Sony Xperia sola review: Light 'em up

Introduction

Sony are busy extending their Xperia line, after the Japanese behemoth bought out their Ericsson counterpart, and the Xperia sola lies squarely in the middle of the pack. The flagship Xperia S has set the ceiling and the Xperia U will set the floor of what to expect from the company's Android offerings. The Xperia sola, for its part, must be keen to bolster the impression that Sony is in pretty good shape since going solo.

Sony Xperia S official photos
Although technically not a part of the NXT series, the Xperia sola shares some of the design choices of its 2012 Xperia siblings. It offers a few notable features to make up for its lack of Ice Cream Sandwich (the Android 4.0 update is scheduled for summer 2012). These include a super-crisp Reality display with Floating Touch and a powerful dual-core processor, which promises tp run Gingerbread perfectly smooth. It also has NFC, and the retail package comes with a couple of NFC tags to play around with.
Here's the lowdown on the pros and cons of the Sony Xperia sola:

Key features

• Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
• 3.7" 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of Full WVGA resolution (854 x 480 pixels) with Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine; Floating touch display
• Android OS v2.3.7 Gingerbread, planned Android 4.0 ICS update
• Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, 512 MB RAM, NovaThor U8500 chipset
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging, Multi Angle shot
• 720p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• 8 GB built-in storage (5 GB user-accessible)
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Voice dialing
• Adobe Flash 11 support
• Deep Facebook integration
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• NFC connectivity and included NFC tags

Main disadvantages

• No front-facing camera
• No Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of box
• Display has poor viewing angles
• Stiff and unresponsive shutter key
• Non user-replaceable battery

The Sony Xperia sola strives to give you a feature-rich experience to set itself apart from the crowd of midrange droids. The Smart tags are definitely a step in the right direction, with NFC continuing to pick up steam. Overall, the Xperia sola has a competitive set of features for its price range and the Floating Touch technology adds a measure of exclusivity. The display can react to not only taps but hovering fingers.

Sony Xperia sola live pictures
Coming up is our unboxing of the Xperia sola, as well as an examination of its design and build quality.

Samsung Galaxy S III vs. Galaxy S II: Intergalactic

Introduction

With the dust still settling from one of the most exciting smartphone battles the industry has seen, and clouds of stardust swirling around a complete review, it's time to step back and take a sober look at two great phones. Two glorious chapters in Android history, two milestones on Samsung's rise to the top.
Keeping a cool head about gadgets like these two isn't the easiest of things but one has to be calm and rational in matters of upgrade and, ultimately, money. To get the obvious out of the way, the Samsung Galaxy S III boasts a massive HD screen and double the CPU cores of its predecessor. It's as simple as that - and more than enough for most people. What we're trying to do here is look closer at the differences between the two generations and find out what the upgrade costs and what it's worth.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is clearly the better equipped phone - it bests the S II on practically every count - but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right Galaxy S for you.
Here's a quick list we threw together to help you get an idea of what Samsung improved on with the S III, but also why an S II might still be a smart buy.

Why the Galaxy S III is better

• Bigger, 720p screen
• Not slimmer, but the thickness is much more uniform
• Quad-core processor, faster graphics
• S Beam, S Voice, Smart stay, smart alarm, 50GB Dropbox and so on
• Better battery backup
• Snapping photos while recording FullHD video
• GLONASS support
• Bluetooth 4.0 LE
• 64GB storage option (comes with a price premium)

Why the Galaxy S II is still good enough

• Cheaper to buy new, plenty of second-hand deals too
• Smaller, lighter device
• SuperAMOLED Plus screen (has a full set of subpixels)
• Equally good camera with 8MP stills, 1080p video
• Same amount of RAM - 1GB
• Regular SIM slot

Of all the reasons listed, price is perhaps the biggest ace up the Galaxy S II's sleeve. Yes, it's gotten old, but it remains a very solid device, albeit in an upper-midrange position. Then there's the vibrant developer community around the S II, which might give it Android 5.0 Jellybean, even if Samsung decide not to do that officially.

Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy S III cohabitating in our office
On the other hand, if you are after the crème de la crème in Android, the list is pretty short and the SGS III is on it. Samsung have treated the Galaxy S III as a droid royalty and the smartphone is getting plenty of cool accessories (wireless charging, AllShare Cast, the Pebble), fancy software (S Voice, etc.) and it's practically a lock for a Jellybean update.
To get the full picture, we'll need to look at hardware and software, performance and camera. The next page kicks things off with a look at the hardware and the screen.

Nokia Asha 302 review: E-serious

Introduction

The Nokia Asha 302 comes between the Asha 300 and the Asha 303 in Nokia's updated featurephone lineup, but it doesn't quite follow the numerical order. Although obviously not a smartphone, this S40 messenger is almost halfway there. It aims to bring good connectivity and more than reasonable processing power without unnecessarily complicating the interface.
Touchscreen and dual-SIM support are the two extremes in the Asha lineup but the Nokia Asha 302 sticks to the middle, finding balance and confidence in robust functionality and good build quality. It's a value package with plenty to offer to many potential upgraders looking to replace their S30 or S40 phones.

Nokia Asha 302 official picture
The Asha 302 is compatible with any GSM network worldwide and features both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. It makes sure your email, Facebook and Twitter accounts are never more than just a click away. That's where the QWERTY keyboard is most welcome too. On the outside, a side-mounted memory card slot and metal accents make the best out of a classic messenger design. Here's what goes on inside.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Penta-band 3G with 14Mbps HSDPA and 5.76Mbps HSUPA
• Asha S40 platform
• Four-row hardware QWERTY keyborad
• 2.4" QVGA 256K-color TFT display
• 1GHz processor
• 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM
• 3 megapixel fixed-focus camera
• VGA video recording at 15fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Bluetooth v2.1 (with A2DP)
• Standard microUSB port (charging enabled)
• USB On-The-Go support
• microSD card slot (32 GB supported, 2GB included)
• 3.5mm audio jack

Main disadvantages

• No multitasking
• Fixed-focus camera
• No smart dialing
• No video-call camera
• No document viewer

So, the Nokia Asha 302 is raising the stakes in the low-cost telephony but makes sure it doesn't get into fights it cannot win. Halfway between a Nokia C3 and an E63, it looks on the safe side of the line. We cannot think of a better example to follow than the immensely popular Nokia C3 but it should be aware of the potential pressure of affordable smartphones - Symbian and Android alike.

Nokia Asha 302 live pictures
The Asha 302 is ready for a presentation, and so are we. Proceed to the next page where we begin to discover what the latest of the Ashas is really made of.