Archive for June, 2011
Top 5 New and Upcoming T-Mobile Phones: Summer 2011
Jun 30th
We’ve covered AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint a little while ago but now it’s time for us to cover the final carrier on our list: T-Mobile.
So T-Mobile users– you’ve got an upgrade coming up sometime over the next couple of weeks/months and while you like some of the phones already out there, you really wanna know what T-Mobile’s got planned during those next few weeks or months so you don’t go out and buy something only to really regret it a week later. We’re here to help. While not all of these are confirmed to be coming to T-Mobile (some are just our best guesses based on rumors we’ve been hearing), here are 5 phones that are said to be on their way to T-Mobile that anyone with an upgrade should be really excited for (and trust us– they’re really good).
The Teen First Look: Motorola Photon 4G
Jun 23rd
A lot of you have been wondering about more information about a phone we consider to be one of the top 5 coming to Sprint this summer– the super powerful Motorola Photon 4G. We got a chance to spend a few minutes with the Photon and we have to say, now is a really good time to have an upgrade on Sprint.
Obviously the biggest competitor with the Photon 4G is the upcoming HTC EVO 3D, and for those who don’t want 3D but still a very fast and powerful phone, the Photon looks to be an excellent choice.
The Teen First Look: HTC Sensation 4G
Jun 23rd
If you’re looking for an incredibly thin and fast 4G phone for T-Mobile right now then you definitely going to want to read this. We had a chance today to briefly check out T-Mobile and HTC’s latest and greatest (and by far most powerful) 4G phone, the HTC Sensation 4G, and after spending a few minutes with it we already are in love.
The design of this phone is one of the best you’ll see and hold. It’s very thin with an aluminum casing to make it feel like its something worth much more than the $200 that it costs on contract. And that 4.3 inch qHD high-res screen is equally as impressive and top of the line, with everything we saw on it coming off looking crisp and clear.
The Sensation 4G also runs the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.0. This together with the 1.2 GHZ dual-core processor and 768 MB of RAM made everything we did on the phone fast and responsive with barely any loading time even when multitasking with several apps open. In other words, you shouldn’t have to worry about any “freeze ups” with this guy. Other specs on the Sensation include an 8 megapixel back camera and second front camera for video chat, both of which in our brief look took pretty solid shots. Sadly the Sensation 4G we saw didn’t have an active T-Mobile account so we couldn’t test the 4G speeds, but hopefully we’ll have more on this and the HTC Sensation 4G in the near future.
The HTC Sensation 4G is available now for $200 with new 2 year contract and data plan from T-Mobile.
Top 5 Upcoming Sprint Phones: Summer 2011
Jun 20th
We covered AT&T and Verizon a little while ago but now it’s time to cover the next big carrier on our list: Sprint.
So Sprint users– you’ve got an upgrade coming up sometime over the next couple of weeks/months and while you like some of the phones already out there, you really wanna know what Sprint’s got planned during the next few weeks or months so you don’t go out and buy something only to really regret it a week later. We’re here to help. While not all of these are confirmed to be coming to Sprint (some are just our best guesses based on rumors we’ve been hearing), here are 5 phones that are said to be on their way to Sprint that if you have an upgrade should be really excited for (and trust us– they’re really good).
The Teen Review: Samsung Sidekick 4G
Jun 17th
If you’ve watched any of the NBA playoffs (or any TV in general) recently, you’ve probably seen an ad or six for one of T-Mobile’s hottest new phones, the Sidekick 4G. The Sidekick 4G is the latest and greatest in the Sidekick line, and the first to pack new features like Android, a 3.5 inch touchscreen, 4G and a 1 GHZ processor– all while still keeping that flip-out full QWERTY keyboard Sidekick users know and love.
While this all sounds great, you probably wondering how does this latest Sidekick 4G hold up in real life? Well, we’ve taken it for a spin the past few weeks and we’ve got everything you need to know after the break in our full teen review. More >
Apple Announces Back To School Deal: Buy A New Mac And Get A Free $100 iTunes Gift Card
Jun 16th
Apple today finally took the wraps off its annual, highly anticipated back to school deal with a major new twist: the traditional free iPod Touch has been replaced with the new deal being the usual discounts on all Macs and a free $100 iTunes gift card that can be used in any of Apple’s iTunes stores (iTunes, App Store for iPhone/iPad, Mac App Store and iBookstore).
While we don’t know why Apple decided not to do free iPod Touches again this year (or even better, some discount on an iPad with the purchase of a new Mac) the deal, which runs from today, June 16th, through September 20th, is still pretty good in our opinion. Think about it, most of us have iPods– or are using our phones as our iPods– now anyway so unless you really needed a new one, getting $100 to spend in iTunes and getting apps for your new Mac can be very valuable (as Apple puts it: “so you can get Pages, Numbers and Keynote for your studies. And still have plenty left for your study breaks.”). Oh, and the brand new, upcoming OS X Lion will be free to anyone who buys a new Mac now and before whenever the official launch date is, so you don’t have to worry about buying that for $30 next month either.
Now a lot of you want to know what’s different between this new 2011 Apple back-to-school deal and Microsoft’s offer of a free Xbox 360 with any new PC $699 or higher. There actually is a lot. Beyond the fact that Microsoft’s deal is cheaper (you can buy a PC for $699 and get the free 360 whereas the cheapest MacBook– the one from last year and not the new MacBook Pros– is $899 even after the $100 discount), Microsoft’s deal is also open for any current high school or college student unlike Apple’s which looks to be only college (the official language is “college students or students accepted to college” so incoming college freshmen you’re still good. Parents of college students and teachers of any grade are also eligible so if you’ve got a sibling in college or a nice teacher you can still get in on this deal). Microsoft is also giving away more in terms of the free add-on (an Xbox 360 4 GB is $200 whereas even if you include Lion in the Apple deal you’re still at $130).
I guess what it really comes down to which would you rather game on: Xbox 360 or Mac/iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch? Let us know your pick of which deal you think is better in the comments.
Info from Apple
The Teen Review: Samsung Infuse 4G
Jun 14th
The Infuse 4G has been one of the most anticipated phones AT&T has launched so far this year. And with its massive 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, fast 1.2 GHZ Hummingbird processor, and incredibly thin design it’s not hard to see why. We’ve been putting this 4G beast through the paces the last couple of weeks and to put it simply, we think its one of AT&T’s top phones out there right now.
So what are you waiting for? Read on for our full teen review of the Samsung Infuse 4G!
Apple Introduces iOS 5 and OS X Lion– What You Need To Know
Jun 10th
It may be hard to believe but iMessage was only one of the many things unveiled by Apple this week at WWDC 2011. In addition to that major news, Apple also had a few other pretty big announcements regarding what we can expect in the next versions of iOS and OS X: iOS 5 and OS X Lion (sadly there was no new iPhone 5 announced here). So what exactly did Apple say and what does it mean for you? Read on for the full breakdown.
Sprint Launching HTC EVO 3D On June 24th
Jun 8th
On Sprint and waiting anxiously for any news on when their 3D superphone– the HTC EVO 3D– will be coming out? You can relax now as HTC and Sprint have finally released the final two bits of info on this 3D beast: it’ll be available starting June 24th for $199.99 on with the usual new 2 year contract and data plan.
For those who don’t know, the EVO 3D is the successor to the very popular EVO 4G released last year and the first glasses-free 3D phone to be released in the US. Like the EVO 4G it’s a pretty powerful phone with a 4.3 inch qHD high-res glasses-free 3D screen (so it’ll look amazing whether you’re viewing 3D pics, games and videos or 2D everything else. It’ll also come with the “The Green Hornet 3D” movie and a demo of the game “Ultimate Spider-Man: Total Mayhem 3D” pre-loaded so you can see view its 3D goodness right when you get it), dual 5 megapixel cameras to capture videos in 3D (or full HD 1080p when not in 3D mode), front camera for video chat, Android 2.3 Gingerbread with the latest HTC Sense 3.0, dual core 1.2 GHZ processor and of course 4G.
We checked out the EVO 3D at CTIA when it was announced and we were very impressed with what we saw. Everything was fast and the 3D screen looked great. You can see our full first look here, but if you’re on Sprint and looking for a powerful 4G phone you should definitely wait a couple of weeks to check this out.
Nintendo Announces The Wii U– This Is The Next Wii
Jun 7th
The Wii U
Wow. That’s really all we can say right now– wow. Nintendo has just taken the wraps off of its successor to the hit Wii, named the Wii U, and to say it looks insane would be like saying Dwayne Wade or Dirk Nowitzki are just “ok” basketball players– a ridiculous understatement.
The focus of the Wii was everyone playing together. The Wii U has that too, just with a new focus on you– the individual gamer (hence the “U”). As rumored this new Wii U is packed with impressive power so you can expect very impressive HD games and a real online gaming platform (similar to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network)– but the big deal here is the new controller.
The Wii U controller
The Wii U comes with a brand new controller with a massive 6.2 inch touchscreen in the middle of it. As rumored it will allow you to stream games right from the TV to the controller so you can play even if the TV itself is off (or if you’re playing multiplayer, without worry someone will be watching your screen the whole game). There is also a camera (for games and things like video chat), and a full array of buttons on the right and left (including triggers on the back) for the full controller experience (and if you have a Wii you can also use those controllers, but it may only be for certain games. Wii games will play fine on here). Full controller plus incredible new touchscreen? Again, this is just insane. Words don’t even do it justice, check out this video of the power of the Wii U:
And just to show how Nintendo is fully back in the hard core gaming market, here are just a few titles announced for Wii U: Arkham City, an Assassin’s Creed game, Dirt, Ghost Recon Online, Tekken, Metro Last Light,Aliens Colonial Marines, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, and Darksiders II, Madden NFL. Yeah, this is a system for all gamers.
Worst part of today’s news? We’ll have to wait until sometime between April 1 and December 31 2012 to get our hands on this.
