Mobile Phone News

LG GW620 Intouch Max vs. Samsung Galaxy Portal

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Samsung Galaxy Portal vs. LG InTouch Max

One unavoidable trend at this year’s Mobile World Congress was sharp rise in Android phones on offer. it seems manufacturers are all piling in now with handsets that run on Google’s open-source operating system.

So, we thought we would line up two currently available Android phones, to see how they measured up to each other:

The LG GW620 InTouch Max and the Samsung Galaxy Portal both run on Android “Cupcake” (v1.5) and promise a host of multi-tasking smartphone functionality.

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Size:

Samsung’s Galaxy Portal is a slightly taller and wider yet thinner handset than the LG.

Marks go to LG however for squeezing a full QWERTY in the body of the GW620 however.

Winner: LG GW620

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Weight:

At 139g the LG GW620 is a full 15g heavier than the slender Samsung Galaxy portal.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Portal

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Screen:

The Samsung’s 3.2” touchscreen has the edge over LG’s 3.0” screen, plus the Samsung’s capacitive technology feels more responsive than the LG’s resistive screen.

In terms of display the Galaxy Portal lives up to it’s name, blowing the LG out of the water with it’s 16 million colours to the LG’s 256k.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Portal

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Camera:

The Samsung’s 3 mega pixel auto-focus camera is a pretty basic effort and the omission of a flash makes it useless for taking low-light and night-time snaps.

Meanwhile the GW620’s 5 million pixel camera shines with 2560 x 1920 pixel resolution and a bright LED flash.

Both cameras are capable of video at 30 frames per seconds, so this round hinges all on the camera’s photographic capability….

Winner: LG GW620 InTouch Max

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Battery:

The LG might have a decent battery life of almost 8 hours 3G talktime and 600 hours standby, but the Samsung thrashes it with an epic 12 hours and 650 hours of standby time.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Portal

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Memory:

There’s not much on it between the LG and Samsung when it comes to memory:

Both handsets have slots for expanding the memory via microCD card slots upto a very healthy maximum of 32GB.

However, the LG and Samsung do differ slightly on internal memory – the Galaxy Portal comes with 180 MB, while the LG is slightly less well equipped with just 150MB.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Portal

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Connectivity:

Both phones come equally equipped with a full array of features to keep you connected- Assisted GPS, Wi-Fi, and enhanced 3G.

Winner: Draw

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Media:

Both phones house MP3 players and 3.5mm jacks as standard, so no messing about with any proprietary-headphone nonsense, and their DivX media players allow you to catch up with movie files.

The Samsung’s more refined screen makes viewing images on the move a lot more joyful though and by comparision the LG is clearly more of an organisational tool– with a document editor (Word,Excel, PDF) and Powerpoint support.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Portal

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Verdict:

Specs wise, there is precious little between these two handsets and for basic telephony they perform very similarly. Yet there are some obvious differences on which a comparison hinges:

LG have sacrificed some good looks and screen specs to include their QWERTY, so side-by-side, the Samsung looks and feel sleeker.

So, deciding between these two Android phones really rides on whether you feel the need for a QWERTY.

Overall though we suspect that the Samsung’s Galaxy Portal’s comfortable fit, prolonged battery life and ability to render gorgeous images on the move is much more in-tune with how people use their phones and therefore more likely to secure it broader appeal.

MWC 2010: Samsung Ushers In New Wave With Bada OS

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
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Spirits were high tonight on the eve of Mobile World Congress, Samsung announcing both a new smartphone platform in the form of Bada OS and a flagship device in the Wave S8500.

The head of Samsung’s mobile division J.K. Shin was on hand to usher in “the democratisation of the smartphone era”, as Bada aims to wrest the latest in communication technology from the hands of the elite, and deliver a similar experience to the masses in affordable devices.

Shin believed their Bada operating system was at the core of the smartphone democracy due to three basic tenets: innovation, support and openness.

Samsung innovates by bringing the first super AMOLED display to market in the Wave, which presents a far brighter image, is less of a drain on the battery and is more easily visible in daylight. As the leading touchscreen handset maker in the market, Shin felt this was important for Samsung to be leading the way in developments, as naturally hardware drives subsequent advances in software – namely Bada.

The second is one of support, with Samsung’s Bada platform being complementary as opposed to competing with networks and operators. With products, business and software solutions tightly tied in with the strategies of the big networks, enabling content to easily be piped to users, “everyone wins”.

Finally, he sought to reassure that the new Bada platform – home to a range of downloadable Samsung applications – would be flexible and open, easy for consumers, networks and developers alike to get to grips with.

Mr. Shin stopped short of announcing whether the platform was truly open in the sense of Android or the newly freed Symbian OS, or just in terms of allowing access to the inner workings.

The press event soon changed tack to one of pomp and spectacle, with a dizzying array of 360-degree video of crashing oceans and a troupe of impressive dancers preceding the night’s big announcement – Samsung Wave S8500.

Despite being subjected to heavy-handed nautical analogies throughout, the Wave was in fact a handset truly innovative in numerous respects.

The super AMOLED display presented rich and vivid colours, and advancements in touchscreen technology have enabled the sensors to be directly attached to the glass for the first time, resulting in a slimmer frame and more responsive performance.

The 3.3-inch display of the Wave is also said to reflect five times less light than a traditional display, dramatically decreasing that glare that makes touch phones so difficult to use in bright light.

The form factor of the Wave was also held up as a paragon of design, the unibody frame apparently the essence of “simplicity and style, modern and sophisticated…snug in the hand.” We simply thought it a very familiar Samsung design, with a few cute nips and tucks where it counts.

The ever-present TouchWiz UI has seen a beef up on the road to 3.0, taking some cues from Android with more home screens (up to ten, complete with Google-esque parallax scrolling), as well as a far more intuitive experience enabling messages, calls and responses to be made from almost any menu screen.

The 1Ghz processor in the Samsung S8500 Wave makes short work of the new user interface, allowing users to flit between the gorgeous options and tabs with nary a stutter.

The dreaded s-word reared its head once again as the Wave offered a ’social hub’ consisting of a unified ultimate inbox, threading all status updates from the biggest networking sites into one place. A push calendar also combines Gmail, Facebook and other e-mail for a unified portal, from which users can ping out invitations for upcoming events to any contacts they wish.

Last and not least, the flexibility of the Bada platform tied into the potential of Samsung Apps, a download service recently trialled by the Korean manufacturer in three territories, UK included.

Due to be rolled out in over 50 countries throughout 2010, the ease of app development, TouchWiz support for the creation of widgets and degree 0f consistency in terms of a user experience was reiterated, as Samsung is eager to get those all important bright sparks on board to make their application portal a success. The service existing is one thing, but the need for it to be populated with appealing content makes all the difference.

With a very strong showing at this pre-MWC event, Samsung showed a commitment to getting this proprietary platform off the ground and into the mid-range market. Whether they will allow others into the Bada party remains to be seen, but they seem confident that Android does not necessarily scratch that smart phone itch for cash-strapped consumers, and are offering an alternative.

We will soon see whether the mobile market can handle another operating system, and whilst the Wave is a promising sign of things to come, there will definitely be a fine line between a Bada boom and Bada going bust.

Samsung S8500 Wave Leaks Ahead Of Mobile World Congress

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Only a day away from an official unveiling in Barcelona, the Samsung Wave S8500 has managed to break cover on a flurry of billboards around the Spanish city.

A landmark phone for the Korean manufacturer in more ways than one, the Wave S8500 is the first handset to run on Samsung’s new Bada operating system, as well as being the forerunner to sport new Super AMOLED technology, powering the 3.3-inch touch display.

This should mean lower battery drain as well as a nice line in outdoor viewing angles, whilst the reported 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera (including flash), high definition video recording capabilities, Wi-Fi suppport and 3.5mm audio jack should make this a quasi-smartphone to be reckoned with.

The kicker? All of this is delivered in a phone measuring a mere 10.9mm thick. Whether the Wave becomes a typhoon or a damp squib remains to be seen, but we’ll be at MWC from tomorrow to offer up the official word from the Samsung press conference, as well as the latest from all the runners and riders.

Source: Daily Mobile

Samsung S5620 Monte – Sleek Mid Range with Full Touch

By Jon RustcloseAuthor: Jon Rust Name: Jon Rust
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Today Samsung announced a new member of their ever growing lineup of midrange touchscreen phones. The Samsung S5620 Monte comes in a slim and stylish form factor, with features that put it a notch above the popular Genio family.

Packing a 3″ 262K colour WQVGA capacitive touchscreen display, the S5620 Monte will run a newer variant of the Korean manufacturer’s commonplace TouchWiz UI.

In terms of network connectivity it offers dual-band 3G with 3.6 Mbps HSDPA and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support. Meanwhile, local connectivity is well geared with Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and USB 2.0.

The on-board fixed focus camera has 3 megapixel resolution and is capable of recording QVGA videos at 15 fps. A microSD card slot then allows expansion of the 200 MB internal memory by up to 16 GB.

We hear the Samsung S5620 Monte will be showboating at the MWC in Barcelona next week but beyond that, there’s no information about market availability or pricing.

Samsung C3510 Genoa: Bargain Fashion Phone Makes European Debut

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
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The gorgeous cut price touchscreen handset that enjoyed an Indian summer as the Corby Pop has finally made it to British shores as the Samsung C3510 Genoa.

This bargain blower inherits the good looks of the Samsung family, looking much like the Genio Touch variant albeit with slightly reduced specs to make it even more affordable.

The C3510’s 2.8-inch touchscreen is resistive rather than capacitive (if you don’t know what that means, you won’t notice!), the changeable Fashion Jacket rear is absent whilst the snapper has been stepped down from 2 megapixels to 1.3 – not a great loss.

On the plus side, the C3510 Genoa now has support for a 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as a little weight around the midriff…

The social networking integration and live updates have made the jump to the Genoa intact, with homescreen widgets that give easy access to displaying and posting status updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Samsung C3510 deals will be available on e2Save from the 9th of February, with a free handset at only £15 per month on Orange deal already available on pre-order.

If you need a cheap ticket to the touchscreen party, the C3510 Genoa is one of the best!

Samsung Galaxy Portal: Android Offshoot Available Now On T-Mobile

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
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Just as we were wondering what on Earth (or in space, ha!) happened to the Samsung Spica, the other Android handset available from the Korean phone maker, it’s popped up on T-Mobile’s UK site as the Samsung Galaxy Portal.

Available for free from £23 per month on an 18 month contract, the Galaxy Portal offers a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, media player with support for DivX and Mp3 formats, 16GB of storage (via microSD), as well as access to the Android Market and over 20,000 apps.

Unfortunately the Portal is still sporting the v1.5 ‘Cupcake’ build meaning that it doesn’t pack some of the impressive features of later Android phones, but Samsung has promised to issue software upgrades to both the Galaxy and the i5700/Galaxy Portal next month, making this Google-powered blower a bit of a bargain!

So if you want to make a tentative step into another dimension – namely one filled with customisable homescreens, decent mobile internet and e-mail connectivity – then the Samsung Galaxy Portal is the phone to take you there.

Samsung Genio Slide Shakes Up Touchscreen Game, Vodafone Timed Exclusive

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
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A phone for those that expect a little bit more for their social networking handset now, the Samsung Genio Slide launches today as a Vodafone timed exclusive with some refreshingly high-end features!

This handset is the third in the highly successful Genio range, following up the Genio Touch and text-friendly Genio QWERTY with a great device that offers the best of both worlds.

The 2.8″ touchscreen makes the Genio Slide perfect as a full touch phone, sporting 3G support as well as GPS to find your way in a pinch.

Other Genio Slide features that wouldn’t be out of place in a smartphone include support for BBC iPlayer, Facebook integration for instant messages and status updates, and even wi-fi connectivity for those who just can’t get enough of the social stratosphere.

A four row slide out keyboard is the icing on an already sumptuous cake, whilst the 3-megapixel camera is more than good enough for capturing those compromising situations…

Memory is a mere 100MB, but nothing a microSD card can’t handle, whilst the deals available make the Genio Slide a steal!

With the handset available for free, £15 per month gets 75 minutes and 250 texts on a 24 month deal, whilst an (increasingly rare) 12 month offer gives 300 minutes and unlimited texts for £30 per month.

Sems like after dominating the touchscreen game in 2009, Samsung are gunning for the mid-range market with a vengeance!

Samsung Galaxy Not Forgotten, Android Update Due In February

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Samsung is the latest manufacturer to announce (via Twitter) they are bringing their Android phones into 2010, updating the firmware for both the Galaxy and Galaxy Lite to Android version 2.0.

Whilst it stops short of a few of the flourishes that the Google Nexus One has been showing off with it exclusive Android 2.1 paintjob, 2.0 is more than good enough for the Motorola Milestone/DROID currently doing the rounds, and is still a huge step up for the Samsung Galaxy which is currently languishing on the stock operating system it launched with.

The other Samsung phone tipped to get the update is the Samsung Spica/Galaxy Lite, which is yet to get an airing in the UK, but stands to impress a great deal more if it comes with (almost) the shiniest version of Android out of the gate.

Techradar singles out the best things that v2.0 could bring, from Exchange support to the potential for multi-touch…the Galaxy’s appeal certainly would benefit from a second bite at the Android cherry.

Kodak Sues Apple, RIM Over iPhone And Blackberry Camera Technology

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Taking a litigious leaf out of Nokia’s book, camera maker Kodak are suing both Apple and maker of BlackBerry phones Research In Motion over the use of proprietary digital camera technology in their popular mobile devices.

Two more suits have been levelled at Apple, claiming the photo software on the iPhone infringes existing Kodak patents pertaining to digital cameras.

Kodak naturally wants a “limited exclusion order”, which would result in the respective manufacturers ceasing shipment of any handsets that infringe these patents (we suspect that includes the 50,000 iPhones on Vodafone that went out yesterday), and also offering up monetary damages.

“We’ve had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement,” said Laura Quatela, chief intellectual property officer at Kodak.

Kodak had in fact licensed their proprietary imaging technology to around 30 other companies, including household names like  LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, which of whom pay royalties for the use of Kodak’s software.

In December 2009, a Kodak patent covering the way in which colour images were previewed was deemed “both valid and enforceable” by a federal jury, with both Samsung and Java software makers Sun Microsystems subsequently paying out royalties for usage of the software.

This case follows Nokia’s case filed against US firm Apple, claiming that the iPhone infringes upon numerous fundamental patents in their mobile phone technology.

Seems like the camera in the iPhone is certainly good enough for lawsuits, if not night-time photography…

Samsung Shark Phones: Sleek Social Networkers On A Budget

By Jon RustcloseAuthor: Jon Rust Name: Jon Rust
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Samsung have revealed their latest range, the Samsung Shark series, which aims to deliver social networking functions to the entry-level market.

Three models will be available: the candy bar Samsung S5350 Shark, and two sliders – the Shark 2 S5550 and the more basic S3550, imaginatively dubbed the Shark 3.

Each handset has widgets that let you access Facebook, Myspace, Bebo and other social networks via your homescreen.

The Samsung Communities app then makes a doddle of both uploading to and viewing from Flickr, Photobucket and YouTube.

A press release said:

“The Shark series has been created for active, multimedia-hungry users who value style and design as much as they value constant access to their social networks.”

Sporting a sleek metal body and ergonomic design, the Samsung Shark series proves that entry-level doesn’t necessarily have to feel cheap.

Added functionality includes Mobile Tracker, a security feature that can sends a SOS message to a pre-determined contact whenever the SIM card is changed.

No word on pricing yet, but watch out for Samsung Sharks swimming around our deal pages sometime later this month!