Many people are not familiar with Oppo Brand, especially as a Smartphone maker. However, for some people already know this brand as a Blu-Ray maker, a good one. It seems that this company wants to spread their wings and also selling a Smartphone.
For their first flagship, which is Oppo Find 5 it has many WOW factors, such as Quad Core Krait processor, Continue reading
Different countries, different names. Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570 has several other names. For example, it’s called Galaxy Next on Italy and Galaxy Pop on India. Now, this considered successful Android phone has its successor. No, we’re not talking about Galaxy Mini 2, but what we talking about are Samsung Galaxy GT-S5570i (there is an “i” letter on the back of the series). This phone called Pop Plus in India; Next Turbo in Italy and in some Asia, it’s called Galaxy Mini Pop Plus. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of this phone? Is it better than its predecessor? To find out, read our Samsung Galaxy Pop Plus (Next Turbo) S5570i review this time.
Note:
Other names of Samsung GT-S5570: Galaxy Mini or Galaxy Next or Galaxy Pop
Other names of Samsung GT-S5570i: Galaxy Mini Pop Plus or Galaxy Next Turbo or Galaxy Pop Plus (They add “Turbo” or “Plus” Word)
Just for your information, in some country, the Pop Plus sales Package is written Samsung Galaxy Mini! Thus many people don’t know that their device is not the same as the original Mini (S5570). However, there is a hint to differentiate Mini with Next Turbo / Pop Plus. If you find a “Faster 832 MHz” sticker on the box, then the device is the S5570i (Turbo/Plus).
Samsung Galaxy Pop Plus
Samsung Galaxy Mini Pop Plus use 3.14 (240×320 pixels) capacitive screen, 3.15 MP (2048×1536) Fixed Focus Camera without flash, mono loudspeaker on the back, and 1200 mAh battery capacity. For all specifications mention before, include the additional phone sensor, the spec is similar, even we can say it’s same with S5570. To make this article short, I won’t review the Next Turbo design, screen quality, camera, audio quality and battery performance. If you need further information about those specs, you can read: Samsung Galaxy Mini Review Click Here.
Samsung Galaxy Next Turbo
What makes Samsung Galaxy Mini (or SGM to make it short) and Pop Plus/Next Turbo different is the Processor and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) used on the device. Those two hardware’s have a big impact on the overall Android phone performance. That’s why in this Samsung Galaxy Pop Plus review, I will concentrate to discuss on the performance, gaming capability and the pros and cons of this phone if compared with the SGM.
Pop Plus use Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. There is no problem or delay when switching between menus, it’s quick and responsive. This is because the phone use 832 MHz processor on small resolution (240×320 pixel) screen, therefore it only take a little procie resources to process the graphic displayed on the screen. The Next Turbo S5570i performance is not much different than Mini. However, because the Plus use faster processor, the performance is slightly better if we use it to open or edit office application or any data processing apps.
There many people or other websites said that the Pop Plus or Next Turbo doesn’t have GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). This is untrue, because when we install Quadrant application, it read that this smartphone GPU is Broadcom Series. The GPU itself is a processor that specifically has a function to process graphics and is have a big influence on the gaming performance. When we test this Android phone using benchmark app Quadrant, this phone score is 1160 (Above Samsung Galaxy S). With Neocore Benchmark apps, it gets 30-20 FPS (Frame per Second). GT-S5570i can play 2D and 3D games pretty well. Most of (not all) game downloaded from Google Play Store running smooth without problem.
To directly compare the both phones is quite difficult. This is due the difference in the GPU used. SGM use GPU Adreno 200, while Pop Plus or Next Turbo uses Broadcom series. Therefore some game title that playable on Mini not necessarily can run well on S5570i and vice versa. If we use it to play 2D games, both of this smartphone have similar performance, most games will run OK.
The problem raise when we try to install intense graphic 3D games on Galaxy Pop Plus. In this sector, the Galaxy Mini performs better in term of compatibility. Adreno series is one of the GPU that widely used for Android phone, hence many game developers will optimized their apps so it can run smooth on device that use Adreno. We can say that on STANDARD condition, the game title that playable on SGM S5570 is larger than S5570i.
However, it doesn’t mean that Samsung Galaxy Next Turbo can’t play 3D games. Some of popular games titles are playable on this phone. For example: Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, GT Racing: Motor Academy, The Sims 3, and some others. If you want the S 5570i support much more 3D games, there is a trick you can take, which is by rooting the phone (Read: What is root Android) then after that installing Chainfire 3D application.
Galaxy Mini Pop Plus or Next Turbo use 832 MHz processor that faster than the previous Mini / Pop that use 600 MHz procie. However we can say that this is not a significant upgrade.
To compare the S5570 with S5570i, I use Android application called Quadrant and Neocore. The function of both apps is to test Android phone (or tablet) performance. Quadrant app has a function to test processor, memory and graphic performance. For Neocore, it is more focusing to test the graphic performance.
The result? When we use Quadrant, the S5570i (Pop Plus / Next Turbo) get 1160 points score, better than Mini that get 600 points (use Froyo OS) and 870 point for Mini / Pop that use Gingerbread OS. This means, for everyday use, for example for multi-tasking, opening office file, browsing internet, etc., the Pop Plus S5570i will be more responsive. However, for gaming capability, especially for 3D games, the old Mini is more reliable. Which one is better? It depends on your needs. Regards 🙂
If Sony Ericsson (Sony) have Xperia series and Samsung have Galaxy’s, then HTC have “One” Series on its lineup. HTC One variant is not as much as their competitor, but it seems that this Taiwanese producer will use this series to compete in the Android smartphone market. At the time this article written, at least there are three variant of HTC One device that already available in the market. They are HTC One X with quad core processor, HTC One S with dual core processor and the last HTC One V with only single core processor that I will review this time.
HTC One V price is approximately 320-340 USD unlocked on June 2012. Price may vary in different country. At that price range, this product will compete with Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, Samsung Galaxy W, Huawei Honor and some others Android cellphone. What are this phone pros and cons? Is it worth to buy? If you want to know, don’t go anywhere; read our HTC One V review below.
Sales package may vary in other region.
This Android phone have measurement 120.3 x 59.7 x 9.2 mm with weight at 115 g. HTC One v design has HTC Legend characteristic, which is it has a curvature at the bottom that looks like a chin. In my personal opinion, it looks attractive. The body is using unibody structure that makes it looks solid and strong.
HTC One V - Front
On the front side, there is earpiece above the screen, at the side of it, there are proximity and light sensor. At below the screen there three touch button which are (from left to right) the BACK button, HOME button and the Task Manager (Recent Apps) button. On the left of the phone, there is Micro USB port and on the right side, there are Volume rocker button. At the top, there are universal 3.5 mm audio jack, LED notification light and the power (lock) button. I love the LED notification light since many Android devices don’t have one. Besides that, I love the placement at the top because I’m still able to see it blinking even when I put the device facing down.
HTC One V - Side
At the bottom of the phone, there is only a microphone hole. While at the back, there is the camera lens with the LED flash light on its side. Loud speaker is located at the bottom of the back side. Since this Android using unibody design, so the user will not be able to remove or change the battery. The only part you can remove is only to change the SIM and Micro SD card. To remove SD card, it can be done without have to shut down the phone. But the user must “safely remove” (unmount) sdcard from Settings Menu first before removing card.
HTC One V - Gaming
There is one feature that I miss from HTC Legend that not exist one the V, which is the absence of track pad. Overall, HTC One V build quality is good and even it’s better than some of more expensive Android phone. When you hold it in your palm, it feels solid, not too heavy yet too light.
This Android ICS smartphone is using 3.7 inch screen with 480 x 800 pixels resolution. The screen type is capacitive that sensitive with the touch of your finger. The screen is not an AMOLDE nor IPS type, but the quality is more than enough to please your eye. The color that shows on the screen is vivid with good contrast. The screen already support multi touch, so you can zoom in and out by pinching the screen when you open the Gallery, Browser or other supported applications.
At the moment, HTC One V is one of the few device that already installed with the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system (without have to upgrade first). But this is quite normal, because One V is available on the market just about two months ago. Like other HTC devices, the V also uses “Sense” for its interface skin. Therefore, it makes the interface is looking not as pure Ice Cream Sandwich OS.
HTC One V use Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon at 1GHz clock speed, 512 RAM, plus Adreno 205 GPU (Graphic Processing Unit). The specification used on this phone is typical and not much different than its competitor at the same price range. In fact, the GPU and the processor are same as Xperia Neo and Play. If compared to Samsung Galaxy W and Huawei Honor, the processor is still from same series (Qualcomm MSM8255), but “W” and “Honor” use the “turbo” version that running higher clock speed.
With that spec, One V is still able to run HD (High Definition) game. At our test unit, the device is already installed Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2012 and ShadowGun. When we try to play it, the PES can perform well without lag. ShadowGun can run quite well but with some lag in some parts, especially when the many enemy appear on the game and at the graphic intense scene. But overall, it is still playable. Just for note, to ensure this phone perform well when playing games, it is suggested to use SD card with good quality, at least Class 6 SDcard. (Read: What is SD card Class click here)
For everyday use, this smartphone performance is quite ok. The interface looks good and smooth, there will be no lag to switch between screen menu, even it is smoother than some of dual core processor Android gadget that I tried. I must admit that HTC is one of the very few manufacturers that can create interface that looks pretty, have many extra feature but still responsive. You will notice some lag when you open multiple heavy applications at the same time. For example, when you open some excel file with a lot of data and you also open the browser. But this condition is normal happened on single core device.
This Android is able to capture still image up to 5MP (2592×1552 pixels) resolution. It has LED flash light and autofocus. It also can record a video up to 720p (1280×720 pixels) resolution. Unfortunately, the HTC One V doesn’t equip with front camera, so it will be a little bit troublesome for you who need to use video call.
If we saw the HTC One series advertisements, it seems that the camera and video feature is one of the major advantages from this series. Some of the features offered are:
The camera interface is quite unique, if in most of other Android phone we have to switch between photo mode and video mode, then this condition is different in HTC One V, they combine the interface in one screen. You will find two virtual buttons that have a function to take a picture and video. You can look the interface below:
HTC One V Camera & Video interface
If you want to record a clip, you just have to click the Video icon. While you record a video, you can click the Camera button to take a full screen picture while the recording still continue. There are a lot of extra features you can find, such as touch focus that have a function to determine the point of focus by touching at the screen, face detection, smile shutter, and other photo effect such as distortion, vignette, color adjustment (sepia, etc.), HDR, Panorama and many more. For zero shutter feature, in my experience, it’s not a completely zero second to take picture from one to another, however it still faster than most of Android phone out there.
For the camera quality, we can say it is good for 5MP class. The resulted image shows a lot of detail, quite sharp and full of color. The ability to take a picture in a very short time and in low light condition is a plus side on this sector. For the video quality, it’s quite OK but not special. The video shows good color with acceptable detail. When you record a fast object, sometimes it shows a little bit lag, but this is commonly happen for a single core phone.
HTC One V equipped with Beats Audio technology. You can only feel the benefit of this feature when using headset or connected to external speakers. For the audio quality, I can say it’s good, we can hear the clean and powerful bass. However if it compared to other high end HTC devices that also use Beats Audio, the sound quality of HTC One V is not as good as them. This cell phone is also having FM Radio, but you can’t use the Beats for it. For the loud speaker quality is so so, it is loud enough but the quality is not so good.
The video player application on this phone can play a movie up to 720p resolution, but it also depends on the video bitrate. We found that some of 720p video with high bitrate not running so smooth, it can run but with some lag. The player doesn’t support some of video format such as .mkv and .flv, however you can easily install third party application from Google Play Store for free to handle the situation. Combined with a good quality screen, this Android phone can fulfill the need for those who love to watch a movie on the go.
The V is using Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery. At normal usage, the phone can standby for one full day without have to recharge it. However, it also depend on the signal strength of the network provider. Compared to most of other Android phones, the One V battery performance is on the average, not so good but not bad either.
If you are looking for a smartphone that attractive and look premium, then HTC One V can be one of your main choices. The phone performance is ok event thought it’s not prominent from others. The camera feature is complete, you won’t need to install third party application to enhance or add camera effect. Also, it has some feature that you can’t find on other Android device except the HTC One series. The Ice Cream Sandwich plus HTC Sense 4.0 is also an advantage you can get. One of the major flaws from this cellphone is the absence of front camera that it is important for some people.
It seems Samsung targeting all segments in their Android line up. They produce from high end, mid end to low end or entry level products. Previously, Galaxy Mini is the cheapest variant in Galaxy Family but now is replaced by the Samsung Galaxy Young. Will this product will be as successful as Mini? How the performance? What are the pros and cons? If you want to know, read this review further more. Continue reading
Galaxy Note is one of the Samsung flagship products. It seems they put a lot of efforts promoting it. Is it worth to buy? What are this phone (or tablet) advantages and disadvantages? If you are curious, read our complete review below. Continue reading