Sony Ericsson Xperia neo

Do we cancel the show if the star is not available? This one must've crossed some minds over at Sony Ericsson when the Xperia Neo had to be discontinued. But no, they didn't cancel it. The crew was told to take five instead while they skimmed the B-list for a possible substitute.

The Xperia neo V is not an upgrade of the original Neo. It’s actually a downgrade forced by circumstances. The only difference is the camera sensor - down from 8 to 5 megapixels - and the more recent Android version. Sounds so little, doesn't it? That's the price for saving the Neo.

The deadly Japan earthquake took lives and brought the local electronics industry to a halt. Sony was affected too and, with a shortage of 8 megapixel camera sensors looming, someone had to take the hit. That someone was the Xperia neo. This is the story told by a company insider, who we have no reason to doubt.
 

It's the same phone, different camera and the lower price makes sense. And it should be clear by now the V is the Roman numeral for five, not a letter. Could there be a victory sign anywhere in the picture?

Key features

• Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 3.7" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of FWVGA resolution (480 x 854 pixels) on Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine
• Android OS v2.3.4 Gingerbread
• 1 GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
• 512 MB RAM
• 5 MP autofocus camera, LED flash, geo-tagging, 3D Sweep Panorama
• 720p video @ 30fps, continuous autofocus with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• Front facing VGA camera, video chat (Google, Skype)
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• microSD slot (32GB supported, 2GB card included)
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Voice dialing
• Adobe Flash 11 support
• microHDMI port
• Deep Xperia Facebook integration

Main disadvantages

• Forced camera downgrade to 5MP
• Display has poor viewing angles
• The competition has dual-core CPUs, 1080p video
• No smart dialing
• Loudspeaker has below average performance
• Very limited video codec support
• Memory card slot under the battery cover

HTC Explorer

Ever since the Aria, HTC have had a petite Android on offer and the HTC Explorer is the latest in the line. With an affordable price tag, the plucky little smartphone will appeal to people looking for a compact set or users who are just about getting started in smartphones.

The Explorer's outer shell is made of patterned plastic that has a rubbery feel to it - creating an impression of ruggedness to match its name. The plate of brushed metal at the center of the rear backs that up too. The phone is not actually shock proof but we still appreciate the tough feel.
 

The HTC Explorer earns extra points for handling too thanks to its compact size. The diminutive body and rounded corners make it feel like a pebble in the hand.
 

Small as it is, the Explorer has Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread with Sense UI 3.5 on top, just like its elders. Here are the rest of the specs along with the downsides.

Key features

• Light and compact
• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA, 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
• 3.2" 256K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution (320 x 480)
• 600MHz Snapdragon S1 MSM7227A chipset, Cortex A5 CPU, 512MB RAM, Adreno 200 GPU
• Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) with HTC Sense 3.5 UI
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot functionality
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity
• 3 MP fixed-focus camera, geotagging, face detection
• VGA video @ 24fps
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• microSD slot (up to 32GB)
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Turn-to-mute, lift-to-tone-down, pocket mode, flip for speakerphone
• Smart dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTCSense.com integration
• Adobe Flash support
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)

Main disadvantages

• Slow CPU
• Modest retail package
• Fixed-focus camera
• No Document viewer
• No secondary video call camera

LG Nitro HD

The LG Nitro HD for AT&T Wireless comes with some seriously heavy expectations to meet. It was back in August, when we first reported about the award winning AH-IPS screen with HD resolution, developed by LG. The unit is reportedly better than anything else on the market, including Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus displays, and the Nitro HD is the first device to feature it in the United States. It also stands out as the first device in AT&T’s impressive smartphone lineup to feature an HD screen.

It is the end of 2011 and all the cards are on the table. The LG Nitro HD is the last major player to enter the uber-smartphone competition. It surely has a spec sheet up to snuff: an HD screen to marvel at, LTE network capacity, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 8MP autofocus camera, etc. The list is long.
 

Spec sheets are something we’ve come to expect in the price category, where the LG Nitro HD will compete. It is the way that the components are integrated together and the user experience they create which counts. This is what we’re going to try and find out in this review.
 

As always, we’ll kick things off with the key features and main disadvantages of the smartphone.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 HSUPA support
• LTE network connectivity
• 4.5" 16M-color AH-IPS LCD touchscreen with HD (720 x 1280 pixels) resolution; 326ppi
• Android OS v2.3.5 with LG custom launcher
• 1.5 GHz Scorpion dual-core CPU, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 1GB of RAM
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash; 1MP front-facing unit
• 1080p HD video recording
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n support; Wi-Fi Share app
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity
• 4GB internal storage, microSD slot (16GB card included in the retail package)
• Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• Document editor
• Rich video format support
• Ability to remove preinstalled apps from AT&T out of the box

Main disadvantages

• No dedicated camera button
• Battery performance is questionable
• LG’s custom UI might not fit all tastes

Nokia Lumia 800

It will take crowds erupting in delight to silence the ring of the "burning platform" speech in the Nokia Lumia 800's ears. The speaker being Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and the burning platform Symbian.

As Nokia are starting over, the Lumia 800 would do well not to look back. It's certainly beyond the ifs and buts. A shadow still lingers though. And there are people out there - loyal Nokia users too - who would've jumped in the fire with MeeGo rather than the freezing waters of Windows Phone.

But it was for others to decide. The N9 was ordered to share its impressive unibody design with the Lumia 800. Good decision by Nokia - not saying fair - to give its WP7 pioneer a strong start. There are some Windows Phone mandated changes like the touch-sensitive Back, Menu and Search keys and a hardware shutter key. The screen lost 0.2" and 54 pixels in height to make room for the capacitive controls. The oddly positioned secondary camera is gone as well. Still, the image quality of the screen seems unchanged - and we quite liked that AMOLED unit.

What else has changed? Well, there's a new chipset, among other things. To make this short, here're the pros and cons of the Nokia Lumia 800.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Quad-band 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
• 3.7" 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 480 x 800 pixel resolution
• Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display with anti-glare polarizer
• 8 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash, 720p@27fps video recording and fast f/2.2 lens
• Windows Phone 7.5 OS (Mango)
• 1.4GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset, 512MB of RAM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Non-painted polycarbonate unibody, curved screen
• GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
• Digital compass
• 16GB on-board storage
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
• Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack; FM Radio with RDS
• microUSB port
• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR
• Impressively deep and coherent SNS integration throughout the interface

Main disadvantages

• Display is much dimmer than the N9's display
• No Flash or Silverlight support in browser
• No USB mass storage (file management and sync pass only through Zune)
• No video calls and no front-facing camera either
• Non-user-replaceable battery
• No memory card slot (and no 64GB version like the N9)
• microSIM card slot
• No native DivX/XviD support, videos have to be transcoded by Zune

Samsung I9103 Galaxy

The Samsung I9103 Galaxy R rode in on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform and became the first affordable dual-core smartphone from the South Korean company. With a bright SC-LCD screen and brushed metal back, the Galaxy R is just different enough from the Galaxy S lineup to stand on its own.

Samsung has so many variations of their models that sometimes it's hard to say when one model stops and another begins. Take the Samsung I9103 Galaxy R, positioned somewhere between the Galaxy S II flagship droid and the mid-range Galaxy W.

Not that we're complaining - having more options available is always a good thing and all dual-core droids from Samsung were only top of the line so far (S II and its variations, the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Note phoneblet).

This is where the I9103 Galaxy R steps in in - it offers tangibly better specs than the Galaxy W, while staying a step below the top dogs in specs and price. Here's a summary of what you get with the Galaxy R and some downsides.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
• 4.2" 16M-color SC-LCD capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution; Scratch-resistant glass
• Android OS v2.3.3 with TouchWiz 4 launcher
• 1 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, ULP GeForce GPU, NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset, 1GB of RAM
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection
• 720p HD video recording at 30fps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n support; DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct support
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
• 8GB internal storage, microSD slot
• Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port
• Stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• FM radio with RDS
• Great audio quality
• 1.3MP secondary video-call camera
• Document editor
• File manager comes preinstalled

Main disadvantages

• SC-LCD has poor black levels
• Tegra 2 falls slightly behind Exynos in CPU and GPU performance
• No dedicated camera key
• Non-hot-swappable microSD card