2011 SmartPhone News Update: HTC Sensation vs. Galaxy S II vs. Optimus 2X: Head to head

Time to lace up the gloves and step inside the ropes again. A new dual-core competitor, the HTC Sensation, is challenging the current crop of flagship droids with its fast new chipset, high-res screen, sharp-eyed camera and that classic HTC charm much of which is owed to the latest iteration of Sense UI.

We already took a lap around our review track with the Sensation but now the usual suspects will line up for a straight forward drag race. There'll be a series of dedicated tests and one simple rule: the first phone across the line wins.

This is a dual-core rematch and this time focus will be more on the new kid, the Sensation, than the rest, which we've already covered.

Different features have different value to people, so we'll have a series of tests: for the screen, the performance, the camera, GPS and battery. Based on those you can pick your own champion. We'll try to pick an overall winner but it's impossible to single out the ultimate best.

For one, the metal-rich construction of the HTC Sensation puts it a step ahead of the mostly plastic-made competitors. The qHD resolution is very near the distinguished Retina display, but the screen is a massive 4.3-incher, quite bigger than the iPhone 4’s.

Also, the Sense UI 3.0 is very polished - there's hardly a nook or cranny left without eye-catching graphics and 3D effects. Underneath all that gloss is tons of functionality too, like the phonebook or the awesome new lockscreen. But you'll have to have a look back at the review for a description of those, today it is all about the high-octane performance.

    
HTC Sensation official photos

In today’s match, we'll be using three phones primarily: the HTC Sensation, the Samsung Galaxy S II and the LG Optimus 2X. We’ve also invited several other stars for guest appearances: the iPhone 4 has a cameo in our display test, while the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc features in the still camera comparison.

As you see, we have a lot in front of us and competition is quite tight. You can wave the checkered flag now, we - and the droids too - are ready to go.

Display test: S-LCD vs. sAMOLED+ vs. IPS LCD

The HTC Sensation has a qHD S-LCD screen. The "q" stands for quarter: the 540 x 960 touchscreen has half the pixels of a FullHD display in each direction. As far as the aspect ratio goes, qHD screens are ideal for watching HD content. And qHD hits the sweet spot between too few pixels and too many (720p would be beyond the resolution capability of the human eye on a 4-5-inch screen).

S-LCD is a boost to the old LCD technology in terms of viewing angles. It also promises better colors and higher contrast than most competing LCD technologies.

But enough about what it promises to do, let's look at what it does.

For this test, we'll use two of the best screens in the business for comparison. The Retina display on the Apple iPhone 4 is an 3.5" LCD with 640 x 960 pixel resolution, while the SuperAMOLED Plus on the Samsung Galaxy S II is a 4.3" WVGA (480 x 800) screen.

Smaller diagonal and higher res make the Retina display the clear winner in terms of sharpness. The pixel density however is very close to the limits of the human eye, so you don't always see the difference between it and other displays. The viewing angles are great thanks to the IPS technology.

The lower resolution and ample size of the SuperAMOLED give it the lowest PPI of the three but, with deep blacks and excellent viewing angles, it's a great screen all things considered.

Our close-up shots give a good idea of the relative sizes of the pixels for each of the screens. The Sensation has about 35% more pixels than the Galaxy S II for roughly the same screen area (slight difference in aspect ratios means they don't exactly match). The iPhone 4 packs about 7% more pixels than the Sensation, but they cover a noticeably smaller area.

Still, the Sensation's qHD screen has practically the same number of pixels per inch as a 3.7" WVGA screen. This gives the Sensation enviable sharpness by all modern standards.

 
Close-up shot of the HTC Sensation, Apple iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S II screens

Viewing angles are not perfect though, despite the S-LCD technology. IPS performs much better, with only slight color and contrast shifts when viewed at an angle. The S-LCD on the Sensation on the other hand experiences noticeable loss of contrast along with some color distortion.

AMOLED screens don’t rely on light polarization, so SuperAMOLED Plus has no viewing-angle related issues.

    
The displays of the three phones viewed at an angle

So, the screen on the Sensation has its advantages and its drawbacks. It's down to the two basic characteristics of displays - brightness and contrast.

The Sensation's screen is nearly twice as bright as the screen on the Incredible S.

Actually, it's about the same as the iPhone with the backlighting set at 100%. The paler darks however take their toll on contrast ratio.

It's exactly the contrast that stands no comparison to the best in business. Competing LCD screens like on the Optimus Black, the Xperia Arc and the iPhone 4 are obviously superior.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
LG Optimus Black P970	0.27	332	1228	0.65	749	1161
LG Optimus 2X	0.23	228	982	0.35	347	1001
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc	0.03	34	1078	0.33	394	1207
Samsung I9000 Galaxy S	0	263	∞	0	395	∞
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II	0	231	∞	0	362	∞
HTC Incredible S	0.18	162	908	0.31	275	880
Apple iPhone 4	0.14	189	1341	0.39	483	1242
HTC Sensation	0.21	173	809	0.61	438	720
Motorola Atrix 4G	0.48	314	652	0.60	598	991

The screen of the HTC Sensation is not bad compared to most LCD units on the market. In some respects though (viewing angles mostly), it's a step behind competing top of the line models. It does offer better resolution than the majority of droids on the market, which should be enough for some to overlook its downsides.

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What do we know for Apple iPhone iOS 5?

It's June again, time for Apple to make headlines. The WWDC is over and the iOS 5 and the iCloud are now official. It won't be before the fall though that the iOS 5 will officially launch.

However, Apple has given us a taste of the iOS 5 by releasing a developer preview soon after the announcement. We went on to update an iPhone 4 with the beta release and we are ready to share our first impressions.

But before we continue, let's take a look at the most important features to premiere on the iOS 5.

Apple iOS 5 new features:

• Notifications - real time on-screen notifications, lockscreen notifications and pull-down Notification Center
• iMessage service in the Messaging app enabling instant messages to other iOS users
• Reminders - including location-aware options
• Customizable notification sounds - email, voicemail and calendar alerts
• Twitter integration
• iCloud service integration
• Enhanced Camera app - viewfinder grid, hardware shutter key
• Integrated photo editing - crop, auto enhance, rotate and red-eye fix
• Updated Safari - tabbed browsing (on iPad), private browsing mode, integrated Reader, Reading list and optimized performance
• Dictionary lookup throughout the interface
• Computer free operation - independent activation, OTA updates, iCloud backup and restore
• Wi-Fi synchronization with iTunes with automatic operation
• New features in the Mail app - Bold, Italic, Underline and Quote options, extended Search, mass Mark as Read/Unread and Flag setting, Add/Delete mailbox folders
• Updated Calendar and Game Center apps
• Newsstand app combining all of your magazine subscriptions
• iPod player now called Music, has new icon
• Separate Video app for iPhone
• AppStore purchase history (already available for iOS 4 too)
• New Storage management options (list and info of all installed apps)
• Multi-tasking gestures for iPad
• AirPlay mirroring for iPad
• New accessibility options involving the LED flash and custom vibrations

Typically, there's still plenty of stuff missing and some of the things will probably never make it to the iOS. Here is a list of the things we continue to miss:

Still missing:

• No Flash support in the web browser
• No quick toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G
• No Facebook integration
• No proper widgets for the lockscreen
• App folders still are limited to 12 apps tops
• No DivX/XviD video support out of the box (though there're lots of players in the App Store)
• No USB Mass storage mode for uploading content to the device
• No haptics for the touchscreen
• No Bluetooth file transfers to other phones
• Contacts lack a swipe-to-delete or mass delete feature

Well, the list is notably shorter than last year's. It's debatable though whether Apple listened to the users or just filled their time with low-priority features that have been on the list for quite some time. Either way, some of the new stuff is quite good so let's waste no more time on introductions. Follow us on the next page where we start to explore the iOS 5 at close range.

User interface on iOS 5 - Notifications, Lockscreen camera key, Newsstand

The Apple's iOS must be already approaching the final stage of its evolution. The platform has certainly been through a lot. This is the fourth major update, and it brings less change than the others. It's not to say the iOS is finally close to what Apple had in mind for it. And by the way - what Apple has in mind is not necessarily what users have come to take for granted or other platforms have had forever. But when you have the standard-setting touchscreen interface you can afford to make your own rules.

Anyway, iOS may as well be still a few updates away from a complete overhaul, the scale of Windows Phone 7. So let’s focus on the here and now.

Apple says the iOS 5 brings more than 200 new features. We didn't bother count, but the really interesting things are about 40 at best.

There have been virtually no visual changes to the core interface. The only new thing you'll notice are the new toggles in the settings menu – they're now circles instead of squares.

   
The familiar homescreen • the new toggles

To go straight to one of the most important novelties though - the iOS 5 has a new approach to Notifications.

 

Notifications are enabled on both the lockscreen and the homescreen - and there's an Android-like pull-down Notification center. You can set the behavior for each app's notifications: view in Notifications Center on/off, view on Lock Screen on/off, Badge icon on/off, number of shown items 1/5/10 and alert style - off/banner/pop-up alert.

The system is pretty flexible and configurable now.

   
The notification settings

The notifications on the lockscreen are displayed only as long as you unlock the phone. The next time you lock it, they are all gone even if you haven’t checked them up.

To access an event from the lockscreen, just slide its icon left-to-right just as you would unlock the phone. Simple as that.

  

The notifications on the homescreen or any running app can be displayed in two ways - as a banner at the top of the screen or as a pop-up.

  
Notification banner and pop-up on the homescreen

 

The notification banner at the top stays for a few seconds and then disappears. If you tap on it you will be taken to the relevant app. The pop-up alert works the same way: it appears at the center of the screen and has two buttons - View and Dismiss.

Finally, the pull-down Notification Center works just like the notifications in Android. You can access the Notification Center from anywhere in the interface. It does pause the app below, so there’s no chance that you crash your car in Real Racing.

   
The Notification Center

The Notification Center displays all your pending alerts. You can enable/disable and rearrange the alerts from the Notification settings.

The Notification Center supports widgets too. Currently there are only two - Weather and Stocks - but we expect more to come in the future.

There are two more things we need to mention related to the general interface. The first one is the dedicated Camera shortcut on the lockscreen. You can bring it up the same way you invoke the music controls - with a double click of the Home button. The camera key appears right next to the Unlock slider and will launch the Camera app when tapped.

  
The camera shortcut on the lockscreen • the Newsstand

The other thing is the Newsstand app on your homescreen, which displays as a homescreen folder. All the periodicals you buy at the App Store will go there.

 

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Tech News Update: Is a Samsung-made Nexus Prime coming in October 2011?

The rumors that Samsung will be producing the next generation Google phone are heating up. Today's edition suggests that the next Google phone, the Nexus Prime, will launch in October and will be the first device to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Reportedly, it will pack a 4.5" screen with 720p resolution - probably the new generation SuperAMOLEDs we heard of yesterday. If that's true, it will mean going back to PenTile matrixes.

Rumors go on to say that the Nexus Prime will be powered by a chipset that will make even the Galaxy S II look slow - a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and a PowerVR SGX540 GPU running at a higher clock speed than we've ever seen so far.

Samsung is already teasing their Berlin Unpacked event, which will precede IFA. It's expected that they'll show the I9250 - supposedly a Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone with a 4.65" screen with 720p resolution.

This sounds very much in line with the Nexus Prime - and if it's not Prime itself, it might be Samsung's own version of the phone (like how Nexus S/Galaxy S were). Also, a September announcement and an October launch seem good.

The acquisition of Motorola by Google hasn’t gone through yet, so it's not strange that another company is making the next Nexus. Things might look differently when the time comes to make a successor to the Nexus Prime.

We can't wait for the Berlin Unpacked and IFA, when we should get a clearer picture.

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2011 Tech News: Yahoo launching an Android phone in Japan

Yahoo is launching an Android based smartphone in Japan on the country’s third biggest mobile operator, SoftBank.

Yes, as strange as it sounds, Yahoo is launching a phone running Android, an OS made by Yahoo’s biggest competitor in the search engine space. Having said that, Yahoo is a lot more popular in Japan and in fact it is the biggest site in the country.

As for the phone, it will be manufactured by Sharp and will have a 4-inch LCD with qHD resolution, Android 2.3, 8 megapixel camera with a CMOS sensor, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, microSDHC card slot, a built-in digital TV tuner, an e-wallet function and infrared communications.

The phone will come with some of Yahoo’s apps pre-installed, such as Yahoo Japan Home, Yahoo Japan Auctions, Yahoo Luco, etc. The Yahoo phone will start selling late next month in Japan.

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HTC EVO 3D review: An extra dimension

Introduction

As 3D is taking over theaters and living rooms around the world, the craze is hitting handheld too. The next thing to shake up the business or on the way to irrelevance: geeks will geek about it either way. Now that the HTC EVO 3D has grown a GSM radio, they get ready to enjoy a real 3D clash of the flagships. It doesn’t get any better than two heavyweight fighters battling it out, and someone’s got the 3D video to prove it.

  
HTC EVO 3D official photos

The best part is the HTC EVO 3D, like the LG Optimus 3D, is not placing all its chips on the stereoscopic screen and pair of cameras. No sir, each of those smartphones claims to have the best there is for power and speed. We are talking mighty dual-core CPUs, loads of RAM and superb connectivity. The EVO 3D can be your kind of smartphone even if you don’t care about 3D stills and videos.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual/tri-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color stereoscopic capacitive LCD touchscreen of qHD resolution (540 x 960); Gorilla glass
• Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.0
• 1.2 GHz dual Scorpion CPUs, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM and 1 GB of storage for apps
• Dual 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, massively comfortable shutter key; face detection and geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 30fps in both 2D and 3D mode
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (8GB card included)
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
• Front facing camera with video calls
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• MHL TV-out (requires MHL-to-HDMI adapter)
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)
• Office document editor

Main disadvantages

• Less than impressive screen performance outdoors
• Speed and productivity not on par with other dual-cores
• Rather heavy
• Low resolution 3D stills
• The two cameras are too far apart for good stereoscopic close-ups

Things are certainly looking promising here, but smartphones are past the my-spec-sheet-is-longer-than-yours stage as of a few years. It’s all about the user experience now and, while powerful hardware is the first step towards providing it, you need equally good software if you are to challenge the best on the market.

   
The HTC EVO 3D in the comfort of our office

A massive high-res screen certainly looks good on paper, but it takes inspiration and clever design to beat those Super AMOLEDs and those Retinas. A new Adreno GPU with a major speed boost might seem more than anyone will ever need, but competitors have not been sitting around either so it’s always going to be close. And you cannot say whether the EVO 3D has the spark by just looking at the specs.

Retail package is good, but not perfect

The HTC EVO 3D is a high-end phone and as such you’d expect it to come with a pretty well stuffed box. It does deliver to a point: you get adequate storage in the form of an 8GB microSD card, there’s a microUSB cable to use for computer connections and with the charger head.

A single-piece headset completes what is by all standards a decent list. Yet, given the MHL connectivity of the EVO 3D, an HDMI cable would have certainly made sense. A carrying pouch would’ve also come in handy, in helping you protect your precious new smartphone.

 
The EVO 3D retail package contents

In fairness though, none of the competitors offers a better package so we won’t be taking any points away from the HTC EVO 3D.

HTC EVO 3D 360-degree spin

The glasses-free 3D screens are obviously still quite a bit of a stretch for smartphones at this point. The EVO 3D is nearly a millimeter thicker than the Sensation. In fact, at 126 x 65 x 12.1 mm, the 3D smartphone is the thickest of all dual-core smartphones currently on the market. The 170 grams of weight are quite a load compared to some of the competitors.

 

Design is impressive

The HTC EVO 3D is quite an imposing handset, and not without some distinct design accents. The huge screen is usually enough to make a smartphone a looker, but we have a black metal frame here to maximize the “wow” effect.

And even though the handset be quite large and heavy it is only 2 grams heavier than the Optimus 3D, which should be the first and most important point of reference. The LG smartphone is also just 0.2mm slimmer and a bit taller and wider than the HTC flagship so it’s pretty much a tie.

   
The EVO 3D and the Optimus 3D side by side

And the back of the EVO 3D is pretty cool too. It might be all plastic, but the pattern of fine diagonal lines gives it texture and looks good. Even the faux gold-painted frame surrounding the dual camera deck somehow fits in here. By the way, the pair of camera lenses curiously makes the whole thing look like a compact tape-recorder.

The exposed USB port on the left is probably the only design solution that we’re not particularly fond of, Overall though, we quite like the EVO 3D exterior. Had it been as slim as the Galaxy S II, the HTC new flagship would have been close to perfection.

3D screen left to do the talking

We now turn our attention to the HTC EVO 3D’s key feature, the stereoscopic LCD screen of qHD resolution (960 x 560 pixels). Just like with the LG Optimus 3D, you get the glasses-free stereoscopic effect using the parallax-barrier technology. That’s an extra screen layer that makes sure each eye sees a different set of pixels, giving a sense of depth.

The technology however does have a few downsides worth mentioning. For one, it only works in landscape mode and each eye gets only half of the screen’s horizontal resolution. Also, to be able to enjoy it fully you will need to find the sweet spot between your eyes and the handset's screen, which is different for everyone.

 
The 3D display is really what the EVO 3D is all about

Our subjective impression of the HTC EVO 3D screen is that the stereoscopic effect is slightly less dramatic than on the LG Optimus 3D. It’s just not as sharp, with less prominent depth. The difference is small and the HTC phone has a wider sweet spot: finding the ideal viewing position is easier. It might even be possible for two people to watch 3D content on the EVO 3D screen simultaneously – unthinkable on the LG Optimus 3D.

Still, even if a tad dampened, the 3D imaging is impressive. The downside is that it’s only enabled in the EVO 3D camera app and gallery. The Optimus 3D had a larger number of preinstalled apps optimized to use its 3D screen, which is quite important given the next-to-non-existent supply of third-party offerings at this stage.

It does 2D too

That said, 2D performance is actually the more important aspect of the EVO 3D’s screen. True, it will be the stereoscopic part that will be drawing crowds, but users will be stuck in two dimensions 90% of the time.

The good news is that the EVO 3D has a large and bright high-res screen. The bad news is the same could be said for most of its competitors. The qHD resolution and the ample 4.3” diagonal certainly give it an advantage, but its contrast is no match for the AMOLEDs or even the Reality and Retina displays out there.

Viewing angles aren’t perfect either – the EVO 3D does a lot better than the previous generation of HTC devices (Desire HD, Desire Z etc.), but it’s losing way more contrast when looked at an angle than an Incredible S, for example. It’s not bad enough to be a burden in everyday use. But it won’t produce the stunning effect of the icons appearing as if they’re painted on top of the screen that some of the competitors have.

Then again, most of those competitors aren’t doing 3D in their spare time and the only one that does is not doing that much better either. The LG Optimus 3D might have a bit better contrast and viewing angles, but the EVO 3D resolution advantage more than makes up for that.

And here come the HTC EVO 3D display test results so you can see how that one compares to its peers.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
HTC EVO 3D	0.26	184	719	0.65	495	761
LG Optimus 3D	0.22	226	1019	0.49	520	1068
LG Optimus 2X	0.23	228	982	0.35	347	1001
Motorola Atrix 4G	0.48	314	652	0.60	598	991
HTC Sensation	0.21	173	809	0.61	438	720
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II	0	231	∞	0	362	∞

This post is sponsored by: Dr Mobiles Limited
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