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HTC Titan Review – Ultra Fast Windows 7 Phone

HTC has announced its new flagship phone – HTC Titan, with a 4.7 inch screen and 1.5 Ghz  processor, it takes the windows phone 7.5 to the next level with this beastly device.  But there are definitely some gripes on the phone as well, the resolution of the screen is only 480 x 800, a lower resolution compared to other top phones like iPhone 4.

The phone boasts of 8 Megapixel rear camera with Focal ratio of 2.2 (2.2 F), and Dual LED flash which vastly improves the low light photos. The phone also has a 720p video recording capability. Strangely the phone doesn’t come with 4G.

Compared to other top phones HTC titan lags in some areas here are the dimensions of other phones against HTC Titan. HTC Titan is the biggest phone among all the competitors and nearly matching the Samsung Infuse 4G.

 

HTC Titan – 131.5 x 70.7 x 9.9
Samsung Galaxy S2 (Attain) – 125.3 X 66.1 X 8.49 mm
Nokia N9 – 116.45 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm
Samsung Infuse 4G – 132 x 71 x 9 mm
Iphone 4 – 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm
Motorola Atrix – 117.8 x 63.5 x 11 mm
Blackberry Torch – 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm

And in terms of weight is The heaviest phone around.

HTC Titan – 160 g
Samsung Galaxy S2 (Attain) – 116 g
Nokia N9 – 135 g
Samsung Infuse 4G – 139 g
Iphone 4 – 137 g
Motorola Atrix – 135 g

Size: 131.5mm x 70.7mm x 9.9mm (5.18″ x 2.78″ x 0.39″)
Weight: 160 grams (5.6 ounces) with battery
Display: 4.7-inch touch screen with 480 x 800 resolution
Screen: 119 mm (4.7″)

CPU Processing Speed
1.5 GHz

Storage
Total storage: 16 GB
Available storage: up to 12.63 GB
RAM:  512 MB

Connectors
3.5 mm stereo audio jack
micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port

Sensors
Gyro Sensor
G-Sensor
Digital compass
Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor

Multimedia
See photos from your camera, Facebook and Windows Live™ accounts in the Pictures hub
Music and Videos Hub powered by Zune lets you listen to radio, download music, and more
SRS enhancement
5.1 surround sound for video
Audio supported formats:
Playback:.m4a, .m4b, .mp3, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9)
Video supported formats:
Playback:.3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m4v, .mbr, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9 and VC-1)
Recording:.mp4
(You can only playback a .3gp or .3g2 video if the video is an email attachment or is part of an MMS message.)

Power & Battery2
Battery type:  Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Capacity:1600 mAh
Talk time:
WCDMA: Up to 410 minutes
GSM: Up to 710 minutes
Standby time3:
WCDMA: Up to 460 hours
GSM: Up to 360 hours

Network – Europe/Asia
HSPA/WCDMA:
Europe/Asia: 850/900/2100 MHz
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Camera
8 megapixel camera with F2.2 lens, dual LED flash, and BSI sensor (for better low-light captures)
Front camera: 1.3 megapixel front camera
HD video recording: 720p HD video recording

Internet (USA/Japan)
3G: Up to 14.4 Mbps download speed
Up to 5.76 Mbps upload speed
GPRS: Up to 80 kbps downloading
EDGE: Up to 236.8 kbps downloading
Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth® 2.1
A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
PBAP for phonebook access from the car kit
Other supported profiles: AVRCP, HFP, HSP

Social Networking
Twitter™, Facebook® and Windows Live™
Share photos on Facebook® or Windows Live™ SkyDrive

Location
Internal GPS antenna
HTC Locations
Bing™ Maps

Tethering
Internet Sharing

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HP’s decision to spin-off Hardware business a mistake?

HP has been criticized  in the past for hanging on to the PC business and recently been criticized again for  dumping both PC and its Tablet business. Recently HP made a bold move to discontinue its TouchPad – Web OS based tablet and which many saw a potential competitor to both iOS and Android based tablets.

On the sidelines another key move was also made, to spin off  its not so profitable PC division, many might wonder what is HP doing and why should they leave a very successful hardware brand. But the  2011 Q3 numbers might explain why.

While HP’s services , HP Software, Enterprise services  and Financial services  showed growth in Profit. Its PC division and Imaging (Printer/Scanner) division had negative growth. Even within its PC division the worst hit was in retail consumer clients (-17%) , the commercial division fared much better.  Imaging division had marginal negative growth, will be safe for now.

But does a negative growth justify a spin-off?. Maybe for financial experts and Shareholders that will be a good bet, but will it help HP in the future by giving away its PC division ?.  After buyouts of Compaq in the past and Palm recently, HP Board seems very impatient with their hardware business. And after announcements of possibly pitting WebOS against Windows and MacOs,  sudden change of heart seems strange. HP appears more like a lost kid in a carnival, than the world’s largest services player.

Management personnel change might have accelerated the decision partly due to Leo Apotheker’s appointment as CEO. But all this makes one wonder, why isn’t a huge organisation with wealth of  Software teams cant innovate on some of its existing platforms .  Losing PC division would mean loss of valuable user feedback , Brand image , multiple channels to attain corporate customers and many more..

Maybe someone is thinking that near term profit and that extra employee bonus is more important than long term gains for a company.

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Sony Tablet S Review | Sony Tablet S vs Ipad 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Finally Sony has entered the Tablet market after Apple has sold over millions of iPads and after HP decided its time is over in hardware space. But Sony’s device seems to be a worthy addition to the mix, but will upset current trend is a big question. But it does bring a few new features to the table for customers.

Priced at $499 pits the Sony Tablet S directly against Apple ipad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. In terms of specifications it is nothing different from what is available in iPad2 and Galaxy Tab. But considering that the device is coming so late and by the time Sony Tablet S will be available in market, Apple iPad’s next revision (iPad 3 ) is expected to be available it seems a very much a below par device at this price.

But we have to agree that the Sony Tablet S has very good finish and rich 1280×800 resolution on 9.4 inch screen.The battery at 5000 mAh has lesser juice compared to Samsung’s 7000 mAh, but the hours of usage seems more or less equivalent to Samsung galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad2.

In terms of new features, Sony has brought universal remote feature in the Tablet S and also integrated its PlayStation Network for Gaming. Also Sony brings its thousands of movies and Music to the tablet, which will be a tipping point for many. Other than that the device is yet another Android tablet.

Going by HP’s recent fire sale, one would have expected Sony to debut at a lower price than Apple and try to conquer the market, but it seems Sony wants to maintain its premium tag and want to compete as yet another also ran device.

Technical Specifications

Camera Front – 0.3 Megapixel
Camera Rear – 5.0 Megapixel
Operating System : Android Honeycomb
External Memory : Full-size SD Card slot (for media exchange only)
Installed Memory : 16GB
Internal Memory : 1GB


Dimensions (Approx.) : 9.5” L x 6.8” W x 0.3”D

Sony Tablet S –  9.5  x 6.8  x 0.3
Apple iPad 2 – 9.5 x 7.31 x 0.34
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – 10.1 x 6.89 x 0.34
in terms of dimensions the device closely matches ipad and is slightly thinner.

Weight (Approx.) : 1lb. 5oz. (595 g)

Sony Tablet S –  595 g
Apple iPad 2 – 601 g
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – 565 g
Sony tablet S is slightly heavier than Galaxy Tab 10.1 and lighter than ipad2 but will be unnoticeable in either case

Battery Type : Li-Ion 5000 mAh
Headphone Standard Audio jack
MicroUSB Slot (1)
Bluetooth version 2.1 + EDR
IEEE802.11b/g/n

Overall it is yet another Android tablet and some will definitely like it, but it doesn’t bring much new to the table except the Sony quality and Brand Name.