The Galaxy S 5: more of the same

Posted on by Taylor Martin

My good pal Michael Fisher and I like to disagree on things. And that’s perfectly okay. In fact, I prefer it that way. It’s what makes the entire team here at Pocketnow so diverse and the Pocketnow Weekly so fun and interesting. We help keep each other in check and provide different perspectives on varying products. It’s a nice balance. A perfect example of this is the Galaxy S 5, which was announced at Samsung’s Unpacked event yesterday. Michael wrote a piece earlier today, giving

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BlackBerry launches Q20 and Z3 BB10 handsets

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

We knew to expect new Androids this week, and boy have we seen a lot of them! Those have been joined by handsets on platforms like Firefox OS, and we even got some updates about where Windows Phone is headed. Today, however, we receive news of a couple smartphone launches that have swooped in largely under the radar, as BlackBerry confirms two new BlackBerry 10 models, its Z3 and Q20. The Q20 will be the company’s latest model to feature a hardware keyboard, and ...

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The Galaxy S 5′s fingerprint scanner is basically invisible – which may be just as well

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Earlier today, I posted a piece arguing that the Galaxy S 5 doesn’t deserve all the crap it’s getting from smartphone enthusiasts who were expecting more from Samsung’s new Android flagship. While I stand by that opinion, the device’s flaws still need pointing out – and I think a very big one can be found in the Galaxy S 5 fingerprint scanner. There are certainly larger laments to ...

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GSMA 2014 Global Mobile Awards announced; HTC, Nokia, Apple come out on top

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Part of what makes the Mobile World Congress such a special event to cover – as opposed to a trade show like CES – is that its focus is so specific to the mobile industry. That gives the manufacturers involved the opportunity to really put their smartphones and tablets front and center, not drowned out by new gaming consoles, HDTVs, and connected appliances. The organization behind all of this is the GSM Association (yeah – like from the phone standard), and in addition to putting on this whole shindig, the GSMA recognizes some of the ...

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LG G Pro 2 vs Galaxy Note 3: hands-on comparison (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Thought we were wrapped-up with LG’s new phablet, the G Pro 2, following our hands-on with the Android yesterday? Not even! In addition to bringing you footage of the new smartphones, tablets, and wearables making an appearance at the MWC this year, we’re also doing our best to bring you early comparisons between this new gear and models with which you may be already familiar. Today we put the G Pro 2 up against the pope of phablet-town, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3. Even with the G Pro 2′s larger display it ...

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LG L Series III L35, L40, L65, L70, and L90: hands-on comparison (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

LG did not make a big deal about its MWC presence this year: no “Unpacked” event, no grand unveiling – all the high-end stuff LG had to share it already announced weeks ago. But that’s far from saying that the company didn’t have anything worth showing off, and we keep learning about more and more LG handsets crawling out of the woodwork. We already told you about those F-series models that popped up over the weekend, and now ...

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Blackphone hands-on (Video)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

What do you do when a company offers you a hands-on opportunity with a smartphone running software you’re not allowed to access? Well, usually you move on to the next vendor. Things are a little different, though, when the concept behind the device is as intriguing as that underlying Blackphone. We’ve covered Blackphone a few times over the past several months. In the wake of the NSA domestic-spying scandal in the US, a smartphone that promises privacy through an encrypted OS has become more interesting ...

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Lenovo MWC 2014 overview (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

For the longest time, Lenovo stayed back on the outskirts of our regular smartphone coverage. Sure, we’d learn about a new device or two every now and then, but with no carriers in the US selling Lenovo handsets, it was difficult to follow the company with much passion; post-launch, we rarely heard another word about most of these devices. But now all of a sudden with this Motorola purchase, we’re looking at Lenovo in a very different light, and no matter what the company might have been up to in years past, ...

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HTC Desire 816 vs Galaxy Note 3: hands-on comparison (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

We are almost done putting HTC’s new Desire 816 5.5-inch Android through some early hands-on comparisons, having already checked it out against HTC’s One lineup, and now we’re switching manufacturers to see hot the 816 looks when compared to the phablet everybody wants to beat, last year’s Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Make no mistake: the Note 3 is going to outshine the 816 at most of the stuff we’d ...

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HTC Desire 816 vs One, One Max, and One Mini: hands-on comparison (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

All done getting introduced to HTC’s new Desire 816 thanks to our hands-on video? All right, then: you’re all set to see how the 816 measures-up to HTC’s flagship One series, and we laid them all out at MWC 2014 to give you a proper sense of scale. Make no mistake: just because the Desires may be more budget-focused devices doesn’t mean that the Ones will dwarf the 816. This guy is still a phablet, after all. And while it may not have the sleek metal design of the Ones, its straightforward, ...

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HTC Desire 816 hands-on (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

For a phone that’s definitely aimed at shoppers not looking for the latest smartphone flagship, HTC’s Desire 816 still manages to deliver a lot. It’s got a big HD screen, a nice, clean design, and those stereo BoomSound speakers we can’t get enough of. Anxious to get some time with the phone, we tracked it down at the MWC for a hands-on look. While overall the specs may be unarguably mid-range, there are definitely a few high points that really make the 816 stand out, like that front-facing camera. We ...

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Huawei Mobile WiFi E5786 hands-on (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Huawei came to this year’s Mobile World Congress all ready to impress, hitting all the big categories with its spread: smartphones, tablets, and wearables. We would have been perfectly happy just getting to see all that, but Huawei wasn’t about to stop there, and also introduced a new gadget that especially appeals to us when we’re out covering events like this one, its new Mobile WiFi E5786 hotspot. A hotspot? What’s exciting about that? Well, the E5786 has a few extra tricks beyond what might be ...

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Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ hands-on (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Last fall, Lenovo delivered a pair of Yoga tablets, one eight-incher and one ten-inch model. They each had cool designs, with little edge-mounted rotating kickstands, but the specs left us wishing they were just a little higher-end: we’re talking 1280 x 800 displays, even on the ten-incher, and MediaTek SoCs. As if it knew just what we were thinking, Lenovo delivered a greatly improved version at the MWC this year, its Yoga Tablet 10 HD+. 1280 ...

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Pebble vs Huawei TalkBand B1: hands-on comparison (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Yesterday morning, Huawei let us in on the secret behind why it’s rumored “smartwatch” was so unabashedly thick-looking, and revealed the TalkBand B1, whose thick screen suddenly starts making a lot of sense when you see it pop out to become a Bluetooth earpiece. Wearables are one of the most promising markets right now, primed to explode; will Huawei’s effort have what it takes to become a serious contender? In order to help you make sense of its place in the grand scheme of things, we compared ...

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ZTE Grand Memo II hands-on (Video)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

ZTE’s new Grand Memo II LTE is one crazy thin smartphone. Is it the thinnest ever? Not by a long shot (well, in a crazy world where “long shots” measure in the millimeters); even back last year we were already hearing about phones coming in short of the six millimeter mark, and the Grand Memo II LTE is more like 7.2mm thick. That said, it’s also got a big 6.2-inch display and 3200mAh battery, so maybe we should be ...

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