Droid Razr Maxx HD: In today’s smartphone world, most handsets currently available in the market are full touchscreen devices with big-ass displays and lots of connectivity options in their innards. This is a good thing because a massive screen real estate makes a handset ideal for multimedia consumption such as watching videos, playing games or browsing the web. In addition to that, the connectivity options offered by the smartphones of today give a user the capability to get online anytime, anywhere.

However, there is also a downside to this. A nice big display such as those found in high-end devices or connectivity options such as LTE are truly a drain and strain on the battery life of a handset and more and more users today find themselves plugging their handsets to a wall outlet for charging at the end of each day for use on the morrow. However, if you happen to have battery life on top of your list whenever choosing the next handset for your mobile weapon of choice, you can never go wrong with the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD.

The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD released by Verizon in US shores last year boasts of a massive 3300 mAh power pack in its chassis which gives the handset an unprecedented battery life unlike what we’ve seen in the past. This is the claim to fame of the handset and is one of the reasons for its popularity. With that massive power pack, a user of the handset can be assured that there is plenty of juice left on the battery pack of the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD for use on the morrow.

However, that is not the only good thing about the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD as of the moment. Given the fact that it is the flagship device of Motorola, it can only be expected that the handset comes with a premium price tag attached to its retail package. However, Verizon currently has a deal that will let you get your hands on the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD at a much cheaper price point. In fact, Big Red has already given its authorized resellers the green light to give the handset a price drop but you still have to sign a new two-year service agreement with the carrier if you want to take advantage of the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD at its heavily discounted price.

As for the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD, the handset has its circuitry built around a QualComm MSM8960 SnapDragon chipset where a dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor works in conjunction with a full gigabyte of RAM to deliver the computing power required for its flawless performance. Storage space on the handset comes up to 32GB but this can still be expanded using the microSD card slot of the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD. As for its display, the handset comes with a 4.7-inch SuperAMOLED panel with a 1280 x 720 resolution while its camera department features a rear 8MP shooter and a front 1.3MP snapper.

article from: Mobile Bloom

When talking about the Windows Phone ecosystem in today’s smartphone world, there are only two dominant manufacturers which released their respective devices in the market a couple of months back – Nokia and HTC. This is a bit ironic though because even before the two OEMs took the stage to introduce their respective WP8-powered handsets in September, Korean electronics giant Samsung has already beaten them to the punch because it already unveiled the Samsung ATIV S, the world’s first Windows Phone 8-powered handset, back in August.

What is even more ironic however is that until now, the entries of Samsung to the smartphone competition in the Windows Phone platform are still nowhere to be found which is said to be the reason as to why Nokia and HTC are having all the fun in the Windows Phone competition. Its flagship device, the Samsung ATIV S is still elusive as ever and would have given both the Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC Windows Phone 8X a serious run for their money had it been available in the market.

However, word on the street is that those waiting for the Windows Phone 8-powered handsets from the Korean smartphone and tablet manufacturer to hit US shelves will not have to wait much longer. As it stands, the Samsung ATIV Odyssey, the Korean manufacturer’s mid-range offering for the platform is about to make its debut in the shelves of Verizon.

The information comes from one of our reliable sources who whispered that the Samsung ATIV Odyssey is slated to get launched on January 24. What lent further credence to this nugget of information is the fact that the 24th falls on a Thursday which happens to be a common day for handsets to finally hit the shelves of corporate stores.

As for the Samsung ATIV Odyssey, we’ve known about the existence of the handset for quite some time now although the handset only recently reached official status when it was announced this January. Hopefully, the rumors of the handset’s January 24 availability will pan out so Windows Phone fanboys can have more options aside from those being offered by Nokia and HTC.

The dimensions of the Samsung ATIV Odyssey come up to 122.4 x 63.8 x 10.9 mm and it tips the scales at a very lightweight 125 grams. Under the hood, the Samsung ATIV Odyssey already runs Windows Phone 8 for its operating system, and this draws power from the handset’s dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor which in turn works in conjunction with a full gigabyte of RAM to deliver the computing muscle required by the device. The storage space onboard the handset comes up to only 8GB but this is still expandable using the microSD card slot of the Samsung ATIV Odyssey. As for its display, the smartphone sports a 4.0-inch SuperAMOLED panel with a  480 x 800 resolution while its camera department features a rear 5MP shooter and a front 1.2MP video call and self-portrait snapper.

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The Droid Razr M 4G also supports EV-DO, Rev A 3G and CDMA 800/1900 frequencies where 4G LTE is not available, and the Chrome for Android mobile browser has been pre-installed for instant web access out-of-the-box. This mobile browser communicates with your desktop or laptop version of Chrome, allowing you to sync your bookmarks, and even view the tabs that are open on your computer.

The handset is tough as previous Droid Razr versions have been, with an aircraft grade aluminum frame surrounding the edge to edge display. Motorola designers stretched the screen from side to side and top to bottom, creating an almost nonexistent bezel. This made the handset as small as possible, cutting down on weight and overall body size, while still delivering a large high-resolution screen. The display is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass, and the back plate is the familiar DuPont Kevlar.

The handset is offered in your choice of black or white, and measures 4.82 x 2.40 x 0.33 inches (122.5 x 60.9 x 8.3 mm), weighing 4.44 ounces (126 g). This creates a 4G smartphone that is smaller than others with the same size screen, and that display is a 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED model. Resolution runs 540 x 960 pixels, with pixel density above average at 256 pixels per inch. More than 16 million colors are used to render visual displays, and standard capacitive, multitouch gestures are used to navigate the handset.

The Motorola Droid Razr M 4G microchip suite is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 package, with a dual core 1.5 GHz central processor at its core. 1.0 GB of RAM memory and 8.0 GB of built-in data storage are present, and storage can be expanded with the onboard microSD slot. Video can be recorded with the rear facing 8.0 megapixel camcorder, and runs 1,080P HD resolution. Built into the face of the handset is a front facing video chat camera, and a Bluetooth Stereo music player joins a YouTube video player in the multimedia package.

article from: Mobile Bloom

Back when Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was still the latest iteration of the Google mobile operating system, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus gained prominence as one of the best Android-powered handsets because of the fact that it was for a time the only handset back in the day to be powered by ICS under the hood. This was way back in the latter parts of 2011 and this attribute of the then Google flagship device made some of our smartphone-crazed brethren consider the handset as the best Android-powered device during its heydays.

Fast-forward to today, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is still in circulation but has long been sent to the retirement home because its successor, the LG Nexus 4, has already made its debut in the shelves a couple of months back. This is not to say that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has already outlived its usefulness, no sir! In fact, the handset still is alive and kicking and has already gotten a taste of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the latest Android version to hit the airwaves. This was made possible on the handset because the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a Google developer device and runs a pure, unadulterated version of the Android operating system with no custom user interface to “mess up” and further complicate and delay the whole update process.

However, not all variants of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus have already gotten a taste of the Android 4.2 refresh. Take the case of the Sprint version of the handset or example. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus released by Sprint in US shores earlier last year is still running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for its operating system but word on the street is that an OTA update that will give the handset Google’s latest and greatest is about to land any day now.

As it stands, the Android 4.2 JOP40D update for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now live in the servers of Google and anybody who has some technical know-how and a lot of guts can actually download the update file and flash in onto their respective Samsung Galaxy Nexus handsets to give it a taste of some latest Jelly Bean goodness. Though this might be the case, there is still no news as to when the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update will be rolled out by Sprint to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus but we are hoping that it be sooner rather than later.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the handset still has some impressive components in its internals despite its aging status. Its operation is powered by its Texas Instruments OMAP4460 chipset which comes with a dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor and full gigabyte of RAM. The storage space onboard the handset comes up to 32GB while its Contour Display is a 4.65-inch SuperAMOLED panel with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. Its camera department on the other hand is a bit mediocre for a flagship device because the Samsung Galaxy Nexus only has a rear 5MP shooter and a front 1.3MP video call and self-portrait snapper.

article from: Mobile Bloom

As of the moment, the Samsung Galaxy S III is still one of the best handsets currently available in the market today. This, despite the fact that several other high-end flagship devices from other manufacturers have already hit the shelves in recent months. Still. The current Samsung flagship device is still on top of the smartphone heap because of the impressive components it has under the hood which in turn enables the handset to bring an even more impressive set of capabilities to the table.

Because of the seeming power of the Samsung Galaxy S III, it also became one of the most popular smartphones of 2012. In fact, recent reports indicate that the sales figures of the Samsung superphone have nor breached the 40 million mark since it hit the shelves during the latter parts of May last year. Its predecessor also managed to achieve this sales numbers but it took the Samsung Galaxy S II 20 months to do this whereas it only took the Samsung Galaxy S III almost 8 months.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is now powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean under the hood but due several carrier-branded versions of the handset were a little delayed in getting the Android 4.1 refresh. The Jelly Bean update was rolled out to variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III released in US shores and it made its way to the AT&T version of the handset at the start of December. This should have been a cause of excitement for AT&T subscribers but the fact that the carrier unleashed the update via Samsung Kies instead of the usual OTA manner led to a low adoption rate of this particular version of Android for the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Finally, AT&T has come around and got its act together because it is now rolling out the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update to its version of the Samsung Galaxy S III via OTA. One caveat though is that you need to download the update via a Wi-Fi connection but this is a whole lot more convenient than having to hook up your handset to a computer and using the Samsung Kies software to get the update process rolling, don’t you think? If you have an AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III still on ICS, now would be a good time to watch out for that notification or do a manual check if Jelly Bean has already landed on your device.

As for the Samsung Galaxy S III, the handset is powered by a QualComm MSM8960 SnapDragon chipset with its dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor and a staggering 2GB of RAM. The storage space onboard the device comes up to 16GB but if this is not enough, the Samsung Galaxy S III comes with a dedicated microSD card slot for memory expansion purposes. As for its display, the handset sports a massive 4.8-inch SuperAMOLED HD panel with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels while its dual-shooter configuration includes a rear 8MP shooter and a front 1.9MP snapper.

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With this change in management, the manufacturer confirmed that several handsets would no longer get updated but if a Motorola handset was released in 2011 or later, an update is more or less guaranteed. However, there seem to be confusion surrounding the Motorola Atrix 2 released by AT&T in US shores.

The Motorola Atrix 2 was launched back in October of 2011 so this should make the handset eligible for the Jelly Bean update. However, the handset never made it to the list of Motorola smartphones that have been confirmed to get cranked up to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. So if you happen to rock a Motorola Atrix 2 for your mobile weapon of choice, there is still a chance that your handset will live out its life powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

However, not everything is lost as of the moment. Apparently, an official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ROM for the Motorola Atrix 2 has leaked which will give users of the handset the opportunity to give their devices a taste of Jelly Bean goodness. Early adopters of the leaked Jelly Bean ROM for the Motorola Atrix 2 attest to the fact that it is stable enough but if you happen to have plans of flashing this ROM onto your handset, ensure that you take extreme caution when doing so as this will void your warranty or worse, turn your handset into a building material (brick).

As mentioned earlier, the Motorola Atrix 2 reached official status when its addition to the Android lineup of AT&T was announced back in October of 2011. The handset also immediately made its debut in the shelves of the wireless provider during the same month. The dimensions of the Motorola Atrix 2 come up to 126 x 66 x 10 mm and it tips the scales at 147 grams.

Under the hood, the components of the Motorola Atrix 2 are still pretty impressive for an aging device. Its circuitry is built around a Texas Instruments OMAP4430 chipset which brings into play a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz and a full gigabyte of Ram. Storage space on the handset comes up to 8GB but a microSD card slot in its chassis and the included 2GB media card in its retail package enable memory expansion on the device. As for its display, the Motorola Atrix 2 comes with a 4.3-inch TFT panel with a qHD resolution of 540 x 960 pixels while its dual-shooter configuration includes a rear 8MP shooter and a front video call and self-portrait snapper.

article from: Mobile Bloom

As of the moment, one of the most powerful handsets you can get your hands on in the smartphone market is the Samsung Galaxy S III, the current flagship device of the Korean electronics giant. This, despite the fact that newer high-end devices from other manufacturers have already hit the shelves. in fact, the Samsung Galaxy S III has a very impressive resume with the fire-breathing components it has under the hood which in turn enables the handset to bring even more impressive capabilities to the table.

Because of the power it has in its internals matched by the gorgeous exterior it boasts of, the Samsung Galaxy S III went on and became one of the most popular handsets in 2012. In fact, such is the popularity of the handset that is now a veritable gold mine for Samsung. Come to think of it, in just six months since getting released back in May of last year, Samsung already managed to sell 30 million units of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the manufacturer managed to do so despite its loss to Apple in their high-profile patent trial and the release of the Apple iPhone 5.

Two months later, the sales figure of the Samsung Galaxy S III as expected is now higher than ever. According to Samsung, the sales figure of its flagship device has now breached the 40 million mark seven months after it hit the shelves last year. Doing the math, approximately 190,000 Samsung Galaxy S III handsets are sold on a daily basis.

This news comes in conjunction with the latest report from South Korea that Samsung has managed to sell 100 million units of line of Galaxy S devices (but this does not include sales figures of the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini just yet). Sales of the original Samsung Galaxy S released in 2010 reached 20 million while the once venerable Samsung Galaxy S II breached the 40 million mark in 20 months. Still, nothing beats the Samsung Galaxy S III which accounts for 40 million but it only took the handset 7 months to achieve what its predecessor attained in 20 months. This alone is already a testament to the popularity of the current Samsung flagship device. And until the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV gets released, we can only expect the sales of the Samsung Galaxy S III to increase further.

As for the Samsung Galaxy S III, the handset is already running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for its operating system and this is powered by its QualComm MSM8960 SnapDragon chipset. This SoC comes with a dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor and a whopping 2GB of RAM which ensures that the performance of the handset is always snappy and buttery smooth. The handset can be had in a 16GB and a 32GB model in terms of storage capacity but it also comes with a dedicated microSD card slot for memory expansion purposes. As for its display, the Samsung Galaxy S III sports a massive 4.8-inch SuperAMOLED HD panel with a 1280 x 720 resolution while its dual-shooter configuration includes a rear 8MP shooter and a front 1.9MP snapper.

article from: Mobile Bloom

As of the moment, the Samsung Galaxy S III is still one of the most powerful handsets in the smartphone market today. This despite the fact that the current Samsung flagship device has already been in the shelves for more than six months now since getting released back in May last year. This is because the Samsung Galaxy S III packs fire-breathing components under the hood and brings a set of very impressive components to the table.

Because of the said attributes of the handset, the Samsung Galaxy S III has also become one of the most popular smartphones for the year 2012. In fact, 2012 is said to be the year of the handset because this is when the Samsung Galaxy S III became one of the bestselling handsets where more than 30 million units of the Samsung superphone were sold. This is turn made the Samsung Galaxy S III a veritable gold mine for the Korean electronics giant and is expected to rake in more sales for the company until its successor gets announced.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is such an awesome piece of technology that it is very hard to find something negative about the handset. There were issues about the build quality of the handset in the past but these did not really take off because it is not that widespread. There is also the “sudden handset death” issue but Samsung is already in the process of working on the software update that will get this take care of. If there is one thing that we want to get rid of on the Samsung Galaxy S III, it would have to be the bloatware that comes with the handset.

If this is your gripe about the handset, then a nifty little tool called PalaTool is the answer to your prayers. This tool was developed by shahar2k9 from XDA Developers and basically enables a user to remove bloatware and at the same time install Android 4.2 versions of the handset’s default apps. Should you be interested in taking advantage of PalaTool, your Samsung Galaxy S III should be rooted with CWM recovery installed. If so, all you need to do is boot into recovery mode from ROM manager, access the PalaTool zip file and everything is pretty straightforward from there.

Not only that, a user also gets to install elements from the Nexus 4 user interface such as wallpapers and fonts along with the CyanogenMod APN list using PalaTool. Below are the bloatware PalaTool enables you to take out along with the Android 4.2 apps and Nexus 4 UI elements that it brings to the Samsung Galaxy S III.

• Stock Widgets
• Live Wallpapers
• Samsung Hubs
• Samsung Email
• Kies
• SMemo & PaperArtist
• AllShare
• S Cloud
• Yahoo Widgets
• SSuggest
• Flipboard
• Samsung Account
• Samsung Push Service
• Samsung Apps
• Samsung Update
• Other Samsung bloatware – Test apps etc.

Android 4.2 Apps:

• Android 4.2 Camera & Gallery
• Android 4.2 Desk Clock
• Android 4.2 Gmail
• Android 4.2 Wallet
• Android 4.2 Google Ears
• Android 4.2 Genie Widget
• Android 4.2 CyanogenMod File Manager
• Android 4.2 Calendar
• Android 4.2 Keyboard

Nexus 4 UI:

• Nexus 4 Audio
• Nexus 4 BootAnimation
• Nexus 4 Fonts
• Nexus 4 WallPapers

article from: Mobile Bloom

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus for a time was one of the more popular handsets in the smartphone market. After all, it was once a Google flagship device and was in fact used to showcase what Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich had to offer. Not only that, the handset was also for a time the only Android-powered smartphone to run the version of the OS which made some of our smartphone-crazed brethren consider the Samsung Galaxy Nexus as the best Android-powered device during its heydays despite the fact that several of the device’s components were mediocre at best.

However, this is not to say that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus was not at all popular during its heydays. In fact, such is the popularity of the handset at that time that it was one of the handsets that Apple requested to be banned from US shelves because it apparently infringed on some of the Cupertino-based company’s patents. This request however was rejected by a three-judge panel back in October of last year. With this development, Samsung got some legal protection after it has been allowed to keep selling the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in our side of the world.

However, it looks like we haven’t heard the last from Apple. As it stands, the company has yet again filed a request to the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to have the prior decision overturned. With this request, Apple is banking on having the complete 9-judge panel to review the decision made by only three of their colleagues last year. However, legal experts agree that the case is not controversial enough to force the entire court to reopen the case and come to a decision. Whatever the outcome will be, we hope that both Samsung and Apple will find a way to look for a common ground to co-exist peacefully.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the handset gained prominence when it reached official status during its announcement back in October of 2011. The handset however waited until November of the same year before it finally made its first appearance in the shelves. The handset looks like your typical Android smartphone with its black paintjob while its measurements come up to 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm. The handset tips the scales at 135 grams and gives the impression of being solidly built.

Under the hood, the operation of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is powered by its Texas Instruments OMAP4460 chipset. This SoC brings into play a dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor and a full gigabyte of RAM. The storage space onboard the device comes up to 32GB but this is all you get due to the lack of support for memory expansion. As for its display, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus sports a 4.65-inch SuperAMOLED ContourDisplay panel with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels while its camera department, its major pain point, is a bit mediocre with its rear 5MP shooter and front 1.3MP snapper.

article from: Mobile Bloom

If you happen to have a Motorola Droid Razr Maxx from Verizon for your mobile weapon of choice and have been holding on to the trusty handset because of the promised update to Jelly Bean, the wait for the update to land I’m sure has been one similar to an emotional roller coaster ride. I mean, with Google’s acquisition of Motorola, we hoped that at the very least, Motorola handsets will now be able to get the latest version of the Android operating system in a more timely manner. However, it looks like this is not going to happen anytime soon.

Going back to the emotional roller coaster of waiting for the Jelly Bean update, owners of the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx “thought” they got treated to an early Christmas gift after reports came in that the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update has finally hit the airwaves and was already rolling out to the handset. There were lucky Motorola Droid Razr Maxx owners who happened to chance upon the notification and immediately took advantage of the update but most were left hanging in mid-air.

The reason? Motorola immediately pulled the update after a couple of days because it was just an “accidental” leak and is actually not the official version of Jelly Bean that will get rolled out to the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx. At that time, users of the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx had no choice but to go back to playing the waiting game hoping that it does not drag on too much.

More recently, Motorola took to its official FaceBook page to confirm that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will still make its way to the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx and its rollout is slated for Q1 of 2013. Sad to say and as is always the case, the manufacturer neglected to mention a more specific timeframe as to when we can expect the Jelly Bean refresh to land on the handset. After all, we are already in Q1 and the more optimistic among us hope that it is just days now while the more pessimistic are claiming that the update will only be rolled out during the latter parts of March. Either way, we hope that Motorola gets its act together as this waiting game among users of the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx only breeds more frustration.

As for the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, the handset is still an impressive piece of work despite its again status. Its circuitry is built around a Texas Instruments OMAP4430 chipset under the hood and this SoC gives the handset a dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor and a full gigabyte of RAM. The storage space onboard the handset is pegged at a very generous 32GB and to add to that, the handset also supports memory expansion via its microSD card slot. As for its display, the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx comes with a 4.3-inch SuperAMOLED Advanced panel with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels while its shooting department is comprised of a rear 8MP shooter and a front 1.3MP video call and self-portrait snapper.

article from: Mobile Bloom