 Mini to its customers.

T-Mobile – we're also waiting to hear back from T-Mobile on whether it will be stocking the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

Three – the data-friendly network will probably complete the network line up and stock the Galaxy S3 Mini, although we're yet to hear anything official.

SIM-free – if you hate being tied down to a contact or forcibly linked with a network, then you may want to pick up the Galaxy S3 Mini SIM-free.

Online retailer Clove already has its pre-order page up, but it's asking for £298.60 for the handset, which seems a little on the steep side to us.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-s3-mini-release-date-when-will-you-get-it-1103982

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Samsung’s Galaxy S3 Mini is official, but is it worthy of the name?

As expected, Samsung has announced the Galaxy S3 Mini, a mid-range Android 4.1 smartphone that has a similar design to its big brother.

Samsung has announced the Galaxy S3 Mini, just as promised by the company’s mobile communications boss yesterday, but can it live up to our expectations, especially as it shares the same name as one of the very best Android smartphones on the market?

The answer to that question very much depends on your expectations, and if they’ve been kept in check. Let’s put it this way, it’s not a Galaxy S3 in a slightly smaller body, but a small phone aimed at a different buyer. Here’s what it’s all about.

Design-wise, it’s very close to its big brother, with the same “natural” flowing edges, rounded corners and smooth rear panel. No lawsuit over the design of this one, then. So how mini is the Mini? It measures 121 x 63 x 9.8mm and weighs 111 grams, so it’s a touch larger than an iPhone 4S, but noticeably smaller than the full-size S3’s 136 x 70 x 8.6mm dimensions and 133 gram weight.

Inside is a dual-core, 1Ghz ST-Ericsson NovaThor processor, with 1GB of RAM and either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage memory. As expected, the Super AMOLED screen measures 4-inches and has a 480 x 800 pixel resolution, while the camera has 5-megapixels, 720p video recording and an LED flash. There’s also a VGA video call camera above the screen.

Android 4.1 onboard

The good news is the phone will come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, so there won’t be any waiting around for Samsung to issue an update, plus there’s the TouchWiz user interface and some of the cool software features from more expensive Galaxy hardware, such as S Voice, Direct Call and Smart Stay. Other features include NFC, DLNA, GPS, a microSD card slot and a 1500mAh battery.

So, the Galaxy S3 Mini is a concoction of the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy S Advance. Many will bemoan the lack of 4G — although it does support HSDPA and HSUPA — and the processor missing two more cores, but those are features for upper range phones, not a solid mid-ranger like the S3 Mini.

Using the S3 title is certainly a win for the marketing team, but the S3 Mini is far from being an embarrassment to its good name; after all, the design was, and still is, a winner. Plus, Samsung isn’t wrong, in stature it is a miniature S3.

The more sensible spec also means a more sensible price tag. While Samsung hasn’t talked about the cost just yet, Clove Technology has put a SIM-free S3 Mini up for pre-order in the UK for £298, or $477, which is about £120/$192 less than the full-size S3.

Samsung has remained quiet on availability too, but Vodafone UK has tweeted that the device is coming soon to its network. There’s no word on a US release at this time.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-announces-the-galaxy-s3-mini/

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Nokia Lumia 820 review

Nokia's second Windows Phone 8 handset is a little bit more interesting than its flagship older brother, as it comes with some alternative design features.

We're not going to wax lyrical about the interface, as we were given very little time to play with it. However, we did notice that a very slight amount more lag than we saw on the Lumia 920 when flicking about the apps – although we're going to thoroughly put that down to this being a pre-production model.

If you want to learn all about the software features on board the Lumia devices we suggest you check out our in-depth hands on: Nokia Lumia 920 review for a sneaky peek of how Windows Phone 8 looks on the device.

But let's move onto the design, shall we? And it's quite a departure from the original Nokia Lumia 800 – in fact, we almost feel saddened that the 800, which we consider something of an icon in smartphone design, has been 'downgraded' to be the budget option alongside the Lumia 920. 

The main difference is to the outer shell – no longer are we looking at a unibody design; instead we're offered the choice of covers, be it to change the colour, iprove protection or allow it charge wirelessly.

The latter option is pretty cool, as there are a range of docks on offer to facilitate said functionality – plus a little bean bag from Fatboy as well. 

However, the effect isn't the most premium, as the glossy covers seem to be a little bit lightweight in the hand, although they're a nightmare to remove from the Lumia 820 itself.

The 820 comes with very similar internals to its larger brother, wit the S4 Qualcomm chip delivering the power of two cores. This means operation should be slick once the whole phone is better optimised for Windows Phone 8. 

The buttons on the side are also ceramic, and have a nice travel for when opening up the camera or locking/unlocking the phone. It fits well in the palm, although the rounded wireless charging cases we tried out did feel a little bit chunky, even though the thickness is tiny. 

But it's things like the budget feel of the camera placement that bother us – while we're all for re-designs, this doesn't feel very high end as a snapper.

There is one neat trick up the sleeve of the Nokia Lumia 820… well, two actually, The first is you can remove the battery, which is something Windows Phones have been notoriously loathe to do in the past. 

And under there is a little surprise: a microSD card slot for all your media needs! Sure, it's irritating you have to take out the battery to get to it, but it's a great way to supplement the meagre 8GB of onboard storage.
Early verdict

We can't help feeling like the Nokia Lumia 820 should feel a little more premium, in the same way the 800 was mostly a shrunken down version of the 900 with something of the same clout. 

The 820 is a more rounded affair, which certainly lends the air of being pocket friendly. Whether this will appeal to the Windows Phone 8 buyer, although the notion of being able to switch cases to change functionality is interesting.

The Lumia 820 will live or die by its price; get this under £200 and there could be a seriously good phone out there, but if it's more aimed at the premium user we can't see why you wouldn't opt for the 920 unless you love microSD slots and hate larger screens.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/nokia-lumia-820-1094951/review

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