Battery: If you’re heavy phone users like we are, then it’s really all about the battery. That’s why we usually start by looking at the battery. The best phone in the world with a bad battery just won’t last very long, which is why we really strive to make sure that we’re using a phone that isn’t going to let us down. You’ll get 6 hours of talk time and about 5-6 days of standby time. Naturally, those are just estimates and if you end up using certain services on the phone heavily (we’re looking at you, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi), you’re going to see those numbers get cut down quite a bit.

Memory and Processor Speed:

We love the idea of 2GB of ROM and 512MB of RAM, but we’re not really all that happy about 800 MHz processor speed. It kind of feels like a weird compromise on an otherwise great phone, you know?

Still, they do give you a free 2GB card that comes with the phone, and you can always upgrade to 32GB if you really needed to. Then again, we don’t know too many people that have maxed out a 32GB card. Yet the presence of so much capacity shows HTC’s ability to think about the future. Even though people love moving from one phone to the next, there are some of us phone freaks that want to keep a phone for a few good year sand even pass it down to someone else. This means that you’re going to need more capacity — remember when phones only went up to say, 2GB? That feels like a long time ago compared to know, and it’s amazing to really see how far we’ve come in the world of mobile technology.

Please — if you want to get that big 32GB card, you shouldn’t let us stop you from doing that. Jump right in and get the card, you won’t regret it. Also, it gives you m ore space to store apps, which is a good thing too.

Screen:

When this phone was still being heavily promoted by Sprint, the screen definitely got a lot of attention. It’s a touchscreen phone, which means that duh, the screen is going to be a huge factor in everything. You’re going to want to have a nice screen if you’re going to have to look at it all the time. We were really glad that the HTC Evo Shift 4G really doesn’t disappoint here. Yes, it’s a 3.6 inch screen, 480×800 dimensions. The colors are nice and bright, and we really did realize we were looking at Gorilla Glass.

The touchscreen supports auto-rotate and even auto-shut off. We like auto-shut off for battery saving, and auto-rotate is nice when we literally need another angle on things.

Form:

The phone slides open for a full keyboard, which is something that we really like. Yes, we love touchscreens and virtual keyboards aren’t so bad, but sometimes we need something that we can actually hold onto. That’s where the magic is, people. This phone’s keys are easy to hit, and that makes texting a lot more fun all the way around.

Camera:

Some would argue that HTC really dropped the ball on the camera, but we would like to respectfully disagree. You see, having a 5MP camera isn’t a bad thing on a phone. You’re never going to get a phone with an amazing, make-the-angels-sing-and-dance camera. It’s a phone, not a professional camera. If you want to unleash your inner Ansel Adams, you’re going to need to get a good professional camera and stop expecting your poor Evo Shift 4G to fill in the gap. It’s a great phone, even an incredible phone, but it’s not going to be everything to everyone.

Still — the camera on this phone is pretty nice. Anyone that doesn’t think so only needs to remember one term: Sidekick. That’s all we’re going to say on that.

Conclusion:

There’s a lot to love in this phone. You’re going to have a full out Android phone that is easy to upgrade — we can upgrade to 2.3 with no problems, and we can also take full advantage of the Android Marketplace to make our phone even more amazing. Even if you didn’t want to add any apps to this phone, this is a phone you’ll probably keep for a long time.

Get this phone — you really won’t regret it. And that’s a statement we don’t get to make often!

Battery:

The Google Nexus S is one of the newest phones to hit the market, and it definitely shows. The criticisms about the Android series of phones are hardly present when you really look at the specs on the Nexus S. For example, you have a phone here with a battery life of about 428 hours in standby mode, and 6 hours of talk time. That’s pretty lengthy compared to say, the BlackBerry Bold or even the new Torch.

Memory and Processor Speed:

There’s a lot of power in the Google Nexus S, and you only need to look at the process and memory to see what’s up. Indeed, this phone has a great set of processor and memory chops, from the 1Ghz Cortex A8 processor. From the memory side of things, you have a 16GB flash memory onboard, which gives you plenty of room for just about everything you can think of. Now, you don’t have external memory capabilities, but the 16GB should give you everything that you need — really.

Screen:

The screen is really where the Nexus S shines through. You have a 4″ WVGA screen with 480×800 resolution — not too shabby. Add in the fact that you have Super AMOLED on your side, and you can rest assured that you’ll be able to watch plenty of movies — you can even turn the screen into landscape mode to watch your videos in style. After all, you do have 16GB to use as you see fit!

It’s a touchscreen to the core, which might please some fans and turn away others. If you haven’t had a touchscreen before, try this phone before you decide the touchscreen format just isn’t your cup of tea, okay? You just might like it!

Form:

The form is more or less the standard smartphone — thin, flat, squished candybar style. It’s wide — 63mm x 123.9mm x 10.88mm, but it’s definitely light at just 129g. This means that if you’re worried about breaking it, you might want to make sure that you actually keep it close to you on a belt or in a holster.

Camera:

If there’s one thing that smartphone fans demand, it’s a great camera. One of the things that the Nexus S tried to do was have not only one camera, but two cameras. There’s a back-facing camera to take pictures of just about everything the world has to offer. There’s also a front facing camera for those self portraits that everyone likes to post on Facebook. It’s so much easier to capture that stuff with the front-facing camera.

If you thought that you wouldn’t get video recording, you might want to think again — you actually have plenty of video recording power to play with. The cameras boast flash and auto focus, meaning that you actually might be able to take some good pictures!

Other Features:

Quad-band GSM power — 850, 900, 1800, 1900
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
Near Field Communication
Assisted GPS
microUSB 2.0
Android 2.3 Gingerbread

Comments:

There is definitely an audience for this phone, and you shouldn’t feel bad if you don’t fit into that audience. It’s really hard to look at a phone and think “Oh yeah, I want that” if it doesn’t meet your needs 100%.

This was a phone that had a huge hype, and a lot of people feel that the hype just doesn’t match the phone. Early reviews were quick to point out the lack of expandable memory. An SD card might have saved the day, but the Google team decided to skip over it. This is going to be a phone that’s hot with the teen set and other people that are new to touchscreens.

If you’re thinking about this phone because you want to get in to the Android craze, you are in good company. It wouldn’t be a bad phone for that purpose, as long as you realize the high and low points of the phone.

Overall, we like the Google Nexus S, but we think that a few firmware updates and maybe an overall hardware update to accommodate expandable memory might be just what the doctor ordered!

We get pretty passionate about Android phones around here, but don’t let the frenzy around here keep you away from getting your sweetie an Android phone. Now, you might wonder why we would recommend it, out of all of the gifts that you could give your sweetie this year for Valentine’s Day.

Here are a few things.

First and foremost, it’s definitely a functional gift. When it comes time to reflect on the day, something that will last more than a week is definitely more valuable than fleeting things like roses and candies. Besides, who lets Valentine’s Day candy last for a day, let alone a week? We’re still trying to figure that out.

From there, you also have to think about the fact that it’s really all about the experience. Even if your sweetheart isn’t a huge technology buff, you can create an awesome experience by being the patient teacher, happy to help your student with all things Android. With our tips and tricks in your back pocket, you’ll have no problem winning that little game.

Now then, let’s go back to the phones, shall we? After all, you can’t really go wrong with a good Android phone, not when the platform has been producing hit after hit. OK, there are some phones that are a little suspect in the execution (we’re looking at you, Nexus One!), but there’s plenty of gold in these hills, as the saying goes.

Let’s start with the Samsung Captivate. It’s part of the Galaxy S line, and if you’ve got some money to really spend, you can’t go wrong with a Captivate. The phone boasts super fast 3G technology, a buzzing 1Ghz processor. OK, so you might not be fazed by 1Ghz procs anymore, but the Hummingbird processor still earns mad respect — with good reason. If your sweetie’s going to be around Wi-Fi spots often, the Wireless-N technology will ensure they’ll be able to read emails and visit Web sites pretty darn quick. The 5MP camera (with HD abilities, no less) will let your sweetheart take high quality pictures and even record some video — just in case they wander away from home.

We could gush for pages on the Captivate, but then we wouldn’t have space to cover the HTC EVO Shift 4G. It’s a Sprint darling, which is a bit of a shift (no pun intended) from the Captivate we mentioned just previously (AT&T has claim to that phone, for the record). 

Here are the specs on the Shift. As you can tell from the name, 4G is going to be a Big Deal ™ on this phone. Naturally, that’s not the only thing to drool over. If your sweetie likes to collect a bunch of phone numbers (the social butterfly type) — they’ll love this phone. There’s 512MB of RAM, and 2GB of ROM. That’s a pretty sweet combo, and if that doesn’t sway you, the support for 32GB of card memory (microSD, natch) should turn heads.

There’s really no way your sweetie won’t have enough space to store everything they want.

Like the Captivate, the Shift has a 5MP camera with 720p HD video. There is also a secondary camera, because sometimes great things come in doubles. The Shift runs on Froyo (Android 2.2), which means that your sweetie will have plenty of support for apps.

The final phone in this Valentine’s Day roundup is definitely the Google Nexus S. If your sweetie likes the bleeding edge, well…this phone is pretty bloody. The phone is descended from the Nexus One, but Google has really focused on improving the phone.

The phone runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which means cutting edge features and a clean interface. There’s no clutter on the Nexus S, which means there’s no worries about compatibility…yet. The huge 400 x 800 AMOLED screen is exciting enough, but it’s the full package that should really put a smile on your sweetheart’s face.

The phone has 16GB of internal flash memory, but no expansion slot. So if you sense the 16 gigsies won’t be enough, you might want to skip on this phone. However, that should be good enough for most phone users — especially if your sweetie isn’t huge into storing documents often. The double-camera bonus with the Nexus S is the real winner here — 5 megapixels, and a rear-facing camera as well. Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth are all key players. As far as cutting-edge geekery goes, there is the presence of Near Field Communications (NFC). NFC isn’t going to be a huge factor right now, but NFC makes the phone fairly future-proof. It’s going to turn your phone into a walking credit card slash bank account, which can be great for the super jet setters among us.

Overall, you’ve got your choice of some top phones from Android. Sure, we could have picked some entry-level bones to throw on the table, but it’s Valentine’s Day. Don’t you want to give your sweetie the best? We thought so. Have fun and sound off in the comments with the phone you’re leaning towards most — or another phone we might have overlooked. Good luck!

The Samsung Galaxy S is literally overflowing with tech and has obviously been designed with its biggest rival in mind. It even looks similar to its nemesis! Taking on the giant that is the iPhone 4 is no mean feat and Samsung have decided to armour their champion with a plethora of high end tech.

In its design they have made it light weight at 118g and fitted it out with a massive 4inch screen giving the user a massive area to play with. It is very slightly thicker than the iPhone 4 but doesn’t seem it to hold because the back is cunningly curved. It is plainly obvious that Samsung has taken their success in the past and added others success to the pot, which is not a bad idea.

The Samsung Galaxy S is fitted with a 5MP camera, a fabulous, sensitive and fast touch screen and the usual wifi, Bluetooth and 3G support. It is running an Android OS and features widgets and icons which have been taken from their popular Wave series of handsets, this time on seven home screens instead of ten.

As mentioned the screen is very impressive, and the use of the fast 1GHz processor means that every input is super fast. The phone has very good audio quality, though sometimes calls can be too quiet even on the loudest setting. The Galaxy S also features HD video recording to help you fill the 8GB memory.

Although the phone is very impressive at almost everything it does there are some issues, such as the phone slightly freezing at times and the poor contacts menu which seems strange for such a great, well specified phone. Also, the guy who was buying in all the parts for the phone forgot to order a flash for the camera, which seems like a pretty obvious oversight.

My final thought would be if you are thinking of buying an iPhone 4 take a very considered look at the Galaxy S. For the price of this phone and the deals available, there might be some people moving away from Goliath and opting for David.

Find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S online today at Dial-A-Phone and check out the latest news on their blog.

So, the new tech battle is a matter of getting specific with cell phone: does the Samsung Galaxy S really beat the iPhone in terms of picture quality? Well, there’s an easy way to find out if that’s really the case.

First, a little bit of background. The Apple iPhone 4 is the newest generation in the iPhone series. It brings a lot of features to the table, such as a larger screen and plenty of on-board memory to be had. There’s plenty of space on the phone to hold pictures, music, and video, which are must haves for anyone that’s on the go.

In the other corner we have the Samsung Galaxy S, which is also a great phone with a long list of features. Samsung has been quick to get on the Android bandwagon, because it’s become quite profitable to do so. Consumers are looking for phones that allow them to do more than use the phone as an expensive paperweight, so that means that Samsung has to step up to the plate and really make sure that they have a winning combination.

The Galaxy S has a very nice Super AMOLED display as well as a 1 GHz processor. The phone design does make it look very iPhone-ish, but it’s all about the technical specs.

There are plenty — a 4 inch screen, at 800×480 resolution. According to in the wild reviews, users report that the colors are very, very rich and happily saturated. The brightness is also stellar, which is something that people demand out of a phone these days.

However, does this line up with beating the iPhone 4 at a game that Apple knows it has to win in order to stay on top?

The answer might actually be in Apple’s favor, looking at the iPhone 4. The screen is 3.5 inches, which is smaller than the Galaxy S, but it has a bigger resolution at 960×640. The colors are definitely vibrant, which could definitely give the Galaxy a run for its money.

However, who really wins? The iPhone 4 is on its own development cycle, which means that the Galaxy S could pick up new features to use with that extra half-inch larger screen space. If screen size is more important to you than anything else, you may still want to go with the Galaxy S. However, if you’re thinking about sticking with Apple on the iPhone, it’s not necessary a bad choice. As always, it’s up to you to decide for yourself what device will be the best for your needs.

Take Boost Mobile for example. The network is known for offering an all-inclusive all-you-can-eat plan for one low price, which means that you have plenty of usage …if you’re willing to deal with the phone lineup. With Android on the lineup now, Boost can actually entice more people into their network. They now have the Motorola i1, which brings the Android power to the pre-paid market, something that hasn’t been done previously. However, is it a perfect implementation of Android? Definitely not.

The failing comes from the fact that the operating system that is on the Motorola i1 is the Android 1.6, which means that there are apps that just won’t work on the i1. It’s something that Sprint, the network behind Boost Mobile, has not announced that they would change in the near future. The operating system for Android is currently at 2.2 — making it clear that the i1 is already behind from the beginning.

The speed isn’t going to be the best, considering that the phone is dependent on the iDEN network, which doesn’t boast the same speeds as what users of Sprint are used to from EV-DO. However, it’s definitely a step up from the classic pre-paid cell phone. Anyone that has had to suffer with a tracPhone will find the i1 is definitely a much better substitute from that type of flat, non-dynamic phone.

Just because it’s on a lower version of the Android operation system doesn’t mean that there aren’t apps that you can download and use with the phone. You may have to do more digging than someone already running Android 2.2, but it’s still a possibility.

A full keyboard phone on a pre-paid service is a rarity, and that’s one area where the Motorola i1 really does shine. The keys are stable and everything “feels” right. Web browsing is less slow than it would be expected to run, thanks to Opera Mini and extreme server-side compression of all the HTML data.

Overall, the Motorola i1 has some good aspects and some areas that definitely need improvement. However, there’s a good chance that if you’re on Boost Mobile, this is one of the best phones you can get. With the all-inclusive plan, you really can’t go wrong picking up a Motorola i1 with Android technology!

Yes, but it’s much more than that. The speeds can get pretty incredible, depending on the carrier you’re talking about. For example, Sprint’s 4G network runs on EV-DO, which naturally is CDMA/TDMA dependent. However, the latest version can reach speeds approaching 3.1 Mb/s. That’s not a slow data connection at all — videos get to your phone faster, web sites get to your phone faster, and transfers are pretty painless. Sprint has been rapidly expanding their 4G network, which means that as more phones that support the new generation become available, you’ll actually be able to take advantage of that speed.

When it comes to phones on the Android platform that support 4G at this time, your choices are a bit limited to start with. However, the Android trend has swelled in popularity to the point that it’s fast becoming the best selling smartphone around — giving BlackBerry and iPhone something to think about for sure!

As mentioned before, your choices are pretty much the Sprint EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic that has not yet been released. That won’t be released for another few weeks, but it’s part of the Samsung Galaxy S series. It’s called the Samsung Epic, and it will also be offered for Sprint networks.

Does that mean that T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T are staying out of the Android craze and the 4G frenzy? Definitely not, but it looks like they’re focusing more on spreading out their network before they jump forward with more phones. They could pick up the Epic for their network in a GSM version, if Samsung feels there’s enough demand for it.

Is it time for you to upgrade to 4G? Well, if you’re someone that really cares about speed, it’s definitely something to consider. Going 4G will make things a lot faster, but if you’re not due for a handset upgrade, you might want to think about whether or not you really have an extra hundred or two burning a hole in your pocket. If not, stick with 3G — 3G support is pretty strong now, so you shouldn’t have a problem.

Aside from the usual features such as an LED flash, autofocus, and geo-tagging, it even packs in face, smile, and blink detection as well. You wouldn’t have to worry about storing your precious photos as this Smartphone holds an internal memory of 16GB which you can triple by using an external microSD memory card. There are lots of great Galaxy Beam contracts online and they are often much better than deals from your high street store.

The Galaxy Beam’s OS of choice is the Google Android mobile operating system (version 2.1 or Eclair). This OS has been deemed by many as the top performer in the industry today and we wouldn’t contest this claim. The Beam’s 720 MHz processor should be able to handle the hardware requirements of the famed OS.

The Samsung Galaxy Beam doesn’t come for cheap. You’ll have to cough up a considerable amount of money to get your hands on this bad boy but once you do, you’d realize in an instant that it was money well spent. All the amazing features of the Galaxy Beam will definitely make you feel that what you spent was all worth it.

If anything, you might even think it was a steal. The device possesses an excellent combination of style and substance which will undoubtedly satisfy any consumer’s Smartphone needs.

The “Galaxy Lite” as some call the Spica is a pint-sized unit. It is just 124 grams in weight. That is just 4.4 ounces if you are in the United States. It is 115 millimeters ( 4.5 inches ) tall. That is about average for today´s smartphones. It´s just over half an inch thick at 13.2 millimeters.

The screen takes up the major part of the front of the Samsung Spica. It is 3.2 inches in size when measured diagonally. It is the older TFT style, but is still bright. The resolution is rated at 320 by 480 pixels. It can do the now-familiar acrobats of changing the screen from a portrait to a landscape position just by turning the Spica on its side. This comes in handy with web pages and texting with the on-screen keyboard. The Samsung Spica does not have a manual keyboard.

The operating system on the Spica is running a nuclear-hot operating system; android. This is being installed on smartphones for nearly every manufacturer. It is open source and the people at google offer it for free to Samsung and other companies. The 2.1 version is now on the Spica. This offers the multitouch ability to pinch and zoom on the screen when using the web browser. The android platform can also track your contacts using GPS. You can track your finances, scan barcodes, download torrents and a host of other things. The ability to wipe your personal data is also included with android.

Samsung Galaxy Spica I5700

The Galaxy Spica has the privilege of being the first smartphone to offer DivX video technology. This is a system that uses the AVI format for video. It is a popular codec for downloading films from the web. The camera is a 3.2 megapixel model that allows autofocus and geotagging. The video section of the camera runs at fifteen frames per second, which is nowhere near some other flagship models that can take video at twice that speed.

The Spica runs its programs very well, thanks to a 800 megahertz processor and 128 megabytes of RAM. It has 180 megabytes of internal space available for memory and a slot for a MicroSD card to add up to 32 gigabytes more memory. That is space for literally thousands of songs. The audio section of the Galaxy Spica has the special DNSe ( Digital Natural Sound Engine ) application. It has a speakerphone to listen to audio or a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack when privacy is needed.

Spica uses quad band GSM networks and HSDPA for calling. It has all the data network connections except an infrared port. The WLAN ( also called Wi-Fi ) uses the “B” or “G” modes. The faster “N” mode is not yet seen on many smartphones, including this one.

Downsizing is happeing in lots of places in the world. It is happening in the world of smartphones at a rapid pace. The Samsung Galaxy Spica comes in your choice of two basic colors; black and white. It has a rather large battery for its size at 1500 mAh. It has been available in Europe for a while now and may soon be in the United States under the name of “Galaxy Portal” with T-Mobile.

The speed, the looks, the operating system and even the screen size is the same on the Desire as it is on the much-acclaimed Google phone. The Desire is “desirable” for one extra reason, the “Sense” user interface. The optical trackpad is also superior.

The screen on the HTC Desire is 3.7 inches when measured diagonally. That is 9.4 centimeters for the readers who are using the metric system. It has super high resolution at 480 by 800 megapixels. The screen is at the top of its class in color choices. It can show sixteen million different colors. The AMOLED construction is superior to the old LCD style and uses ten per cent less energy from the battery for longer spaces between charges. The screen acrobatics are all there with multitouch, accelerometer and a proximity sensor. You can pinch and zoom and turn the screen all you like and the Desire follows you.

The important news on the HTC Desire is the Sense user “experience”. This is a view of the more pleasing widget interface, rather than a basic Android interface. A few of the advantages of the Sense user interface is a widget displays your total agenda in one screen. The widget for the weather is displayed on your current position and is installed on the home screen. For your emails, you can view a list of all of the mail, instead of just one email at a time. This is similar to viewing SMS messages. In the WebKit browser some features are not readily apparent. Doing a long press on the screen over text will bring a selection bar into view. This will select the word you want to translate or to define and send it to google for crunching.

HTC Desire

The exterior of the HTC Desire looks a lot like the Google phone. The optical trackpad is superior to the trackball because it will never have lint stuck in it. The total size of the Desire is 119 millimeters tall by 60 millimeters wide by 11.9 millimeters thick. That is .47 inches thick or just under half an inch. That is a great size for sticking into your pocket or purse. It is also just .4 millimeters thicker than the Google phone. The Desire even copies the small “chin” that the Google phone has.

The interior hardware is very impressive, especially the processor. It is a Qualcomm QSD8250 processor that runs at “warp speed”. Okay, maybe not that fast, but it does run at one gigahertz. The Desire runs without waiting for a program to load or to stop. This is also great for those multi-taskers who are reading. You can open lots of programs without crashing the Desire. The Desire comes with 512 megabytes of ROM and 576 megabytes of RAM. This is also at the top of the smartphone class.

The camera and audio section are pretty much standard fare. The camera takes photos at five megapixels. It has flash, autofocus, geotagging and smile detection. The Desire also has a FM radio with the RDS function that allows you to read the author and song information on your screen. The camera has an advanced video ability that can take video at thirty frames per second. That particular part of the camera is near the top of class for video.

Voice connections for the HTC Desire are accomplished with GSM and HSDPA networks. The data connections include everything except infrared, which hardly anyone uses anyway. It comes in two colors; silver and brown. The phone is currently selling for 419 euros in some places and will be marketed by Verizon.