Week in Reviews: ASUS Zenbook UX51V, Kyocera Hydro Edge, ASUS N550JV and more

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From Laptopmagazine. Product reviews and advice for best reference

Kyocera Hydro Edge and XTRM: Waterproof Androids Make a Splash

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From Laptopmagazine. Product reviews and advice for best reference

Kyocera Hydro Review: Decent Specs With Impressive Waterproofing

Our water glass dunk test.If your phone has ever taken an unplanned dip in a nearby body of water, you're probably familiar with the bag of dry rice and the nervous prayers to the phone gods that typically ensue. Waterproofing may not be the first thing people look for in a smartphone, but if you're especially accident-prone or work around water, a ruggedized phone might be worth a look. The $130 (as of August 22, 2012) Kyocera Hydro on Boost Mobile won't turn any heads with its performance or its display, but its waterproofing is impressive, and the fact that it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is a nice bonus.

Design

You'll need a coin or a strong fingernail to unlock the Hydro's back cover.

The Hydro weighs 4.16 ounces, and feels noticeably lighter than many rival smartphones thanks to its mostly plastic body. Still, the phone is a bit bulky, and the design is by no means sleek.

The Kyocera Hydro seen from the side.You'll need a coin to unlock the back cover and gain access to the battery, which you have to remove to get to the MicroSD card slot. Aside from the MicroSD card slot, the only ports you'll find on the Hydro are a MicroUSB and a 3.5mm headphone jack, located on the top right and top left of the phone, respectively. The volume rocker sits on the Hydro's left spine, and a power button is on the right spine. The face of the phone features a 3.5-inch display that is adequate at best. Text looked crisp for the most part, but images and videos were unimpressive on the low resolution 320-by-480-pixel display. Compared to most other smartphone screens, the Hydro's is unattractive.

Waterproofing

The Hydro resists water damage even in exceedingly damp conditions.Kyocera claims that the Hydro is waterproof in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, and it passed my water-exposure tests with flying colors. The phone features a water-tight cap for its MicroUSB port (just make sure it's closed tight), and the 3.5mm headphone jack is waterproof.

If you've ever felt the urge to use your phone while you shower, the Hydro is a good match: I checked my email and browsed the Web, all while enjoying a nice soak. The phone's touchscreen can become unresponsive if it has a lot of water on it, but a quick wipe down should get things working smoothly once more. Water naturally beads off the water-resistant screen so this is rarely an issue, unless the phone is situated directly under a stream of water or you've taken it with you underwater.

The Hydro also easily handled a "tumble" into my sink (with the faucet running), and a prolonged dip in a glass of water. It's pretty clear that this smartphone can withstand more than just a few droplets of water.

Performance

The 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 MSM8655 single-core processor in the Hydro worked well-enough for navigating around the phone's menus and home screen, but it lagged a bit when exiting the camera app and while browsing the Web. I had to force-quit out of the browser multiple times while trying to stream videos from YouTube. Other sites didn't cause the browser to freeze, but most lagged more than usual on my 3G data connection. Using the FCC-approved Ookla Speed Test app, I recorded an average download speed of 894 kilobits per second, and an average upload speed of 816 kbps.

Call quality over Boost Mobile's network was good, even when the Hydro was immersed in water. The screen seemed to be overly sensitive to movement during calls, however, and was constantly turning on and off as I talked. I inadvertently pressed the mute button multiple times with my face, which didn't make for smooth conversations.

The Hydro has a 1500mAh battery that promises up to 8.4 hours of battery life, and Eco Mode software included with the phone permits easy access to energy settings for customization. With display brightness set to auto, the battery performed as advertised for me, showing 65 percent battery life remaining after about 4 hours of testing.

Software

The Hydro ships with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), a nice performance bonus. The OS ran smoothly, and scrolling and swiping was generally very responsive. The phone comes with Google's suite of apps (Gmail, Google+, Play Music, and so on), plus a handful of applications from Boost Mobile such as BoostZone (for managing your Boost Mobile account) and TeleNav GPS Navigation.

Entertainment

Music sounded good on the Hydro with headphones, but I found the Play Music app to be extremely laggy when starting up and selecting songs. The songs themselves sounded muffled on the phone's speaker, and music was too quiet to be enjoyed in any sort of environment with external noise. You'll get 2GB of internal storage to go along with an included 2GB MicroSD card, so if you're hoping to keep your music library with you, plan on investing in a larger card.

Videos streamed from the Internet looked dull and pixelated on the Hydro's low-resolution screen, even in HD. Coupled with the device's lackluster streaming speeds, this made for a less-than-enjoyable video viewing experience.

Outdoor test image.

Camera

You can quickly access the Hydro's 3.2-megapixel camera with a swipe from the lock screen. The camera app gives you basic control over your photos, letting you adjust the type of scene you're shooting and the white balance. Photos I took using the Hydro tended to be fuzzy, and ones I took in low light looked grainy.

Videos I took with the phone weren't much better, with dark and pixelated footage. The phone does have the potential to take unique underwater pictures and videos, however, as the camera is fully functional underwater.

Bottom Line

The Kyocera Hydro's waterproofing exceeded my expectations, and I enjoyed the novelty of using a smartphone in circumstances that would normally spell certain death for an electronic device. Though the phone's specs and design are unimpressive overall, Android Ice Cream Sandwich and a $130 price tag are big pluses in the phone's favor. If you're not looking for a media phone, and the sometimes laggy performance doesn't bother you, the Hydro makes a strong case for itself a spill-proof phone.

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Kyocera Rise Review: A Budget Android Phone Ideal for Smartphone Rookies

There’s nothing to “oooh” and “ahhh” about with the Kyocera Rise ($20 with a two-year contract from Sprint after a mail-in rebate; price as of August 29, 2012). This budget smartphone, which runs Android 4.0, has a simple design and basic hardware, and it doesn’t excel in any particular category despite its wide range of functionality. However, you can’t beat the price point, and the Rise is a solid option if you’re looking to dip your toes into the world of smartphones. Also, it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which makes typing messages more convenient and also frees up space on the Rise's compact screen.

Design

The Rise tips the scale at 5.54 ounces, which is a little heavy for a phone with a mostly plastic body. But at 4.44 inches tall by 2.38 inches wide, and with a thickness of 0.56 inch, the Rise still feels compact despite its weight. The phone is pretty short, and may be too small for those with larger hands.

A 3.5-inch touchscreen display takes up most of the Rise’s face, save for the four navigation buttons along the bottom—Back, Home, Recent Apps, and Menu. With a display resolution of 320 by 480 pixels, the screen won’t dazzle you. Text isn’t as crisp as I’d like, though it’s still readable. On the plus side, the display is very responsive and doesn’t lag when you navigate throughout the phone's interface. When you select icons or a letter key, the Rise vibrates in the spot where you touched.

The left and right edges of the device are straight, while the top and bottom edges have a slight curve. The phone’s construction isn’t fantastic, but it should hold up over time. Unfortunately, the Rise’s plastic body and low-res display cheapen the overall aesthetic of the phone (which I guess is offset by the phone’s reasonable price).

A microUSB port can be found on the left-edge of the phone, just below the Rise’s volume controls. The top edge is home to the power button and a headphone jack.

Most notable is the QWERTY keyboard that slides out to the right of the display if you’re holding the Rise in portrait orientation, or the bottom if the display is in landscape orientation. Sliding the keyboard out automatically signals the display to switch to landscape view, as that’s how the keyboard is designed to be used.

I usually like using QWERTY keyboards, but this one is cramped: The keys are a little small, and the top row is positioned too close to the top section of the phone, which makes typing uncomfortable. I have small hands and fingers, so I was still able to manage typing despite the challenging layout, but I’d definitely recommend trying the keyboard before buying the phone, as it won’t be a good fit for everyone.

If you prefer, you can opt to use the Rise’s touchscreen keyboard instead. Swype is preloaded as the phone’s default touch keyboard, but you can switch to a standard Android 4.0 keyboard by accessing the phone’s settings. Much like the slide-out keyboard, the touch keyboard feels cramped and is hard to use on the Rise's diminutive screen. If you’re familiar with Swype, however, you’ll probably find that to be the most comfortable typing option.

Performance

The Rise packs a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8655 single-core processor, which (for the most part) keeps the phone running smoothly. General navigation, app launching, and switching between apps all work seamlessly, but there are moments where the processor seemed to have trouble keeping up.

There is noticeable lag when switching from landscape to portrait orientation. App, game, and music downloads from the Google Play store were laboriously slow (about eight to 20 minutes). Mobile gamers might want to shy away from the Rise, as I noticed some lag when I played Temple Run and Angry Birds, which definitely impacted my performance.

Call quality on the Rise varies depending on your environment. From my third-floor apartment in San Francisco, I had no trouble hearing others speak, but sometimes voices sound slightly fuzzy. I also tested call quality while walking down a busy street, where reception was still good, but I did experience one dropped call. I turned the volume up to hear people on the other end, but this caused the slight fuzz to increase as well. Callers on the other end commented that my voice had a faint echo, even when I moved to different areas of my house or went outside.

The Rise runs on Sprint's 3G network, which doesn't have the fastest of data speeds. When I tried to test the phone’s upload and download speeds, the FCC-approved Ookla Speed Test app crashed almost every time I ran it, so I wasn’t able to conduct a proper speed test. The one successful test I was able to run had abysmal results: 127 kilobits per second for download, and 103 kbps for upload.

We have yet to run the Rise through our official PCWorld Labs battery tests, but I was able to use the Rise for six hours of heavy use (downloading apps, listening to music, texting, making calls, Web browsing, and so forth) before the battery maxed out.

Software

The Rise ships with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which gives this phone a nice performance boost. Kyocera opted not to go with a custom overlay—meaning the menu system and Home screen are both standard Android. Google’s apps are already loaded, which include Gmail, Google+, Maps, Play Music, and others; Sprint has a few of its own apps as well, like Eco Mode, Sprint ID, and Sprint Mode.

Entertainment

Because Sprint’s 3G network is pretty limited, the Rise can't handle extensive video playback. It struggles with short YouTube clips—I could barely get through a 30-second YouTube video, as it paused to buffer every 10 seconds or so. For music, you can stream your tracks through the Play Music app, or you can manually load music files onto the Rise’s included 2GB microSD card and store them there.

The rear speakers surprised me with their solid sound quality, but the entire phone vibrates when playing music through the external speaker. If placed down on a hard surface, this causes a loud buzz, which can be distracting. Headphones provide a better listening experience.

Camera

On the back of the Rise lies a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, which is mediocre at best. It performs better outside with natural light, and using the flash while indoors will help improve clarity, but photos still turn out slightly fuzzy with dull colors.

The camera app includes a few settings for adjusting your photos, like zoom, scene mode, white balance, and flash control; you can play around with these settings to get the most out of your photos.

For video capture, you can pick between four video resolutions: WVGA, 480p, HVGA, and QVGA. The Rise's camera can capture moving objects without much problem, but it can't focus on a subject and its video footage is pixelated. You can adjust the white balance and flash to improve the light quality, but the settings give your video clips an unnatural look that is a bit off-putting.

Bottom Line

While the Kyocera Rise’s price point and physical QWERTY keyboard are appealing, you definitely get what you pay for. I’d recommend the Rise as a solid starter smartphone, or perhaps a phone for your clumsy teenager, but more-experienced smartphone users will be left wanting more. If you’re willing to shell out more cash, the Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE is another Sprint option with a physical keyboard, and it packs way more power.

From PC World. Shop computer and accessories from Amazon here

Kyocera Hydro Review: Decent Specs With Impressive Waterproofing

Our water glass dunk test.If your phone has ever taken an unplanned dip in a nearby body of water, you're probably familiar with the bag of dry rice and the nervous prayers to the phone gods that typically ensue. Waterproofing may not be the first thing people look for in a smartphone, if you're especially accident-prone or work around water, a ruggedized phone might be worth a look. The $130 (as of August 22, 2012) Kyocera Hydro on Boost Mobile won't turn any heads with its performance or its display, but its waterproofing is impressive, and the fact that it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is a nice bonus.

Design

You'll need a coin or a strong fingernail to unlock the Hydro's back cover.

The Hydro weighs 4.16 ounces, and feels noticeably lighter than many rival smartphones thanks to its mostly plastic body. Still, the phone is a bit bulky, and the design is by no means sleek.

The Kyocera Hydro seen from the side.You'll need a coin to unlock the back cover and gain access to the battery, which you have to remove to get to the MicroSD card slot. Aside from the MicroSD card slot, the only ports you'll find on the Hydro are a MicroUSB and a 3.5mm headphone jack, located on the top right and top left of the phone, respectively. The volume rocker sits on the Hydro's left spine, and a power button is on the right spine. The face of the phone features a 3.5-inch display that is adequate at best. Text looked crisp for the most part, but images and videos were unimpressive on the low resolution 320-by-480-pixel display. Compared to most other smartphone screens, the Hydro's is unattractive.

Waterproofing

The Hydro resists water damage even in exceedingly damp conditions.Kyocera claims that the Hydro is waterproof in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, and it passed my water-exposure tests with flying colors. The phone features a water-tight cap for its MicroUSB port (just make sure it's closed tight), and the 3.5mm headphone jack is waterproof.

If you've ever felt the urge to use your phone while you shower, the Hydro is a good match: I checked my email and browsed the Web, all while enjoying a nice soak. The phone's touchscreen can become unresponsive if it has a lot of water on it, but a quick wipe down should get things working smoothly once more. Water naturally beads off the water-resistant screen so this is rarely an issue, unless the phone is situated directly under a stream of water or you've taken it with you underwater.

The Hydro also easily handled a "tumble" into my sink (with the faucet running), and a prolonged dip in a glass of water. It's pretty clear that this smartphone can withstand more than just a few droplets of water.

Performance

The 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 MSM8655 single-core processor in the Hydro worked well-enough for navigating around the phone's menus and home screen, but it lagged a bit when exiting the camera app and while browsing the Web. I had to force-quit out of the browser multiple times while trying to stream videos from YouTube. Other sites didn't cause the browser to freeze, but most lagged more than usual on my 3G data connection. Using the FCC-approved Ookla Speed Test app, I recorded an average download speed of 894 kilobits per second, and an average upload speed of 816 kbps.

Call quality over Boost Mobile's network was good, even when the Hydro was immersed in water. The screen seemed to be overly sensitive to movement during calls, however, and was constantly turning on and off as I talked. I inadvertently pressed the mute button multiple times with my face, which didn't make for smooth conversations.

The Hydro has a 1500mAh battery that promises up to 8.4 hours of battery life, and Eco Mode software included with the phone permits easy access to energy settings for customization. With display brightness set to auto, the battery performed as advertised for me, showing 65 percent battery life remaining after about 4 hours of testing.

Software

The Hydro ships with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), a nice performance bonus. The OS ran smoothly, and scrolling and swiping was generally very responsive. The phone comes with Google's suite of apps (Gmail, Google+, Play Music, and so on), plus a handful of applications from Boost Mobile such as BoostZone (for managing your Boost Mobile account) and TeleNav GPS Navigation.

Entertainment

Music sounded good on the Hydro with headphones, but I found the Play Music app to be extremely laggy when starting up and selecting songs. The songs themselves sounded muffled on the phone's speaker, and music was too quiet to be enjoyed in any sort of environment with external noise. You'll get 2GB of internal storage to go along with an included 2GB MicroSD card, so if you're hoping to keep your music library with you, plan on investing in a larger card.

Videos streamed from the Internet looked dull and pixelated on the Hydro's low-resolution screen, even in HD. Coupled with the device's lackluster streaming speeds, this made for a less-than-enjoyable video viewing experience.

Outdoor test image.

Camera

You can quickly access the Hydro's 3.2-megapixel camera with a swipe from the lock screen. The camera app gives you basic control over your photos, letting you adjust the type of scene you're shooting and the white balance. Photos I took using the Hydro tended to be fuzzy, and ones I took in low light looked grainy.

Videos I took with the phone weren't much better, with dark and pixelated footage. The phone does have the potential to take unique underwater pictures and videos, however, as the camera is fully functional underwater.

Bottom Line

The Kyocera Hydro's waterproofing exceeded my expectations, and I enjoyed the novelty of using a smartphone in circumstances that would normally spell certain death for an electronic device. Though the phone's specs and design are unimpressive overall, Android Ice Cream Sandwich and a $130 price tag are big pluses in the phone's favor. If you're not looking for a media phone, and the sometimes laggy performance doesn't bother you, the Hydro makes a strong case for itself a spill-proof phone.

From PC World. Shop computer and accessories from Amazon here