There are new smartphones hitting the market constantly, but which is the best buy when you’re trying to save a buck or two (or hundred)? We’ve seen some great launches this year and we’re only expecting more over the coming weeks, but for now, let’s go over the best budget Android smartphones you can go pick up today…
The summer is here, and that means we’ve seen a lot of new Android smartphones announced in the first half of this year. Starting off the year was the Huawei Mate 8 and Honor 5X at CES in January, of course followed later by Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 edge as well as the LG G5 in February at Mobile World Congress. But which ones are the best buys? Keep reading to find out…
LG revealed details of two Android Marshmallow-powered phones called the X screen and X cam just about a month ago, and now the Korean company has announced that they’re beginning to roll out first in South Korea and then following in other markets including “Europe, Latin America and Asia.” It’s not exactly surprising, but LG seems to be taking a pass on these phones for North America…
LlabTooFeR on Twitter, an account known for reliably leaking many HTC handset details, has come out to give a little smidgen of confirmation to the super-sketchy rumors we saw about HTC-made Nexus devices earlier this week. While it’s not surprising for HTC to be making some Nexus devices in one sense (they were Google’s first Nexus partner, after all), it’s interesting considering Google’s new buddy-buddy relationship with Huawei…
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Toshiba Canvio Connect II 3TB Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive $100 shipped (Orig. $170)
Sony this morning announced their latest entry into the tablet market with a super-slim device called the Xperia Z4 Tablet, as well as an update to the mid-range Xperia M smartphone series, the Xperia M4. The former claims to be the world’s slimmest 10-inch tablet, packs a 2K-resolution display, and has the Snapdragon 810 (the chip in many of this year’s flagship smartphones) built inside. The Xperia M4 is a “no compromises” smartphone that packs waterproofing with some decent spec bumps.
Almost 60,000 apps have been removed from Google Play, reports TechCrunch, in a move believed to be in response to the number of apps falling foul of the store’s anti-spam policies.
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Samsung’s Galaxy-branded smartphones are poised to become the fastest-selling alternative to the Apple’s iPhone family of devices. The latest Galaxy S II had gotten off to a great start, shipping three million units in the first 55 days of availability and five million units in 85 days. It shipped a total of ten million units in the first five months on the marketplace, beating the company-imposed end-of-2011 target by a significant margin. Today, Samsung announced (via Cellular-news.com) that the Galaxy S and Galaxy SII smartphones have achieved a combined total of 30 million global sales. The publication quoted president and head of Samsung’s mobile communications business JK Shin:
Since its launch only five months ago, Galaxy SII has seen tremendous sales success and garnered enthusiastic reviews from consumers and mobile industry watchers across the globe. This is in addition to the continued sales momentum behind Galaxy S, which we launched at Mobile World Congress 2010 as continues to be a run-away success with consumers
It is important to remember that these aren’t your bargain basement Androids, but really nice high-end devices comparable to Apple’s iPhone with their advanced features, the pleasing and slim design and price points. Considering the aforementioned 10 million Galaxy S II milestone was made public September 25, after which the handset hit the U.S. shores, it’s safe to assume that the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II shipped roughly 15 million units each to this date. In addition to positively impacting Samsung’s bottom line (even though they no longer detail sales of phones and tablets in quarterly earnings reports), the Android patent protection Samsung signed with Microsoft could bring the Windows maker a cool $300 million in licensing revenues on the combined sales of 30 million Galaxy S and S II phones.
A Localytics study issued today helps understand why Verizon Wireless recently sided with Samsung in the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung legal saga. Per Localytics’ data, 4G is one of Android’s key differentiators: More than one in three Android phones in the United States take advantage of fourth-generation cellular networks. In the third quarter of this year, some 36.6 percent of Android handsets in the United States were 4G-ready, a notable increase over the 22.6 percent in the first quarter of 2011.
This number is increasing rapidly – since the beginning of the year, the percentage of Android devices that are 4G-capable has grown by over 50 percent, culminating at a full third of the Android ecosystem. It will be interesting to see whether the iPhone 5 supports any type of 4G network. The drawbacks – bulkier antenna and a much shorter battery life – may outweigh the benefits in speed. Regardless, with the growth in 4G-capable handsets Android has seen, it appears that smartphone users are buying into the value of speed. We’ll see how this continues.
The nation’s most popular 4G handsets in the third quarter were the HTC Thunderbolt (Verizon), the HTC Evo 4G (Sprint), the Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint), the Samsung Droid Charge (Verizon), the myTouch 4G (T-Mobile USA) and the Motorola Atrix (AT&T). A few caveats and the full list of most popular 4G devices in the country right below the fold…
This is my next has learned that Samsung has a few interesting announcements up its sleeve ready for the IFA trade show which is scheduled to run September 2-7, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. Hints inside the code of Samsung’s Android app contain references to an unreleased 7.7-inch tablet conveniently referred to as the Galaxy Tab 7.7. The code also makes mention of Wave 3, most likely a new version of the Wave series of feature phones powered by the company’s own operating system dubbed Bada.
Finally, the publication discovered references to Galaxy Note, a mysterious device most likely to be a tablet of sorts. The fact that Samsung is telling users to updated said app September 1 indicates with a high degree of certainty plans to unveil new products on that day. In addition to this “leak”, 9to5Google informed you yesterday of the specs supposedly belonging to an array of new Samsung smartphones to be marketed under the Galaxy M, Galaxy W, Galaxy Y and Galaxy R monikers.
Samsung is introducing seven new monikers to their smartphone branding so people can “simply identify the device designed to deliver the perfect experience for them”
The Inquirer reports that Samsung confirmed they will be adding four new smartphone sub-categories to the venerable Galaxy family of smartphones and tablets at the IFA 2011 show in Germany, nine days from today. Expanding on the successful Galaxy S series, the company will roll out new models that will be distinguished with the following suffixes: “R” for Royal/Refined, “W” for Wonder, “M” for Magical and “Y” for Young. As for the Galaxy S, the “S” stands for Super Smart, the South Korean company explained.
In addition, each model may be offered in three flavors, which will be denoted by adding “Pro”, “Plus” and “LTE” to their brand names. What are those about? Well, “Pro” means a physical QWERTY keyboard, “Plus” is for upgraded devices and “LTE”, as the name tells, means the device supports the fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution radio technology. Go past the fold for a quick list of the upcoming new phones.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtXZXhTpywY?rel=0]
Motorola’s upcoming handsets are leaking all over the web. The latest? How about three guided tour videos showing off the various features of the upcoming Droid 3 smartphone? The Droid brand has done very well reviving Motorola’s ailing phone business while putting Android on the map and Motorola Mobility recently refreshed the brand with the Droid X2 launch on the Verizon Network. With the third incarnation of the smartphone that started the Android craze Motorola is hoping to woe consumers with more oomph, a continuation of the strategy which has served them well thus far. Check out two more Droid 3 videos below the fold…