Design

Perhaps the only element that gives away the Focus Flash’s low-end price point is its build: mostly plastics with a metal back. The design would most certainly please a simpleton, yet  has just enough charm in its outline and aesthetic quality that you could easily pass it for an engineer’s prototype. That is not to say the Focus Flash feels like an unfinished design lying underneath the laptop of a Dilbert-esque engineer — it simply feels that the Focus Flash was given as simple a design as possible to keep costs low, yet was polished in a few important areas to make it look more interesting. All of that being said, the Focus Flash is pretty simple looking and it will not win the beauty pageant for smartphones any time soon, or ever. It is comfortable to hold in the hand and weighs a very light 4.1 ounces (lighter than the iPhone 4S) but has a larger 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display at 800×480 resolution, making it crisp and clear with great contrast between colors.

Performance

It is zippy. A 1.4GHz Snapdragon single-core processor is what keeps the Focus Flash thinking and ticking, and it is enough to use fast-switching in WP7 between apps, or to open any app in particular. The last time I ever tested and reviewed a Windows Phone was with a 1GHz single-core processor, and the 400MHz addition of speed coupled with improved and more efficient software (read: WP 7.5 Mango) it is clear that the Focus Flash flies whilst using all of its available resources. No complaints here; the software uses the hardware to the very best of its ability.

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango

It is a great improvement. A better Xbox Live app, multitasking (by holding the Back button), improved social network integration, a better People hub, faster Internet Explorer with new UI, more polished settings, improved Bing Sound, Visual, and Textual search makes Windows Phone 7.5 Mango so much better, and especially in terms of speed, there has been much refinement. Let me move quickly to the other section, there isn’t so much to talk about here that I’d need to compose another paragraph.

4G HSPA+ Speeds & Phone

They are of the usual speeds you would see on other AT&T 4G HSPA+ devices. Speeds of 2MBps to even 7 or 9MBps is entirely possible and while that is not impressive at all, it allow you to load most desktop web pages in Internet Explorer in at least 6-10 seconds, tops. Phone call quality is clear, however go into an area with less than 2 bars of coverage and you could find yourself in a yelling match. You’d have to blame it on the network, not the hardware, supposedly.

Cameras

They are crisp and clear for a good Twitter or Facebook post, and if you’re feeling daring then you could replace your point-and-shoot camera with the Focus Flash, however I would not recommend it.

Gallery available below for those looking for examples. Videos at 720p HD aren’t too shabby either.

Focus Flash Test Shots

Battery

The battery life depends on how you use the device, something seen with all other smartphones of the modern age. Hardly make any phone calls, text messages, Tweets, emails, and listening to the new Rdio app, and expect it to last you and entire day’s worth of usage. However, do the exact opposite of what I just mentioned (heavy multitasking, phone calls, Tweets, emails, internet sharing with your computer/tablet, etc.) and see the battery diminish in at least 12 hours. Hey, it still better battery life than most Android phones out there right now.

Final Verdict

Score: 9.0/10 Nowadays as a reviewer, it could possibly be that I am handing this one out to Samsung, but the Focus Flash deserves and has earned a “Stef’s Top Pick” award. With what you’re given, you can do a lot with the Focus Flash, and a great battery, price, decent looks, and reasonable network speeds makes this one of your safest budget smartphone bets. However, that’s why you see I’d plant down $200-$300 on a new phone. Dual-core CPUs and 1080p HD video cameras with 10MBps download speeds all the way. Capiche?

“I dare you to touch my Ogio.” — Kilo, the German Shepherd

This is the first backpack I’ve had the opportunity to review. After reviewing thousands of dollars worth of technology, I though it was finally time to review something to hold all of these pricey luxuries in. So, in came the Ogio Bandit backpack review unit at my doorstep. Frankly, I was skeptical: it felt too light to be something of quality.

However, it’s a charming backpack, is waterproof, has dedicated slots of glasses, phones, pens, notepads, passports, up to 17″ laptops, car keys, and even a dedicated iPad/eReader/ultrabook slot. It contours to the spine and supports itself admiringly. Carrying 20 pounds of technology and books (something I don’t recommend on a daily basis; that’s just something I’ve done for the review) is no hassell, because the outline and straps of the Ogio Bandit reduces weight — at least that’s what I felt, but I’m told I’m a flexible 15-year-old, and after playing tennis for a few years at a tournament level (and now taking martial arts lessons) it can certainly be concluded to be fact. And despite costing quite a bit — $109.99 — if you’re serious about your spinal cord’s condition, or if you carry considerable loads of technology or books with you often, it’s worth the investment. Like, you’re only making sure to not cause yourself (possibly) irreparable damage to your spinal cord and muscles. Just saying.

But enough about your’s truly: the Ogio Bandit is a fantastic backpack. Plus, in the “fracture” color scheme, the red accents look really awesome. It’s nearly perfect, as I haven’t had any real complaints to mention of in my month-long test of it. And heck, both Kilo and I give it the “top pick” award.

Score: 9.8/10

Available for purchase at Ogio.com.

A 4G LTE smartphone on AT&T? Why, yes of course. The LG Nitro HD contains some top-of-the-line specs, including a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 AH-IPS display, dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 processor and 1.3 front-facing / 8 megapixel rear cameras. With all of this coming together for a higher than the average $250 on a new 2-year agreement with AT&T, there’s quite a spot to be filled. In fact, the only thing the Nitro HD should be is exceptional, and our evaluation of it should prove if it is. That being said, the review is after the break.

Price as Reviewed: $249.99 on new 2-year agreement with AT&T 

Design

The LG Nitro HD’s design consists of rubberized plastics and a tapered AH-IPS display. The screen is fantastic, and has more pixel-per-inch than seen on the iPhone 4S: at a stellar 329ppi, it really shines. In order to describe theNitro HD in one word, it would be most obvious to say: sleek. It’s not the most handsome of the dual-core smartphones on the market, but it is sleek enough to fit comfortably in just about any hand, and the measurements prove that: 5.27 x 2.67 x 0.41 inches (133.9 x 67.8 x 10.4mm). It weighs 4.5 ounces, and while that is light, it does not radiate the impression that plastic makes the LG Nitro HD feel cheap (devices with plastic builds tend to make creaking noises when compressed with the hands, however the Nitro does not have this problem, thankfully).

Best of all, this design is so well sculpted that unlike the Amaze 4G (hello, 2011) which literally digs into your hand, the Nitro HD achieves something that only a few of the great devices of today have–true industrial design. Perhaps the only two things I dislike about its aesthetics is that the charging port is covered by a plastic flap (and is located at the top of the Nitro HD’s frame) and that it lacks a dedicated touch-sensitive Search button; it only contains Home, Back, and Menu buttons.

Performance

A 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM allows for almost constant use of the handset in apps without lag. Every press, notification, and snapshot is snappy to the point where it feels as if certain UI interactions are instantaneous. Now imagine the possibility of a Galaxy Nexus-esque device when the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update hits the Nitro HD this year? That would pack a serious punch.

Software

There are times that it is impossible to understand why certain Android manufacturers do certain things, and LG has done exactly that with their LG UX skin that runs on top of Google’s Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. The software design is very “shiny”, if not passable to the likes of HTC’s Sense UI, and I don’t see what issues would arise for the average consumer using it, but if it were a personal device, I’d get sick and tired of it soon enough, and perhaps so would the ordinary user. It isn’t memory intensive, so it’s not taking away from the 1GB of RAM, and otherwise doesn’t make much of a fuss otherwise.

Benchmark: 2431 Quadrant score, which is much better than the Amaze 4G’s 1766.

Let me just summarize: LG needs to either practice on their Android software enhancements (well, the built-in screenshot taking is nice), or just hire an entirely new team. Or you know, follow the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich design guidelines.

Camera

LG has taken an industry-standard 8 megapixel camera capable of 1080p HD video recording. The shooter takes clear and concise shots and shoots crispy video with exceptional quality and sound — descriptive words you don’t use frequently on the camera sensors seen on smartphones. A gallery of shots taken with the Nitro HD is seen below. Per usual, the camera of the Nitro HD or any other smartphone with similar specs will not replace your DSLR, but as a point-and-shoot, will suffice. Conditions tested in include: the great outdoors, pavement, a laptop screen, and then some.

LG Nitro HD Test Shots

Battery

There is really a downfall to the LG Nitro HD, besides the fact that the Galaxy Nexus is superior to most Android devices right now, is that the Nitro’s battery lasts only but 7-9 hours on a full charge when in use on WiFi. Now I know you’re asking for 4G LTE data speeds (or even HSPA+) for that matter, but AT&T forgot to send a SIM card with this review unit, so unfortunately I couldn’t run what may have been the most exciting of the tests. Keep your charger nearby to keep the Nitro HD powered on, if you wish to use it the whole day.

Final Verdict

Score: 8/10

An LG Nitro HD vs. the Galaxy Nexus? Samsung’s offering would triumph the Nitro HD. In. Every. Single. Way. Plus the $250 on contract stacks against the Nitro HD’s good deeds. But if there’s a 4G LTE device on AT&T that is worth your U.S. currency (and was not announced at CES 2012), then the Nitro HD should fit the bill.

First the sensation, then came amazement. It is a pretty awful pun on the Sensation 4G being the former to the Amaze 4G, but it stands perfectly on its own. What the Amaze 4G has done is simply raise its HSPA+ data speeds to 42MBps, a faster 1.5GHz dual-core processor, new styling, and a better sensor in the 8 megapixel camera, capable of 1080p HD video recording (same specs for the camera, just better quality on the Amaze). To top all of that off, the Amaze 4G has a fantastic design reminiscent of the Sensation 4G (obviously), but alos the HTC Legend, an Android handset so old (by Android’s standards) that it is only a legend by now. Sorry, HTC just makes it easy to make puns out of the names of their products.

Full review after the break. And it’s the last LM review for 2011.

Price as Reviewed: $229.99 on a new 2-year agreement

Design

The Amaze 4G reminds the coolest of tech aficionados of the HTC Legend and HTC Sensation 4G — essentially, the offspring of both devices. The design is mostly metals and plastics, and while feeling very comfortable in the hand, is very prone to scratches as it seems, as well as fingerprints. Moreover, it isn’t the lightest smartphone to manage: it weighs a hefty 5.1 ounces and is 11.7mm thick. It’s more aesthetically appealing, but overall is not an improvement over the original Sensation 4G.

However, if this glaring characteristic is looked past, then the Amaze 4G has the looks to please. That being said, appearance is fine and all, but what about all of the rather intelligent silicon and other materials underneath, which playing a pivotal role in what you do everyday — computations. Essentially, what’s in the Amaze 4G? You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this out, just continue reading.

Performance/Specs

Instead of showing you long and wordy compositions of what runs inside of this Amaze 4G review unit (plus using a ton of Oxford Commas), I’ll just leave you with this delightfully long bullet-point list, then continue with if all of these parts make the Amaze 4G amazing to use.

• Android 2.3.4 with Sense UI 3.0 (same experience I’ve reviewed over and over again)
• 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
• 1GB RAM
• 8 megapixel main camera/1080p HD video recording
• 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera
• 4.3-inch qHD  960×540 multitouch display
• 16GB onboard storage
• 1,730 mAh battery

Let’s start off with what is appealing (read: not that much). You see, a few months ago I would have gone on and on about how fast the 1.5GHz dual-core processor is, or how the 1GB of RAM keeps that performance going, or even how the camera takes the shot within 1-2 seconds of taking the photo, making it great for travel. There is almost an infinite amount of praise I could give the Amaze 4G, but I won’t. You see, like mathematics, these aforementioned details are designed to work the way they do — they just work. The real prize here is how they all come together in a livable, enjoyable experience. And sadly, they don’t. I have, more than once, felt the Amaze 4G heat up in my hands or pockets, and it is not a pleasant feeling (metals hold heat admirably, I might add).

There is nothing wrong to be said about how the Amaze 4G performs tasks — see the benchmark below, but I do not appreciate the heat it causes, and even the energy it consumes, observed in the next section.

Battery Life

The Amaze 4G at the very least with a Twitter account, Gmail, some web browsing, and listening to some Rdio, would last you no longer than 4 hours. It could last you 6 hours, if you happen to not check your phone consistently for email, locations using Google Maps, or you know – actually using your phone. It unfortunately was something overlooked on HTC’s  part, and the next-gen wireless speeds that add up to 42MBps. It just won’t last you an entire day. And for that, I suggest you bring your charger everywhere; at least a USB cable that could be connected to your tablet, laptop, or car.

Camera

Absolutely delightful. It’s crystal clear, at a great resolution (8 megapixels) and takes some very respectable 1080p full HD video (fun fact: it’s the exact same sensor as the myTouch 4G Slide’s). If the battery lasts long enough, then I’ll be glad to bring it along instead of a point-and-shoot camera on trips. Also, there is an interesting AI dubbed “Perfect Pics”, which rate your photos depending on certain values of which I’m not ware of, then places them in this folder. As a photographer, I deem this to be a vapid and nebulous feature, and some of my most awkward photos got into the list, while the others with better lighting did not. Excuse me, HTC, but this isn’t very useful.

Oh, and a gallery below displays some example photos. The one of me uses the front-facing camera, and the others use the main 8MP shooter (as you can see, I had a test subject for this review).

Amaze 4G Test Photo Gallery

Network Speeds/Calls

In testing, I have never reached the theoretical peak of 42MBps T-Mobile advertises. I actually have reached 14MBps, seen above. Otherwise, in and around New York City and New Jersey you can expect speeds of at least 5MBps and greater; perhaps that would even seldom happen?

As for the call quality, both sides of a phone call can perfectly hear the other through the earpiece, headphones, or on speaker — places where the Amaze 4G excels.

Conclusion

Score: 8.5/10

The final say on the matter: HTC could have done better. There is so much more potential in the Amaze 4G other than a high-power processor, camera, plenty of RAM, and a great design. This could have been the best handset on T-Mobile — but I don’t think it is. It is one of the better smartphones on the market, however. A longer battery lifespan would have been greatly appreciated, and perhaps that’s what amazes me about the Amaze 4G — the amount of potential that could have been tapped into by HTC and T-Mobile USA.

Available For Purchase At Thinkgeeek.