hyp4mhz.com

Month: September 2011

  • Acer Liquid Metal Review

    hyp4mhz
    Welcome to the 2011 Acer Liquid Metal quick review.  Initial released in 2010 the Liquid Metal was not until late 2011 when it was priced under $200 outright. As an Android OS based phone it comes with everything you need for your connected lifestyle.  It has a strange name that implies its made of liquid metal but clearly it isn't. Besides that there are a few other things that Acer have done to Android which are a bit dubious in terms of functionality. Read on if your still interested... In terms of construction the Liquid Metal is pretty good. It is made mostly of metal except for the front display which is a glass like material for a the capacitive touch screen. The back is split into two which is fine considering it has a replaceable battery - yay. It is smooth touch but we came away thinking it was a bit on the chunky side like the original Compaq iPaq (is you can remember what that was). However for the price and of course the hardware its packing on the inside it is forgivable. Although the phone runs Android OS, although Acer has installed it's Breeze UI on top of the the standard interface.  While Breeze UI is impressive to look and play with we think it just reverses the standard screen.  In fact we found the reversal of the touch buttons on the bottom of the screen very annoying. Although you can turn off Breeze you can't change the button order which is a pity. So if you can live with it then this, the Liquid Metal  could be for you. Overall it was stable and fast during during the test period and more impressive than the Huawei Sonic or the HTC Wildfire S. The Liquid Metal has a good CPU that runs at 800Mhz and a separate GPU so it will run any game or app better than most. Most mid range Android mobile phones of late 2010 only have a single CPU which makes this Acer quite a bit better than the rest. The only problem the Liquid Metal has is on the 3G hardware side of things, namely is that it won't work on the Telstra 850Mhz network, but Optus or Vodaphone networks will work just fine! Overall the Acer Liquid Metal is a very good mobile phone for the price, in fact it worked better than the equally price Huawei Sonic we recently tested. (The Sonic is noticeably slower) Regardless we are finding it difficult to write anything new about Android OS based phones as they can basically do anything you want. The only differences are the novel Acer developed interface 'enhancements' and physical design which none to date are standouts. The only other thing we can think of is branding or company history. Acer makes decent hardware so by association the Liquid Metal should be a decent phone until the next round of models releases. Taking all that into account, if you want cheapest and one of the best Android phones then the Acer Liquid metal is a great choice. Specifications
    • Acer Liquid Metal
    • Network Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Dual-band 3G 850/1900/2100 HSDPA 14.4 Mbits data speed (download) 2.2 MBits data speed (upload)
    • Design Touch screen
    • L115 x W63 x D13.5 mm Weight 135 grams
    • Display/s External 3.6 Inch TFT 480 x 800
    • Camera 5MP LED Flash
    • Video Camera 720p video camera 30FPS
    • Connectivity Wi-Fi Bluetooth V2.1
    • CPU 800Mhz Separate GPU Adreno 205 running up to 600Mhz
    • Memory Up to 512MB available to user MicroSD up to 32Gig
    • Ring tones MIDI, MP3, Video, vibration and others
    • Features A-GPS Proximity Compass Accelerometer (G-Sensor) Light Sensor Music and Media player Organiser/Calender SMS, MMS, IM, Email Speaker Phone/Hands free Li-Po 1500mAh battery Up to 550 hours Standby Up to 11 hours Talk Time
    • Price history Under $199 AUS 2011 (Approx outright)

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Review

    hyp4mhz
    Welcome to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 GT-P1000 review. The Galaxy Tab 7 was released in late 2010 as one of the first phone/tablet to mount a challenge to the Apple iPad. We liked the Galaxy Tab from the start as it was a combination of a huge screen for tablet use and being able to use it as a regular mobile phone. In fact we liked it so much we bought one! However just because one of us uses it as a main phone doesn't mean that its perfect and there are a few things that can be improved. The construction of the Galaxy tab is solid and not too heavy compared to a regular mobile phone and it is quite light compared to other tablets like the iPad. It is made of plastic except for the screen which feels like glass. Down the side are the slots fro the SIM card and microSD while the top has the earphones and the bottom the stereo speakers and multipurpose connector. While the screen is huge and the thick bezel makes it bigger than it should - the latest 2011 HTC Flyer is probably what it should have been like from the start but then the Galaxy TAB is 12 months older. Overall not a bad effort for the first of its kind. In terms of size it is quite big but can easily be put in a satchel or hand bag. (We eventually did appreciate the large bezel because it allows for a place to put your thumbs.) Note that the screen does not use the latest technology like AMOLED and because it is huge and bright you don't really notice the difference. Sure the picture quality may not match the color reproduction of the N8 for example but the Galaxy TAB is still pretty good. The only issue you'll encounter is that the screen is quite reflective in daylight. In terms of OS our version runs Android OS 2.3 Gingerbread which is presumably upgradable with future Android OS for phones. There are rumors that it will be a 3.0 version for tablets, however considering that there isn't any phone functionally in 3.0 it is unlikely - but you never know. Regardless of OS the Galaxy is super responsive and works fast. The Samsung desktop software (KIES) is quite limited in functionality since Andriod is centered on online Google apps for data sync. In terms of every day use the Galaxy Tab is pretty cool, the large screen helps readability and the fully functioning phone software is excellent. The only issue is that you really need the wired headset or an optional bluetooth headset to make use of the phone functions - unless your at home and can use the hand free calling. Call quality is great and likewise signal reception. The integrated Goggle email, calendar and documents work brilliantly and no you don't need to sign up for Gmail to use the basic functions. The web browser works perfectly and quickly and can only improve in the future. The main problem is that if you use Outlook, which most do it is almost impossible to sync the two. The Galaxy Tab comes with a camera and flash for the odd occasion but the image quality is not impressive - it is just passable for a phone though. Strangely missing is a FM radio - we don't know why it's missing considering its size. The Galaxy's TAB battery life is OK but due to the large screen it sucks most of the power dry quite quickly. We estimate 3-4 hours if used on the middle setting. Standby time is 3-4 days since it is also a mobile phone and hence always on. Turn off all wireless and reduce the screen brightness and you could potentially get 6 hours continuous use. As we already said we liked the Galaxy TAB it so much one of us actually bought one and still uses it which speaks highly of the concept.  Unfortunately it relative size will put the masses off buying one - which is fine with us.  These days we carry so much gear that the combination of both tablet and phone works for us.  However for the average user it may just a bit too big to be used as a phone and a little too small for a tablet but to just as many its the perfect compromise. Final words? it is the best 7 inch mobile phone you can get and a pretty good tablet as well. (Much better than the Telstra and Optus offerings) Specifications
    • Samsung Galaxy Tab 7
    • Network Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Tri-band 3G 850/900/1900/2100 (dependent on country) HSDPA 10.2 Mbps data speed (download) HSUPA 2 Mbps (upload)
    • Design Touch screen
    • L190.1 x W120.5 x D12 mm
    • Weight 385 grams
    • Display/s 7 inch 1,024 x 600
    • Camera 8MP LED Flash 2nd video call camera 1.3MP Forward facing camera for video calls.
    • Video Camera 720 x 480 pixel 30FPS main video camera
    • Connectivity Wi-Fi Bluetooth V3
    • CPU 1 Ghz Separate Graphic CPU
    • Memory 16 Gig for user Up to 32Gig micro-SD expansion Ring tones MIDI, MP3, Video, vibration and others
    • Features A-GPS AndroidApp store Samsung App store Free Google Navigator (requires data plan) Compass Accelerometer Dolby Digital Proximity Ambient Light Music and Media player MS-Word, Excel and Powerpoint, PDF, ZIP compatible Organiser/Calender SMS, MMS, IM, Email Speaker Phone/Hands free Li-Po 4,000 mAh battery Up to 1000 hours Standby Up to 10 hours Talk Time
    • Price history Approx $500 AUD late 2011 (Outright)

  • Huawei Sonic Review

    hyp4mhz
    Welcome to the Huawei Sonic U8650 phone review. The Sonic has been around for a little while but was un-interesting until it was released as an outright phone available through the big chain department stores like DSE, Big W and Safeway. The Huawei Sonic is a reasonable $188 at most stores but as usual there are a few issues that you should be aware of before you decide to buy. The Sonic is not a known quality in terms of reliability and support.  Admittedly since it is sold by the major retailers you should be able to get your money back if something does go wrong. Note that it only has dual band 3G that works on the Optus/Vodaphone/Virgin etc.. so as long as your with any other carrier except Telstra the Sonic will work properly. In terms of construction the Huawei Sonic is a solid and reasonably looking handset.  It feels good to hold and not too light or cheap. We have no complaints for most Huawei phone since it is quite cheap handset. The Sonics's screen is a capacitive model which is great for the price but with average resolution and size so nothing much to complain about. We feel that Huawei makes better quality mobile handsets than their rival Telstra/ZTE. The Sonic runs Andriod 2.3 OS which is the latest version you can get in mid-2011 and has more than enough features, it also has all the benefits and issues of any other handset that uses the same OS.  However it does have a slower CPU so can get laggy when running lots of apps at the same time. However thanks to the screen tech (mainly) it feels better than phones with similar specifications. The Android store has an increasing number of decent free and paid apps you can try too. Apart from that the standard very good web browser you'll be able to access all the social networks like Facebook, Twitter and so forth without the need for additional apps. You'll be able to do everything even Skype and use Firefox! It also runs Flash files in the browser and videos. Overall we can't say anything bad about the Sonic. It is a very decent phone for the relatively low outright price. We would not rate it higher than the HTC Wildfire S though - which is available on the Telstra network for $199.  Certainly after a taste of the Sonic you may want something faster - but faster models are at least double the price! That said Acer has reduced the price of the Liquid Metal phone to under $199. The Liquid Metal is the better phone than either the Wildfire S or the Sonic. See the review on the website. Specifications
    • Huawei Sonic
    • Network Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 Dual-band 3G 900/2100
    • Design Touch screen
    • L116.3mm x W60.5mm x D11.9mm Weight 120 grams
    • Display/s 3.5 inch TFT 320 x 480
    • Camera 3.2 MP
    • Video Camera 640 x 480 pixel main video camera 15FPS
    • Connectivity Bluetooth V2.1 Wi-Fi Micro-USB
    • CPU 600Mhz
    • Memory Up to 512 MB available to user MicroSD up to 32Gig
    • Ring tones ACC, MP3, MIDI, vibration and others
    • Features A-GPS Accelerometer Sensor JAVA Apps Music and Media player Organiser/Calender SMS, MMS, IM, Email JAVA MIDP 2.0 FM radio Speaker Phone/Hands free 3.5mm AV/headset Custom 3.7V 1400mAh Up to 9 days Standby Up to 6 hours Talk Time
    • Price history Under $188 AUD August 2011 (Outright)