P2i water-repellent nanocoating technology demo: phone waterboarding now possible

Small nanoparticles result in great features, that much we have learned since the tiny bits were discovered - from drug delivery systems to water-repellent nanocoatings, and its the latter we are interested in because of its huge potential to protect our smartphones and tablets from various liquids, but mainly water and beer.

P2i had the newest generation of its water-repellent nanocoating on display at the MWC 2013 expo that allows you to actually submerge a Samsung Galaxy S III or any other phone under water as is, and was nice enough to demonstrate its features for us. The great part is that the 1/1000th of a human hair coating is invisible to the human eye, and doesn't change the look and structure of the object it is applied to, like a smartphone, but makes it impermeable to water. 

The rep mentioned they are working with Motorola and an "European manufacturer" to make their phones water-resistant with the last-gen P2i tech, which we only hope he meant Nokia rather than Alcatel, for instance. Check out the cool demo below, and don't worry, once this thing hits all handsets, you can freely drool over them.

HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S III - first look

How about we make an improvised comparison between the old battle horse Samsung Galaxy S III and the young race stud HTC One, we thought the minute we got our hands on HTC's latest and greatest at the MWC expo today. Tasty, eh?

Without rehashing the specs, we'd just say that the HTC One is the more powerful of the two, since it houses the newest generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 inside, but with Jelly Bean these synthetic benchmark differences should be taken with a grain of salt, since the phones plough through everything Android can throw at them anyway. Where the silicon can make a difference is the ability to process things like HDR video, stitch 360 degree panoramas faster and so on, but we are dealing with a non-final HTC One unit here, so we thought we'd focus more on the general look and feel.

Here is where it got interesting, as the two handsets are pretty far apart in terms of the impression they leave in your hand. The lighthearted polycarbonate Galaxy S III is very ergonomic to hold, yet feels somewhat cheaper than the anodized aluminum HTC One, with diamond-cut edges.

HTC's handset is truly a thoughtful design, and a proof that a big-screen phone doesn't have to be all-plastic to be fairly light and comfortable to hold, but can wrapped in premium materials with great success, too. Granted, the S III is slightly thinner, but that doesn't really feel as an advantage, rather the HTC One feels more solid in the hand because of the extra girth, and easier to grip. The One is also more narrow and elongated, which helps operate it with just one hand and your thumb better than the S III. The One is a unibody design, though, so tough luck expanding that 16/32 GB memory, or swapping the battery - things you can do with ease on Samsung's handset.

Now off to the interface races - Samsung's TouchWiz, or Nature UX now, has always felt a little cartoonish and ragtag compared to HTC Sense, which is much more integrated in terms of graphics and functionality with Android, to the extent that you only see the Sense UI wherever you may roam on the handset. It is more uniform, to the extent that some call it bloated with all the animations, themes and 3D effects that make it stand out, but Sense 5.0 is a whole different ballgame. It is minimalistic now, with two-dimensional, non-cluttered, more schematic graphics, and the visual oomph is left for features like the BlinkFeed aggregator, or the Zoe Camera automatic media collage function. Yet, it is all flatter than Sense UI of yesteryear, much simpler, and still looking way more sophisticated than the ragtag Nature UX. despite Samsung's array of useful features in it.

Moving along, we take a look at the cameras - the Galaxy S III sports an 8 MP shooter, which takes one of the best looking photos and videos coming from a smartphone, while the One has something called the UltraPixel camera. HTC here is trying to put an end to the megapixel war, moving ahead with things that matter, like pixel size - the One has 2 micron vs 1.4 micron pixels on the Galaxy S III, thus in theory should be better in low-light scenarios. 

Another great selling point of the HTC One's camera is the two-axis optical image stabilization, shrunk enough to fit in the 9mm body, and aiding to avoid any shake during video footage, as well as allow much longer exposure times, soaking more light without blur. We'll try and snap some samples with both later on to check out both cameras against each other. The frontal cam on the One also has an advantage with itswide-angle lens, fitting up to four people in your video chat sessions.

As far as the screens go, despite being almost the same size, they look quite different, and we are not talking pixel density here, because, let's be honest, the difference between Full HD and HD mobile screen from a normal viewing distance is negligible, PenTile matrix or not. What we mean is that HTC has the habit of calibrating its displays almost perfectly lately, which was proved with the excellent display on the HTC Butterfly, and with the One and only here things seem to be the same. It sports very true colors, compared to the oversaturated, yet quite cold ones on the S III, the brightness seems much higher, and to top it all off, the One sports very low screen reflection coefficient, which helps immensely under a direct light source, and you can take a feel of in the video below.

It is, of course, not really fair to make a comparison between an almost year-old handset to one that hasn't even hit shelves yet, and the true test would be against the Galaxy S IV, but from what we gathered, the One will be a direct contender for anyone's throne in the first half of the year.

Sphero ball demo: 'Part robot. Part ball. All fun.'

We had one of the funniest encounters at this year's MWC expo with a little gadget called Sphero ball, a "robotic ball system for iOS and Android." As you can see it is a little sphere that can be controlled with your phone or tablet.

The Sphero ball rep was nice enough to show us the contraption in motion, but the fun doesn't stop here. There are actually a number of apps that can take advantage of the robotized sphere, even augmented reality ones like Sharky the Beaver.

You move the character around on your tablet's screen there, and the ball on the floor repeats the movement, which we re sure kids young and old we'll have oodles of fun with. You can even throw virtual cupcakes in the beaver's mouth for added entertainment with the "Part robot. Part ball. All fun." thingy. Enjoy the Sphere ball demo in the video below.

LG Tab-Book hands-on

The concept of equipping a tablet with a built-in hardware keyboard isn’t exactly new. ASUS was among the very first manufacturers to give the idea a shot by releasing the Eee Pad Slider, which wasn’t a bad device at all, although it didn’t quite sell by the boatloads. 

Now comes the Windows 8 powered LG Tab-Book with its 5-row sliding QWERTY aimed at those who need a portable device built with productivity in mind. Did we say portable? Well, maybe not as much as a modern-day tablet. The LG Tab-Book weighs 1.25 kilograms and is 19.4 millimeters thick, which is about twice the weight and thickness of an iPad. So yeah, that’s the sacrifice one has to make if they demand having a a slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard always at their disposal with the press of a button.

The touchscreen on the LG Tab-Book is of average quality for a tablet. It has a resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels, which is about what you’d get from a mid-range notebook computer. On the bright side of things, the panel is of the IPS variety, with pretty colors and decent contrast levels.

Knowing that a third-gen Intel Core i5 processor is ticking inside the LG Tab-Book, we’re not surprised to see that its performance is top notch. When it isn’t being pushed too hard, the chip hums at 1.8GHz, but that figure can go up to 2.7GHz when additional power is needed. Furthermore, there’s a respectable 120GB SSD tucked inside and 4GB of DDR3 RAM for seamless multitasking.

With the LG Tab-Book you also get a 1.3MP front-facing camera, HDMI output, microSD card slot, and a pair of 0.5W built-in speakers. Getting connected to the internet is done either via its mini RJ45 port, or over Wi-Fi, or by using the device’s 4G LTE radio. Its internal battery should last through 6 hours of continuous use.

So in conclusion, with its specs and features, the LG Tab-Book isn’t meant to compete with the iPad or the multitude of Android slates, but it can be a very tempting alternative to an Ultrabook, depending in the final price it launches at.

LG Optimus G Pro benchmark score is impressive (video)

We sat down with an LG Optimus G Pro, and ran some benchmarks for you. The handset sports a 1.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600, clocked higher than what we have on the HTC One, but has a larger display, yet it should score at least as impressive. 

In fact, as you can see below, the non-final version of the Optimus G Pro rakes in 11765 points on Quadrant.

This is close to the 12500 that the One scored, and confirms why Snapdragon 600 will be going into quite a lot flagship devices this season,perhaps including the Galaxy S IV.

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa reference board demo

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa is the newest and baddest Exynos family chip, with four Cortex-A15 cores and four Cortex-A7 ones, arranged in an ARM big. LITTLE architecture to achieve the best power consumption/performance ratio.

We managed to get some hands-on time with the Exynos 5 Octa reference board at the MWC expo, and there is a bunch of tasty geeky lingo for you in the video below, explaining which core kicks up when to achieve that performance in that power and thermal envelope, as well as tidbits on the graphics prowess of the platform. Enjoy!

Ubuntu Touch Preview for tablets hands-on (Nexus 7)

Canonical released the Ubuntu Touch Preview today, so obviously we had to wipe our Nexus 7 and load up Ubuntu for a hands-on test. You've likely already seen the videos and release info for Ubuntu's new mobile optimized OS, so we'll just jump into it. The first thing that is important to keep in mind is that the tablet version of Ubuntu isn't due to be finalized until version 14.04 (April 2014), and the Touch Preview is version 12.10, so this is a very early build, and as such, there are a lot of things missing and not working so well.

As we mentioned, the Ubuntu installer tools and instructions are all Ubuntu terminal commands, so there's no Windows or Mac support just yet. Luckily, that doesn't phase us and the install was actually extremely easy. The first thing we noticed upon booting up Ubuntu is that the device is pre-populated with contacts, and fake Twitter/Skype/Facebook/email notifications. The reason for this seems to be because the core apps are still in the process of being built by the community, so there are only web apps available in the preview image. There is no way to pull your mail, contacts, or social networking data into the system, so you don't really get the full effect of the "personalized artwork" on the welcome screen. Instead, it constantly tells you about the same "14 tweets received". 

There was also some concern about how the OS would perform on the Nexus 7, because in the announcement, Canonical said that the minimum requirements for Ubuntu on tablets would be a Cortex A15 processor and 2GB of RAM, but the Nexus 7 only has an A9 processor and 1GB of RAM. As such, the OS is noticeable sluggish and laggy on the Nexus 7. Aside from the hardware possibly not being up to snuff,Ubuntu doesn't seem to be optimized for a 7" tablet just yet. Unlike what we've seen on the Nexus 10, the keyboard isn't optimized for the 7 and is quite cramped and hard to use. 

Overall, Ubuntu looks really nice. Everyone else may want to use other operating systems as reference for what you see in Ubuntu mobile, but to me the OS felt like Ubuntu. I have been using Ubuntu on my laptop as my primary OS for quite a while now, and the experience on the tablet felt like I was still in Ubuntu. The home screen is a modified Dash, and the launcher is the same as the Unity bar. The OS uses big bold graphics, and looks great. The only thing that was a bit annoying with the presentation is that the OS is locked into portrait mode on the Nexus 7, meaning no landscape and no way to use the side stage.

Unfortunately, navigation isn't very intuitive all the time. The gestures to get to the Unity launcher, or switch through open apps is nice, but once you're inside apps, navigation isn't very consistent. In some cases there is a carat near the top to bring you back, and sometimes you have to swipe up from the bottom to get at the back button. There's still a lot of time to fix this stuff, but it did make things a bit disorienting. 

Ubuntu is looking really nice. It's nowhere near ready to be your primary driver, and really isn't even ready to be your backup OS just yet, but it has a lot of potential. And, since there's still about 14 months before the official release, there's plenty of time to put things together. For more, check out the video below, and be sure to check out the Nexus 4 hands-on as well. 

Ubuntu Touch preview for phone hands-on (Nexus 4)

Canonical released the Ubuntu Touch Preview today, so obviously we had to wipe our Nexus 4 and load up Ubuntu for a hands-on test. You've likely already seen the videos and release info for Ubuntu's new phone optimized OS, so we'll just jump into it. The Touch Preview is version 12.10, and the final phone version is planned for 13.10 (October 2013), so this is a very early build, and as such, just like in the Nexus 7 Ubuntu hands-on, there are a lot of things missing and not working so well.

As we mentioned, the Ubuntu installer tools and instructions are all Ubuntu terminal commands, so there's no Windows or Mac support just yet. Luckily, that doesn't phase us and the install was actually extremely easy. The first thing we noticed upon booting up Ubuntu is that the device is pre-populated with contacts, and fake Twitter/Skype/Facebook/email notifications. The reason for this seems to be because the core apps are still in the process of being built by the community, so there are only web apps available in the preview image. There is no way to pull your mail, contacts, or social networking data into the system, so you don't really get the full effect of the "personalized artwork" on the welcome screen. Instead, it constantly tells you about the same "14 tweets received". 

Unlike the performance on the Nexus 7, which was not very good at all, the Nexus 4 runs Ubuntu very well. This is partially because the Nexus 4 is a more powerful device than the Nexus 7, but also likely because Canonical has been putting more work into getting the phone side done, because it is due out first. The tablet optimization isn't due to be final until April 2014. The OS is smooth, transitions are pretty crisp. There is some lag here and there, but nothing compared to what we saw with the Nexus 7.  

Overall, Ubuntu looks really nice. Everyone else may want to use other operating systems as reference for what you see in Ubuntu mobile, but to me the OS felt like Ubuntu. I have been using Ubuntu on my laptop as my primary OS for quite a while now, and the experience on the tablet felt like I was still in Ubuntu. The home screen is a modified Dash, and the launcher is the same as the Unity bar. The OS uses big bold graphics, and looks great. The only thing that was a bit annoying with the presentation is that the OS is locked into portrait mode on the Nexus 4. We actually haven't seen anything with a landscape view on the phone, so it's unclear if that's going to happen or not.

Unfortunately, navigation isn't very intuitive all the time. The gestures to get to the Unity launcher, or switch through open apps is nice, but once you're inside apps, navigation isn't very consistent. In some cases there is a carat near the top to bring you back, and sometimes you have to swipe up from the bottom to get at the back button. There's still a lot of time to fix this stuff, but it did make things a bit disorienting. It was a little better on the Nexus 4 compared to the Nexus 7, because the gesture from the bottom edge to get the controls was easier, but still not great so far.

Ubuntu is looking really nice. Even though you can make calls and send texts, it's nowhere near ready to be your primary driver, and really isn't even ready to be your backup OS just yet, but it has a lot of potential. And, since there's still about 8 months before the official release, there's plenty of time to put things together. For more, check out the video below, and be sure to check out the Nexus 7 hands-on as well.

First hands-on videos of $150 Asus MeMo Pad start to appear

The $150 7-inch Asus MeMo Pad announced right after CES is an impressive device not because of high-end specs (it doesn’t have them), but because of its low price that undercuts the Nexus 7. And while most of the world is still waiting for its release, lucky folks in Romania got an early hold of the compact tablet and you can see it in action right below.

First, though, let’s freshen up your mind about the MeMo Pad 7’s specifications. The device features a 7-inch 1,024 x 600-pixel screen, a single-core 1GHz Via WM8950 processor with Mali 400 graphics, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

The tablet features Android 4.1 Jelly Bean which is good news for the platform’s smooth performance and stability.

The device might look similar to the Nexus 7, but in reality it has very little in common. The plastic allegedly feels tougher. Also, the screen is not as bright or detailed as on the Nexus 7. Take a look.

source: Imidoresc

Moborobo smartphone management software hands-on

This story is sponsored by Moborobo. PointMaza's opinions in this article have not been affected in any way!

Moborobo is a free desktop application that manages your Android or iOS device. We decided to give it the hands-on treatment and see exactly how it can help us organize our mobile devices more easily.

Setting the program up was a very smooth process, after installing and launching it, it automatically downloads the appropriate drivers for your mobile device and establishes a connection. With that, you are ready to start managing your smartphone or tablet, which includes the ability to backup/restore, do a phone cleanup, manage contacts, texts, apps, images, video, wallpapers and themes. But that's not all, as Moborobo also allows you to send or receive SMS directly from the program, and it also provides access to various web resources for apps, games, images or ringtones.

The interface of the program is very well made. The graphics are good-looking and the UI layout of the various sections follow an intuitive, standardized look, which makes it easy for the user to find and use the various features of Moborobo.

Moborobo presents users with a complete set of tools for smartphone or tablet management, which is really the only way to succeed in this market. What we mean is that with all the options and alternatives for users in this space, you really have to provide an easy-to-use, yet robust program that has all the features the user might need. By the looks of it, that's exactly what Moborobo is doing. We especially like the fact that the developers are not only delivering core functionality like backup/restore, contact management and so on, but have also gone the extra mile to provide users with quick access to additional content like apps, games, images, ringtones and more.

Download Moborobo here!

Ingress in-depth hands-on

Ingress is Google's new MMO augmented reality game, built on the mysterious Niantic Project. The world is filled with mythology and backstory, and the game itself is surprisingly deep for a mobile offering. We spent yesterday playing, and we've got impressions for you. A couple days ago, when the game was first released in closed-beta, we gave an overview of it, and we have to say, it has some issues, but it doesn't disappoint in real-life play.

First off, it needs to be mentioned that playing this game is a severe burden on your phone's battery (at least if you play for extended periods.) In testing

yesterday, we played for about 4 hours, and needed to stop to charge up twice (as you can see in the image on the right). The combination of a nearly constantly-on screen, and constantly polling GPS, and constant data stream can do that to a phone battery. So, if you're planning on playing for an extended time, try to off-load the work to a tablet, or bring an extra battery. 

As we said, the game comes with a pretty in-depth story, but as yet the majority of that you'll have to gather through the Niantic Project website, because the game doesn't do a lot to give you context. The training mission explains that there are beings called Shapers, who are coming through Portals, and Portals are also spots to gain Exotic Matter (XM) and resources. The first trouble with the game is that the lack of context makes for a somewhat random decision to either join the Resistance or the Enlightenment, to either fight the Shapers, or work with them, respectively. It would help for more info on who the Shapers are or what they are doing before making that decision, because the decision does seem to be permanent. 

Presentation

The game has the futuristic TRON-like UI with dark backgrounds and blue outlines. The game itself looks nice, but it can be a bit awkward at first if you're not used to reading maps blind. The in-game maps don't have street names, so if you're in an unfamiliar area, you may find it odd to follow where you need to go, but over time you get used to it. 

One thing that is odd is that there are no links in the game to all of the web content that Google has put together. There is no mention of or link to the Niantic Project website, or any of the backstory elements. There is no mention of the web based Intel site, which allows you to get a broader view of the game. And, there are no links to the Google Groups dedicated to helping build the community of the factions around the world. The only pieces of the story that come within the game seem to be from picking up documents at Portal sites, but this doesn't add much. 

The sound is surprisingly good, although mostly it just adds to the ambiance of it. There is something quite nice about playing this game at night. You almost start to feel like a real covert operative, especially with the running Comm feed with broadcasts coming from around the world. Although the Comm feed can be filtered to just show your faction, and broadcasts within a certain radius. 

The menus are easy to navigate, and offer easy access to resources you've picked up, a running total of how much of the world is under control by the Resistance and Enlightenment, and settings. There is also a "Recruit" section, although right now it doesn't look like Google is giving out invites to active players. The most interesting section is the "Mission" section, which right now it only has the training missions, but it is an area that could quite easily be updated with story-based missions as the game progresses.

Gameplay

Even in just 4 hours of playing we can see the evolution that will happen in the gameplay over time, and it looks to be quite impressive. The early game is all about claiming Portals for your faction, and creating new Portals. While there will be a ton of Portals already created in major metropolitan areas, but even just getting into the suburbs the Portals become fewer. But, a nice option is that users can suggest new Portals by snapping a picture, and using the new option in the Android Share menu for Ingress to e-mail the new location for approval. 

Claiming a new Portal is as simple as placing a single Resonator on it, but the more Resonators, the more difficult it will be for the opposing faction to steal, because you need to destroy all Resonators and place your own to steal a Portal. Early in the game, this can be relatively easy, but the game still encourages cooperation.

To fully control a Portal, and be able to link Portals together, each Portal needs eight Resonators. Given the relative scarcity of resources, this is far easier to do if you wander around with friends. For example, on a lone mission, we were able to capture many Portals in downtown Boston, but could only make a few links. And, links are more time consuming because each you need a Portal Key for each Portal you are linking to, meaning that you would have to travel back and forth if you're alone. However, around MIT in Cambridge (where we assume a group of engineering students

played together), by the end of yesterday almost all the Portals in the area had been linked.

So, the first section of the game, which may well be done by the time many of you get an invite to the game, is to travel around, gather resources, capture Portal sites, and link them up, because the area/population covered by linked Portals adds to your faction's control total. After that is done, the game moves into the second stage, which is all about maintaining Portals, building up Portals, and attacking and stealing opposing Portals. Again this can be done to a certain extent by lone agents, but obviously, if you gather in a group, it is much easier to steal Portals from the opposition. So, the game starts with the gathering, and progresses into a much more strategy-based game, where you have to be careful how you build up Portals, and what you consider to be key locations that deserve the best load-outs. 

(Ongoing) Conclusion

Overall, the gameplay works well, but the big issue is the same that you'll find with GPS in any big city: accuracy. Walking around in the Financial District of Boston, surrounded by tall buildings, the GPS signal would bounce around and make it difficult to interact with a Portal, because your location on the map will continually shift and move. In more open areas, it isn't an issue, but if you're trying to take over a denser area, it may require a good amount of patience and walking back and forth. 

This could have easily been a game that ended after stage one, and just be a mobile gathering mission, like many AR games, but this game is trying (and succeeding) to be more. The game gives you the reason to wander around an area, but beyond that you can learn about the area that you are in, because each Portal is a famous spot. On our testing run, we saw most of the spots on the Boston Freedom Trail, and some extras like the "birthplace of the telephone", art installations, and quality places for food and lodging. The game can be quite a tour guide. 

The game is solid, and looks like it has the potential to keep evolving. It is ambitious, which is key, but it needs a bit more organization. Right now, a lot of the web resources are too separate from the game itself, which means players have to actively seek out the story behind the game, and the story is some of the best stuff. If you're planning to play Ingress, please make sure you check through the online bits. 

We can't really call this a game review, both because of the limited time to test, and because the game is in such early stages. MMOs take time, players, and community to take off. This early in beta, Ingress has a small but dedicated user-base (including us), and the game really hits on many points. We can't wait to see what plans Google has moving forward.

HTC DROID DNA hands-on

Holy smokes people! Just when we all thought it couldn't get any better, it just did. By now, you're all probably aware about HTC and Verizon's big news today, but more importantly, we managed to check it out in person! Making the competition sweat, the recently announced HTC DROID DNA is one monster of an Android smartphones. Armed with a long listing of impressive specs, it's sure to become one of the most highly prized smartphones this coming holiday season.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty regarding the handset, we got to commend both HTC and Verizon for quickly bringing this handset to market. Between now and its release, which is penned for November 21st, there's barely any wait to have it in the hands of consumers. On top of that, it's brimming from the seams with plenty of drool worthy specs to keep other phablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Note II, shaking in its tracks.

For starters, it's featuring an impressive 5-inch Super LCD 3 display with 1080p (1080 x 1920) resolution and Gorilla Glass. Secondly, it's a powerhouse thanks to its quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2GB of RAM. And finally it's running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with the HTC SEnse 4.0+ software to complement its hardware prowess. Needless to say, the competition will really need to watch out for this one!

HTC DROID DNA hands-on

1. Such a large and detailed display

Without a doubt the biggest thing to stand out with the HTC DROID DNA is its amazing looking 5-inch 1080p Super LCD 3 display. Delivering a mind blowing pixel density of 440 ppi, it's undeniably sharp looking with everything. Of course, we could've settled for a 720p display, but regardless, it's nice to know that HTC is pushing the limits with this one. Beyond the detail, it's absolutely a joy to look at, since it has a strong brightness output and wide viewing angles to make it an attractive offering.

2. Quality design that's solid, yet super slim

Looking at a rendered image is one thing, but actually holding it in your hand is a different story. Another obvious standout of the HTC DROID DNA is its solid industrial design. Even better, though, is the fact that it's one svelte and lightweight smartphone - deceptively thin at 0.38-inches and 4.87 oz in weight. Donning a soft touch coated body, it maintains one clean appearance that's further complemented by the distinct red accents littered all around.

3. F2.0 lens with its cameras

Naturally, rear cameras get all the love, but with this, HTC is kind enough to bless both its front and rear ones with F2.0 lenses - essentially making them ideal for low lighting situations. With the rear auto-focus camera, it's 8-megapixels in size, but more importantly, the front-facing one is a higher than normal 2.1-megapixel one. Both have offer 1080p video recording, but it's the front one that features a 88-degree wide angle lens, similar to what's offered by the HTC 8X, to allow plenty of faces to fit in those self-portrait shots.

4. Has Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box, but new Sense needs some more depth

In this day and age, it's still quite rare to see handsets launching with the most up-to-date version of the platform. Luckily, it's comforting to see that this one is running Jelly Bean out of the box - with Sense 4.0+ to complement the experience. Although there are some minor improvements to it that are found in the gallery and camera interface, it's still lacking that serious depth of functionality that other rival custom Android experiences offer. Still, it's a slow progression towards the correct direction - and hey, it's Jelly Bean!

5. Quick release and killer pricing

Even before the announcement, we thought that the HTC DROID DNA would find itself in the same price point as the recently available Samsung Galaxy Note II. Instead, we were thoroughly surprised to find out that his super spec'd smartphone will be sporting that golden price point of $199.99 with a 2-year contract - as opposed to the $300 associated with the Note II. However, the best part about it all is the fact that is launching in a week - November 21st to be exact.

Nokia Lumia 810 Hands-on

The Nokia Lumia 810 was on-hand as well at Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 unveiling.  This "same-but-different" cousin to the Lumia 820 and Lumia 822 has most of the same features we will be seeing across the 8xx series of Lumias.  The notable difference for this model, which is bound for T-Mobile in November is that is does not support LTE connectivity, instead supporting T-Mobile's HSPA+ data.  The Lumia 810 is also packing a slightly larger 1800mAh battery, versus the Lumia 820's 1650mAh unit.

The Lumia 810 also keeps a bit more of the squared appearance that the 820 has, a departure from the rounded and smoothed out Lumia 822 coming to Verizon.  Appearances will appeal to everyone based on their individual tastes, none of these models are an eye sore in our opinion.

In terms of other specifications, this device shares the same 4.3-inch AMOLED display at 480x800 pixels, at 217 pixels-per-square-inch.  The capacitive screen is very responsive and the hardware delivers on the Windows Phone 8 user experience with a swift, smooth flow of the interface, courtesy of the same dual-core Snapdragon MSM8960 processor found in all the new Lumias.

Again, due to the lanyard securing the devices, it was not possible to get a full impression as to how it felt in the hand. It certainly does not feel too big in any real dimension, but the Windows Phone 8 devices all have a bit more of a bezel than some of the new Android devices that have come to market, so it will boil down to personal taste.  The hardware itself has the familiar Nokia Lumia set-up, with volume rockers, lock and camera buttons gracing the right edge of the device.  Being a Nokia device, it is packing the nice Nokia apps such as Nokia Drive and Nokia Lens, but Microsoft is committed to having nearly all of the most in-demand apps available for Windows Phone 8 when these devices launch.  The Lumia 810 will be released November 14th on T-Mobile USA.

Check out the pictures and video below.  Do you like this rendition of the Lumia 8xx series better than the others?  

Nokia Lumia 810

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