MOTOROLA MILESTONE XT720 UNLOCKED PHONE WITH ANDROID OS

This review is from: Motorola Milestone XT720 Unlocked Phone with Android OS, 8 MP Camera and HD Video - International Warranty (Blue/Silver) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
I got this phone via one day shipping Nov 5th. I just got back from the post office from mailing it back to Amazon (Nov 9). During my FULL three days of ownership I must say that the phone is indeed a very nice phone. I will list some pro's and con's I found for the phone...

Pro's:

• Android 2.1 (Éclair) Pretty decent (this is listed in my con's as well)
• 8GB micro SD card (I did not get around to using this as I have my 16gb card from my other phone.)
• Nice bright screen. Also it is rumored that it is made with gorilla glass (so it will be hard to scratch up.)
• Sound quality from music and phone calls is nice, although the music volume could stand a tad bit improvement.
• When navigating through the phone to find things there is little to no lagging.
• Apps are easy to install from market. (Must have internet connection to access it).
• Camera and Video Recording qualities are decent.
• Wi-Fi connection avail... (To my knowledge, per Jessica from T-Mobile, they do not charge you if you use your OWN Wi-Fi connection, so that’s a plus.)
• This has a speed of 720 MHz so it is close to 1gh like the droid x and other phone models.
• Overall look of the phone is awesome; I took it out in public once and got loads of compliments.

There are more PRO's, but I can’t remember them all, I will update later when they come to mind...
Con's:

• While the Android 2.1 is nice, everyone on the Motorola and mobile forums are waiting for the Android 2.2 update that way simple things such as saving photos and apps to memory card will be easy as pie.
• The shutter sounds every time you take a picture. Even if you have it on silent/vibrate and take pictures then, the shutter is always on and loud as heck to boot. This is definitely not the phone to have when trying to sneak a picture of something because it will get you caught.
• While the screen is indeed nice, it is also a magnet for fingerprints and smears. I found myself constantly wiping it off. Tried to use a stylus to eliminate fingerprints and it’s not calibrated for that, FINGERS ONLY!!! The back of the phone which seems rubbery is fingerprint haven as well.
• Your apps save to the phone's memory instead of the SD card.
• Your pictures also save to the phone's memory and have no option of being saved to the SD card (trust me I have looked.)
• Unless you’re a programmer and can write scripts, there is no way to get rid of some of the pre-installed applications.
• Last but not LEAST the VERY REASON that I RETURNED MY PHONE..... 

 The battery sucks major ones..... I believe I had a faulty battery as I got it on Friday and from Friday at 4pm until Monday @5am it has been on the charger for over 50 hours and yet the highest max for the batter was at 54%. I figured the 54% was enough to do a Motorola software update (via settings on the phone) BOY was I WRONG!!! My phone has not been the same since. I had it on the charger during the update and the leds lights came on, the motorola logo would appear every ten minutes or so, but it wouldn’t load up... I figured I would do recovery mode, was able to pull it up, but because I was lacking battery juice so I couldn’t go through with it. I don’t understand how a phone can be on the charger left alone for at least 6hours with no usage at all and still not even be 15% charged.
Aside from the battery issue, as I am absolutely PO'D about because I had to spend $15 to ship it back to Amazon, now I got to wait a whole week or so for them to get it and refund my money so that I can purchase a different one. Not to mention since I was not able to power the phone back on I was not able to factory reset it before sending it back. With the refund I will get another xt720, as aside from the battery issue (which I believe was faulty, plus I will be ordering a backup battery) I liked the phone. I think the phone is just what I want and need in a phone right now.
A tidbit for those who are ordering from Amazon. I am not sure if it was just MY PHONE or if they recycle parts or whatever. But you will definitely want to review all of the items and check for usage before using them. As I was packing up my phone to send it back to them I noticed that the manual didn’t look that crisp (looked used/handled before), the wall charger they gave me was scratched up and the prongs rusted at the bottom (took a picture of this, not sure how clear it is though.)And, the box itself was not "sealed" as most phones are, nor did it look new. I overlooked all of this because I was in AWE to have a new phone, but glad that I was able to check it before sending it back. My thing is, if I am paying $400+ dollars for a phone, I expect EVERYTHING in the box to be brand spanking new, Amazon totally dropped the ball on this one. From this point on, I will be checking everything from them PRIOR to use.

Motorola DROID BIONIC 4G Android Phone

Motorola DROID BIONIC 4G Android Phone

This review is from: Motorola DROID BIONIC 4G Android Phone (Verizon Wireless) (Wireless Phone)
I've been on Verizon Wireless since high school and have gone through a ton of phones and a few smartphones including the Motorola Droid and the iPhone 4. This is BY FAR the best phone I have ever owned. My girlfriend is even ditching her DROID Charge for this phone. I'm going to try and give a good review and cover all the goods and the bads about this phone.

HARDWARE
The build of this phone is what you would expect from a Motorola phone - A nice solid piece of hardware made of metal with gorilla glass over the display. I had my iPhone for 3 months before I needed to replace it, but had my Motorola Droid for over 13 months and never exchanged it or repaired it, so Motorola definitely knows how to build a good piece of hardware. This phone is the first Verizon dual-core 4G LTE phone and it is FAST. Multi-tasking is effortless on this phone. Blows my iPhone 4 out of the water in this aspect. The display is amazing! It's a LARGE 4.3 qHD display (960x540 pixels) which is the highest resolution display on an Android phone to date. I wouldn't necessarily say better than the iPhone 4, but it is certainly as good. Some people are wondering if this phone is too big and bulky, but surprisingly it's pretty sleek and slim with a weight that makes it feel like a quality device, but not too heavy. Shooting pictures and videos is a ton of fun with this phone, the pictures look great. I posted a few on Facebook and they look awesome. The 1080p video is great as well indoors or outdoors. As for the front facing camera, it works with Skype, but you have to enable video chat in the settings on Skype (I heard a few people complain it wouldn't work). As for the quality of the front facing camera, it's not the greatest, it's only VGA (0.3 MP or something like that) but I mean it's video chat from your phone, you can still get your point across without lags or hitches because of Verizon's crazy fast 4G network (or over Wi-Fi).

OPERATING SYSTEM
So I have heard a lot of people that have been a little wary of getting this phone because of Motorola's skin "Motoblur". But as far as I can see this phone is almost completely void of Motoblur with a few added Motorola elements that are actually pretty useful. For example, you can pick some of your favorite contacts and make them widgets on one of your homescreens. Not sure if this is a Gingerbread feature, but I think it's unique to Motorola. As far as the Android OS goes it is a great OS. I am a huge fan of iOS, but I can say honestly that I probably won't be going back because Android is a hundred times more customizable and that really appeals to me. The QWERTY touch keyboard can be used in portrait or landscape and the phone is pre-loaded with "Swype" which is in my opinion the best option for a touch screen keyboard. The only thing is that it is heavily dependent on the phone's dictionary so you may need to manually type in some words for a while before it becomes fully useful.

APPS
The phone has some Verizon "bloatware" on it, but there's so much storage space on the phone for apps, you will hardly notice the 7 or 8 apps it comes with from VZW. The social media apps are AWESOME, especially if you like to share things like photos, videos, articles or web pages. It's incredibly easy to share things with your friends and the dual-core processor makes switching from Twitter to Facebook to GMail seamless. This phone comes preloaded with some setup accounts including Exchange or Corporate Sync, POP E-Mail, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, PhotoBucket, Picasa, and Twitter. Personally my favorite application on this phone is Google Maps because of the FREE turn-by-turn navigation that it offers which for some reason iOS still does not have. I also really like the ZumoCast application that allows you to access your computer remotely. Pretty cool and convenient. This phone is also Netflix ready. Haven't downloaded it from the market yet, but really eager to see how well the Netflix videos stream. There is also an app called "VideoSurf" where you can record a video of what you're watching on tv and the app will find information on the internet about the show or movie which is really cool, but a little unnecessary.

ACCESSORIES
This phone has a lot of cool accessories. I purchased the car and desktop docks from Costco and also got an HDMI cable for mirror mode. The car dock is nice because you can just put the phone in and it automatically switches to "Car Mode" where there are main apps like Navigation, Calling, Contacts, Voice Search and Music and they all show up as large buttons so they're easy to access and you don't have to do any scrolling. The HDMI mirror mode is actually pretty cool and I will probably be using it a bit more once I get my Netflix set up on this phone. I've connected the HDMI cable to my girlfriend's TV and played some of the HD video I recorded. It looks great!

BATTERY LIFE
A lot of the criticism with 4G LTE phones is the battery life especially with the horrible battery life of the HTC Thunderbolt. I have had this phone for approximately 13 hours and got about 5 1/2 hours without charging on HEAVY usage (Wi-Fi, recording HD video, playing HD video in mirror mode, browsing the internet, navigation on Google Maps, YouTube, Skype Video Chat, ZumoCast, etc.) Which is pretty good on any network. I drained the battery to 15% and threw it on the charger and it was fully charged 90 minutes later. The battery is 1735 mAH, which is usually the size of extended batteries. I expect with normal usage of calling, texting, checking emails and browsing you could easily get 8-10 hours. I have only used the phone for texting, calling, and GMail since I took it off the charger 3 hours ago and the battery is sitting at 80%. Impressive.

4G NETWORK
Making calls on Verizon's LTE network is just like it's 3G network. Dependable and clear. Never had a dropped call on Verizon 3G, don't expect to have any on 4G. Loading web pages is FAST. I mean REALLY FAST. It's actually faster than Wi-Fi which is crazy to me, but true. Using the speedtest.net speed test (seems redundant) the average download speed on 4G after 5 tests was around 17 mb/s and upload speed averaged about 2 mb/s. Videos from YouTube and web pages played effortlessly and looked great on the qHD screen.

PERFORMANCE
Like I said before this phone is FAST. It multitasks much better and more smoothly than my iPhone 4. It responds immediately every time I touch it and going from app to app is as easy as pressing the home button. I literally cannot put this thing down because I am amazed at how responsive it is. I have yet to run any benchmark tests to test the speed of the processor, but from what I've heard it is faster than any of the 4G phones and even faster than the dual-core DROID 3 which beat the HTC Thunderbolt and iPhone 4 in benchmark tests.

OVERALL
I would say this is the best phone I've ever owned. Definitely the coolest and most fun. It's a much larger screen than I'm used to, but I actually really like that. The display is awesome, pictures and videos look great and Android is obviously a great OS. Verizon has finally come through for its customers with this phone. I would recommend this phone to anyone. Now there are rumors that the iPhone 5, Samsung Stratosphere (Galaxy S II variant), HTC Vigor, and the Samsung Droid Prime are coming to Verizon in about a month or so. I don't know much about any of those phones, mostly just rumors, but as of now this is the BEST 4G phone on Verizon hands down. If you have an upgrade and you NEED a new phone I would say get this phone. You will really like it. If you're thinking about upgrading early or waiting for the line of phones coming in October I would say wait til then. You have to remember this phone was originally set to release in the Spring so the new phones in Q3 and Q4 may hold a slight advantage over the Bionic. Either way if you decide to go with this phone you won't be disappointed.
Detail Info Motorola DROID BIONIC 4G Android Phone click here.

SAMSUNG GALAXI S 4G ANDROID PHONE T-MOBILE WIRELESSS PHONE

This review is from: Samsung Galaxy S 4G Android Phone (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone)
I was an iPhone user who decided to buy new SGS4G for some "freedom" and cheaper cell/data service. And another reason I bought this device is because it is very close to iphone. Here comes my review after a week of its ownership.

Pros
1. Cheaper and faster: Speed difference from iPhone is obvious with 4G and better processor. T-mobile provides with cheaper plans.

2. Smooth and beautiful Video: I rarely watch TV/movies on a smartphone. This device made me think again. Quality of the movie screen is amazing - smooth and clear. Watching experience is close to laptop. I will enjoy this on flight.

3. Camera: Without considering more resolution, this camera is better than the one in iPhone GS. It is much less sensible for small shaking.

4. Wireless tethering: I didn't really care for tethering with 3G because of its terrible speed. But this device's 4G now and supposed to be 21 Mbps. After rooting, I first installed wireless tethering. And it works like a charm. This portable wifi router does not really make 21 Mbps but 8 Mbps but it's still practical. Think about IPad or Kindle with this phone in my pocket. They are always connected without paying a buck for 3G plan/device.

5. Unlimited expandability: Since it's android OS, unlike iphone, the device is not much restricted to expand. You can virtually install whatever you want.

Cons

1. Lack of internal memory: 500MB internal memory is too small to store apps. So after getting this device, you'd better start moving apps into internal 16G SD card. As I will mention about this below, however, not all apps can be moved to SD.

2. Bloated apps: Unnecessary apps occupy in apps screen and some of them also automatically run. And most of these bloated apps can't be deleted nor moved to SD card. - Solution: Root and Titanium Backup. See the last part of this review.

3. No flash LED: I rarely use it for taking pictures so it does not matter much to me. But it's one component people may want to have at some point. Besides, you can use it for other purposes with apps. As other devices in this price range have the LED, I am not sure why Samsung is not getting it with this excellent device otherwise.

4. Bad battery: I guess this may be the reason SGS4G is so light but its battery life is not close to the one in iPhone 3GS. My daily use is not that heavy but I always get 20-30% battery power remaining at the end of a day. In my test, playing 2-3 hours of a movie will drain the battery out. UPDATE: I've looked ways to overcome this issue, and so far, the best one is buying extra OEM batteries and charger to keep replacing battery on the device. I first thought it's one of the stupidest ideas. But with charger taking care of the extra batteries (two extras in my case), you are free from worrying about battery life and your device doesn't have to be connected to USB cable. The OEM batteries are already cheap so don't think about buying cheaper batteries as I did. One of cheapest batteries I tried almost bricked my device.

Root: Root is like easy jailbreak for Android device but without any downside. Of course Rooted device can be bricked and void of warranty but in reality, most of times, CS will fix the bricked device under warranty. Google "Super One Click" for more details.

Titanium Backup: After root, get the Titanium backup app to delete all unnecessary apps. One thing to remember: don't delete telenav app because it will mess GPS up otherwise.

In summary, root is almost required for this smart phone - root will take less than 30 mins. Other than that, with its amazing speed and powerful customizing ability from Android OS, I still have to figure out what it can do. This device is truly a personal computer + more in my hand. I like it a lot more than iPhone. Read More Samsung galaxi.
I have been with Android since the Day 1 release of the G1. This is my 3rd Android phone and I was upgrading from a Nexus 1. Let's start off with the good. I bought this phone on its release date largely because I wanted a bigger screen, better batter life and a phone that I would actually hold a signal so I could talk on it (antenna was in the bottom of the Nexus 1 and it was pretty bad on reception).

I picked up this phone and the first thing you will notice is that it is very light almost too light. The back cover is made of plastic and it feels somewhat cheap in your hand. The screen is made of Gorilla Glass which is a good thing. It lacks stereo speakers opting for a loud but monaural speaker in the back of the phone with a unattractive two slit hole for sound in the back of the phone. In a loud environment this often requires holding the phone cupped in your hand to reflect the sound back out to you.

The screen on this phone is absolutely beautiful. It is a SuperAMOLE 480x800 screen. The colors are rich & vibrant and HD movies or video looks incredible. It really is like watching a pocket version of my 50 inch 1080p HD television. The screen technology also uses less battery so it doesn't have the incredible drain you might expect even in 4 inches of real estate.

The camera is where one of the first major flaws of this phone surface. It is a 5 megapixel camera with NO FLASH. That is completely unacceptable on a phone that is a flagship device (albeit only for a few months) on T-Mobile. The camera does have good low light performance but it will not work if you are on the phone. There also is no way to turn off the GPS if you don't want that information embedded in the metadata of the phone. The interface of the phone is awkward & far too time consuming. It takes average photos & videos and has no dedicated camera/video button. I have been so frustrated at times with this camera I have wished I brought a standalone device.

Onto the operation of the phone. The phone operates on a Hummingbird processor and its operation most of the time is very smooth. I added the juice defender app which turns off certain functions when the phone is not being used and it extends battery life. With Juice Defender I have seen as much as 16 hours on a full charge. Without Juice Defender on a solid 6-9 hours can be expected depending on the user.

On to the MOST annoying issue with this phone. It has 1GB of ROM on the phone which means that the Android OS and all of the bloatware pre-installed by Samsung are on the internal memory. By the time they are done with what they feel its important for you to have (apps like QIK for video chat, LAYAR, T-mobile TV, Media Hub, Wifi Calling, etc) you are left with about 250mb of space for the apps YOU want. I don't want to root the phone because that is the solution to getting rid of the issues with this phone. I shouldn't have to root the phone to buy an app. I don't have the Amazon App Store on this phone right now not because I don't want it because it won't fit. A 1.25mb application will not fit on my phone! I have 13 apps installed to the memory of the phone that I need (app's like Flash, Facebook, Google Maps,Gmail, Doubletwist, Sirus/XM & Juice Defender). All of the apps I can put on the SD card have been moved over (all 42 of them). How do you expect me to purchase apps if I have no space.

The lack of internal memory and horrible camera operation are the reasons that after a few short months of ownership of this phone I'm selling it and buying the just released LG 2GX on T-mobile. I really don't want to have to buy another phone this soon but the internal memory issues and the camera are just too much of an annoyance. I wouldn't really recommend this phone now as there are much better devices out there now. Its a shame that Samsung & T-mobile didn't make the minor tweaks to this device (more internal memory, flash & better camera features) that would have really made it a great device. 

Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint

Kyocera Echo Android Phone (Sprint) by Kyocera.
This review is from: Kyocera Echo Android Phone (Sprint) (Wireless Phone)
3.5 Stars-
Firstly, let me admit that I have not had a ton of time to explore this phone. However, this phone is devoid of reviews so I am I going to tell you some of the things that jumped out to me that you might not realize before you order it. I will try to update this review as I uncover interesting aspects of the phone over time as well.

THE GOOD Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint:
Dual Screen Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint:
The duel screens are obviously the main "gimmick" of the phone. The "tablet mode" (with both screens in use), provides a neat look when browsing through phone menu's, games, and "simultasking" mode. The latter is a nifty feature that lets you do two separate applications- one in each screen, at the same time. This is handy if you are having a text conversation and also want to navigate the web simultaneously to check for movies times, phone numbers and anything else that may arise. The screens themselves are responsive as well as nice and bright.

Software Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint:
The phone comes with Android 2.2 (Froyo), which is relatively quick when coupled with the 1 GHz processor (However, in tablet mode the phone can feel occasionally sluggish). The phone has almost no added Sprint software (yay!).

Hardware Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint:

The phone itself is attractive in my opinion. The sleek black goes well with the silver accents at the top and bottom and combine for a unique style. I found that flipping the screens around is quite enjoyable. The hardware feels sturdy and the hinge, the part that seems to take the brunt of the force when transforming the phone, is metal and feels fairly strong.

Texting Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint:
Probably my favorite feature of the phone. You can set the phone up to look almost like a very small laptop with your keyboard at the bottom in full landscape with the top screen acting as your monitor to view your typing. I would imagine many heavy-texters would find this phone enjoyable for this feature alone. The phone also includes Swype which is useful when you writing or texting in the single screen mode.

THE BAD Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint:

Battery life:
Now in the interest of disclosure, I will admit that new phones tend to get played with more frequently so my reference point is not exactly a matter of science, especially for real world application. However, the battery seems to die quite quickly when using both screens, especially when watching media like Youtube or Sprint TV. Kyocera includes an extra battery and cool charging station for it. This would be all well and good, if the battery was not such a hassle to get out of the phone (and who really wants to cart the extra battery plus the charging dock).


No 4G:
Really? Yup. A brand new phone selling in retail locations for $199 and it does not support the latest Wimax technology.

Fingerprints:
You will have them all over both screens. It's hard to avoid when you are switching between screens. Though this IS a TOUCH-screen phone, its hard to get too upset about this one.

The Dual Screens:
These babies are a double-edged sword. They make the phone rather bulky, heavy, and are presumably the reason the battery dies so quickly. Also, the bezel in between the two screens when in tablet mode is rather annoying (at least for me) when swiping across the screens. This is simply due to the phone losing input from your finger as you hit the plastic in between the screens.

Button location:
If you are familiar with Android phones you know there is normally a home, menu, back and search button on the phone hardware. On this phone they actually "move" around depending how you are holding the phone. This is something the end-user will probably get accustomed to over time, but it is initially troublesome.

Conclusion:
While I do strongly believe this phone will appeal to a certain niche group, it's not going to be the "next big thing". The innovation behind the phone is admirable, but the execution is lacking. My "daily driver" phone is the Evo 4G, and this unit did not tempt me away from it at all. While the phone is certainly a neat gadget, I don't see it being a competitive force against phones like the Evo, Epic and the new Evo 3D- rumored to be coming out in June- at the same $199 price point. All that aside for a moment, If you are coming from a phone like the LG Rumor or older Android phone and are prone to a lot of texting this phone might be right up your alley and certainly would be an upgrade from those units.

If you have any questions, want some pictures of the phone, or another request, leave me a comment and I'll try to respond as soon as I can.

feature Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint:
Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g) for accessing home and corporate networks as well as hotspots while on the go
Instant messaging via popular services including Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger
Full HTML Web browser with Flash 10.1 support that's optimized for dual screens
3G data speeds (EVDO Rev A.) (peak download speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps; peak upload speeds of 1.8 Mbps; average download speeds of 600 kbps-1.4 Mbps)
Adobe Flash technology ensures that rich Internet content, such as embedded video and animation, are displayed the way they are meant to be seen
Airplane mode allows you to listen to music while the cellular connectivity is turned off
GPS using Sprint Navigation for turn by turn directions, and points of interest searches
4.3-inch capacitive display with pinch-to-zoom and tactile feedback
Built-in mobile hotspot functionality allows up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices to share the 3G or 4G experience on the go with a laptop, camera, music player, game unit, video player, or any other Wi-Fi enabled device
Powered by the Android 2.2 operating system with deep integration of Google services and access to thousands of apps to customize your phone via the Android Market
Apps customized for Echo dual screen and larger real estate give optimum viewing quality
Bluetooth connectivity (version 2.1) includes profiles for communication headset, hands-free car kits, and the A2DP Bluetooth profile--enabling you to wirelessly stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones or speaker dock
Memory expansion via microSD card slot with support for optional cards up to 32 GB (8 GB card included)
Media Player with a 3.5mm stereo headset jack, so you can play video and music files you've downloaded
Google mobile services including Google Search, Google Maps, Google Talk, Gmail, YouTube , and syncing with Google Calendar
Access to Google Goggles to search with pictures instead of words. It works with everything from books, DVDs and barcodes to landmarks, logos, artwork and wine labels
Easily view Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files on the go to maximize your productivity
1 GHz Snapdragon processor speeds up everything--from playing games to watching shows to opening files from work
5-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual LED flash
Capture HD-quality video (720p)
Access to personal and corporate e-mail with Microsoft Direct Push Technology and HTML support. Send and receive email from multiple corporate and personal email accounts. Also, get wireless email access to popular commercial POP3 and IMAP accounts like AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo!
Read More Kyocera Echo Android Phone Sprint Here.

Cheap LG Phoenix Android Phone

LG Phoenix Android Phone (AT&T)
by LG

The LG Phoenix operates on AT&T's Tri-Band UMTS/HSDPA 7.2Mbps and Quad-Band EDGE networks. Its 600MHz application processor has the power you need to multitask on the 3.2" HVGA full touchscreen. Enjoy PC-like web browsing with the built-in WebKit 2.3-based browser. Read your work email with Gmail, POP3/IMAP, and MS Exchange support, and get more done with ThinkFree Office which lets you view and edit Microsoft Office files and attachments.

Keep in touch with social networking like Facebook and Twitter, or just entertain yourself with preloaded AT&T apps such as AT&T Radio, AT&T Navigator, AT&TAT&T U-verse Live TV, AT&T FamilyMap, YPmobile, and more.

Enabled for use on AT&T's lightning quick HSPDA 3G network, you'll be able to easily access the Internet as well as quickly download video, music, and more. Additionally, with AT&T's 3G network, you can make a call while simultaneously receiving picture/text messages and e-mail or viewing Web pages. This GPS-enabled phone can access the AT&T Navigator service for turn-by-turn directions.
Google Integration

Camera LG Phoenix Android Phone.

3.2-megapixel camera with 4x zoom
Up to 2 hours of live video capture and playback

Multimedia LG Phoenix Android Phone.

Music player compatible with MP3, AAC, AAC+, AAC+v2, WMA, MIDI, WAV, AMR formats
AT&T Mobile Music and streaming AT&T Radio
Built-in FM Radio
MusicID identifies songs you're listening to
U-verse Live TV to watch live, on-demand and downloadable TV shows on your phone

LG Phoenix Android Phone Messaging.

Text Messaging and Instant Messaging (IM) via Google Talk
Mobile Email with Gmail, POP3/IMAP, and MS Exchange support

LG Phoenix Android Phone Memory:

2 GB memory card installed
Memory expansion via microSD card slot with support for optional cards up to 32 GB


LG Phoenix Android Phone Applications/Media:

Custom ringtones with MP3 support
Ringback tones to have your friends hear your favorite song or funny phrase when they call you
Theme your phone with wallpapers, custom menus, icons, and more
Android Market with access to thousands of applications

LG Phoenix Android Phone Productivity:

Address book
Conference calling
Call Forwarding
Multitasking with simultaneous voice and data

and More Features LG Phoenix Android Phone.

3G high-speed data and voice (7.2Mbps)
World phone with tri-band support
Bluetooth 2.1 wireless connectivity
Hands-free speakerphone
Voice dialing and voice commands
TTY/TTD Compatible

Read more Cheap LG Phoenix Android Phone here.

HOW TO ROOT A COBY KYROS MID7015 ANDROID TABLET

Coby Kyros MID7015 Android Tablet – Ultimate beginners guide on how to – Root your tablet, install, Clockworkmod Recovery to do a complete systems backup , and then install Google Market.

This guide is written for new users who have NO experience with the Android OS or this device. I do not take credit for the patches/fixes. I am just documenting the process to make it easier for new Kyros tablet users.

Intro Steps Coby Kyros MID7015 Android Tablet – Ultimate beginners guide on how to – Root your tablet, install, Clockworkmod Recovery to do a complete systems backup , and then install Google Market.
1. Put your device in USB Debugging mode.
From the main menu, press Settings, Applications, make sure Unknown sources is checked.
Press Development,and make sure that USB Debugging is enabled.

2. Turn on your WIFI by going to Settings, Wireless & Networks, check WIFI,and then Wi-Fi settings.
Select your Wi-Fi access point.

3. Open AppsLib,press the search hour glass icon,and type File Manager and press Search. I like the File Manager by mmaapp. Install it. Close AppsLib

Rooting your Tablet
By rooting, what they mean is that you will have full control over all of the files and folders on your tablet. This is a good and a bad thing. It is good because we can add programs. It is also bad because you can delete files that you shouldn’t…meaning you could kill your tablet if you mess around.
1. From your PC, download z4Root and copy it to your micro SD card. Z4Root can be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=833953
2. Put the sd card in your Kyros, and open File Manager.
3. In File Manager, Press SD card, then press z4root.x.x.x.apk (x indicates the version number), and press install.
4. Press Open
5. Z4Root will open. Press Permanent Root. Once it is done rooting, it will reboot your Kyros.


Installing the Windows software and ADB drivers
1. Download and install The Java Development Kit 6here (you will need to register on their site first):
https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_Developer-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductRef=jdk-6u22-oth-JPR@CDS-CDS_Developer
2. Download and unzip the android-sdk-r07-windows.zip file to the C: drive on your computer.
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
3. Go to the android-sdk-windows folder that you unzipped
4. Launch SDKManager.exe
5. Under choose which package to install, click accept all. As a part of what it is downloading, it will download the Android USB drivers. This part will probably take like 30 minutes or more to complete.
6. Once the download is done, close the SDK Manager.
7. You should now see a folder called usb_driver. Open that folder.
8. You will see a file called android_winusb.inf. Open that file in notepad.
--- Alternatively you can just download an android_winusb.inf file with all of the modifications already done here:
rapidshare.com android_winusb.inf

--- You would then just copy over the original android_winusb.inf file in your \android-sdk-windows\usb_driver folder.
--- Once the file is over written, skip to step 12

9. Right underneath the section labeled [Google.NTx86] paste in the following:

%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_DEED
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_DEED&MI_01
; Android Eclair
%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0BB4&PID_0C01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0BB4&PID_0C02&MI_01
%SingleBootLoaderInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0BB4&PID_0FFF

10. Right underneath the section labeled [Google.NTamd64] paste in the following:
%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_DEED
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_DEED&MI_01

---- Note --- Thanks goes to phygman at XDA-Developers and lschroeder at tipster.the-talk.net for the code here to get the ADB driver working in XP
11. Save the changes in the android_winusb.inf file
12. Plug in your Kyros device. Windows will still not find the driver for the device, but go into the Device manager, and select AndroidEclair, and update driver, browse my computer, let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
13. Click "Have Disk" and browse to the c:\android-sdk-windows\usb_driver folder. Double click on android_winusb.inf.
14. Select Android ADB Interface.
15. It will then come up with some messages about this is unsigned or something, are you sure you want to do this, click yes or continue.

Then it will install the driver and detect the kyros.
Installing ClockworkMod Recovery to back up your Kyros.
1. On your pc, download recovery.img and place it on the root folder of your sd card (\)
Recovery.img can be found here: sendspace.com vkv6yz
2. Put the sd card back into the tablet and then plug the usb cable into the tablet, and then your pc. Make sure your tablet is powered on.
3. Open the Command Prompt in windows (cmd.exe)
4. Go to the android-sdk-windows\tools folder. Since I placed the android-sdk-windows folder on the root of my c drive, I typed cd\android-sdk-windows\tools and pressed enter.
5. Type adb shell and press enter.
6. Type su and press enter.
7. Type flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img and press enter.
8. Press and hold the CTRL button, then press C.
9. Type adb reboot recovery and press enter.
10. Your Kyros tablet will reboot. Clockwork Mod Recovery will then load.
When Navigating through ClockworkMod Recovery, here are the keys:

Home is down
Menu is select
Back is back

11. Press the Home button until backup and restore is highlighted and press Menu.
12. Backup should already be selected. Press Menu.
13. It will now do a complete system backup. This is ESSENTIAL as it is VERY easy to play around and break your Kyros to the point that it is useless.
14. It will say “Backup complete” once the backup is done.
15. Reboot system now should be highlighted. Press Menu to reboot.


Installing Google Marketplace in tablet.
1. Remove your sd card and put it back in your pc. Download the file gapps-passion-EPE54B-signed.zip and place it on the root of your sd card (\).
The file can be downloaded here: mediafire.com mjmmfmm0jez
2. Connect the usb cable to the Kyros and the pc.
3. Put the sd card back into the tablet and then plug the usb cable into the tablet, and then your pc. Make sure your tablet is powered on.
4. Open the Command Prompt in windows (cmd.exe)
5. Go to the android-sdk-windows\tools folder. Since I placed the android-sdk-windows folder on the root of my c drive, I typed cd\android-sdk-windows\tools and pressed enter.
6. Type adb reboot recovery and press enter.
7. It will boot into the ClockworkMod Recovery menu.
8. Press Home until install zip from sd card is selected and press menu.
9. Press Home until choose zip from sd card is selected and press menu.
10. Press Home until gapps-passion-EPE54B-signed.zip is selected and press Menu.
11. Press Home until Yes – Install gapps-passion-EPE54B-signed.zip is selected and press Menu.
12. It will then install the Google Market.
13. Once the install is done, it will say Install from sd card complete.
14. Press the back button
15. Reboot system now should be highlighted. Press Menu.
16. It will reboot the Kyros. You will see a Wizard appear. Go through the Wizard
17. You now have the Android Marketplace installed on your Kyros.

I would also recommend installing the AppBrain app from the Google Market. It gives you the ability to install more apps then just the Google Market alone.

by Jason Andreas.
how to root coby kyros mid7015, how to root coby kyros 7015, how to root coby kyros tablet, how to root coby kyros mid 7015, clockworkmod recovery download, clockworkmod recovery 2, clockworkmod recovery droid, clockworkmod recovery droid x, clockworkmod recovery droid 2, clockworkmod recovery droid incredible, clockworkmod recovery droid 2 global, how to install google market, install google market on tablet
Source: http://tipstir.the-talk.net/t689-coby-kyros-mid7015-android-tablet-ultimate-beginners-guide-on-how-to-root-your-tablet-install-clockworkmod-recovery-to-do-a-complete-systems-backup-and-then-install-google-market

HTC ThunderBolt 4G Android Phone Verizon Wireless

If you're looking for an honest review of the Thunderbolt (mind you, I've only had it a little less than 2 weeks at this point), please read on.

First, a little background: I've been a Verizon customer for years. I previously had an LG Env2 for 3 years before buying the Thunderbolt. Like a lot of you, I'm sure, I waited and waited and skipped over several releases of the iPhone (on AT&T), desperately hoping for something equal or better on Verizon. For better or worse, I stood my ground and kept on waiting for something on Verizon. I was eligible for an upgrade about this time last year, but I never pulled the trigger on it for one reason or another. I guess I just never found a phone that really made me want to spend the extra money for the data plan (although the Droid Incredible came close). As soon as I heard that the LTE phones would start to roll out in early 2011, I knew I was waiting until that point to use my upgrade.

That brings us to the present. Dismayed a little by the continuous delays that plagued the release of the Thunderbolt, I waited patiently until the weekend following the release. I told myself I was going to wait a little longer to see if there were any major problems. I was a bit nervous on this purchase, just based on the rumors I'd been hearing about (and reading about) that delayed the Thunderbolt's release. In the end, though, I decided I just couldn't wait any longer and I made the purchase. My $50 upgrade credit (incidentally, the last time I'll be able to use one of those on Verizon, since they're doing away with the program) brought the price of the phone from $250 down to $200. Initial set-up at the Verizon store was minimal and I was out the door fairly quickly.

A few caveats here, before I dive into the guts of the review:
1) I live on the East Coast, in Arlington, VA. I frequently travel up/down the I-95 corridor to NJ/NYC/CT/etc, where Verizon's 4G LTE signal is very strong.
2) Even though this is my first Android phone, I'm quite familiar with the operating system (OS) since my fiancee has one (Droid Incredible) and my father has one (Droid X). I've spent extensive time with both of those phones, so I have a pretty good reference point.

So, the first thing everyone wants to know is, of course, about 4G. (This is certainly the start of the "Pros" category, by the way.) As I mentioned above, I spend most of my time on the East Coast in the mid-Atlantic region. I've found the 4G signal to be excellent so far. During a recent trip from Philly down to Arlington, VA, I had 4G signal a good majority of the time. There were definitely spots in Northern Maryland and Delaware that didn't have 4G, but once I hit the outskirts of Baltimore, I had 4G signal pretty much the rest of the way south to Washington, DC. Keep in mind, too, that the 4G LTE network (on this phone, anyway) is for DATA only. It won't be until later this year or next year that Verizon starts to release phones that actually make phone calls over the 4G network.

The 4G LTE network that Verizon has up and running is BLAZING fast. I can't possibly overstate that in any way, shape, or form. I have a Comcast cable modem at home that provides Wifi to my apartment. The 4G speeds that I'm getting with LTE right now are FASTER than my home network. And not even really that close, to be honest. Verizon's 4G network is considerably faster than the Comcast cable modem. How much faster you ask? Take these numbers for instance (generated using the SpeedTest.net app from the Android app store):

On my home Wifi: 2941 kbps DOWNLOAD, 1390 kbps UPLOAD
On Verizon's LTE network: 5102 kbps DOWNLOAD, 21214 kbps UPLOAD

In case your math is a little rusty, download speeds are almost twice as fast on the LTE network. Upload speeds are 15+ times faster! That's compared to a CABLE MODEM! That's insanely fast, folks!!! The big question, of course, is will those speeds continue to hold up as more folks jump on the LTE network? I can't answer that question since I'm not a Verizon engineer. I certainly hope so, that's for sure. Verizon's network is their reputation, so I'm willing to bet that the speeds hold up fairly well. And let's face it -- even if there is a *slight* downgrade in speed once more folks are on, it's still insanely fast for a cell phone.

To go along with the network speeds, lets discuss the Mobile Hotspot on the phone. You can connect up to 5 devices to the hotspot. My understanding is that the mobile hotspot option is free on this phone through mid-May (roughly, don't quote me on this). I tested it out this weekend, and it performed flawlessly using my MacBook. Speeds were, again, outstanding. I didn't run any numbers, but just browsing the Internet seemed considerably faster when connected to my phone (vs. the Cable Modem Wifi). Definitely an awesome feature to be able to turn the phone into a mobile 4G LTE hotspot. Am I going to use that feature after May when I have to pay extra? I'm not sure, but it's certainly a great option to have for some folks. I guess the answer will also depend on Verizon's pricing structure, whenever that fully emerges.

The phone itself feels well put together. Make no mistake about it: it's LARGE. But it's not too large. Personally, I think it's the perfect size for cell phone. Screen size is the same as the Droid X at 4.3 inches, although the phone itself is smaller in profile and feels a lot nicer to hold than the Droid X. It's great for any type of video, Google Nav, etc etc. The list goes on, but the screen is big, bright, and beautiful. Is it the latest and greatest screen technology out there? I doubt it, but it certainly looks really good, I can tell you that much.

That about does it for the PROS. Now for the CONS. Some of them are nitpicky, and some are not. Some may be mixed with future updates, and others probably won't.

First thing I noticed when I got the phone home: Verizon loads this thing with bloatware CRAP. I don't know about you, but that really, REALLY annoys me. Not so much that they put it on there, I understand that Verizon probably has marketing agreements with other companies (Blockbuster, for example). I can live with that. That's if they made the apps removable - they are not. And that's what drives me absolutely crazy with this phone. The only program that can be deleted from the device is CityID. The others are baked into the ROM - meaning that even if you go though the procedures to delete them, guess what -- they're still there! They don't go away!! And there's nothing you can do to get rid of them, short of rooting the phone (which I'm not recommending). To name a few: Blockbuster, Bitbop, Amazon Kindle, Lets Golf 2, Peep, Rhapsody, Rock Band, Slacker, VCast Apps, VCast Media, and VZ Navigator. Keep in mind that some of these apps run AUTOMATICALLY in the background (draining battery! which I'll get to in a minute). If you didn't just read that list and say "Are you kidding me?!?!" then you're nuts. I have a demo of Lets Golf 2 on my phone that I CAN'T DELETE because Verizon says so. That is total crap, in my opinion, and a huge downside to this phone. I'm okay with them pre-loading it on their phones - just don't put it in the ROM. I literally hate that Verizon thinks you should have no choice on deleting some apps. Huge minus for this phone.

That leads me nicely into battery life. Believe (most of) what you read. It's more or less a disaster. I'd like to tell you otherwise, believe me! And it's even more annoying when you realize there are Verizon apps running in the background that you can't get rid of (or stop with a Task Killer program -- they pop right back up!). If you run this phone on the 4G LTE network all day long, I'm here to tell you that it's HIGHLY unlikely you're even getting through the day without having to recharge. I found that I average (so far) about 4-6 hours between charges. And that is NOT with heavy use (streaming video, etc.). That's with light-to-moderate use during the day (1 or 2 quick phone calls, checking Gmail and Facebook, etc). If you read the reviews on here (and elsewhere - check on Verizon's own forums), you'll see people complaining of the same thing. I really hope that Verizon will put out a software update to address this issue, as it's most certainly one of the phone's major problems. Having said that, there are ways around the issue. Using different apps from the app store (Phone Info is the one I use), you can force the phone to operate in 3G mode only. That definitely helps batter life tremendously. You can also download/purchase a "task killer" app to close out apps running (draining battery) in the background. That also helps, but the biggest saver of the battery is forcing the phone into 3G only mode. Which, for me, is quite frustrating. Yeah, I'm saving on the battery life, but one of the MAIN REASONS I bought this phone to begin with is to access the 4G network. So it doesn't do me much good to run it in 3G only mode, although I'm forced to do it right now because of the battery life. It's frustrating, to say the least. Is it something Verizon will fix in the near future? Let's hope so. Just be aware of this issue before you buy this phone (many of the rumors surrounding the delayed release of this phone centered on the problems with its battery life).

Phone call quality is mediocre, at best. When I think of a word to describe the call quality, what comes to mind is "meh". That's really all I can say. For a device this technologically superior, it's call quality should be fantastic. It's NOT - it's just OK. Both the Droid Incredible and the Droid X are *FAR* superior than this phone in that regard. Why? I don't really know. If you read up on some of the newest Android phones (the Motorola Atrix on AT&T for example), a lot of them are having problems with call quality. Put the HTC Thunderbolt in that category too. I haven't really had anyone complain, per se, but it's just not that great. People sound very "tinny" on my end. I agree with others: the uppermost volume setting is definitely not loud enough, either. If you're in a really quiet room, it's fine, but good luck being able to hear anyone on a crowded city street. Again, I hope we'll see a fix for this sooner than later through a software update.

The camera on the phone is also just "OK". It's really nothing great. Yeah it's 8 megapixels, and yeah, it takes decent shots for a cell phone, but that's about all. It's been covered in great detail by reviews elsewhere, and I haven't really used it too much yet, so I'm not going into great detail here. I haven't been that impressed by it, at least not yet, but it's not awful either. I haven't used the front camera for any video calls or anything like that yet, so I can't comment on it much. It's 1.3 megapixels, that's about all I know. I'm sure it's also mediocre.

I think that about covers it, at least the main aspects of the phone, anyway. I will edit/update this initial review as I spend more time with the phone. Believe me, I *really* wanted this to be a 5-star phone, but it's honestly not. It's probably more like a 3.5 star phone, but due to the sheer speed of Verizon's LTE network, I'll be generous and give it a half-star bump to 4-stars. If Verizon can figure out the battery life problems and the call quality problems, it's definitely a 4.5 star phone (I'm keeping that other half-star reserved until Verizon decides not to kill the phone with bloatware!).

It's definitely a good (but not great) entrance into the 4G/LTE arena for Verizon. If you're going to buy the phone, temper your expectations a little. That's the best advice I can give. If you can stand to wait a few more months, I'd probably do so to see what's coming from Motorola, Samsung, LG, etc.

I hope this review helped you make a reasonable decision on the phone. READ MORE.

read more Transcend 8 GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card.

Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone AT&T

Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone (AT&T)
by Motorola.

This review is from: Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)
When I first saw the Atrix, I was mesmerized and had to wait a few months to get my hands on the phone. The specs of the Atrix is awesome and I have hope that the phone will live up to the promise that has been made. I have never used an Android phone before this one, but have used the Iphone since it came out and have the Iphone 4. I have used the Palm III, treo, BlackBerry ect... you get the point.

What comes with the phone? You get the phone, USB cord, A wall plug and the HDMI cable, instruction manual and battery. Everything one need to step off into the Atrix Android world.

One thing the iPhone user will notice that the Android software is more difficult to use. It may take a few hours just to get the basics down, but after the few hours a whole new world starts to open up. Unlike the Iphone who's software is easy to operate, the more you learn about Android, the more powerful the phone becomes.

Just a quick comparison Iphone 4 VS Atrix, the Iphone 4 display is way clearer and the screen is a little more responsive. The Artix has a user replaceable battery and the phone can be taken a part and fix for a lot less money than the Iphone. Now, I have never tried to take apart either phone, but the instructions and professional review of the taken down is on line.
One thing I would like to say is that the finger print reader works very well.
The world of Apps...
In Apps, Apple wins. Not much else to say there. The Apps that I use mostly are iHeart Radio (does not work on Atrix), Scrabble (Not found on Android store), Farkle (Android has but quality is lacking), Bloomberg and Fox News.

Wall Paper...
Android leaves Apple in the dust. The active wall paper cannot be beat by apple, you can have multiple home screens with live wall paper. I love knowing the time, temperature and forcast. If you are like me, the Android system, cannot be beat.

Ease of use...
Apple is a lot simpler to use. Just like pen and paper is easy, but if you are in the computer world, than a pen and paper just won't due, and this is where the Android system comes in. I cannot honestly say which system is best, Android or IOS. If you want simple, but lacking power, Iphone is the way. If you are a person who likes to play, Android is the choice.

Display:
The display is bright and colorful, but the diplay is not nearly as nice as the iPhone 4. The lack luster display is noticed especially noticed when reading texts and PDFs.

Camera and Flash:
The camera takes pretty good pictures. The LED flash works really good. I was able to take a picture in a nearly dark room and the subject came out clear and in focus. The LED flash filled the entire room. As a side note, there is a forward facing camera. I have not used and more than likely won't.

Speaker:
Very loud and clear when using to make calls, talk radio and listening to music. It is a small speaker so you will not get a lot (if any) bass from this little speaker.

Operating System:
I have never used Android before, so I have ability to describe between the Android, the Moto Blur, and if ATT messed it up I can't tell. The user of the Atrix must use the one app store that ATT backs, and the icon for the store comes preloaded. It would be nice to have more access to more stores, like Amazon, but if you get this phone, you are going to be stuck. The few apps that I have downloaded all seem to work fine and most of them were free. It would be nice it ATT did not pull the apple store garbage with this phone though.

The Atrix comes loaded with lots of software, commonly known as bloatware, but you get a lot of it. The software that runs on the computer is called "Motorola Media Link", this is kind of like "iTunes" in the sense that the Media Link software is a way for your computer to communicate with the Atrix. This nifty program will take you itunes music (Not DRM protected) and place the music on your new phone. You can also transfer your pod casts too. The Media Link is automatic and does not need to be messed with. I had no problems with the installation or use of the software. The Software is stored on your phone and will try to load on any computer that the Atrix is hooked up to.

Some of the really things about the Atrix that I like is the Micro SD slot (32BG max) for added memory and the user can remove the battery without having to go find apple support. I was also able to keep my unlimited data package, although a lot of AT&T customers have not been so lucky. AT&T also offers their $5.00/ month warranty on the phone as compared to the Iphone, and you do not have to hook the phone up to a computer the first time you use it. You do need to sign up for a MOTO account, nut it only takes a few seconds and you are able to use you new cell phone.

Things I do not like. I do not like the feel of the phone. My Iphone 4 feels better constructed and feels like it will not easily slip out of my hands, unlike the Atrix. I have not yet dropped the phone. The battery seems to take a long while to receive a charge too.

Big minus for the phone is the Lap top that you can purchase with the phone. I cannot see why I should spend 400.00 for the "dock" that is nothing but an empty screen. And then you have to pay ATT and extra ten per month for "tethering" the dock that is nothing but a screen to you phone. The price is too high for the extra ten you have to pay per month. You can can a netbook that has more power and does more things for the same price.

Why did I give the Atrix only 4 stars? The Atrix is a good phone, but the lack luster construction of the phone and the steep learning curve do not make up for the other great features that the phone has to offer.

Update: 02/28/2011:

I have now used the Atrix for a few days so it was prudent to give an update.

Battery life:
The battery life is not to great. After getting the battery at 100%, I then took the Atrix to chuch where I used Bible Reader app as my bible. At the end of Sunday school and main service, the phone was down to 60%, after the evening service, the phone was down to 10%. Lack luster battery life is normal. The Iphones have poor battery life, and the Atrix bettery life is even shorter. There is a lot of heat build up during use and when charging. The phone charges slowly when charging from a computer USB with the display off, and does not charge at all it seems with the diplay on. I purchased a Micro USB car charger and it works wonderfully.

GPS Function:
I do not use the AT&T navigation, but the "Navigation" function that comes with the phone. The Android device does a wonderful with the GPS. Apple's GPS function and mapping capabilty always made the Apple Iphone a lst choice in trying to use as a GPS. The Android does a very good job with GPS, it is not on the level with a stand alone Garmen, but I do use a GPS alot to find customer houses and I would not hesitate to use the Atrix as my main GPS device. The GPS also has an option to use voice for the inputing of an address. It does work faily well, but the voice input for a destination (restraunt name)does not work as well.
When traveling to your destination, you can turn the screen of the GPS off and you will still get voice commands. If you are using the media player function through your cars stereo system, the music will mute and the directs will come through your car speakers.

DLNA Services
If you are like me, you have tons of videos sitting on your hard drive or network attached storage. The Atrix will find the media and play the media. I was able to stream several videos of differing formats with no problems at all. Honestly, I really do not think you will be uising the device as a 3" television set, but it does work. Apple does the same thing, but you must have iTunes and/or AppleTV.

A nifty little function that I have notice after owning the phone for several weeks, the DLNA service will try and link to your home media server where you are within the range of your "in house" network..

Ring Tones:

You can use and song or sound loaded on your phone as a ringtone. Easy to use, and it is free.

Update 3/9/2011 Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone

I tried to get Netflix on the phone and much to my surprise, Netflix does not have an App for the Android devices yet. So as an Atrix user, I am stuck paying an extra ten dollars to AT&T for their TV service. According to sources on the internet, Android will have an App adventually but it will be a marketed to new phones. You will see the phones labeled as "Nextflix compatable". Bummer

Update 03/16/2011 Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone.

Phone is still owrking great. Had to turn the phone off and then back on yesterday. For some reason the phone would not update web based apps like stock market, bloomberg and weather. Turning the phone on and off solved the problem. I also purchased the otterbox defender for the Atrix... sweet phone case.

The Atrix does appear to have better reception when placing calls. i could not make a phone call at my work using the Iphone 4 but no problems with the Atrix.

Update 3/23/2011

Took the phone on a trip of several hundred miles to see how the GPS would function, the phone did a great job. The phone did stop responding when trying to accomplish several tasks quickly. I was not able to turn the phone off to reset the phone. I actually had to take the battery out. You can look at that problem as a possitive and negative. The battery had to be removed to reset the phone, but at least the battery is user accessible unlike the iPhone... Read More.

Samsung Epic 4G Android Phone

This review is from: Samsung Epic 4G Android Phone (Sprint) (Wireless Phone)
I have been playing around with both phones and because I belong to Sprint for the rest of my life's tenure, I shall let you know that these are the two best phones available in the market but let's compare which is better at what.

Appearance - The Evo 4G does not have a slide-out QWERTY keypad like the Epic. The Epic despite the keyboard is about an ounce lighter in weight and that says a lot about the AMOLED screen and the absolutely flawless design on this phone. The charging port is located on the TOP of the phone and also has a little slide you need to drag open before accessing the MICRO USB/Charger. The phone looks a terrific black (like the best looking iPhone, oh yeah we care, no sarcasm) when the screen is not on. UNLIKE THE EVO, the standby key is on the right hand side of the phone and does the same thing. On first appearance, the design of the Epic is mouth watering. I've always found Sidekick like phones cheesy and even that DROID from VERIZON looks very plastic to me but I shall diss no more, the Epic might just win on this account (but I know plenty of Evo users who would disagree but this is my opinion). Because of size, weight, 4-inch screen (Evo's 4.3), design of the slide out, the Epic wins this round.


Call Reception / Loud Speaker -> While playing music, I noticed the Epic was a little louder than the Evo is but at full volume, it can be a tad too loud too which is obviously such a WELCOME FEATURE. The Evo has a loud speaker alright and also a dedicated home page where you can easily play your music but what matters is the sound because both phones offer excellent customization.
Battery Life - This is one of the primary reasons the Epic is likely to do good. I fume when I hear people say the DROID X has a better battery life than the Evo. On Epic, the AMOLED screen ensures you don't need to charge this phone more than once a day. I managed to make this last for atleast a day but I did find the battery readings to be inaccurate from time to time. Maybe this happened because I was trying the phone on Airplane mode and then switching to CDMA so that could be it. There was a difference in the battery life, sometimes the bar would be short and sometimes substantially longer. Maybe it is just a software update that is required but at the end of the day, You can have all the features on a phone but what matters a lot is battery life and the Epic takes this round too. By getting the Evo you will need to buy an extra battery unless you like carrying your wires everywhere you go. If you're getting the Evo make sure you get an extra battery charger and oh save yourself some money and NEVER INVEST ON EXTENDED BATTERIES. You wouuld think Samsung and HTC are more clever than not to have come out with the extended battery in the first place. Feel free to discuss, throw things at me on the comments column.
Screen Brightness - HTC Evo is about AS BRIGHT AS THE SUN, absolutely incredible brightness, it's like watching the most expensive HDTV sometimes. The phone even on low brightness is surprisingly bright and I always appreciate brightness. While the Epic is not dull, I'll be lying if I say the screen is as bright as the Evo or even comes close to taking this round. The Epic has a jaw dropping display but the brightness and screen quality while you're on a webpage makes Evo the winner here. The brightness may come at the price of battery life but when you drive a HUMMER, you worry not about the battery life but about the drive.

Build Quality of Plastic on the BACK - The Evo certain feels a little more solid and smooth. The back on the EVO is better than the INCREDIBLE. Evo's kickstand is an added feature but the quality of the plastic on the Evo is 15% better than the Epic when you're holding the back though Epic is quite good as it is. **Caution** Do not remove Epic's back size by the SPEAKER, you may damage the phone cause you're such a strong individual, locate a small opening at the end and then LIFT UP the back plastic covering the battery. The back is obviously not RED like the HTC EVO.

Bundled Accessories - Epic comes with a 16gb card, in ear earphones, a thicker BASIC manual I haven't opened and read yet. The Evo comes with an 8gb card and no earphones. They both come with a Micro USb Cord which coverts into a wall charger. I have tried and used almost all earphones bundled with phones and have never seen any Sprint phone with such good quality "in-ear" earphones which provide NOISE CANCELLATION. An excellent extra for the fifty bucks you pay depending on where you're buying the phones from. 16gb is like having 2 x 8gb cards.



Mobile Hotspot - DRAW


Task Killer App - If you hold the home button down on the Epic, an excellent task killer pops up. It is so easy and fun to use that this alone was a big big big deal for me. I've used it on the Evo before but it's just so much hassle free and cleaner on the Samsung, it tells you the percentage of the CPU being used for variety of apps in REAL TIME! Deal-MAKER for me. EVO owners, please correct me if I'm wrong.


CAMERA *BIG DEAL FOR ME* - Epic. Epic. Epic. Epic. The customization is Godly. Samsung is slowly becoming very clever. The camera quality is that of a digital camera, I dare say. Also if people are moving and pause for a second, the phone still takes an absolutely astounding photograph. The Evo makes things yellow and although it's 8megapixel, the camera doesn't quite seal the deal. The other thing is that the Evo doesn't have that many customizations for the camera. Samsung has pulled a magic trick with this one. Some envious Evo users tell me that because the screen looks better on the Epic, the images look better but if I were to upload these to my computer, there'd be a difference. This is my response to people who say something like that. How often will I be uploading these pictures? Maybe once in four days, I will be mostly viewing them on the phone so I don't care about that. Mind you, though I haven't uploaded anything yet, I shall upload them and send you a sample picture if you request one. PLEASE BARE IN MIND, while the SAMSUNG has more options, it will take a real techoholic to want to figure out each and every feature, I'm still getting WARMED up to it.


Google Sync - The google sync on both phones immediately got all my contacts into the phone, there are a ton of applications so if you have a gmail account even with a blackberry, all your contacts are gonna be SYNCED with either the EVO or the EPIC. Google has a very funny deal-sealing way of having the google sync on the BLACKBERRY. If you're dumping your blackberry, make sure you do google sync and sync all your contacts before activating the EPIC. Ask a store rep to do it for you before buying it BLINDLY from them.

BROWSING - Browsing on the Evo is the best browsing I have ever seen. It still wins over the Epic by just a single point. Epic still gets a 9/10 while Evo because of it's multi-touch gets a perfect 10. There is no lag while browsing or using the touchscreen at all. This is a dream come true for people who've ever had the Samsung Instinct from two years ago. These two phones make my Blackberry look so bad and that's one thing to love and admire about Androids, the fact that they have such capable awesomse fast, intelligent browsers. I have no complaints whatsoever. I have an iPod touch and its half as good at best and I'll tell you the iPod touch is amazing. EVO wins by a life because it's the best at it. Epic is still about two and a half times as good as my Sprint BOLD.


On-Screen Typing : On screen typing on the Evo is way better because of HTC's on screen Qwerty. Swype comes built in with the EPIC. I've never used it, I don't believe in it, just looks too cheesy. Evo has a great typing mechanism but EPIC assumes that unless you're typing casually, you will use the physical keyboard to type. The Evo's typing is better than the iPhone's or the iPods. I haven't played with the iPhone 4 yet.

SLIDE OUT / PHYSICAL KEYBOARD : I will go for the Epic over the Evo because it has a wonderful, non-cheesy, idiot proof keyboard slide out. This is the best addition possible besides the camera and the bundled accessries. I despise the Moment's keyboard in comparison though Moment isn't a bad phone. The EVO is supposed to be Sprint and Samsung's replacement for the SAMSUNG MOMENT.



I've been away from my 2 day old Epic. I will discover more things and shall let you know. Any cons? The capacitive keys on the front could've been a touch more responsive. On the Evo they seem more responsive. I'm in no hurry for the Samsung Epic to get 2.2 and I'm sure they won't disappoint.


Wallpapers look brighter, more alive, sleeker, sexier, more sophisticated on the Epic. When you're in your menu on the Evo you go from top to bottom while on the Epic, if you click Applications you go left right right right. So it's horizontal menu browsing on the Epic and vertical on the Evo.

There is so much more for me to discover. I told someone earlier this year that no phone will ever match the iPhone but technology has an astounding way of shocking me. I'm an absolute geek and am glad that the Epic exists. It's like action sequences on the Lord of the Rings : Twin Towers while Evo is like the Matrix chase scenes from Reloaded. Both are feature packed phones but I love to type and the additional keyboard is fantastic for typing.

Wi-Fi Browsing : If both phones were used on the Wifi, the Epic is blazingly fast and obviously an easy hands down winner. I didn't try browsing on both using the 3G signal in Manhattan though it loaded a... Read more ›

Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet Black Reviews

Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet - Black
by Coby

Product Description Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet Black.
Android 2.1 connects to the world though the touch of a fingertip. The Kyros Tablet is a powerful and flexible Internet and Entertainment solution that features a generous 7" screen with intuitive touchscreen controls powered by the Android 2.1 operating system. Browse the web wirelessly or enjoy media on a sleek and stylish media device. Enjoy 1080P HD videos, photos, music, and more in the comfort of your living room when connected to your TV via HDMI. The Kyros has 4GB of built-in internal memory and features a microSD card slot for upgrading the capacity to up to 16GB. It also allows you to wirelessly access the Internet through a hi-speed networking support and includes more than a dozen built-in applications, each one identified by an icon. Among the included apps are an alarm clock, browser for surfing the web, calculator, email, gallery for viewing and playing videos, music and video player for launching the mobile YouTube browser page to watch Internet videos and more! In addition, the Kyros offers two unique apps, the Aldiko E-Book, for downloading and reading thousands of e-books (which supports the ePub standard) and AppsLib, to browse, download and install apps from the AppsLib marketplace for a complete mobile Internet solution. Features Large 7 inch Resistive Touchscreen Connect to the Internet wirelessly Browse the web and check e-mail Watch videos on YouTube Integrated flash memory Built-in 4GB internal memory microSD card slot(upgrade up to 16GB) Connect and enjoy Full 1080p on your HDTV via a HDMI cable Discover and download apps to play games, check the weather, listen to the radio, and more with AppsLib Download and read thousands of books with the included Aldiko E-book reader application View pages in portrait or landscape with automatic orientation detection Full-size USB connection enables keyboard of your tablet USB 2.0 Hi-speed for fast file transfers Rechargeable lithium-polymer battery

Technical Details Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet Black.

• Large 7-inch Android 2.1 Resistive Touchscreen
• microSD card slot(upgrade up to 16GB)
• Built-in 4GB internal memory
• Connect and enjoy Full 1080p on your HDTV via a HDMI cable
• Full-size USB connection enables keyboard of your tablet

This review is from: Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet - Black (Personal Computers) by Chris R. Field "christoph281" (colorado).

Review of Coby 7015 Tablet.

I got one of these as a 10 year anniversary gift from my company. I probably would have never bought one otherwise. All in all, i think this is an awesome little device for what it is.

I see a lot of things repeatedly addressed, other things are not, im going to try to go over every feature on this.

Please forgive my terrible spelling. ;)

When rating this i am comparing this to my samsung galazxy S droid phone, Ipads, Iphones, and Ipod touches all of which i have used many times.

==========OVERALL BUILD QUALITY=========

Good! This does not feel like a tiny junky piece of crap like i half expected. While it does not have the build quality of an Ipad, it does not feel like a little childs toy either. the buttons are solid and have a nice snappy responce to them. The Mini USB, HDMI, and DC input all seem like well built sockets, and i have no doubt they will stand the test of time. The back is a hard shell with a small speaker and reset button. It has a decent heft to it that implies stoutness, but it is light enough to carry around all day. All in all, much better than the sub $150 price tag lead you to expect. I dont like the MicroSD, there is no reason for that, they could have easily used standard SDHC cards, plus i have about a dozen SDHC cards lying around, but only one microsd. Keep the micro SD cards in the phones folks.


=============SCREEN==============
- This is the biggest point of interest to many, and probably glossed over with the least amount of information. As has been mentioned this is a resistive screen. This is NOT the same type of screen as your Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, or Droid phones or Tablets. Those devices use capacitive screens which flat out rock. The resistive screen is not as good, but it is important to know that this screen is NOT Frustrating either! It really works well! If this is NOT your experience, i suspect a faulty unit.

A) Touch and Feel - The wonderful capacitive screens feel like glass. This one feels like plastic, and like plastic it has more drag on your fingertips. The resistive screens seem to have several layers sandwiched together so they are not that flat hard surface, but slightly mushy. It does not feel as nice as the capacitive screens, it feels like older technology. The slight mushyness actually does give you somewhat of a fingertip-fatigue over time, where the capacitive (droid/iphone/ipad) screens are always a pleasure and do not tire your fingertips. I know that last part sounded rediculous, if you buy this device you will know what i mean.

B) Responsiveness - Very good for a resistive screen, in fact, this is the most impressive resistive screen i have ever used. I used to have an old LG Incite phone a few years back, it had a resistive screen and it was an absolute horrible experience to use. I was very pessimistic about this device because of the screen but once i started using it it worked just fine. It DOES come with a stylus, sometimes you will find that more comfortable, however it does seem to respond just fine to finger swipes and the stylus is absolutly not required. If on a scale of 1-10 with the LG Incite touchscreen being a 1, and the Ipad screen being a 10, this sits at a solid 8. It just isnt quite there, but like i said, this is the best resistive screen i have ever seen.

C) Resolution and Color. Not bad. The color has a slight bluish tint, almost like an uncalibrated Dell laptop screen. You photos will seem to be lacking some of the poppy reds, yellows, and oranges. So if you are a photographer like i am, forget using this as a device to showcase your images, stick with your Ipad,Iphone,Droid. I have looked for a color correction App, so far, no dice. Resolution is 480p, this is DVD quality, for a 7 inch screen this is plenty, however if it is a foot from your face you do see all the little pixels.

========= AUDIO ==============
its a cheap tiny speaker like the kind found in blackberries, droids, ipods, etc. Nothing special, the sound is weak and tinny like any other speaker of that size, but the quality is not overly objectionable if there are no other options. It is great for podcasts, youtube, etc, but it falls far short of a KRELL HEAT system... as expected. ;)

========BATTERY LIFE==========
Maybe it is just mine? The battery indicator on my Kyros is all over the map, 98% one second, 32 the next, then 75%, then 63% then 80%. use it as a guide. it apparently has no idea exactly how much juice is left. I suspect it is trying to give you an idea of how much battery life is left depending on the amount of applications running? Even the battery managers on this thing are all over the board. In the end, i can score 5-6 hours of internet surfing. The screen and tablet stay nice and cool. Maybe this is a benefit of the resistive screen, less power consumption? this is just a guess.

==========APPSLIB APPS MARKET===========
THIS IS THE WORST THING ABOUT THIS DEVICE The apps in thier apps lib market are generally crap, i diddnt find much of anything i was interested in. some of the bigger games like angry birds are there, but there are many others im interested in that dont exist. There are 165,000+ applications for the android platform, so why the hell should you be limited to about 3,000 in the apps lib? plus they are 3,000 of the crap apps nobody wants. basic stuff like some facebook apps, email apps, are there, but other than that it is mostly junk.

But guess what? there is a light at the end of the tunnel! This device can easily be rooted, once it is rooted you can install some nice software to back it up, and once that is there you can side-load applications. Such as... THE GOOGLE APP MARKET! Yes! This is awesome! All 165,000 apps i want are now available!

The problem is you have to root the device (gets superuser permissions) install the backup software (which also enables application installation outside of the apps application itself and to keep a digital backup image of your device, very nice). And to do this you literally have to add a few lines of code(not nearly as scary as it sounds i promise! once of the easiest parts), you have to download several different files all of which seem to require you to sign up to various forum boards and stuff to get.

i did this. I am not a hacker by any means, in fact, im an idiot ask anybody, i dont understand most of what i was doing, other than the basic overall idea of what i wanted to accomplish. It took me several hours, mainly because of my ignorance on this kind of stuff. The key is to go one step at a time, if something is not working, search for an answer. There is a website that gives you step by step instructions, there are many posts on there of problems they ran into and solutions around them. Just google up the ULTIMATE KYROS 7015 and look for a website that is like XDA developers or something. it is a online forumboard where people figured out how to do this junk. It is on a forum thread, read through several pages, you will see what i mean, if you run into a problem, somebody else already has, and the answer will be in that thread somewhere.

Once this is done, and you have google apps, it absolutly transforms your entire experience with this marvelous dirt cheap tablet because they stuff you WANT is all there for you. I highly highly reccommend doing this (at your own risk) and trust me, if I can do it, anybody can, just take your time, when you get stuck read ahead, somebody else probably had the same problem and figured out how to correct it and explains how.. It does require an MicroSD card though. There IS a Possility you will turn your tablet into a brick. however, from what i have seen, this almost never happens, you almost have to have a flawed device from the get-go, or be overly careless.

=========OPERATING SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY=========

Not bad at all! Mine keeps waking itself up which is annoying, but it responds to my commands, has only frozen twice, which is more than i can say for most other devices.

Keyboard - Not bad at all, works well, you get used to using two thumbs on it, you have to pace yourself and not get ahead of it, you can not type as fast as on a keyboard, but overall it seems pretty reliable. There is no vibration, so no haptic feedback which i enjoy on my samsung galaxy S phone.

Pic viewer - As i said, slight bluish cast, it is slow loading up images too. I loaded a bunch of reduced sized images to my droid phone to display my photography to possible clients, i loaded them on the Kyros and it takes about 3-4 seconds for the pictures to really lock in onto full resolution. I was a bit disappointed by this because this thing has a great little processor in it. The Slideshow is about retarded because you can choose between 2-4 seconds on the intervals and the images never really crisp up, they stay the 1/2 resolution blurry versions because they change before the processor locks them in. stupid stupid stupid.

ALDIKO e-reader.... if you want an e-reader go get a kindle or nook. that is my opinion. I briefly looked at it, it uses a backit screen, which stinks for extended reading. But the size of the text and font is pretty nice, you wont be squinting to read, and it would probably suffice for an e-reader, but it is nowhere as comfortable to look at as a kindle or nook.

The Youtube video app - I dunno, i had a hard time getting this to work properly, then i rooted my Kyros and got the google marketplace installed and it came with a much better youtube app.

Email - I am sorry, i did not even try this untill after i rooted my tablet, once the google marketplace was installed as part of the process it synched with my email. it works just fine.

Widgets seem to work just fine. I have a Facebook widget, Weather channel widget, Google widget, and a battery widget, it does not seem to slow down with the use of any of them. You ccan use live wallpaper, it seems to run just fine with live wallpaper, i dont notice any lag.

Video playback is smooth and crisp, the 480P quality is very much there.

Wi-fi performance. The wi-fi on this runs as fast as my Dell Laptop, my Samsung Galaxy S Droid phone, or any other wireless device for that matter. It is not pant-leg-flapping insane fast, but certainly nothing to complain about. If this is NOT your experience, i suspect you have a faulty unit.

===============Random things i noticed==============
Twice now in 5 days it has crashed while i was typing. Not sure why.

it keeps waking itself up. Not sure why. i have heared other reports, this may get fixed in a firmware update later.

No volume control on the side, once again, what the hell? You have to set the volume BEFORE starting any videos.

Charges VIA power cord..... will NOT charge through USB. I was actually suprised by this, maybe because it looks like a massive cellphone. That would have been nice. Go on google and look up Kyros 7015 tablet charger, and prepare to realize you will only have one. lol

more than once i had to reset the wif-fi in the device if it has been asleep for a while... annoying, but not a huge inconvenience. maybe a firmware upgrade will address this.

===========Good Bad Ugly=======================
Good -
Very responsive resistive touchscreen.
Excellent built
Solid performance
Expandable memory
Fast capable Wi-Fi
Under [...]

Bad
Resistive screen. (i just preffer capacitive)
Slight bluish cast
No volume controls on side
MicroSD card.. really? Micro? Cant just use SD cards which we all have laying around?

Ugly
Applib. This just stinks. it requires rooting and such to get google market apps, and trust me google market apps is absolutly worth the effort, and it is not that difficult, and appslib just flat out sucks.


============Conclusion==============
I cant believe how much bang for your buck you get. This can be had for well under [...]!!!! a handheld lightweight internet browser that potentioally has access (if rooted) to 165,000+ applications, games, etc. Anybody who complains that this device does NOT do enough for [...] seriously needs to get thier heads examined. Im suprised this is not sold for closer to [...].


A few thoughts...

To address a few points, one person wrote a review and said the batterys dont last long enough, they popped it open, saw the batteries, then decided to return it. No mention if they actually USED it though. 5-6 hours of internet browsing is not enough? Really? Show me a droid phone that has that kind of battery life on wi-fi, it is right up there with the Ipad. To say that 5-6 hours of battery life is not enough is flat out stupid, because nothing really has much more battery life than this! its reviews like those that i just dont understand. jump to conclusions rather than try it out yourself.

Another person mention that it sucks because you have to root the device to get google apps and such. Well. True. Either do it or dont, Coby restricted the potential on this great tablet for some stupid reason that i could care less about, the fact is the option is there, take it or leave it. Those who are willing to do so will have a DRASTICALLY better experience than those who dont. If you dont want to root it and install google apps, then go spend [...] on the Galaxy S tablet (which looks awesome) or the iPad. To be perfectly honest, i would only give this device a 3 star rating if the option to root was not there... READ MORE.