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Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra review: Unabashedly over the top
When I first spent time with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, I said it felt a lot like a Galaxy S20 Ultra "with a stylus and a bit of a makeover." What didn't come across during that brief socially distanced demo was that, by curbing some of its wilder initiatives and dutifully improving existing features, Samsung built its best big phone ever. Since that (very good) trend seems unlikely to change, the Note 20 Ultra is only worth the splurge if you need the best of the best... and the S Pen.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ review: Weird, but in a good way
I have to suspect that back in 2011 when the original Galaxy Note was released, not even Samsung knew it would become as popular as it did. By the standards of the time, the Note and its 5.3-inch screen were massive, and styluses were considered the mark of an inferior device. Instead of beelining toward the smartphone graveyard, though, the original Note helped redefine what we expected from phones and kicked off a series of hits (plus one spectacular miss). I'll be up front with you though: The Galaxy Note 10+ ($1,099) isn't perfect. Some of the decisions Samsung made here will take a bit of getting used to, and some features felt like they were created for the sake of having something new to talk about. But Samsung has been polishing the Note formula for nearly a decade now, and it's still an incredibly potent one. If you've never felt much affection for the S Pen, I'm not sure the Note 10+ will change your mind. Even so, the Note 10+'s blend of performance, hardware quality and a genuinely useful stylus mean that it's still the best big phone you can buy right now.
Lenovo Tab V7 hands-on: Big, loud and practical
Bigger isn't always better, but sometimes it's exactly what you're looking for. That seems to be the line of reasoning behind Lenovo's new Tab V7, a device that — despite its name — is definitely more a smartphone. The V7 isn't the most powerful machine in the world, nor does it have the most impressive cameras or the most eye-catching design. For people in developing markets who face long bus or rail commutes, though, a phone with a screen big enough to lost in while watching videos just might fit the bill perfectly.
VTech's new Android tablet has its own kid-friendly messaging system
VTech's tablets and other kids' gadgets have always focused on creating a child-safe walled garden, but it's fallen far short of having an ecosystem like what children can get on an iPad or Amazon Fire Kids Edition. Its new Android tablet for children four and older opens things up a bit by allowing app downloads from outside the VTech ecosystem, as well as messaging with iOS and Android devices -- all with a parent's supervision.
Lenovo Phab 2 Pro review: Stumbling out of the gate
I just spent 15 minutes wandering around the office, trying to shoot ghouls in the face with lightning. Before that, I dropped a virtual rococo sofa into the empty space next to my desk, just to see if it would fit. And before that, I measured ... well, everything. Welcome to the augmented life, courtesy of Google and Lenovo. Google has spent more than two years taking its "Tango" technology from project to full-blown product. The goal: to help our gadgets examine the world around them and overlay information -- or even whole new worlds -- on top of the reality we already know. Along the way, Google tapped Lenovo to help craft the first consumer-ready Tango device: an enormous slab of a phone called the Phab 2 Pro. And now it's here. If the Tango stuff alone didn't make the Phab 2 Pro a groundbreaking device, this is also the first Lenovo-branded smartphone to land in the United States. Too bad it's not quite ready for prime time.
You can still buy the Note 7 in Hong Kong, but you shouldn't
Hong Kong's Sincere Podium is home to all manner of mobile devices -- be it second-hand phones, imported handsets (mainly from Japan and Korea), spare parts and even prototypes once in a while. This time, the mall appears to be the last place in the city -- if not the world -- to still be openly selling the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 despite the worldwide recall. Over the weekend, I came across a shop with a glass cabinet full of boxes for the 64GB Note 7, with a bright sticker on one of them saying "Samsung Note 7 dealer goods: special offer" in Chinese. I didn't think much of it and simply tweeted a couple of photos, only to be surprised by the posts' traction over the last two days.
Samsung's big, beautiful Galaxy Note 7 lands August 19th
Another year, another Galaxy Note. Samsung just unveiled its new Galaxy Note 7 in New York this morning, and you'll be able to get one for yourself in the US starting August 19th. We got the chance to take one for a test drive prior to the show, and one thing quickly became clear: Samsung might not have revamped the Note formula, but the Note 7 is a testament to the quality that can come from years of gradual change.
'Galaxy Note7' name confirmed by leaked pics
Can't wait for Samsung's next entry into the plus-sized phone category? A tweet from Evan Blass aka evleaks reveals three colors of what will apparently be called the Galaxy Note7 (no space?), in Black Onyx, Silver Titanium and Blue Coral. There have been rumors about the phone and its number-skipping name floating around, but the clear images confirm this is what we'll see announced this summer. Naturally, there's a stylus and curved edges, while the specs cited by Blass on Android Police include a 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display, 12MP/5MP front/rear camera setup, 64GB of storage and IP68-rated water resistance.
Meet the world's first phone with a Snapdragon 820 chipset
Just a few years ago, we might have scoffed at the idea of buying a smartphone from a Chinese OEM. Now, with companies like Huawei and ZTE showing us that smartphone pedigree matters less than ambition and execution, things are totally different. That's exactly the opening China's LeTV is trying to capitalize on with its new Le Max Pro. Not only is it the world's first phone to run Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipset, it's also the company's first attempt to break into the absolutely insane US market.
Huawei still thinks 6-inch phablets is the way to go
It's been well over a year since Huawei launched its premium Mate 7 phablet, and as of August, over five million units have been sold worldwide. That's far more impressive than the original goal of just one million phones. While the smaller Mate S has since been released, the company still believes in sticking to the masculine roots of the Mate series, which brings us to the Mate 8. Like before, this model sports the same 6-inch 1080p display spec but now also covers 95 percent of NTSC gamut. As a bonus, there's a piece of 2.5D glass on top of that. Of course, the biggest selling point this time is the new octa-core Kirin 950 chipset which promises much higher performance and efficiency at the same time, mainly thanks to the new 16nm FinFET+ process, some more powerful CPUs (4 x Cortex-A72 and 4 x Cortex-A53), ARM's flagship Mali-T880 GPU and integrated LTE Cat 6 modem.
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus pre-orders are live
It's that magical time of year where adults sit awake at their computers in the middle of the night (or with an iDevice and the Apple Store app open) in an effort to snag the latest iPhones. Pre-orders have gone live for Cupertino's latest handsets, the 6s and 6s Plus, and if you're hoping to get one for that first-wave September 25th availability date you'd better act fast. After all, 3D Touch isn't going to wait around for everyone. So! Best to head over to Apple's website or the aforementioned mobile app and get to punching in your credit card info. The questions now are big or small; space grey, gold or rose gold and if you're going to go for Apple's Upgrade Program or not. Better make your mind up rather quick-like -- Fallout fans, at least, have one less decision to make.
Lenovo's Phab Plus is a phablet because of course it is
"Phablet" may be a horrible word, but it was a pretty accurate descriptor when Samsung launched its then-massive Galaxy Note way back in 2011. Since then, it's become difficult to find a premium smartphone that doesn't have a screen measuring well over five inches, thus making the term phablet a bit unnecessary. That is, unless you're Lenovo. Today at IFA, the company is officially introducing two phones called the Phab and Phab Plus, and their screen sizes are as ridiculous as their names. The higher-end Phab Plus sports a monstrous 6.8-inch, 1080p display while the Phab comes in at an even larger 6.98 inches. Let us pause, and remember that it wasn't long ago that 7-inch screens were solely the domain of small-ish tablets. These aren't so much phablets as they are tablets that can make phone calls.
Huawei Nexus leak reveals a weird camera hump
Google's Nexus phablet from Huawei looks like a steamroller ran over a periscope, if a leak from China's iNexus.co has any merit. Google is reportedly releasing two new Nexus models with Android M, a 5.2-inch model from LG and 5.7-incher from Chinese manufacturer Huawei. The LG version already leaked, but the above photo is the first we've seen of the Huawei variant (other than a render). We're not quite sure what to make of it -- there appears to be a large, oval cutout at the top for a camera module, a decidedly odd design choice.
Xiaomi's $125 phone has the same heart as HTC's flagship
For those who don't know, Xiaomi has a budget line of smartphones called Redmi, but they've kind of fallen off our radar for some time. That's not the case with the latest model announced today. Following its predecessor, this Redmi Note 2 is sticking with the same 5.5-inch screen size but with a higher resolution of 1080p. What really caught our attention, though, is that despite the phone's $125 base price, it's powered by MediaTek's high-end Helio X10 chipset. That's the same octa-core silicon inside HTC's flagship M9+, which costs almost four times as much as the Redmi.
Giant phones are finally a big deal in the US
Extra-large phones have been hot stuff in some countries for a long while, but not so much in the US. The country must have had a change of heart in the past few months, however. Kantar Worldpanel estimates that gigantic devices jumped from 6 percent of American smartphone sales in the first quarter of last year to 21 percent in early 2015. Why? If you ask Kantar, the launch of the iPhone 6 Plus was partly responsible -- it racked up 44 percent of all supersized phone sales despite being just a few months old. The analyst group isn't saying much in public how other brands were doing, although it's safe to say that category pioneer Samsung grabbed a large slice of the pie thanks to high-powered behemoths like the Galaxy Note 4.
HTC's bigger and better One M9+ launches in China
HTC clearly gets China's obsession with large-screen phones. Following the plastic 5.5-inch One E9+, the company is back with the metallic M9+ which, as you can tell from the name, is essentially the M9 on steroids. We've already seen most of the specs in an earlier leak, with the most notable changes being the sharper and slightly larger 5.2-inch Quad HD display, the extra Duo Camera as seen on the back of the M8 and the new single-touch fingerprint reader below the screen. The device is otherwise very similar to its smaller sibling, appearance-wise.
Huawei's MediaPad X2 is a phone with a 7-inch display
While its first Android Wear smartwatch might be grabbing the headlines, Huawei also has a new phablet on display at MWC this year. The MediaPad X2 is the sequel to last year's X1, which, depending on how you look at it, was either a small tablet or an enormous phone. There's not a lot new to look at here -- aesthetically it's very similar to the X1 -- but internally there are a few changes.
Lenovo rolls out new sub-$200 tablets, two with Dolby Atmos
Lenovo might still be a little sore from the Superfish scandal that recently rocked its PC division, but thankfully the company's mobile arm has remained unharmed. And that's a good thing, because it's kicking off Mobile World Congress with the announcement of not one, not two, but three new tablets, in both Android and Windows flavors. The Lenovo Tab 2 A10 and the Lenovo Tab 2 A8 are from the budget-friendly Android A series, while the affordable Lenovo Miix 300 is for those who prefer the operating system from Redmond. The overarching theme of all three of these is simple: value.
iPhone 6 Plus accounted for 41% of Q4 U.S. "phablet" sales in one month
Apple has been struggling to keep up with demand for the iPhone 6 Plus ever since it was released on September 19. While that demand might be frustrating for users waiting to get their devices, it's proven to be very good news for Apple's sales. How good? According to a new report from Kantar World Panel, the iPhone 6 Plus accounted for 41 percent of all "phablet" sales in the three month period ending October 31, 2014. That means in just a little over a month of sales, Apple was able to dominate 41 percent of the entire phablet market -- smartphones with a screen equal to or larger than 5.5 inches measured diagonally. In that period, according to Kantar, phablet sales made up 10 percent of the overall smartphone market. For the same period the year before, they only accounted for 2 percent of sales. Kantar asked buyers at the point of sale what drove their choice when purchasing: 58% of those surveyed who bought an iPhone 6 Plus said screen size was the primary reason for choosing their device. Despite the more compact design of the iPhone 6, 60% of consumers who chose it also cited screen size as the primary purchase driver. The ability to connect to a 4G/LTE network was the second most important reason cited by both buyer groups. The iPhone 6 was also a smashing success, raking up 33 percent of smartphone market share and becoming the top selling model among iOS devices for the period. You can read the report for yourself here.
You can now get a 7-inch 3G Android phablet for just $54 in China
No, that's not a bulk purchasing price. According to the folks at Beijing chip designer NuFront, some Chinese retailers are now selling 7-inch 3G phablets -- powered by NuFront's TL7689 chipset -- to consumers for as low as CN¥330 or about $54 per piece (the prices pictured above are for distributors). That converts to a mere $6 profit for every device sold, which is apparently the norm in the affordable market. On paper, though, it's still a seemingly complete package: you get a 1,024 x 600 LCD screen, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, 0.3MP/2MP cameras, a 1,800mAh battery and even HSPA+ connectivity.
