Motorola could be the next manufacturer to jump into the phablet game. Just days after Lenovo purchased the company’s mobile division from Google, reports are suggesting that a 6-inch phone, a Moto X successor and a smartwatch are all in Motorola’s 2015 lineup.According to a recent post in China’s Sina Weibo forum, the next-generation Moto X is already in development. The blog doesn’t go into much detail, however. Lenovo’s ownership over Motorola Mobility isn’t expected to change the customization options available for the Moto X, the post notes.
The author behind the blog is said to be a reliable source that leaked correct information about the Moto X and Moto G prior to their respective launches, PhoneArena says. It’s unclear exactly what the future holds for both Motorola and Lenovo, but we would love to see a Vibe Z-esque phablet with Motorola’s clean Android UI and touchless voice controls in the future.
via Sina Weibo
Lisa has been reporting on all things mobile for Laptopmag.com since early 2013. When she’s not reviewing gadgets, she’s usually browsing patent databases or interviewing experts to track down the hottest tech trends before they even happen. Lisa holds a B.A. in Journalism from SUNY Purchase and has contributed to The International Business Times, The New York Daily News and Guitar World Magazine.From Laptopmagazine. Product reviews and advice for best reference
The Photon Q looks like a slightly chunkier version of the Motorola Photon 4G, which premiered on Sprint last year. Both phones have angled corners, though the Photon Q lacks the Photon 4G's useful kickstand. The Photon Q's angled corners make it comfortable to hold while making calls, and the phone is compact enough to fit easily into most pockets. The Photon Q is largely composed of a soft plastic that feels good to the touch, though I was hoping that the phone would be wrapped in Kevlar like the Droid Razr and the Droid Razr Maxx.
Swiping upward on certain app icons will present you with new information.The Photon Q ships with Android 4.0.4 beneath a custom Motorola overlay. I used a Motorola phone back in the days when the company relied on MotoBlur, and this new overlay is leaps and bounds better. For the most part, the operating system looks and behaves like Android Ice Cream Sandwich, with just a few tweaks.
I wasn't particularly impressed with the photos I got from the Photon Q's 8-megapixel camera. They tended to be a bit dark, and colors looked washed out. The Photon Q's Camera app provides few extras, though the phone does have a zero-shutter-lag camera courtesy of Android 4.0. The front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera works well for video calls and is clear enough that you can use it to take a quick Facebook self-portrait.
Your your favorite basketball team may be out of the running, and that bracket might be ruined. But, this bracket is one you actually have a say in. Saturday morning the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx went down hard against the Nokia Lumia 900. Today game pits the Motorola Droid 4 against the LG Optimus 4X HD. Which will win is totally up to your votes in the poll below. Let’s meet the competitors.
The Editors’ Choice-winning Motorola Droid 4 offers a best-in-class physical keyboard. It also boasts smooth overall performance and fast 4G LTE speeds on Verizon Wireless’ network. Devotees to this 4th generation Droid will be rooting for its loud speaker, smooth video calling abilities and innovative trick-shot software such as Smart Actions, which runs scheduled tasks or changes system settings based on conditions you set; and Motocast, a service that lets you stream or copy files from your PC as long as its connected to the Web.
By contrast, the rookie LG Optimus 4X HD is largely unknown. We got our scouting report on this smartphone at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. Its announcement marked the first unveiling of a handset powered by Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 CPU. We know it will offer a brilliant 1280 x 720-pixel IPS display. At 8.9mm it’s incredibly slim. However, the company hasn’t used thinness as an excuse to skimp on battery life as it has included a 2,150 mAH battery on board. Running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the LG Optimus 4X HD also sports 16MB of internal memory, 1GB of RAM, an 8-MP back-facing camera and a 1.3-MP front facer. There’s no word yet on availability, but we believe it offers 4G LTE coverage.
Who needs college basketball when there are smartphones to root (for)? Yesterday we watched the Pantech Burst go down against the Editors’ Choice-winning Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Today we settle in for an epic battle between Windows Phone and Android as the Nokia Lumia 900 goes up against the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx. Determining the winner is up to you, and your votes (see the poll below).
The Nokia Lumia 900 is a wildcard, in that its an unknown. Expected to arrive on AT&T’s 4G LTE network, we have high hopes for Nokia’s new flagship Windows Phone. We like it so much we named it the best smartphone of CES 2012. Although the 4.3-inch screen is somewhat large, it’s more than manageable. Around back of this solid unibody design(available in cyan and black) is an 8-MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, which fired shots quickly. Its secret weapon might just be the bundled free Nokia Drive GPS app.
On the other end of the court is the longest-lasting smartphone around. The Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx certainly has the endurance to go the distance, but does it have the support of the crowd? Verizon Wireless’s huge user base and its blazing-fast 4G LTE network doesn’t hurt. Neither does the Super AMOLED display, dual-core processor and 8-MP camera. But this Android handset’s real strength is in the endurance. On our tests, thanks to its 3,300 mAh battery, the Maxx lasted an epic 8 hours and 25 minutes, which is a couple hours longer than even its nearest competitor.
The Droid 4 has the same angular design as the Droid Razr. At 2.75 by 4.98 by 0.50 inches, the phone should fit comfortably in most hands and pockets. Like most Android phones, the Droid 4 comes with two cameras: a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and an 8-megapixel camera on the back. Aside from the slide-out full-QWERTY keyboard, buttons on the Droid 4 are limited to a volume rocker and a power button. Though I found the QWERTY keyboard extremely comfortable to use, I disliked the loose power button and the overly stiff volume rocker. The sliding mechanism, which initially felt rigid, seemed to improve as I used the phone. You can remove the back cover on the Droid 4, with the aid of an included plastic tool. If you lose the tool (which is small), you can use a paperclip to remove the back. But once you get the cover off, you won't find much that you can do. The battery is not user-removable, and the SIM and MicroSD card slots can be difficult to get to.
The tool used to remove the backing on the Droid 4As I mentioned, the QWERTY keyboard was a joy to use. Even with my pudgy thumbs, I could accurately and quickly type out long email and text messages. In contrast to the keys on the Droid 3, the keys on the Droid 4 have a slight bump on their surface and they're spaced out a tad more. This makes typing a lot more comfortable, though I still prefer the keyboard on the T-Mobile MyTouch Slide 4G.
Click to zoom.Sad to say, the camera on the Droid 4 does not impress. Images captured outdoors looked well lit, but they had oversaturated colors and weren't particularly sharp. Pictures taken indoors had a slight graininess to them and made skin tones appear gray and sickly. The front-facing camera was slightly better, though you are better off using it for video calling with apps like Skype or Tango. The Droid 4 captures videos in 720p by default, but you can adjust its settings to record in 1080p. The Droid 4 did an admirable job of picking up audio, but footage recorded in 720p didn't match the best-quality videos we've seen from a mobile device. Instead, videos looked slightly fuzzy, and indoor shots again had a grayish tint. Recording in 1080p solved some of these problems, but it also produced an undesirable jelly-like effect whenever I moved the phone. The Droid 4 is well suited for outdoor videos and photos, but you won't want to use it to commemorate any important moments.