Tag: Android Phone

HTC has announced two new phones that will be coming soon to select markets, the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play.  The new lineup is a departure in design for HTC with both phones having a curved glass design over metal designs like the HTC 10.  What’s interesting here is that HTC isn’t being real clear on if the new U lineup is replacing the 10 or if it is a complementary device.  With the 5.7″ Ultra expected to be around $749, it certainly has a flagship price tag to go along with the flagship specs.

Focusing on the HTC U Ultra, it has a 5.7″ Quad HD display along with a 2′ secondary display that is 160 x 1040 in resolution.  That secondary display is aimed for things like notifications and is strikingly similar to the second display on the LG V20.  Powering the phone is a quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor running at 2.15GHz and is coupled with the Adreno 530 GPU.  It has 4GB of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of storage which can be expanded up to an additional 2TB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  You will also find a fingerprint scanner built into the Ultra.

The main camera of the Ultra is a 12MP shooter with laser auto focus, phase detection auto focus, OIS and a dual tone LED flash.  The front facing camera is an even more impressive 16MP shooter.  The Ultra has a 3000 mAh battery which is good but battery life will be interesting to find out as the 5.7″ display is certainly going to draw a fair amount of juice.  All of this in a sleek package that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.  What is not know is which markets or even a definitive launch date for the Ultra.  It looks like the price will be around $750 but that’s about all that is know otherwise.

Nokia fans, it is official.  The company, at least in name, is back and has a brand new smartphone.  The Nokia 6 was launched with little fanfare late last week as CES 2017 wrapped up, pulling the covers back on the China exclusive phone.  HMD Global, the owners of the Nokia brand, had indicated they would be launched Android powered devices in 2017 and they let little time pass in the new year before making it happen.

The 5.5″ Android Nougat powered phone has some great specs for a phone that will retail for approximately $250 in China.  It fits well with HMD’s desire to offer well featured phones at competitive prices.  This certainly looks like a good start.

After being released in Europe in November, the Huawei Mate 9 is finally coming to the United States.  This 5.9″ phablet will be available at a wide range of online retailers, including Amazon, at the impressive price of $599.  So what does that get you?  a 5.9″ phone running Android Nougat, an octa-core processor running at 2.4GHz and Leica optics dual-camera setup shooting at 20MP and 12MP respectively with OIS.  The front facing selfie camera is 8MP shooter.  You also have 64GB of built-in storage that can be expanded up to an additional  256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  Not bad at all for $599.

The Mate 9 is being sold unlocked so the question is always carrier compatibility.  For those of you on GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile, you are good-to-go.  For those on Sprint and Verizon, the phone is CDMA compatible too. Here are the range of frequencies supported:

• GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• CDMA 800 / 1900
• HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
• CDMA2000 1xEV-DO & TD-SCDMA
• LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 9(1800), 12(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 26(850), 28(700), 29(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)

Those frequencies are going to cover every carrier here in the United States but as always, double-check with your carrier before ordering.

Today’s Deal is a great deal on one of the top phones for 2016.  The Honor 8 is being sold unlocked so it will work with any GSM carrier here in the US like AT&T and T-Mobile.  It has a 2.3GHz octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of storage (expandable up to 256GB with the MicroSD slot).  The Honor 8 has a 5.2″ display, fingerprint scanner and a 12MP dual-camera rear shooter. Normally the Honor 8 is $399.99 but today it is down to $289 for the 32GB model while the 64GB model is normally $449.99 and it is down to $348.

Just a day after releasing Android Nougat for the Xperia X Performance, Sony has dropped their update to the latest version of Android for the Xperia XZ today.  The update is build 39.2.A.0.327 and is rolling out to unlocked variants of the phone today.  If you have the dual-SIM variant of the phone, the XZ Dual, you too should be seeing the update shortly.  While the update has been released, it could take a few days before everyone sees the update hit their phone.  You can always manually check for the update by going to Settings>About Phone>Software Update.

The update weighs in at just over 1GB so you will need to make sure that you are on Wi-Fi when you download it.  Once it is downloaded, you can expect about a 30 minute upgrade period where you phone will be rebooted and Android Nougat will be installed.

I appreciate that I’ve told readers about this deal already.  But it is one of those deals that is just too good to pass up.  Over at Amazon you can still pick up the Nextbit Robin for $169.  Originally the deal was only on the Mint color but now it is also on the darker Midnight color option.  Regardless of which color you choose, you are getting a solid mid-range phone with great specs and performance.  I reviewed the Robin a few months ago and at the time I said it was a pretty good deal at $299.  At $169, it is one of the best deals on a phone with these specs out there.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.