HTC’s New Flagship – A Preview of the new M8

With Samsung launching the S5, the mobile market in India got a new superstar to look up to. Not be left far behind, HTC has come out with a new handset called the ‘M8.’ The new phone from HTC looks really good on paper and we look forward to the launch of yet another awesome mobile.

General Features:
HTC was one of the earliest manufacturers to put out Android phones on a large scale. Looking at the arsenal this phone comes equipped with, it’s no surprise that this is one of the most anticipated handsets in recent times. HTC might have slipped off the radar for most people with Samsung and Apple continuously in the news, but make no mistake about the M8, this phone is a top of the line device.

The phone’s exterior is made of molded metal and it’s quite stunning to look at. With dimensions of 146.36 x 70.60 x 9.35mm, we feel this phone’s size is quite optimum and we’re glad HTC hasn’t succumbed to making phones bigger thereby becoming less comfortable to use.

With a 2.5 GHZ Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, this phone looks like no slouch and with Android 4.2.2 and HTC’s Skin Sense 6.0, you won’t be surprised to find out that tech geeks all over are going gaga over this device.

The rear camera on this phone is an interesting one. HTC says it’s a 4-ultrapixel camera. Dodgy nomenclature aside, we’re really looking forward to trying it out in the real world and see how it performs. No surprises with the front camera though, with a 5MP lens and HTC’s track record in this domain; we expect selfies and video calling to be nothing short of spectacular.




What We Expect:
The phone is going to be launched in India any day now. This phone promises to be something special. To a great extent, it might represent HTC’s resurgence in the Indian market. The features and the composition of the handset indicate that a lot of thought has gone into the making of this phone. We think things in paper look good at the very least and we’re eager to try out the new 4 ultrapixel camera.

Verdict:
The HTC M8 looks like a solid device and HTC seems to have gotten it right this time around. We’ll be reviewing the phone when we get our hands on it. But from what we’ve seen, we like it.

Summary:
It might surprise some to find out that at one point of time, HTC was the brand selling the most Android phones in the world. How things have changed! However, with the new M8 which has a bold new design and some really stellar features, things could be looking up for the Asian manufacturer.  

HTC One X Mobile Review

The new HTC One X is complete with Android 4.0.4 and Sense 4.1 UI.  This latest device from the Taiwanese firm has been formed on the design of HTC Desire.  One X has a great screen, stunning design, powerful quad core processor and an 8 megapixel camera.

Design:
HTC One X has a unibody design.  It has a large screen of 4.7-inch with a 720p HD display packed into a chassis that’s only 8.9mm thick. The phone uses Super IPS LCD 2 technology in the screen, but it lacks the vivid color reproduction which is available in the market today.

The phone weighs around 130 gm. The volume rocker rests on the right-hand side, a power button on the top and a microUSB slot on the left-hand side. The microUSB slot also doubles as a Mobile High-Definition Link to connect to a TV. Overall, the phone looks sleek and stylish which will appeal to all kinds of users.

Performance:
HTC One X has a Tegra 3 quad core, 1.5 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM. As the phone is based on Android 4.0.4, the interface is improved and the appearance looks cleaner. The user can seamlessly jump to multiple apps without any hindrance.

Camera:
The phone is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera on the rear while a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front. The rear camera has a single LED flash and enhanced optics to help increase the depth of an image. There are separate slider bars to control various options like exposure, color saturation and sharpness.

Battery:
HTC One X has an 1800mAh battery that has been sealed within the chassis of the phone leaving no room for the user to swap it.

Conclusion:
HTC One X has a mix combination of features. It has a super thin chassis, HD screen and this phone is due to receive Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 firmware upgrade very soon. The features of the phone are relevant with the current market demand. Its quad core processor gives a good power to the entire performance of the phone. Though the phone uses a LCD screen, any user won’t miss the color reproduction effect of an OLED screen. It also has an integrated DropBox storage, Beats Audio enhancements and an upgraded music player. An improved lock screen, speedier internet browser and an autofocus integrated camera will help the users. The battery packed into a unibody design may create problems for the users.  It  lacks a microSD card slot.

Overall, the HTC One X is stylishly designed, light in weight and has a good screen. It has all the latest features running on HTC Sense 4.1 with Android 4.0.4.  The gadget has a menu key back, that will be a blessing for most users.

The review is penned by experts at Reliance Digital.

HTC Windows Phone 8X Review

The new Windows phone is in market. Made by HTC, Windows Phone 8X provides a tough competition to its predecessor, Nokia Windows’ phone in terms of design and call quality. The square-cornered design, faster processor and LTE speeds, makes this HTC Windows Phone 8X a good pick in the Windows OS segment. It has a built-in integrated Microsoft Office 2013, NFC sharing and possesses Windows OS’s edgy interface.

Display and Design

This phone looks good with its tailored mechanism. Available in four colors-black, red, yellow and blue, this HTC phone fits in hands and pockets of various sizes. It is sleek and slim in design, the texture at the back and the side is fluffy.  8X is 5.2 inches in length and 2.6 inches in width. With 4.6 ounce weight and 0.4 inch thickness, it is on the heavier side when compared to other smartphones of Android, iOS or Blackberry categories.

A uni-body body surface on the back and the sides makes the battery immobile. The 4.3 inch Super LCD Display 2 has full HD resolution of 1280 X 720-pixels i.e. 341ppi.  Below the screen are three buttons which navigate through Back, Home and Bing search.

Camera

Possessing a camera of 8 megapixels in the rear and 2 megapixels in the front, this Windows phone misses the mark in capturing great photos. The rear camera captures good pictures in broad day-light. It is illuminated with a LED flash and clicks sharp and accurate photos. There are settings to set exposure, saturation, contrast and sharpness.  The HD video capturing is good at 30 fps. With an internal storage of 16 GB and 7GB of free Microsoft Skydrive storage, there is no external storage memory available.

OS

8X carries many new features owing to the powerful OS it is built on. Though Microsoft OS’s doesn’t have much room for changes, but HTC has managed to add a store on its name. Photo editor, wallet, NFC, camera app, gaming, kids’ corner, maps, voice-to-text, voice commands, Microsoft’s new music store and Internet Explorer 10 are some of the apps in 8X.

Overall, HTC Windows Phone 8X is a good combination owing to its design and features.

This review is penned by experts at Reliance Digital.

HTC Sensation XL: Does it still pack a punch?

HTC Sensation XL became a sensation with 4.7 inch display and beats audio technology, it has a sleek design with a vivid and vibrant appeal in a 9.9 mm slim phone body that comes with 16 GB Storage. A single core 1.5 GHz may feel outdated however it may be worth considering as an option amongst a slew of mid range android handsets flooding the markets currently.

Music at its best

Audiophiles will go gung- ho about this HTC Sensation with it roping in Beats Audio and it’s in- box customized Beats Headset promising the best sound quality you would have heard. The custom – made headset comes as the icing on the cake wherein the voice seems clearer and the bass, deeper and richer. 

Overall multimedia experience is enriching as the handset is equipped with SRS surround sound as well.

Camera and Video performance

Snapping photos with the 8 mega pixel camera on Sensation XL is swift and produces excellent images, pictures captured look vivid and sharp. As compared to Sensation XE it is able to reduce some level of noise in the images however does not eliminate them completely which is a difficult ask on a mobile camera with small sensors.

The HD camera on phone shoots videos at a resolution of 720p@30fps which is a decent config.

Performance and Battery life

HTC Sensation XL has an added advantage with 768 MB ram combined with 1.5 GHz processor gives you a commendable performance in terms of multitasking on phone, watching HD videos etc.  which is not the case with most mid range android phones that come with 512 MB ram.

This phone provides a smooth experience while using menus, transferring files, switching between apps and browsing is fast enough on HTC Sensation XL. With mixed use of multimedia, browsing with 3G, playing games and calling the battery should last for a day and even with heavy usage battery should last around 6 hours approx. 

Lack of memory slot does hurt overall value offered on this phone, however if you can do with the 16 GB memory and prefer using a sleek and an Android phone with good design without a powerhouse phone to suit your daily smartphone usage requirement, HTC Sensation XL may well fit the bill.

Information Source: Reliance Digital Stores

A Challenger in making for Ultrabooks and Netbooks

Intel has being throwing weight behind ultrabook promotions off late and netbook manufacturers are still battling with tablets to survive in the race of portable computing, Asus came up with Transformer Prime to set a new trend in tablet computing.

There are many companies which thrive on iPad accessory market manufacturing portable computing cases one such company CalmCase has come up with an innovative concept of giving you ClamBook which is a laptop dock that would be powered by your Android or iPhone, you get a MacBook Air style device which is made of Aluminum. Their website does not mention about the exact screen size, however it has a 16:9 aspect screen with cinematic sound, ClamBook supports keypad gestures and shortcut keys for Android phone and sweetens the deal further for Motorola based phones that would support Motorola's webtop app.

Your phone is connected with a MHL cable that would allow ClamBook to draw processing power from the phone without draining battery of your handset and charging it parallelly,with Microsoft planning to launch MS Office for Android and iOS by the end of this year, this gadget looks to be a good proposition for computing on the go, with basic apps, browser and increasing muscle power of smartphone processors, ClamBook would work seamlessly with smartphones without the need of worrying anymore about finding a solution for meeting your basic computing  requirements, Portable gaming from your phone would also be an interesting possibility to explore on ClamBook because the quality of games for mobile phones is also evolving faster that we could have though.

ClamBook is not available to buy right now, expected to be launched towards this year end, I would be looking forward to this one, do you think this could be a breakthrough device to challenge the rise of Ultrabooks and future of Netbooks.