HTC 7 Trophy review:

Introduction

It truly is a catchy name, but the Trophy is – so to speak – the consolation prize in the HTC Windows Phone 7 lineup. It’s not the big guy in the family nor is it the smartest. The Trophy is a middle-of-the-roader, the mass market choice. It’s the first HTC-made Windows Phone 7 device we’re reviewing and we guess it’s up to them to prove there’s no such thing as an ex PocketPC maker.
Windows Phone 7 is about sky-high hardware standards and Microsoft is not really encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. What does this mean for the HTC 7 Trophy? Well, believe it or not, this here Trophy has come onto the scene to bring the one thing that Windows Phone 7 is obviously short of – device personality.





Don’t get us wrong, WP7 is a great looking OS – and one that will only be getting better in terms of usability – but Microsoft-imposed uniformity is making it hard for manufacturers to set their products apart. They are trying to make up for that with better screens or free apps, but they still haven’t hit on a winning formula yet.
The HTC 7 Trophy will do its best to be the WP7 phone that stands out from the crowd. Since Microsoft forbids any customization, HTC took a different approach to giving the OS some individuality. Instead of offering free apps from the Marketplace, HTC have built their own – available to download for free off the HTC Hub. And the hub itself is a pinch of Sense UI sprinkled on Windows Phone 7, with some awesome exclusive apps.

Key features:

• 3.8" 16M-color capacitive LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Dual-band 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) and HSUPA (2Mbps)
• Windows Phone 7 operating system
• 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 576MB RAM, 512MB ROM
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 25fps
• 8GB of built-in storage
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Standard microUSB port (charging)
• Dolby Mobile and SRS sound enhancement
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• Accelerometer for screen auto rotation
• Office document editor
• Facebook integration and cloud services
• Built-in A-GPS receiver
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Comes with HTC Hub and exclusive HTC apps
• Voice-to-text functionality

Main disadvantages:

• Non-expandable storage
• Average display
• No lens protection
• Disappointing audio quality

WP7-specific limitations

• No system-wide file manager
• No Bluetooth file transfers
• No USB mass storage mode
• Limited third-party apps availability
• No Flash (nor Silverlight) support in the browser
• Too dependent on Zune software for file management and syncing
• No video calls
• New ringtones available only through the Marketplace
• Music player lacks equalizer presets
• No multitasking
• No copy/paste
• No DivX/XviD video support (automatic transcoding provided by Zune software)
• No sign of free Bing maps Navigation so far
• No internet tethering support
• No handwriting recognition support

Apple iOS 4 review:

Introduction

iPhone 4 launch day came and went and Number Four has taken over. Today, as the dust settles, we hope to move away from the hype and take a clear-headed look at what’s new in the iOS4. No, this isn’t a full-featured iPhone 4 review, nor is it intended to introduce you to the OS basics.

                                                                                 

 










Instead we’ll stick to the new stuff. And Apple promised lots of that: multitasking, homescreen wallpapers, a revamped email app, and more. Here is our brief scoop on all the new stuff and all that’s still missing.

What’s new:

• Homescreen wallpapers
• Folder organization of the homescreen icons
• Multitasking and fast app switching
• Google/Wikipedia search in Spotlight
• Bluetooth keyboard pairing support
• SMS character counter
• SMS search
• Email threading
• Unified Email inbox
• Email archiving is now available when you setup Gmail
• Spell checker
• iPod music player can now create, edit and delete playlists
• 5x digital zoom in still camera
• Touch-focus in video capture (for video enabled iPhones)
• Keyboard layouts span over QWERTY, QWERTZ, and AZERTY
• Minor icon design facelifts
• Video call support (only in iPhone 4 and only over Wi-Fi)
• iBooks e-book and PDF reader

What’s still missing:

• No Flash support in the web browser
• No true multitasking for all applications
• iOS4 for iPhone 3G has limited new feature set
• Poor performance on iPhone 3G
• No quick toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or 3G
• No social networking integration
• No info widgets on lockscreen or homescreen
• SMS tones are still not customizable
• No mass mark emails as read
• No proper file browser or access to the file system
• No USB mass storage mode
• No vibration feedback when touching the screen
• No Bluetooth file transfers to other mobile phones
• Contacts lack a swipe-to-delete or mass delete feature
• No SMS/MMS delivery notifications
• No smart dialing (but Spotlight is a somewhat of a substitute)
• No DivX or XviD video support and no official third-party application to play that
• The whole iPhone is too dependent on iTunes - you cannot add the same type of content (video, photos, apps) to the phone from two computers, a regular file management interface would have been much better

With the iPhone it’s never about what the phone can or cannot do. The iOS 4 however seems finally determined to catch up with most of the today’s smartphones. You’re not to expect miracles though – such as a file browser, USB mass storage mode, web Flash support, and other stuff that seems irrelevant to Apple.
Anyway, we’ve tested iOS 4 on both an iPhone 3GS and a 3G. It’s worth noting that a lot of the new features aren’t available on the now discontinued iPhone 3G. Worse yet, the iOS 4 is heartbreakingly slow on the 3G. We somehow feel though that the average iPhone user is way more likely to go straight to Number Four than bother install the latest OS on an older device. Or at least that’s what Apple would prefer.

Apple iPhone 3GS

General		GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
		2009, June
		Available. Released 2009, June

Size		115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm
		135 g

Display		TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
		320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches
		- Scratch-resistant oleophobic surface - Multi-touch input method - Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off

Sound		Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
		Yes
		- 3.5 mm headset jack

Memory		Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
		100 received, dialed and missed calls
		8/16/32 GB storage, 256 MB RAM
		No

Data		Yes
		Yes
		HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
		Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
		Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, headset support only
		No
		Yes, v2.0

Camera		3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus
		Touch focus, geo-tagging
		Yes, VGA@30fps, video geo-tagging
		No

Features		iPhone OS 3, upgradable to iOS 4
		ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz, PowerVR SGX535 graphics
		SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email
		HTML (Safari)
		No
		Downloadable, incl. motion-based
		Black, White
		Yes, with A-GPS support
		No
		- Digital compass - Google Maps - Audio/video player - TV-out - Voice command/dial

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion
		Up to 300 h
		Up to 12 h (2G) / Up to 5 h (3G)
		Up to 30 h

Misc		0.26 W/kg (head)     0.79 W/kg (body)
		0.45 W/kg (head)     0.40 W/kg (body)

Apple iPhone 4

 

•  

  General		GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
  		HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
  		2010, June
  		Available. Released 2010, June

  Size		115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm
  		137 g

  Display		LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
  		640 x 960 pixels, 3.5 inches
  		- Scratch-resistant oleophobic surface - Multi-touch input method - Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate - Three-axis gyro sensor - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off

  Sound		Vibration, MP3 ringtones
  		Yes
  		- 3.5 mm headset jack

  Memory		Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
  		100 received, dialed and missed calls
  		16/32 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
  		No

  Data		Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
  		Class 10, 236.8 kbps
  		HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
  		Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  		Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
  		No
  		Yes, v2.0

  Camera		5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
  		Touch focus, geo-tagging
  		Yes, 720p@30fps, LED video light, geo-tagging
  		Yes, videocalling over Wi-Fi only

  Features		iOS 4
  		1 GHz Apple A4 processor
  		SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email
  		HTML (Safari)
  		No
  		Downloadable, incl. motion-based
  		Black, White
  		Yes, with A-GPS support
  		No
  		- MicroSIM card support only - Scratch-resistant glass back panel - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - Digital compass - Google Maps - Audio/video player and editor - Voice command/dial - TV-out

  Battery		Standard battery, Li-Po 1420mAh
  		Up to 300 h (2G) / Up to 300 h (3G)
  		Up to 14 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)
  		Up to 40 h