Who is the Motorola Shamu for?

Posted on by Joe Levi

The LG-built Nexus 5 is a wonderful phone. Before it landed, many complained that the screen would be too big, and the overall size of the device would be prohibitively large for a smartphone. In the year since its been around, however, the Nexus 5 has proven to be very usefully sized, without being too large to comfortably carry. Now that we’re getting close to when we suspect the “Nexus 6” will launch, we’re hearing rumors that it may be ...

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5.5-inch iPhone 6 to have iPad-like landscape mode?

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

We’ve criticized the approach that many OEMs have taken with tablets and phablets because many have decided to simply increase the display size, and very few have done a smart job at giving you an added level of usability through it. Apple and Samsung have both done an amazing job with their iPad and Galaxy Note lineup, but with the rumors of a ...

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge is unfair to left-handers

Posted on by Joe Levi

Samsung’s latest feat of technological wizardry is the funky curved screen on the Galaxy Note Edge. While that may appeal to some, it really takes seeing it in action before the utility of the curved part of the screen can really be appreciated. We went hands-on with the Note Edge to help you see just how cool that new feature is… but we’re right-handed.Most of the time, tech sites don’t focus too much on the right- versus left-handed utility of ...

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Why I bought the Z Ultra one year later

Posted on by Taylor Martin

One year ago, almost to the day, I received the Sony Xperia Z Ultra in the mail from Negri Electronics. Brandon and Michael decided I would be the one to review the massive 6.4-inch smartphone from Sony, likely because I’ve always had a penchant for extra large smartphones – excessive smartphones.Just two months before the Xperia Z Ultra landed on my doorstep, I had reviewed the Galaxy Mega. All things considered, I ...

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iPhone 6 phablet to sport a faster processor than the 4.7-inch model?

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

As we get closer to Apple’s rumored launch of the iPhone 6 in September, more rumors continue to point to a separate launch of the bigger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 model. Most of these rumors mention that both devices will be almost identical to each other, one being just

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iPhone 6 phablet may or may not launch this year?

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

We’ve heard rumors of Apple getting ready to launch as many as two iPhone 6 models this year, and most of these rumors point to a WWDC launch as well. The odd thing is that there are many conflicting rumors about the bigger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 phablet. Some call this the higher-end device that Apple may launch, and others don’t. Regardless of the source, we get some additional rumors today that may disappoint those looking forward to this. A new research from UBS analyst Steve Milunovich points to Apple not really planning on launching both the 4.7-inch and the 5.5-inch models ...

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ZTE announces “ultra slim” Grand Memo II LTE

Posted on by Michael Fisher

ZTE today announced the newest handset in its Android phablet line, the Grand Memo II LTE. The new device follows in the footsteps of last year’s Grand Memo LTE, mating a 6-inch IPS display with a 3200 mAh battery and squeezing it all into a frame just 7.2mm thick. The device is powered by a Snapdragon 400 chipset (MSM8926, the quad-core version with the Adreno 305) backed up by 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, with a 13MP Sony BSI camera around back and a 5MP ...

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Boost MAX vs Galaxy Note 3 (Video)

Posted on by Taylor Martin

To date, essentially all manufacturers who have attempted to mimic Samsung’s success with the Galaxy Note line of oversized smartphones have done so by packing as many great specifications as possible inside the phone and slapping a premium price tag on it to boot. But not everyone who wants a smartphone-tablet hybrid wants or needs an over the top smartphone. And they may not want to pay premium prices to get such a phone. Much smaller phones, like the Moto G, have impressively replicated the performance and experience ...

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ZTE Boost Max lands on Boost Mobile as affordable phablet

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

The ZTE Iconic Phablet we’ve seen at CES, and handled, turned out to be just a “placeholder” name for the device, as it now pops up with the ZTE Boost Max moniker on Boost Mobile. It will set you back $299.99 but it can also be coupled with Boost Mobile’s $55 Monthly Unlimited Plan — with Shrinking Payments which can make your fee as low as $40. The Boost Max packs a 5.7-inch 720p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of ...

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – After The Buzz, episode 028

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Most new device launches go the same way: usually the press gets review units before they’re widely available, and we get to use them for a few days -or a week if we’re lucky- as we work on our review. Then press day arrives. The embargo on media coverage lifts, and everyone posts their reviews and videos at the same time. It’s a huge frenzy, commenters go nuts, and it’s a giant explosion of frantic opinion-sharing activity. For about … a day. And then it all goes away. Sure, there’s followup coverage as people find bugs and hidden features, but after that initial blast, not ...

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Why do phablets cost so much more than tablets?

Posted on by Joe Levi

We live in a day and age where people just aren’t satisfied with having a smartphone or a tablet — or both. Instead, many seem to want some unholy combination of the two: a phone that’s too big to be considered a phone, but a tablet that’s too small to be considered a tablet. This Frankensteinian creation has a name: the phablet. I didn’t say it was a pretty name, but it’s a fitting one nonetheless. Once you get your head around the fact that such a beast exists, that there is a market for it, and people actually enjoy their phablets, one aching question ...

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Pocketnow Weekly 073: LG G Flex and Moto G chat with MKBHD

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Earlier today, while we were busy hanging with some of you fine folks on the latest episode of the Pocketnow Live, a lot was going down elsewhere. Our LG G Flex review was in the final polishing stages; our own Taylor Martin was kicking out some coverage on Motorola’s mold-breaking budget wonder, the Moto G; and friend of the show Marques Brownlee was interviewing Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola Mobility. All that activity demands a followup, of course, and what better venue for an end-of-week wrapup ...

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LG G Flex review: the smartphone of the future

Posted on by Michael Fisher

“There’s nothing flat about you.” Depending on your gender, self-image, and the cultural values where you live, that quote (from Dr. Ramchan Woo, LG’s Head of Mobile Product Planning) could be taken any number of ways. But applied to the whole of humanity in the most general sense possible, it’s true: we’re a race of rather rounded organisms. Yet the smartphones we carry with us to communicate with our curvy compatriots are almost invariably flat: boxy, right-angled handhelds that often pay little more than passing attention to ergonomics. That’s ...

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Jumbophones: is competing on size really that big a cop-out?

Posted on by Joe Levi

Take a look at Apple’s iPhone. Other than incremental updates and improvements, an iPhone is basically just like any other iPhone. Apple has it easy in that it doesn’t have to compete with any other manufacturer. Unfortunately, that also limits the options Apple can offer. Many will claim this is a weakness, others will claim it’s a strength. Truth be told, it’s probably a bit of both. But what of the other players in the game? Windows Phones come in a variety of configurations, but the wildcard is Android. Devices powered by Android can come in all sorts of ...

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Is the LG G Flex really self-healing? Here’s the real-world test (Video)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

If you’ve been paying attention to the Pocketnow crew the past few months, you’ll know that one of us is somewhat enamored of the LG G Flex. We spent much of this week’s podcast talking about our week with the unusual phablet, its curved casing a breath of excitement in an otherwise stolid and straitlaced world of right angles. But there’s more to the G Flex than the subtle hint of bananaphone in its ...

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