The Motorola Defy Mini exists in an exclusive niche in the smart-phone market: the budget phone. It’s not quite a fully functional smart-phone, but it does run Android. It has a bunch of nifty features, but it’s still inherently limited by its cheap hardware. It’s a rugged, easy to use phone, perfect for those who aren’t too interested in all the functional capabilities of a smart-phone, but do want to adapt to new technology.

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The idea of a budget smartphone is a unique one: …

You may not know this, but HTC already have a tablet under their belt: the HTC Flyer. I honestly had no idea, and I consider myself an HTC enthusiast. The Flyer was introduced in May last year, and discontinued in December. It didn’t make such a big impact on the scene: it ran Honeycomb and had a 7″ display. HTC also introduced a 4G tablet: the Jetstream late last year. Due to it’s high price-tag, and the fact that it doesn’t have an ICS udate, it slipped by unnoticed. However, HTC have recently announced plans for a new tablet, claiming that it will have a “unique selling point” (an HTC spokesperson, to PC Advisor).

HTC haven’t indicated what this new …

The Asus Transformer Pad 300 is a lot of fun, to say the least. It’s one of those niche devices that is neither this nor that – in this case it’s not quite a laptop, but it’s not just a tablet either. Much like the relatively new phablet (phone + tablet) scene. In this sense it’s a little limited by its very own design: it can’t be all that a laptop can be, although it most certainly can be a tablet. But if you want just a tablet, you can get the even newer and Jelly Bean-wielding Google Nexus 7 at a much cheaper price. So it really comes down to what you want from your device. However I think …

In the wee hours of the morning, during the first day of the Google I/O, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was officially unveiled. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean seemingly has much to offer Android users. Jelly Bean is labelled 4.1, rather than Android 5, because it’s not so much an entirely new OS, but rather a “buttery smooth” version of Android 4.0.  It introduces Project Butter, amongst other things, which aims to increase the fluidity of Android via three new methods:

Pictured above is Engineering Director Dave Burke with the three initiatives: VSync, Triple Buffering and Touch Responsiveness.

VSync and Triple Buffering 

VSync , short for vertical synchronisation, essentially restricts the device’s video card from producing frame rates outside the range of …

It seems a little too good to be true, but rumours going around the inter-web suggest a new HTC One model, the XXL. Keep in mind that this is still a rumour, nothing has actually been confirmed. The picture above is even just a concept. But why so sceptical? Well, check out the specs:

• 1.6GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Quad Core CPU (That’s right, Quad Core)
• 2GB of RAM
• Adreno 320 GPU
• LTE
• 4.7 inch touch-screen display (although some sources suggest an increase to 5.5inches!)
• 1280 x 720 pixel resolution.
• Back and front facing cameras, 8MP and 1.8 MP respectively.

German website SmartPhoneTech released the accompanying image, along with the following benchmark test and video last Friday. They received the data …

Samsung’s newest and much-loved flagship smartphone, the all-too-famous Galaxy S3, is now available in Pebble Blue from TeleChoice! TeleChoice offer two plans for the phone as well as the phone by itself. The two monthly plans are with Optus and Virgin, check them out here.

TeleChoice doesn’t seem to be the only Australian outlet supplying the S3 in Pebble Blue, however. If you’re looking for the S3 in Blue also check out the deals at Crazy Johns, their website shows the Blue to be in stock. If you’re only accustomed to Marble White, be sure to check out Samsung’s interactive gallery here.

If you’ve been waiting around for the 32GB variant to be released too, you can …

The Xperia Tipo (formerly known as the ST21i Tapioca) is Sony’s newest prospective budget smartphone. Except that it’s not just any budget smartphone: it’s unique in that it will be running ICS – Android 4.0. The Xperia Tipo’s closest competitor seems to be the HTC Desire C (formerly known as the Golf), which will also run Android 4.0 and has similar specifications. The Tipo is not yet official, but is rumoured to have:

• 320×480 resolution
• 3.2inch screen.
• 3.15MP Camera.
• Qualcomm MSM7227 CPU
• Android 4.0.3

So it fits nicely in the upper echelons of the ‘budget smartphone category’ – not as flashy as a regular smartphone, but not as cheap as the Defy Mini or Samsung Pocket which run Gingerbread.

Source…

The Samsung Galaxy Pocket seems to be a step forward for budget smartphones. The difference between the Pocket and other budget smartphones is no doubt its size, but it’s a significant difference. Other budget smartphones (like the HTC Golf and Motorola Defy Mini) aren’t exactly chunky, but they aren’t exactly ‘pocket’-sized either. This is where the Galaxy Pocket comes in, an astoundingly small 2.8′ screen with a total length of 103.7mm

That’s pretty small, especially for a smartphone. It used to be that having a smaller phone was better, before the introduction of the smart-phone. Now it’s usually such that a bigger phone is better – but may we be seeing the re-emergence of small phones? Samsung seems to …

Each day we get closer and closer to the release of Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy S3. If you’re not too sure what the SIII is, or why it’s so eagerly awaited, check out Josh Sharma’s article. In essence, tech critics are labeling it another “iPhone-killer”. It’s not often that Android devices have official accessories released by their manufacturer, yet Samsung have recently released images of their planned peripherals for the S3. These include: a flip-case, a stylus, a holder and the WiFi Display Hub.  Personally, I think they seem a bit outdated, besides the Hub of course.The WiFi Display Hub is actually a pretty cool device. It acts as a wireless interface between your phone and your TV, so …

Well, you had them for a couple weeks, and now they’re gone. That’s right, the Facebook team have now removed their shortcuts to Camera and Messenger!

Last month we did a ‘mini-review’ on their then-current update, which introduced the two new shortcuts to the Facebook App features: sharing photos and Facebook chat. It also introduced a couple other features (such as group conversation) which were (and still are) very useful, which they haven’t scrapped. But it seems that due to overwhelming negative criticism they have removed the shortcuts permanently.

Their last update saw the modification of their app images: they added their Facebook ‘f’ symbol to the bottom left-hand side of the two icons. Why? Maybe people didn’t realise they …

Facebook’s most recent Android App update (v.1.9.0) has been released to considerable negative criticism. To determine the validity of this wide-spread hate I’ve decided to conduct a mini-review of the update, comparing its current goals to its execution, in the hopes of diluting the community with some calculated opinions. To quote the change log (the “What’s New” section on the Play Store), the new update features:

“-Improved performance and various bug fixes

-More messaging features like creating group messages and adding friends to existing group conversations

-Shortcuts to share photos and messages right from your home screen”

The most significant change seems to be the shortcuts to those revamped features – sharing photos and messaging. While Facebook have had …

New leaked press photos from PocketNow depict HTC’s rumoured, and now confirmed, budget smartphone. Codenamed the ‘Golf’, the phone is targeted towards users with a lesser desire for up-to-date tech, but want a reliable phone with a reasonable amount of features.

Specifications are as follows:

• 3.5 inch display.
• 480 x 320 resolution.
• 512Mb RAM.
• 4Gb internal storage + a microSD card slot.
• Front-facing camera.

Despite its humble specifications, it actually sports some high-tech software: Sense 4.0 and Android 4.0, Beats Audio, as well as the new free 25GB Dropbox cloud storage that comes with the One S, V and X.