Upcoming Review of the Samsung Galaxy S4 on Verizon

Last year, I reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S3, and it was my most favorite phone at that time. Verizon is now going to send me an S4 to review. Sure, this phone has been out on other carriers first. The difference with the Verizon S4, is that it's on Verizon's 4G LTE Network - So I think I'll call this the fastest Galaxy S4. Feel free to send me questions or comments in regards to my usage of this phone over the next few days.

Thanks for Getting Android!

The Blackberry Z10 (4G LTE) on Verizon

I have this feeling that former Blackberry owners will know right away if this phone would move them back to the dark side or not. When I refer to the "dark side", I'm pretty much referring to anything other than Android or iOS. Right out of the box, this phone's specs kicks even the iphone 5's ass. Is this enough though to actually make the Blackberry Z10 an alternative to an Android or iOS Product? Read on.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Great:  

• High Resolution - 1280 x 768 with 356 ppi

• Battery Life - Up to 10 hrs talk time, 1,800 mAH and removable - charges in an hour!

• Micro HDMI connector to connect to your HDTV or projector.

• Minimal carrier-installed software 

 Not So Great: 

• We need apps!

• The OS is a version behind the AT&T Version.

Hardware – What We're Working With

You probably already know this by now: There is no physical keyboard on the Z10. Before that turns anyone away, I will tell you that the touchscreen is super responsive and it grew on me in just the 4 days that I had the Z10 in my possession.

There are loads of great things going on with the Z10's hardware. First off, this thing packs a dual core S4 Snapdragon processor with 2GB of RAM. The display resolution is a 1280 x 768 resolution with a 15:9 aspect ratio.

Pop open the back cover, and you'll see the rather long 1,800mAH battery. In the distance in the above picture on the right, you can see there is a Micro SD card slot, as well as a 4G card slot. The Micro SD card slot allows up to a 32GB card.

Display

Scroll back up to the opening of this review and notice that photo I took of the sunlight beaming down on the Blackberry Z10. Even after the light is shining right on the screen, it still illuminates clearly. The contrast on the touchscreen keyboard make it very easy to see so that I didn't have to adjust my viewing angle just to input some text.

Software

While I don't really like to admit it, I feel this phone runs a lot smoother than my Samsung Galaxy S3. That's not completely fair though because I had reviewed the S3 last August after it had already been released for weeks.

With the Z10, It seems like there is infinite power to open a bunch of apps and switch between them quickly without the phone locking up. Ya know that panic that some of us other smartphone users (that have phones with physical Home buttons) go into, trying to get some response out of the phone when it locks up.

The cool thing about this smartphone is that when it's in a standby (screen off) state, you can wake it without pushing a physical button. You swipe your finger up from the bottom of the screen, up toward the center and the phone wakes up! 

I used to mimic this feature with my Galaxy Nexus device by installing an app that would use the proximity sensor (this is the sensor that knows when your face is close to the screen, and will fade the screen to save battery life) to "wake" the phone. The problem with this method was that keeping the proximity sensor awake would dramatically drain your battery. The Z10 takes care of that problem, and still has great battery life.

Remember BBM? It's still here. It's nice and still fast. Also, it seems a lot easier to sign into/sign up for Blackberry ID's, services, etc. I felt like there was less hassle without having to worry about Blackberry App world sign in problems, syncing, or installing the Blackberry software on my PC (Yes! It still exists) - but the phone can handle it all nowadays.

Android App Deal: Electrum Drum Machine/Sampler

It's not that often that I find myself using a drum machine, but sometimes I can't pass up a good deal. Today, a normally $4 app is on sale for $1. It's a neat app to mess around with. It doesn't beat mixing on my computer with professional audio workstation hardware/software, but this is professional for being on a mobile device! For $1, I'd recommend you try it out and make some of your own beats - it's a lot of fun.

I know I said it's a dollar, but it's really 99 cents. Here's a picture of my receipt. More importantly, though, here's a link to the Play store where it's (as of this post) still 99 cents. Get it before it goes back up to $4!

Review of the Looxcie Handsfree Video Cam

I took the Looxcie 2 for a test drive for a couple of weeks; It is available on Verizon's website as of this writing. Is it more convenient to just pull out your phone and record video than having a device mounted on your head? That was the question I had before I decided whether or not this would be a great device to purchase. Read on to see my conclusion.

Madness in the Comment Section...of an Android App

Today there was an update for the Samsung Push Service app in the Google Play Store. Because I can safely say that many people probably think of this as a useless app, I think it is definitely worth it for you to take a moment and go read the comments on this newly-updated app.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 4G LTE Tablet on Verizon

Just when I thought things couldn't get any "beastly-ER" than the Verizon Galaxy Note II that I recently reviewed, I was lucky enough to trial the brand-spankin' new Note 10.1. A couple of weeks back, Verizon sent me this device to let me see if liked or disliked it - Indeed, they were nice enough to send this low-traffic site the hottest, newest device on the market. Read on to see if it's worth the price tag.

Review to Come: Verizon's 4G LTE Galaxy Note 10.1" Tablet (VIDEO)

Oh, how beautiful this lovely device is. It's so nice to power on a tablet, being greeted with constant connectivity. What I mean is that, upon booting up this tablet, I'm not having to connect to wifi to bring this thing to life: Whether you plan on using it in a home or business environment, it's ready to rock. And that's where I'm at on my first day using this tablet.

Over the next few days, I'll put the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 to use and draw some conclusions. In the meantime, prepare to send me your questions. Thanks for Getting Android!

--Random Randy