Nokia Lumia 800

Today, Nokia unveiled its first Windows Phone handsets, the Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710.

Nokia Lumia 800

Calling it the "first real Windows Phone," Nokia said it designed the Lumia 800 from the inside out and features a durable polycarbonate plastic body with a curved 3.7-inch ClearBack AMOLED (480x800 pixels) touch screen. It's powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor and has 16GB of internal memory. Users will also be given 25GB of free storage through Microsoft's cloud-based SkyDrive service.

Nokia has always been known for equipping its smartphones with excellent cameras, and it looks like the Lumia 800 will be no different. It comes with an 8-megapixel camera with an f/2.2 Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. It's capable of capturing 720p HD video at 30fps, and the camera app offers various editing options, such as red-eye reduction, motion blur reduction, and white balance controls, and includes an instant-share feature.
In addition to the apps and services provided by Windows Phone, the Lumia 800 will also come preloaded with several apps built specifically for Nokia's devices. This includes an ESPN Sports Hub, Nokia Drive for free, turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation, and Nokia Music and Mix Radio, a free music-streaming service with the ability to create personalized channels.
The Nokia Lumia 800 will be available in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and United Kingdom in November. Pricing is expected to go around 420 euros ($585 U.S.), and you can preorder yours today through Nokia's Web site.

Motorola Droid Bionic

The good: The Motorola Droid Bionic has a nice slim and sleek design, with a 4.3-inch qHD display and the double whammy of a dual-core processor and Verizon 4G LTE support. Multimedia features are plentiful, and business users will be pleased with its enterprise abilities like the Webtop application and solid security. We were also pleased with its long battery life.
The bad: The Motorola Droid Bionic is saddled with Motorola's custom UI, which might not be for everyone. The camera has a slight shutter lag, the display is not as sharp as we would like, and it's also quite expensive. The Webtop accessories aren't cheap.
The bottom line: The Motorola Droid Bionic is everything you want from a high-end smartphone. It's sleek, fast, and powerful, with features that will please both consumers and business users--if you're willing to pay the high price

Since its announcement, however, many other dual-core phones have arrived ahead of it, such as the T-Mobile G2x and Motorola's own Droid X2. The HTC ThunderBolt also beat the Droid Bionic to the punch as Verizon's first 4G LTE phone. The Droid Bionic began to lose its luster, while consumers grew even more impatient for this phone to finally arrive. Even we here at CNET had begun to question whether we would ever see the Droid that had suffered delay after delay.
Nine months later, Motorola is finally ready to give birth. And we have to admit; it was worth the wait. The Droid Bionic that Verizon will have in stores in September is remarkably different from the one we saw in January. The hardware is slimmer, sleeker, and definitely more polished. Indeed, Verizon claims that the Droid Bionic is its thinnest 4G LTE device yet. Also, while there are many dual-core smartphones and Verizon 4G LTE handsets on the market, the Droid Bionic is the first to be both. And we're glad that Motorola wisely ships the phone with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread instead of just Android 2.2.
We've seen its features before on other handsets like the Atrix and the Motorola Photon 4G , but we are still impressed by its multimedia capabilities, enterprise-friendly applications, and the powerful Webtop application that helps turn it from a phone into a portable PC with the aid of accessories like a laptop dock. We were reluctant to embrace this overhyped handset, but in the end, we have to say we're very pleased with its power, speed, and style.
The cost of the phone is why we hesitate in recommending it. The Droid Bionic is $299.99 after a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless. If you want the laptop dock accessory, that's another $299.99, though Verizon will knock $100 off that price if you have a data plan of $50 or more per month. The HD Station dock is around $99.99, and the tiny Webtop adapter is the cheapest option at $29.99.

Sony Ericsson unveils the Xperia ray, Xperia active and txt

The Sony Ericsson Xperia ray is an old friend of ours previously known by its code name, Urushi. The 9.4mm slim smartphone weighs in at just 100 g and packs a 3.3" BRAVIA screen of FWVGA resolution (854 x 480 pixels).
Sony Ericsson Xperia ray comes with an 8.1 megapixel autofocus camera with an Exmor R backlit sensor, capable of capturing 720p video. It's only got 300 MB of user-available memory but the microSD card slot lets your expand that by up to 32 GB.
As is to be expected, the Xperia ray connectivity departments is well geared with dual-band (900/2100 MHz) or tri-band(850, 1900, 2100 MHz) 3G/HSPA, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, microUSB and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Sony Ericsson Xperia ray will be available globally in selected markets from Q3 (our previous tipster mentioned the end of September) in four distinct colors - black, gold, white and pink.

Sony Ericsson Xperia active

The Sony Ericsson Xperia active has SPORTS written all over it (proverbially!). It's a dust proof and water resistant Android smartphone with scratch-resistant screen with wet finger tracking support. Wait what? Yeah, its touchscreen would work just fine registering your sweaty fingers during workouts. Awesome, right? Wait to hear the rest of the specs.
The Xperia active runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and packs a 3-inch Reality display (with Mobile BRAVIA Engine) of HVGA (480 x 320 pixels) resolution, a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, 320MB internal memory and microSD card slot (with 2GB pre-installed card).
The Sony Ericsson Xperia active has a bag full of connectivity tricks too - there is Wireless N with DLNA support, quad-band GSM and dual (or tri)-band HSPA network support, GPS with aGPS and digital compass, Bluetooth, FM radio with RDS and a 3.5mm audio jack is onboard.
The Xperia active runs on the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will come with lots of pre-installed sports apps and is compatible with ANT+ technology for real-time heart rate monitoring much like other Sony Ericsson handsets.
As we said, the Xperia active is dust proof and water resistant and can swim in up to 1 m of water depth for good half an hour. The screen will successfully track your fingers if they are wet from sweat or otherwise. But there is more, Sony Ericsson has included lots of goodies in the retail package to help your phone in your active life - an extra exchangeable back cover, detachable sports ear hooks for the handsfree headset, a wrist strap for your Xperia active and an arm band case.
Sony Ericsson Xperia active will launch in Q3 this year with the pricing yet to be announced.

Sony Ericsson txt

The last announced phone is the Sony Ericsson txt It's a socially-oriented feature phone with 2.6-inch (non-touch) display, a full hardware QWERTY keyboard, an SMS shortcut for instant texting option and a "Friends" app showing the social updates of your top five friends.

The info on the Sony Ericsson txt is pretty scarce so far. The only other available detail is the availability - Q3 this year.

LiveDock and LiveSound

Sony Ericsson has also announced two new accessories compatible with the latest generation of Xperia devices - the LiveDock (a simple docking station for charging) and LiveSound. The latter is a new tangle-free hi-fi headset with a key, which can control some compatible apps (like you can control the iPod/iPhone player with the single key on its headset). Both accessories will become available in Q3 too.

Nokia N9

General	2G network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
	Announced	2011, June
	Status	Coming soon

Size	Dimensions	116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 76 cc
	Weight	135 g

Display	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 854 pixels, 3.9 inches
		- Gorilla glass display - Anti-glare polariser - Multi-touch input method - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off - Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes
		Dolby Mobile sound enhancement; Dolby Headphone support

Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Yes
	Internal	16/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM
	Card slot	No

Data	GPRS	Class 33
	EDGE	Class 33
	3G	HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.7 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB On-the-go support

Camera	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging, face detection, touch-focus
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps
	Secondary	Yes

Features	OS	MeeGo OS, v1.2 Harmattan
	CPU	1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds
	Radio	No
	Games	Angry Birds Magic (NFC), Galaxy on Fire 2, Real Golf 2011; downloadable
	Colors	Black, Cian, Magenta
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.1
		- MicroSIM card support only - SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - Digital compass - TV-out (720p video) via HDMI and composite - NFC support - Dolby Digital Plus via HDMI - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA/FLAC player - MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player - Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), PDF viewer - Video/photo editor - Voice memo/command/dial - Predictive text input (Swype)

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1450 mAh (BV-5JW)
	Stand-by	Up to 380 h (2G) / Up to 450 h (3G)
	Talk Time	Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 50 h

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 preview: First look

Introduction

By losing an inch of screen diagonal and reducing the weight to something you might actually be able to hold longer than 5 minutes, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 hopes to convert more people to the tablet cause. Those who found the 7” Galaxy Tab too limiting and the 10.1” slates too heavy to take anywhere other than your couch will certainly appreciate the effort.
This could be the next evolutionary step in Android tablets. An ultra-slim slate with powerful hardware, lower weight than we expected and an impressive screen created by the world’s number-two-soon-to-be-number-one manufacturer. It definitely looks like a winner on paper (and not the Charlie Sheen kind, mind you).

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 3G at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Tablet
• Dimensions: 230.9 x 157.8 x 8.6 mm, 470 g
• Display: 8.9" 16M-color WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen
• CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset
• RAM: 1GB
• OS: Android 3.1 Honeycomb
• Memory: 16/32/64 GB storage
• Camera: 3.15 megapixel auto-focus camera with 720p video recording; LED flash, 2 megapixel front facing camera, video-calls
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, standard microUSB port,GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio, HDMI TV-out (through an adapter), USB host (adapter required)
• Misc: TouchWiz customization, telephony, DivX/XviD codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, Swype text input

Android tablets may have been off to a slow start, but no one can deny that they’ve been improving at an amazing rate. Only a few months after the release of Honeycomb we already have at least a dozen intriguing tablets, including the Transformer with its detachable multi-functional keyboard, the Acer ICONIA Tab A500 with its competitive price and the XOOM with its hopefully-soon-to be-enabled LTE connectivity.
Yet the not quite polished Android 3.0 OS has been holding all those tablets back. Lagging, lack of support for all the features (like the USB host or microSD card) and low number of optimized apps used to be the deal-breakers.
Well, Google has already addressed most of the performance issues with the 3.1 update and developers have been hard at work on delivering those apps so iOS might finally get itself some proper competition.
Good timing for the Galaxy Tab 8.9 then, which may as well see its prospects soar.

Samsung Infuse 4G review: Extra legroom

Introduction

In America, it is widely believed that bigger is better. Or so Samsung must have thought when they decided to launch the phone with the biggest and brightest screen first in the United States, and with the biggest network – AT&T. The Samsung Infuse 4G is definitely meant to stand out – its 4.5” Super AMOLED Plus screen is nearly unmatched on the market, and a beauty to look at. It makes 4-inchers look petty and irrelevant.

Despite its humongous screen, the Samsung Infuse 4G has an impressively thin body. At 8.99 mm, it is only a tad thicker than a Galaxy S2. It does have an excuse though – it’s packing a larger screen than the current Samsung flagship. That’s the spirit.

Key Features

• Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
• 4.5" 16M-color Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution
• 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 512 MB of RAM
• 8 MP wide-angle lens auto focus camera with LED flash, face, smile and blink detection
• 720p video recording at 30fps
• Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g and n support
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass
• 16GB internal storage, microSD slot
• Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Charging MHL microUSB port with USB host and TV-out (1080p) support
• Stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• FM radio with RDS
• Great audio quality
• Super slim and lightweight at 8.99mm and 139g
• 1.3MP secondary camera, video-call
• Full Flash support and GPU-acceleration enable 1080p flash video playback in the web browser
• Document editor
• File manager preinstalled
• The richest video format support we’ve seen

Main disadvantages

• All-plastic build
• No dedicated camera key
• Super slim body has poor grip when taking pictures
• Single-core processor
• No 1080p video recording despite having the same camera unit as the Galaxy S2
• Sheer size raises questions about single-handed use
• Non-hot-swappable memory card slot
• The device ships with Android 2.2 (Froyo), not the latest Gingerbread

Certain comparisons are not in the Samsung Infuse 4G’s favor. It looks like a flagship, but it’s not quite there. The Infuse just doesn’t have the raw processing power of the Galaxy S2. What’s fair’s fair though – it does look even more impressive.

Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 review: Utility droid

Introduction

Samsung’s QWERTY messengers have not exactly been setting the world on fire. They have done well though to set the scene for this one. The Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 follows on the heels of Omnia and Corby. It puts Android in a time-tested form factor and is ready to entertain upgraders coming from dumbphones and PocketPCs alike.
The Galaxy Pro has a clear objective – deliver the full Android experience, a good social package and hassle-free messaging. What does it need to meet those tasks? Well, a comfortable QWERTY keyboard obviously, possibly a touchscreen, enough processing power and at least some basic shooting skills to capture the important moments. Of course, a messenger is nothing without a proper OS and this is where the Android Froyo comes in. But let’s see what else the Galaxy Pro has to offer.

Key features

• 2.8" 256K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) resolution
• Full four-row QWERTY keyboard
• ARMv6 800MHz CPU, 270MB RAM, 180MB of user-available storage
• Android 2.2.2 (Froyo) with TouchWiz 3.0 UI
• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n with hotspot functionality
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
• 3.15 MP autofocus camera
• QVGA video recording @30fps
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• microSD slot (up to 32GB, 2GB in box)
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Document viewer out of the box, paid editing
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Light and compact
• Smart dialing

Main disadvantages

• The QVGA screen looks bad and limits the choice of apps
• Portrait homescreen ported to landscape takes some time getting used to
• QVGA-only video recording
• No shutter key
• No Adobe Flash support in the browser
• No secondary video-call camera
• No ambient light sensor
• No dedicated video player app
• No multi-touch
• Android 2.2 Froyo, instead of latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread

It should be clear by now the Galaxy Pro B7510 isn’t your typical Android powerhouse for HD video, quality imaging or heavy-duty internet browsing. Gaming is out of the picture too. To be honest, the Galaxy Pro doesn’t quite make the grade as a BlackBerry competitor. To make up for it, it is social and friendly – and a great texter too. Virtual keyboards have been getting better but the Galaxy Pro’s superbly laid-out keypad is the prefect addition to Gmail.
So the Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 it is and, although this is not the typical Android package, let’s hope the experience is up to scratch. With a handful of Samsung Ch@ts, Corbies and Omnia messengers gone almost unnoticed, we’re about to see if our Galaxy Pro here has what it takes to leave a mark. Our traditional hardware check-up is due right after the break..