samsung galaxy A5

Samsung Galaxy A5 review

KEY FEATURES

• Full metal unibody design
• Snapdragon 615 CPU
• 13-megapixel main camera
• 5MP front-facing camera
• 16GB internal memory 2GB RAM
• 4G
• Manufacturer: Samsung
• Review Price: £349.00

WHAT IS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 (2016)?

Samsung has mastered the high-end with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, but it has always struggled a with affordable devices. This is because Samsung kept skimping on important features to save money.

That changed with 2015’s Galaxy A5, and even more so with the updated 2016 version. The Galaxy A5 (2016) ticks all the right boxes; good screen, fast camera and sleek design. But it’s still not perfect, and some of Samsung’s older issues come back to haunt it.

SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 (2016) – DESIGN

Remember Samsung’s Galaxy Alpha from 2014? A lot of people don’t, but this minor release was vitally important. It was a turning point where Samsung shifted its design focus and began creating handsets capable of standing beside the iPhone visually. The A5 (2016), like last year’s version, is the spiritual successor to the Alpha.

It’s all metal and glass, with rounded corners and a flat back. It lacks the curved sides that make the Galaxy S7 such a pleasure to hold, but it’s still comfortable in hand.

Metal phones in this price-range are far from rare, Honor and OnePlus have been doing it for a while, but none feel quite as good as this. The volume buttons and lock switch have a satisfying click, while the microUSB port and speaker grilles on the bottom are finely cut and precise. The headphone jack sits on the bottom too, a design choice I’m always on board with.

The Galaxy A5 is slightly taller than both the Galaxy S7 and S6, but ever so slightly lighter.

As is typical with just about every Samsung phone, there’s a home button sitting below the screen. Tucked inside is a fingerprint scanner that’s about as fast as the one on the S7, but it seems much less accurate. It can’t compete with the Honor phones for unlocking speed, but it’s absolutely fine.

There’s a strong hint of the Galaxy S6 here, and it’s still a fingerprint magnet. Use the phone for 5-minutes and it will be covered in marks and smudges. There are a couple of improvements in design though; the ugly blue colour scheme has gone for a much nicer black and there’s almost no camera hump.

The Galaxy A5 is easily one of the sleekest looking phones at this price-range. It feels much sturdier than the OnePlus X (£199) and it’s much nicer than the plastic Nexus 5X.

SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 (2016) – DISPLAY

Samsung’s displays have long been regarded as the pinnacle of mobile screens, with the Galaxy S7 currently the best out there.

While the A5 isn’t going to match its classier brothers for visual fidelity, it’s still a great display for the price.

It’s 5.2-inches, with a 1080p resolution and uses Super AMOLED tech which is the killer feature.

It’s bright, vivid and oh so colourful just as you’d expect from AMOLED. If you prefer something a little more true to life, there are a number of screen modes to choose from. I like the default one myself, but it’s all down to personal preference.

Whites can sometimes look a little muddy, but blacks are deep and bright colours have multiple levels of vibrancy. Outdoor visibility isn’t great though, unless you jack the brightness up (or keep the rather uneven auto-brightness on) all the way. Thanks to the dense resolution, pixels are universally hard to spot unless you get really really close.

Sony Xperia Z5

Sony Xperia Z5 review

Update: We've put the Sony Xperia Z5 through speed, battery and camera tests against many of the latest flagships and updated this review to reflect our findings.

Something feels different with the Sony Xperia Z5. After years of too-hasty handset updates from Sony with minimal enhancements (the Xperia Z3+ back in May was no exception), this finally feels like a worthwhile advance on the previous model.

• Buy Sony Xperia Z5 at Amazon for $498.44

The problem is, does anyone really need a new phone from Sony? The Xperia Z1only launched in 2013, the same year as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. That's not very long ago at all – one upgrade cycle for people stuck in two year contracts, who will now be getting a phone four iterations along the line if they stay Sony-loyal.

• Save £99 on the Xperia Z5 with Black Friday code BLAFRIZ5

But the Xperia Z5 feels like a different tack from Sony, and after the mess of the Xperia Z3+ it's good to see some real change.

Sony has also followed Microsoft's Windows 10 example and skipped a number, for the non-Japanese market at least: the Xperia Z3+ was called the Xperia Z4 in Japan, a muddle that the company has now resolved by jumping straight to Z5.

Sony's Xperia Z5 comes alongside the Xperia Z5 Compact and the Xperia Z5 Premium. The Xperia Z5 sits in the middle of the price scale and the same goes for its specs.

In the UK, it's had a pre-release price drop on Sony's official store, from the original listing of £599 (about AU$1,249) to £549 (about AU$1,144). That original price may have been a placeholder, but it seems more likely to be a revision of strategy as it tries to land in a very congested flagship smartphone market.

In the US, there's been no official price drop, since this GSM-only phone still costs $599 through several retail channels. But you can find it for $539 on Amazon. Just don't go looking for a subsidized deal at Verizon or AT&T, because Sony launched this phone without carrier store support.

samsung galaxy A3

Samsung Galaxy A3 review

KEY FEATURES

• 4.7-inch 720p display
• Exynos 7580 (Snapdragon 410)
• 1.5GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage
• 16GB internal storage and microSD
• Android 5.1.1
• 2,300mAh battery
• Manufacturer: Samsung
• Review Price: £210.00

WHAT IS THE GALAXY A3?

Everybody is talking about the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge, but these flagship phones don’t come cheap. If you aren’t bothered about 4K video, fingerprint readers or quad-HD screens then the Galaxy A3 might be right up your street.

The Galaxy A3 is a surprisingly capable mid-range phone. You get the classy, glass and metal body introduced by last year’s Galaxy S6, a vibrant 4.7-inch AMOLED screen and above-average battery life for half the price of Samsung’s top-end Galaxy S7. It isn’t perfect, but for the price you can’t go wrong.

GALAXY A3 – DESIGN

We usually associate budget or mid-range phones with being cheap and plasticky. The good news is that aside from being a little smaller, the A3 is virtually indistinguishable from the Galaxy S6, which is one of the most attractive phones on the market.

It’s also a refreshing change to be able to use a phone one-handed. At 4.7-inches, your thumb can reach almost all of the screen without having to resort to the finger acrobats required on larger phones.

At 132g and 7.3mm thick, the A3 is easy to hold and sits comfortably in your hand thanks to its rounded corners.

If you’ve used a Samsung phone before, you’ll be familiar with the phone’s layout. The Home button (sans fingerprint reader) and the flanking capacitive return and recently used menu buttons make use of the bezel, rather than taking up screen real-estate in the form of the on-screen buttons used by the majority of Android phones.

Unlike Samsung’s flagship S7, the A3 isn’t water- or dust-resistant. We’d happy if it were simply fingerprint resistant – the glass body so easily picks up smudges and fingerprints that you’d be wise to keep a micro-fibre cloth handy!
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-galaxy-a3-review#vwt8wRHyUBaRtVhJ.99

samsung galaxy Tab 4

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4  review:

the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4's meager specs and humble design make it easy to pass over in a sea of budget Android devices. But don't be too hasty, as it is worth your consideration. It has a pretty good HD display, coupled with capable performance for general use, an IR blaster and Samsung's vast array of added functionality, including Multi Window for optimized multitasking.

And it's available for just $180 (after a $20 instant rebate) in the US and £159 in the UK. That's a fair price for what you're getting, and you won't really go wrong with the Galaxy Tab 4. But if you're willing to shop around, there are plenty of other, and better options.

Editors' note: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 is identical to the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook ; parts of this review are similar.

The Galaxy Tab 4 isn't much of a looker: you're getting a plastic slab in your choice of white or black. It weighs just over half a pound (9.76 ounces/277 g) and is 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide, making it comfortable enough to hold aloft for extended periods of time. The back is smooth, and while it's not exactly grippy or textured it's also not slippery, and feels nice in my hands. Admittedly, it's not the most satisfying of devices to use or hold, but it's leagues ahead of cheaper tablets like the $99Toshiba Excite Go , which sacrificed much to hit a low price point.

The Tab 4's headphone jack sits up top, while the Micro-USB charging port sits on the bottom. The physical home button is flanked on either side by the capacitive back and app-switcher buttons on the lower bezel. The lock switch and volume control rocker are on the right side, while the microSD card slot sits on the bottom right, hidden by a flap that's secure, but fairly easy to open when you need to. There's also an IR blaster on the side, so you can use the tablet as a remote control with the Samsung WatchOn app.

Nokia lumia 1020

Nokia Lumia 1020 review


  youcan sum up the Nokia Lumia 1020 in three words: 41, megapixel, camera.

It's the Lumia 1020's high-octane shooter -- along with Nokia's custom camera app -- that defines this next marquee Windows Phone 8 device, and that gives mobile photographers a reason to salivate. In the 1020, Nokia pushes the smartphone camera envelope with a combination of raw image-capturing prowess and close-cropping capability that makes it one of the most artistically able smartphone cameras we've tested.

Would we ditch our point-and-shoot cameras and rely on the Lumia 1020 instead? For day-to-day and weekend events, absolutely; the 1020 is the ultimate in convenience and approaches point-and-shoot quality. However, based on our tests so far, Nokia still has a ways to go before it can completely supplant the need for a higher-level standalone camera. We'd take it away for the weekend, but wouldn't use it to shoot our kid's first birthday.

Like the 16-megapixel Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom (reviewed), the Lumia 1020 is a niche device. Casual users may not venture from automatic settings and may not notice much difference in image quality unless they frequently crop photos tightly. Of course, the S4 Zoom's optical zoom element gives the 1020 a run for its money where that's concerned. However, overall, the 1020 offers often technically better images in a much more portable chassis.

The 1020's $299.99 on-contract price with AT&T is too steep for casual users, who can capture high-quality everyday stills and videos with handsets that cost $200 or less. Serious photographers, however, will appreciate the phone's genuine two-in-one capabilities. The Lumia 1020 also is sold globally.

Design and build

The first thing you're probably asking yourself is if owning the Lumia 1020 is like carrying a bulky point-and-shoot camera in your pocket. Blessedly, it is not.

Compared with the chunky Galaxy S4 Zoom and bulbous Nokia 808 PureView (the company's first attempt at a 41-megapixel phone), the Lumia 1020 seems only slightly thicker than the Lumia 920 and 928, both of which it physically resembles.

Dimensions of 5.1 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide are pretty standard, and the 1020 measures 0.4 inch thick throughout most of its body. It's that large camera module on the back (about 1.75 inches in diameter) that protrudes a full 0.51 inch from the phone's face.

That means the phone won't lie flat on its back, which is surprisingly sometimes helpful when the face tilts toward you as if on a stand. Amazingly, I did carry the phone around in my back pocket for long stretches without noticing it too much. When I held it, my fingers adjusted to grip the 1020 below its bulge.

Keeping the phone this slim was quite the design feat, especially when you compare the 1020 with the chunky S4 Zoom, which is shaped more like a point-and-shoot with a smartphone attached.

Samsung galaxy Note3

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 review

KEY FEATURES

• 5.7-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen
• 32GB internal memory with microSD slot
• Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz CPU
• Android 4.3 with TouchWiz
• 13-megapixel main camera with LED flash
• Manufacturer: Samsung
• Review Price: £619.99

WHAT IS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3?

The Galaxy Note 3 is a slightly large-screened Android phone equipped with a Wacom digitiser stylus. The bigger brother to the Galaxy S5 it’s also arguably a lot more interesting, although at £600 SIM-free the additional benefits come at a price. There are quite a few aspects of the phone we're not totally enamoured with, particulry regarding some of Samsung's design decisions, but this is a great phone for gadget lovers and geeks alike.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3 – DESIGN

There's no hiding it, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a very large phone. Saying that, it's still not quite in the same league as huge mobiles like the Galaxy Mega 6.3 and Xperia Z Ultra. You won’t feel entirely ridiculous putting it to your ear, and holding it in one hand is not too much of a struggle. Samsung has actually managed to make the Galaxy Note 3 narrower than the Galaxy Note 2, even though the new phone has a larger 5.7-inch display

While this is an impressive feat by Samsung we should not forget that the phone is still 8cm wide. If you crave a phone that you can easily use one-handed, then this is not it. For a bit of context, the iPhone 5S is just 5.8cm wide.

The Note 3 is also among the first Galaxy phones not to use a glossy rear plastic cover. Samsung has tried to fool us into thinking the Note 3 has a leather rear. It looks like leather, from a distance, and the battery cover has fake stitching around its outer edges. But make no mistake – this is not leather.

So what is it? It’s rubberised plastic with a leather-effect grain to give it a frictional quality of the real thing.

Take the battery cover off and you’ll see quite how similar it actually is to the back of the Galaxy S4 and Note 2. It’s thin, bendy and plastic. And while it doesn’t feel bad as such, we prefer the aluminium of the HTC One M8 and the matt plastic of the Nokia Lumia 925.

Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-review#ImF74b0mauQ5LEtj.99

samsung galaxy j7

Samsung galaxy j7 review

Introduction

Samsung's J-lineup may be following the Galaxy S and A-series from a respectful distance - but is in perfect lockstep in terms of upgrades. While the flagship pair and the upper midrange A-series are understandably grabbing the global headlines, the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) was first announced for a number of Asian markets.

The affordable J-series are betting big on India - where the big-screened ringleader has been a popular choice. However, we found the original Samsung Galaxy J7 quite capable of making a splash in Europe too, and it didn't disappoint.

Less than a year later, the new generation is out and it looks perfectly happy with simply putting a proven formula to work.

The Galaxy J7 (2016) gets a new metal finish, a bigger battery and Marshmallow on top of a more recent, and slightly more capable, chipset. All welcome upgrades for the most prominent of the J-series but that's all Samsung could afford and stay on budget.

Just like the original, the 2016 model is offered in two versions on different markets: you can get either a Snapdragon or an Exynos chipset. The difference is negligible though, considering they both have eight Cortex-A53's.

Here go the rest of the specifications at hand.

Key features

• Dual-SIM, Dual Standby capability, microSIM
• 5.5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen of 720p resolution and 268ppi
• Exynos 7870 ; octa-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53; Mali-T830 GPU
• 2GB of RAM, 16GB of inbuilt storage, microSD slot (up to 128GB)
• 13MP main camera with f/1.9 lens, LED flash, 1080p@30fps video recording
• 5MP front camera with LED flash, f/2.0 lens, 1080p@30fps video recording
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with TouchWiz
• LTE Cat.4, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth v4.0; NFC, GPS, GLONASS, microUSB 2.0 port, USB host
• 3,300mAh removable battery
• Plastic back, metal frame

• Main disadvantages

  • No noise canceling mic
  • Only 2.4GHz Wi-Fi
  • No MHL (but USB OTG is supported)
  Curiously, the very first announcement of the Galaxy J7's 2016-edition revealed a 1080p screen bur we can now officially confirm that this version of the phone will only be available in China.
  The rest of the specs are more or less identical between the 2015 and 2016 editions. Obviously, the quality of selfies is still an important selling point, so the Galaxy J7 (2016) packs an updated 5MP front-facer with a fast f/1.9 aperture and an LED flash

samsung galaxy j5

Samsung Galaxy j5

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Introduction

The Galaxy J5 (2016) is the centerpiece of the company's mid-range portfolio for the year. With its predecessor becoming a huge hit in developing markets, the company really needs the 2016 model to come out good and help keep Chinese makers at bay.

A quick glance at the specs sheet shows that Samsung followed the "If it's not broken, don't fix it" saying to the letter. With the internals mostly unchanged, Samsung chose to focus on the design instead, hoping that the metal body will help its offering stand out

You also get a bigger battery and the screen grew by .2", but that's mostly it with other changes being so minor that they mostly fall in the adjustments category. Here's the full scoop.

Key features

• Aluminum frame around plastic body with an exchangeable back cover
• 5.2" Super AMOLED display of 1280 x 720px resolution; 267 ppi
• Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 chipset; quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Adreno 306 GPU; 2GB of RAM;
• 16GB of built-in memory; microSD card slot (up to 128GB)
• 13 MP main camera with f/1.9 aperture; phase detect autofocus; LED flash; face detection; 1080p video recording
• 5MP front-facing camera with f/1.9 aperture; LED flash
• Cat. 4 LTE (150/50Mbps); Wi-Fi b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.1; GPS/GLONASS/BDS; microUSB; NFC
• 3100mAh Li-Ion battery, user-removable
• 
  

Main disadvantages

• Entry-level chipset
• No noise canceling mic
• Only 2.4GHz Wi-Fi

The metal frame gives you a piece of mind as well as a nice feel in the hand. We'd certainly appreciate a bit of premium feel in an otherwise mid-range offering. However, it would mean nothing if it comes at the expense of proper smartphone experience. And since Samsung didn't feel the need to change the processing power from the previous generation Galaxy J5 we'd be sure to carefully check that. Perhaps supplying the newer Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and bumping the RAM to 2GB is all it took to keep the J5 (2016) relevant.

Huawei P9

Huawei P9 review

KEY FEATURES

• Dual lens camera setup
• Kirin CPU
• 3GB RAM
• 5.2-inch FHD display
• 3000mAh battery
• Android Marshmallow with EMUI
• Manufacturer: Huawei
• Review Price: £449.00

WHAT IS THE HUAWEI P9?

Since the arrival of the Nokia 808 PureView manufacturers have been battling ever harder to create the very finest phone camera. We've seen everything from mainstream adoption of optical image stabilisation to custom technologies like LG’s laser autofocus and HTC’s Ultrapixels – which reappeared on the new HTC 10.

The P9 is Huawei’s stab at the title and sees the firm team up with photography legend Leica to create what it’s calling “the ultimate camera-phone”.

It features a nifty dual-lens rear camera setup similar to the one Apple’s rumoured to be working on for its fabled iPhone 7, and there’s definitely some truth to Huawei's claim. But be warned, its custom imaging software shares some of proper Leica cameras' “eccentricities”. This, combined with ongoing issues with Huawei's EMUI Android skin, make the P9 a good, but not great, smartphone.

HUAWEI P9 – DESIGN

2016 has been a great year for Android fans, and seen the release of some of the prettiest smartphones ever. Highlights have included the super-swish Samsung Galaxy S7, the awesomely metal HTC 10 and the modular LG G5.

The P9 stands alongside these stellar handsets on the design front and is the best-looking smartphone Huawei’s ever made. It has an undeniable iPhone 6S-ish feel, featuring a unibody metal chassis with flat sides. The metal, combined with the P9’s almost bezel-free display gives the phone a feel that's on par with any 2016 flagship I’ve tested.

Huawei’s also loaded the P9 with a decent portfolio of connectivity. At its bottom you’ll find a USB Type-C port, and along its long right-hand side you’ll find a Nano SIM and microSD card slot. The microSD will let you add a further 128GB of space to the phone’s inbuilt 32GB/64GB. But be warned, if you’re planning on taking advantage of the microSD, the P9 doesn’t support Android Marshmallow's Adoptable Storage feature.

Adoptable Storage lets you instruct your phone to treat SD card storage like native storage – meaning you can do things like install apps directly to the SD card. On past handsets, such as the HTC One A9, I’ve found the feature massively helpful, as it let me walk around with my entire music and games library downloaded with space to spare.

There's a good reason why Huawei, and other phone makers including Samsung and LG, are turning Adoptable Storage off. Running Adoptable Storage means you can’t swap the SD card out without damaging/impacting the smartphone’s performance. Using a cheap SD card will also hamper the phone’s overall performance, so Huawei’s decision is understandable, albeit a little disappointing in my mind.

samsung galaxy Note5

Samsung Galaxy Note5

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 is the latest in the line that introduced us to the concept of a phablet in the first place. Following the Galaxy S-line's adoption of glass and metal, Samsung's taken the premium build to the Note series.

All is not great, and productivity features have been scrapped, just like the in the mainstream lineup - the Note no longer offers replaceable battery and microSD expansion. The S-Pen is still here though, and big-screen lovers will appreciate the beautiful AMOLED display, multi-window or otherwise.

Design and build quality

The Galaxy Note5 may have kept the screen size of the Note 4, but Samsung engineers have managed to fit it in a smaller body. Most impressive is the reduction in width - 2.5mm may not sound like much, but the side bezels are as thin as they come.

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 is the first generation Note to come after Samsung parted with plastic as the main body material. The phablet adopts the overall design of the S6, but thanks to size and a few minor tweaks it's a Note through and through.

Build quality is simply superb. The innards are sandwiched between two Gorilla Glass 4 panels and an aluminum frame runs along the sides, creating a truly premium look and feel, befitting a flagship. Fingerprints are inevitable though, and glass does shatter more easily than plastic, so perhaps you should invest in some sort of protection.

A major downside to the new design is that the battery is now sealed, which may put off those used to swapping batteries. You don't get microSD storage expansion and the IR emitter is gone as well - all changes familiar from the Galaxy S6.

The S-Pen has gotten a brand new design too - it now requires a click on the top to extract it from its silo. The click serves no other function though, and we feel like it should have.

The fingerprint sensor is the improved type from the S6, meaning it doesn't require swiping, but works just by tapping. It's fast and reliable, but isn't always on, you have to wake the screen up first. It does enable Samsung Pay, if you're in the regions where the service is supported