Nook HD review: a high-def tablet with the heart of a reader

Nook HD review a highdef tablet with the heart of a reader

Barnes & Noble knows where it stands in the tablet race. Sure, the company has been plugging away at the space since the day the Nook Color made its transformation into a full-fledged tablet, but the Nook, it seems, is rarely mentioned in the same breath as the Kindle Fire or Nexus 7, when discussing low-cost tablets. As such, the company seems to rarely mention its devices without discussing the competition -- Amazon in particular. In fact, at the launch event for the Nook HD and HD+, reps trotted out Kindle Fire HDs at every possible opportunity.

Seeing the two devices side by side, there's no question that Nook trumps the Fire in a number of categories, and the bookseller has gone a ways toward making the Nook HD stand out in a field full of bigger players. For one thing, the device is far more focused on the reading experience than the competition, a fact reflected in both hardware and UI decisions. The company has also taken a more aggressive approach toward marketing the device toward families. The question, then, is whether these features are enough to capture marketshare from the more prominent devices. See how the Nook HD stacks up after the break.

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Nook HD review: a high-def tablet with the heart of a reader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZTE’s U950 shows how Tegra 3 phone is done under $160

ZTE's U950 shows how Tegra 3 phone is done under $160

This might not be the $199 Tegra 3 tablet that NVIDIA's keen to see, but hey, a 999 yuan ($160) quad-core phone is just as impressive. Unveiled in China earlier today, this ZTE U950 smartphone packs a 1.3GHz Tegra 3 chip, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 2,000mAh battery beneath the 4.3-inch display. There's also a five-megapixel camera plus a VGA front-facing camera inside the 9mm-thick body. Pretty standard stuff for an Android 4.0 phone, except for the price-per-performance ratio, of course. The first 100,000 customers who register now will be eligible to order on November 11th, though chances are the quota's all gone by now.

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ZTE's U950 shows how Tegra 3 phone is done under $160 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus 10 vs. the competition: fight!

Nexus 10 vs the competition fight!

Google undoubtedly upset the tablet market almost overnight with the Nexus 10: that record-setting 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, Exynos 5 Dual, Android 4.2 and all-important $399 starting price just tilted price-performance balance in a different direction than we'd seen even a week ago. But how does it stack up against its competition? We've included full details of the devices in a chart after the break; initial appearances suggest that pure performance hounds may like the Nexus 10 the most, although it doesn't have the most diverse options for cellular data or storage. We'll know the real tale of the tape once the Nexus 10 reaches our hands.

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Nexus 10 vs. the competition: fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile Miscellany: week of October 22nd, 2012

Mobile Miscellany week of October 22nd, 2012

If you didn't get enough in mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, T-Mobile announced the price and release date for the Optimus L9, carriers were announced in Canada for the ATIV S Windows Phone and ZTE released a low-priced Android smartphone for Virgin Mobile in the UK. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of October 22nd, 2012.

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Mobile Miscellany: week of October 22nd, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pantech Flex review

Pantech Flex review

Pantech is known for producing budget Android smartphones that punch above their weight, and the Flex is no exception. Available now on AT&T for $50 with a two-year contract, it delivers a dual-core Snapdragon S4 -- the same chip that lurks within mightier phones such as the Galaxy S III and One X -- along with a qHD display and LTE connectivity. The phone certainly hits a number of the check boxes for value seekers, but there's something that makes the Flex very different from other smartphones on the market: it has a dual personality.

Folks, prepare for memories of At Ease, Microsoft Bob and Packard Bell Navigator to come rushing back. The Pantech Flex features a unique launcher known as Easy Experience, which caters to those who might find Ice Cream Sandwich overwhelming. Fortunately, there's also a standard launcher for experts. In that regard, the Flex is deserving of its name. Unlike most handsets on the market, it's targeting both broke college students and technophobes just the same. Of course, we're here to answer a greater question: is the Pantech Flex worthy of being your next smartphone? Join us after the break for the answer.

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Pantech Flex review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nuance Dragon Mobile Assistant launches on Android, but only on ICS for now

Nuance Dragon Mobile Assistant launches on Android

Dragon Go! has been given the elbow, with the slightly more professional sounding Dragon Mobile Assistant taking its place. Nuance has expanded on its predecessor's verbal commands, with new functionality for maps (you'll be able to bark direction requests at the new app and it'll plan the route), alongside a hands-free wake-up feature activated by saying "Hi Dragon" -- we hope you have a high embarrassment threshold. Other Siri-esque features include weather updates and dictated SMS and email responses. The beta app can be downloaded below, although compatibility is limited to Android Ice Cream Sandwich and above for now. Nuance is promising more features and increased availability later this year.

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Nuance Dragon Mobile Assistant launches on Android, but only on ICS for now originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy listing reminds us that the LG Spectrum 2 is still on its way to Verizon

DNP Best Buy ad reminds us that Verizon's LG Spectrum 2 is still on its way

A few months back an anonymous tipster gave us a candid look at the Verizon-bound LG Spectrum 2, but after a couple more sightings here and there, the trail eventually went cold and Big Red's unannounced smartphone fled back into seclusion. However, a recent website posting by Best Buy has brought this mobile Sasquatch out of hiding and back into the mainstream media. While this listing is mostly a refresh confirming our source's shared specs, it notes the Spectrum 2's unsubsidized price as $650. Now, before you would-be buyers start directing your browser to the retailer's webpage in hopes of making a quick purchase, it should be noted that the device is listed as "sold out online." Still, we can't help but notice the pictured device's homescreen carries a date of November 3rd, which could be a nod to when the Spectrum 2 might officially show up on store shelves.

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Best Buy listing reminds us that the LG Spectrum 2 is still on its way to Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refresh Roundup: week of October 15th, 2012

Refresh Roundup week of October 15th, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

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Refresh Roundup: week of October 15th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Huawei Ascend D1 Quad XL review

Huawei Ascend D1 Quad XL review

In February of this year, Huawei took to the stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to highlight its most ambitious smartphone strategy to date. Its plan: to establish a new classification system by dividing the bulk of its handsets into four core groups starting with the high-end D-series at the top and working its way down to the bargain bin Y-series. Hogging Accepting the bulk of the spotlight, however, was the Ascend D Quad XL, a "superphone" containing a homegrown quad-core CPU. For a manufacturer that hadn't even put a dual-core phone on the market (the Ascend P1 wasn't on sale yet), a launch in the second quarter of this year felt incredibly aggressive. This was Huawei's first real chance to make a legitimate name for itself outside of Asia; pushing out an impressive device in a timely fashion was imperative.

Fast-forward eight months, and we've witnessed the 2012 equivalent of the Motorola Droid Bionic: the unfortunate device has been the subject of uncertainty and countless delays. Fear not, it's finally been released. However, it faces an incredibly competitive market coming into the holiday season, with quad-core heavyweights like the Samsung Galaxy Note II, LG Optimus G and HTC One X+ ready to duke it out. We had this question when it was originally announced, and it's become even more relevant now: can the Huawei D Quad XL (and its freshly made SoC) hold up respectably amongst its new peers? Delay no further and join us after the break to get the full scoop.

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Huawei Ascend D1 Quad XL review originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD review

Droid RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD review

When Motorola resurrected the RAZR brand last year we didn't realize that we were looking at the new face of the company. At the time, Google had yet to officially take over the handset manufacturer, it had a deep stable of less-than-impressive devices and, while it was a moderate success, the Droid RAZR didn't exactly turn the market on its head. Still, in retrospect, it only makes sense that the RAZR would once again become the standard bearer for Moto. Even if we weren't blown away by last year's model, it was a big step in the right direction for the company, a device that featured a great mix of premium styling and performance. The new RAZR HD and MAXX HD take that basic formula and attempt to address our concerns about the display and battery life, the latter of which was already handled in dramatic fashion by the RAZR MAXX. So, how do the latest caps-happy, vowel-averse handsets from Motorola stack up against last year's incarnations and the current crop of competitors? Keep on reading after the break to find out.

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Droid RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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