Hands on: BlackBerry 10 review

Still heavily under development, here's BB10 so far

Update: BlackBerry 10 (or BB10) is still under development and not yet a finished product, but we've checked out an almost-final version of the user interface, which is pretty close to perfection, according to RIM - but we'll let you be the judge by checking out our findings below.

Delayed until early 2013, the first BB10 devices should land in January– although we're now hearing it could be as late as March and RIM is now saying it will arrive during the first quarter of the year.

We saw the near-final version of BlackBerry 10 running on the new Dev Alpha B handset, building on the other test units and newer devices we've seen in the past.

The Dev Alpha B handset has been seeded to select BlackBerry developers, to aid them in their quest to produce applications for the new platform.

RIM has already handed out over 5,000 of the original Dev Alpha devices, and we wouldn't be surprised if the new handset gets the same sort of circulation.

We've also heard about the first Dev handset to sport RIM's famous Qwerty keyboard. Known as the Dev Alpha C, this will be the first handset with physical keyboard to run BlackBerry 10.

1,500 Dev Alpha C handsets will be winging their way to the hardcore BB10 developers before the official launch on January 31, so apps can be tweaked to work on the smaller screened phone.

BB 10 sees the implementation of a whole new user interface, with RIM doing away with the familiar BlackBerry system we're all used to, in favour of something which resembles the likes of Android and iOS, although with its own unique features.

With BlackBerry 10, RIM has merged homescreens, widgets, app lists and a unified inbox into one slick interface, offering up an easy-to-navigate user experience.

Lock screen

The lock screen shows notifications for alarms and unread messages on the left plus your upcoming meetings as well as the date and time, with a button to launch the camera straight from the lock screen to grab a quick snap.

You unlock the phone by sliding your thumb up the screen and from there slide from anywhere on screen and the handset starts to draw in around where you slide so if you just want a quick peek at the information in one area of the screen, you can just drag to show it and then let go – with the device remaining locked (more on that in 'Peek' mode below).

Home screen

The main homescreen comprises of 'Active Frames', technically mini-applications, which give you an overview of information from a particular app and launch the full version when tapped.

Users can select up to eight of these active frames, which arrange themselves in order of most recently used, with the latest app appearing in the top left position.

A maximum of four frames are shown on the screen at any one time, and if you scroll down and you'll be able to view the others – the display in order of use allows you to jump quickly between your recent applications.

RIM tell us that any application, even third party ones, will be able to appear as an 'Active Frame' on the BB10 homescreen, which is excellent news for anyone left frustrated by the limited widget options on Android or live tiles on Windows Phone.

For those of you who may be concerned that these 'Active Frames' could be both data and battery intensive, Research in Motion assures us that this is not the case, with the QNX core of BlackBerry 10 providing efficient power management, and the frames only downloading the minimum amount of data required for them to update.

Interface

Swiping from right to left will take you to the app list, with 16 apps on the screen at any one time – if you have more than 16 apps additional pages are added and can be accessed by swiping the same way again – familiar territory for iOS and Android users.

At the bottom of both the homescreen and app list you'll notice a shortcut bar, with quick links to the phone, search and camera applications – allowing you to quickly jump to these regularly used features.

There's a pleasant fading animation as you flick between pages, and you'll see the previous page of apps fade away to the side of the screen, to be replaced by the new page.

The idea behind BB 10 is that it Flows... which is the phrase RIM is using mercilessly to describe the new OS.

Further screenshots of the BlackBerry 10 interface have appeared online, showing off official social networking apps from all of the big players, plus a voice control feature which will likely challenge Apple's Siri and Google Voice on Android.

Notifications

The whole Flow concept really comes to life when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen – this minimises the current app/screen you're viewing and shows new notifications counts down the left hand side, including new emails, BBMs, texts and social media messages.

Peek

Peek works much better when you get your head around all the gestures - however it may prove to be overly complex for some users, although RIM will be providing video tutorials on its BB10 handsets during the initial set up phase when you switch the phone on for the first time.

Having the 'peek' idea work the same way in so many applications helps you get used to it as well (though we don't yet know how well third-party applications will be able to do the same thing, although RIM has said it's developed nearly every API asked for when it comes to developers, and they have full access to the Peek code).

When you do get into a message or an appointment, you can see more information about the people involved in a way that will be familiar toBlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 users; you can see who you know in common, what messages you've exchanged or recent social network updates.

It's a new look for the 'flow' between different apps and information sources that BlackBerry has always been good at, but with a fresh modern look on a much larger screens.

Personal and Work modes

Sweep down on the home screen or an app list page and you'll see Personal and Work buttons that let you switch between the two BlackBerry Balance modes.

In Personal, you can install any apps you want, send any email, save any file and so on, working in a partition that's encrypted for privacy but not locked down in any way.

If you use your BlackBerry for work though, you'll also have a Work partition that's also encrypted but completely separate and can be locked down if that's what the company wants.

Drag down on the screen, pick Work mode and all your personal apps disappear – so you can't accidentally copy a work file into your personal cloud storage account.

Your company can have complete control of this work section, giving you as much, or as little freedom within this area as they see fit – and everything in Work mode is fully secured, with remote wipe available just it case your handset goes astray.

However work won't be able see what files you have on your personal area when they're managing it, because your personal partition is encrypted.

Cascades

Then there's Cascades, a new navigation system cooked up by RIM especially for BB10, allowing for quick multitasking from within applications.

The example we've seen is in the messaging app - open an email it will display full screen, but drag your finger from left to right and the message will slide with you, revealing the inbox below.

This means if you get a new message in the middle of reading an email, you can check who it's from without having to close the application – similar to the notification bar on Android and also now iOS.

If you were to open an attachment from the email, a PDF document in the case of our demo, pulling to the side to view the cascade will show the app's layers stacked up – a more visual paper trail, if you will.

It's certainly an intuitive feature that we found to work smoothly on the development handset – but it will be interesting to see how this feature is embedded into other applications and if it will have the same pleasing results.

New App world

BlackBerry App World is also getting a makeover with a cleaner, more intuitive design ready to show off all the apps RIM is pushing developers so hard to make in time for launch.

As well as offering applications, the new App World will also provide music and videos to purchase and download – allowing BlackBerry 10 handsets the chance to compete with the likes of Google Play, iTunes and the Apple App Store.

There's a sperate version of BlackBerry AppWorld where your company can offer specific work apps – like an app that uses the NFC chip in your BlackBerry to unlock the door to the office, as well as locking out applications they don't deem suitable for using while at work.

Keyboard

BlackBerry handsets are famous for their physical boards and RIM is keen to bring this typing experience to its BB10 touchscreen smartphones with its own offering.

Visually the keyboard looks similar to the stock Android offering, but each row of keys is separated with a silver line, or 'fret' – which is supposed to reflect the metal strips between buttons on the Bold range, such as theBold 9790 and Bold 9900.

Next word prediction, auto-correct and spell check are all common features on smartphones today and RIM has spent some time developing its own system to offer an efficient typing experience.

It sees next-word suggestions appear above the character the word begins with, and if it's the word you want to use, you just need to swipe up over the word and it will be added to your sentence.

As with many offerings these days, the keyboard will learn your style of writing, meaning it will be able to suggest better words the more you use your phone.

RIM reckons that heavy users will quickly see a marked improvement once they start using the keyboard, as BlackBerry 10 will only take a couple of days to learn their style of writing.

Another interesting feature is that the keyboard can support up to three languages at any one time, so if you're writing in English it will offer up English words as suggestions, but suddenly switch to tapping out French, even in the same message, and the BB10 board can detect the change in tongue and adjust its recommendations accordingly - smart.

We found the keyboard to be fairly accurate and relatively well spaced, but for those of you used to the physical buttons of a traditional BlackBerry it will take some getting used to.

Camera

RIM is making a big song and dance about its BB 10 camera application as well, especially the 'Time Shift' feature, which allows you to select the perfect smile of your subject after taking the photo.

Fire up the camera app (from the lock screen if you so wish), which was relatively quick to open on the Dev Alpha B device, select 'Time Shift' mode and snap your subject, and the app will then search for faces in the image.

Once a face is located in a photo, you can tap it and literally roll back time to find the point at which your friend had their eyes open and the perfect grin.

If there are multiple people in your snap, you can individually adjust each person, however during our demo we found 'Time Shift' struggled in lower lighting conditions, subjects face's need to be illuminated well for the camera to detect their mugs.

'Time Shift' did take several seconds after the photo was taken to detect faces and offer us the chance to tweak the image, but this could be down to the fact it's running on a development build of the BB10 software, and speed could be improved in the final product.

Of course the camera can take standard photos and record video alongside the 'Time Shift' function, which itself is an impressive function, but we wonder how much we'd actually use it day to day.

Browser

The BlackBerry browser has also had a refresh for BB10, bringing it in line with the minimalist style of current offerings on other devices, and the location of the URL bar at the bottom of the page is reminiscent of Internet Explorer on Windows Phone.

Even though Adobe has already ditched future support and upgrades of its Flash platform, RIM has made sure it's built in support for the dying format, allowing you to access all your favourite Flash built sites and videos of Korean men dancing on invisible horses.

There seems to be a partnership with a particular search engine, allowing you to search via the URL bar, as well as pulling info into other applications, but RIM are currently not in the position to disclose whether they've opted for Google, Bing or something a little more left field.

Sweep from left to right while in the browser and the 'peek' functionality comes into play again, this time showing various internet-centric options such as History, Bookmarks, New Tab and currently opened tabs.

There's also a Reader mode built into the new browser, which lifts article text and images from a web page and displays it in a more manageable and easy to read format, stripping out fancy ads, menu bars and any other clutter which gets in the way of actually reading something.

Comparison tests have shown the BlackBerry 10 web browser to be faster than its equivalent on Apple's iOS 6 and the new version of Windows Phone - we'll reserve proper judgement until we have a final handset in our sweaty palm, but at least this is a positive sign.

Battery life

As we've mentioned briefly earlier on, RIM is promising that BlackBerry 10 will help to deliver decent battery life, even with the big touchscreen and those lovely 'Active Frames'.

RIM has even gone as far to say that's its two BB 10 launch devices, one fully-touchscreen and the other sporting the famous Qwerty keyboard, will offer up a full days battery life, thanks to a lot of hard work by the QNX team on power management in the core of the BlackBerry 10 platform.

Obviously we were unable to put this claim to the test during our brief hands on viewing, but we'll be sure to push the new BB10 devices to their limits once we get our review units in.

Early verdict

Although the BlackBerry 10 operating system is in development, we must say that we were impressed with how smooth and slick the interface felt under out fingers – seamlessly zipping around without fuss.

BlackBerry assured us that is smooth experience would still be present in the final product, thanks to the clever integration of the HTML 5 system, which optimises the performance of the software. We certainly hope they're right.

There are plenty of features of BB 10 that are exciting - the gestures work very, very well after a few minutes, the powerful messaging ecosystem is still there and even the on screen keyboard is great.

What does strike you about the new OS is how the phone is so integrated - Facebook, Twitter, Email are all available, connected to your friends or easy to share to throughout the phone.

It's a much more complex OS than iOS or Windows Phone, but there are only so many ways to re-invent the smartphone wheel; in the case of BB 10, RIM has gone for usable power over rows of easy to use icons.

It's a bold move, and one technophiles will love. If the hardware is decent too, there may be enough BB fans out there willing to use the finger-flicking platform... but with so many things to learn, it will take some serious and quick eduction to get users up to speed.

Hands on: New Myspace review

Can Timberlake and co turn a bad joke into a musical success?Everybody thought Myspace was going the way of Geocities – it was nice while it lasted but hey, it's a new millennium, time to put aside those questionable HTML additions and flashing sparkly word art and move on.

Then along came News Corp, throwing money and features and adverts at the site until it burst at the seams. It was a brave new world of clean, controlled interfaces, poking, tagging and liking, and Myspace just couldn't cut it as a social network.

So Murdoch and co tried to turn it into an 'entertainment hub' but it was so muddled that Myspace slowly became an anecdote, an aside, a joke. News Corp finally, gratefully offloaded it for a fraction of what it paid for the site.

The new owners caused quite a stir – Chris and Tom Vanderhook made a mint doing what Google did before Google did it, and their business partner was multi-tasking man-about-Hollywood Justin Timberlake.

Using the existing staff, the Vanderhook/Timberlake team took Classic MySpace apart and rebuilt it almost from scratch, complete with lower-case 's'. The result is what we see before us and it's very impressive. Currently in private beta, you won't be able to sign up to new Myspace until next year, but we've had a sneak peek.

Profile and contacts

The first thing to note is the gorgeous interface – you can still customise a profile but not to the insane extent that Myspace classic allowed. Every profile has a giant cover image (with minimum resolution requirements to keep things looking nice) and the side-scrolling news-feeds and profile-feeds are graphically pleasing too.

Occasionally they're a little jarring and slow to scroll, hopefully something Myspace will sort out before it goes live.

The idea of your profile isn't to bang on about how much you love sparkles and rainbows and drinking and your friends; instead it exists to share pictures, playlists and music. Every song you listen to, video you watch or photo you post is listed on your profile (although you can set it to be private so people you aren't connected to can't investigate your interests).

Your news feed, meanwhile, is populated with videos, music and photos enjoyed by your contacts, whether they're friends, bands or randoms you quite liked the look of.

Myspace rates your 'affinity' with each connection by how well your tastes on the site overlap, which will come in very handy for finding new music in the long-run. Say you stumble across someone with whom you have a 86 per cent music affinity – their playlists are definitely worth rummaging through for your next favourite band.

Searching for people you know will become easier when Myspace launches the 'sign in with Facebook/Twitter' option; for now you'll have to rely on site search which is fine while there aren't that many users, but will become more unwieldy as Myspace grows.

Two nice hangovers from the Myspace of yore are the profile song and the ability to display your Top 8 friends. Nightmare if you have nine best friends though.

Music

Music discovery is a big part of a problem Myspace is trying to solve; if you know what you're looking for, you can start typing from anywhere on the site and the search page will pop up, showing you artists, songs, people, albums and videos that match that term, handily divided into lists.

Every artist page has a list of available songs and albums, but also a row of similar artists, an "inspired by" section of yet more potential artists to check out and the option to start "artist radio", an infinite playlist of vaguely similar songs and bands based on the profile you're on.

What's slightly confusing is that you can "connect" to the artist, an album or a single song – this adds different things to slightly different places in your dashboard and lacks a central library.

When you're listening to music (as you probably will be the whole time you're on new Myspace), you can access the controls and queue in a nifty pop-up timeline at the bottom of the page. You can also drag and drop pretty much anything to this area to create and add to mixes or start new artist radios.

Myspace doesn't charge for access to any of this music (yet), and it tells us its song library is in the millions. Certainly most of the music we searched for was on there, including newly released albums.

One feature we really like is the ability to listen to all your contacts' current profile songs in a single playlist – or, at least, we will when we have some real friends on there.

There's another bit of new vernacular to add to your social networking lexicon: playlists on Myspace are called 'mixes'. Partly because it sounds cool, like you're actually a DJ and not just a person who hits a button to add a song to a list of other songs, and partly because mixes can include images (showcased in a slide-show as you listen) and videos.

Above all, the new Myspace has the potential to be really brilliant for independent bands. Hosting music, gig info, photos, videos and tying social elements all into one place with the potential to offer rewards to influential 'top fans' who spread the word and garner them new listens could be killer for anyone starting out.

Whether established bands will be interested in maintaining yet another web presence is another story.

The music player is good, the audio quality acceptable and the interface nicer to look at than competitors like Spotify; but we're not convinced that it's different enough to lure established users away from their existing music streaming service of choice.

Samsung ATIV S review: the Galaxy S III, repackaged for Windows Phone 8

Samsung was one of the first to join the Windows Phone parade with the Focus, and was quick to follow up with devices like the Focus S. It's been unusually conservative with Windows Phone 8, however: the ATIV S ($100 on contract through Bell Canada) is the last of the big three flagships to arrive in 2012, following weeks after the HTC Windows Phone 8X and Nokia Lumia 920 went on sale. Some would argue that Samsung has been especially conservative with the ATIV S, given that it shares the same 4.8-inch screen, Snapdragon S4 processor, cameras and overarching design traits with Sammy's other flagship phone, the Galaxy S III. There's a real worry that someone visiting the carrier store will see both devices and pick the Galaxy simply through name recognition alone.

And yet, they're not entirely cut from the same cloth: there's a design twist or two, a larger battery and, of course, a switch to an entirely different ecosystem. Some will want the phone to try Windows Phone's simpler, at-a-glance interface concept; others are shopping solely inside of Microsoft's universe and want to know if expandable storage and Samsung's custom app suite fend off rivals. We already have lots to like, but there are a few punctures in the ATIV S' faux-metal armor that will keep it from being the handset for everyone, even if they do prefer Windows Phone. Read on and you'll see why.

HARDWARE

Much of that apparent kinship with the Galaxy S III is visible from the front: if it weren't for the Windows logo stamped prominently on the home button, you'd be forgiven for thinking the ATIV S was another of Samsung's many Android devices. It's that close. Spin it around, however, and you'll realize that it's not mimicking its siblings quite so literally. The brushed-metal effect on the back isn't real, but it doesn't have to be -- the result is a smartphone that could very nearly be called handsome, if a bit flashy. Build quality doesn't suffer, as it still feels very sturdy, and those swaths of metallic gray help minimize (though not completely eliminate) fingerprint smudges. Gorilla Glass 2 kept the front of the phone pristine during our testing.

Some may just like the feel of the ATIV S in their palms. While it's touting a larger screen than the 4.5-inch Lumia 920, it's easier to hold courtesy of its textured finish and thinner (0.34-inch), lighter (4.8-ounce) body. Your experience may vary, but we weren't as afraid of an impending drop when using Samsung's phone one-handed. For that matter, the interface itself is easier to navigate one-handed versus the Galaxy S III. The subtle design changes, along with Windows Phone's larger UI elements, reduce the chances of launching something by accident and put your intended target just that much closer.

Few will be surprised by the ports and controls around the device, which very closely follow both Microsoft and Samsung's guidelines. Not that this is necessarily a problem, mind you. Up top is the standard headphone jack, while the bottom has a typical micro-USB port. The main speaker is located on the back and isn't especially loud, although it's certainly audible from across a quiet room. We occasionally hit the volume rocker on the left by accident, but we had no such trouble with the right side's camera button and didn't struggle to reach the power button, like we did with the Windows Phone 8X. The capacitive back and search buttons at the bottom are almost too easy to graze, however.

The real highlight may be what's just under the surface. Unlike what we've seen with HTC and Nokia's highest-end Windows Phone devices, the ATIV S gives expansion a big, friendly hug. Pop off the rear cover and you'll find not just a space for a micro-SIM, but also a microSD slot and a removable battery. Some buyers may not need to hear anything more than this, really. We know many who refuse to buy a phone that can't grow with their needs, and they'll appreciate the opportunity to go beyond the 16GB of built-in storage (up to 48GB total) as well as carry a spare battery for particularly hectic days. The result won't be as capacious as 64GB models of the iPhone 5 or One X+, but it won't cost as much, either.

As we've mentioned, the ATIV doesn't usher in any great revolution in processing power. It uses the same dual-core, 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 chip we've seen in some Galaxy S III variants, as well as many early Windows Phone 8 handsets. It sticks to 1GB of RAM rather than the 2GB of some of its Android brethren, but then again, there's less demand for the extra headroom. NFC is built in and once again uses the battery as the antenna.

Those hoping for a Nokia level of cellular diversity might be disappointed, though. In the Bell Canada model we tried, there's quad-band GSM, GPRS and EDGE (850 / 900 / 1,800 / 1,900MHz) and a similar number of dual-carrier, 42Mbps HSPA+ bands (850 / 1,700 / 1,900 / 2,100MHz), but just AWS (1,700MHz and 2,100MHz combined) for LTE. Variants for the US and elsewhere are poised to have either country-specific LTE frequencies or stick to 3G. As glad as we are that Samsung is catering to specific regions' needs, it's slightly disappointing to know that even an unlocked ATIV S sometimes won't reach its best data speeds on foreign carriers.

DISPLAY

We weren't kidding when we said the ATIV S had a familiar screen. This is the same 4.8-inch, 1,280 x 720 Super AMOLED HD panel from the Galaxy S III. That's both a blessing and a slight curse, in our minds. You'll ultimately get rich colors, wide viewing angles and deep blacks. That also results in the ever-so-slightly fuzzy look of a PenTile pixel arrangement. However, what we said for the Android device also holds true here: this panel is far better than previous generations, and the pixelated effect isn't really noticeable unless your eyes are too close to the 306-ppi image. Although AMOLED still doesn't have the best reputation outdoors, we could see it well enough on a sunny day with the brightness pushed up.

Next to its immediate Windows Phone 8 counterparts, the ATIV S faces a stiff fight. It has the biggest screen of the current bunch and doesn't have to worry about refresh rates when AMOLED has near-instant response. Still, it doesn't have the pixel density of the 8X, or the extra 48 pixels of width afforded by the Lumia 920. Anyone who lives in a cooler climate will appreciate the Lumia 920 LCD's glove-friendly screen, too. There were a few times during my mid-December testing of the ATIV S where I had to stop to avoid frostbite. We're fine with Samsung's approach when the screen is large and contributes to a thinner overall phone profile; we just have to accept that it's not the best in every respect.

CAMERA

Samsung recycled Galaxy parts once again with the ATIV S' dual cameras. Both the 8-megapixel, f/2.6 rear shooter and the front 1.9-megapixel, f/2.8 camera are lifted directly from the likes of the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II. On bright days and in good indoor lighting, that leads to photos from the rear camera that are sharply focused, with soft backgrounds in macros and accurate colors. The choice does maintain the reduced dynamic range, however, and the sensor is nowhere near earning trophies for low-light performance or image stabilization like the Lumia 920. Dark scenes without the bright (if slightly harsh) flash still result in either a lot of noise or pitch black elements. We had an opportunity to shoot with both the ATIV S and Note II for a while, and many images from both cameras were nigh-on identical to each other -- lumping the mostly good in with the occasional bad.

This assumes that we're shooting with the same settings, though, and it's here that the ATIV S stumbles. Windows Phone 8 will let you fine-tune core image details like exposure, filter-based effects and white balance, but there's no built-in burst shooting, high dynamic range modes, panoramas or precision controls like metering. Samsung doesn't preload any apps that take advantage of Windows Phone 8's Lens feature for extending camera functionality, so we're left either finding apps for ourselves or going without.

Some of the basics take a separate hit because of Microsoft's approach. Tap-to-focus doesn't work without also taking a shot, which leaves you to either gamble with the results or lock the focus using the hardware key and pan away. The settings menu obscures most of the screen, preventing a good preview of any mode changes. That vaunted near-zero shutter lag? Shot-to-shot times are still quick, but no longer instant when Microsoft inserts transition animations and there's no continuous shooting mode. It's true that many casual photographers may not mind, or even notice; we just don't like that the ATIV S has one arm tied behind its back.

Video recording is thankfully much better. Windows Phone leaves fewer settings to play with, but the high-bandwidth 20 Mbps capturing is clean in daylight and stays sharp as long as the phone isn't being thrashed around. Exposure changes kick in smoothly and quickly. Moviemaking in the dark is about the only area that's off limits. The microphone faces a similar ceiling, catching subtle details in quieter moments and coping less than graciously with wind and loud noises. We'd choose Samsung's Windows Phone for capturing video in many situations... just not for the nightclub.

SOFTWARE

We've delved into Windows Phone 8 a few times now, and the ATIV S of course shares that same UI, so we won't rehash everything here. As ever, it's a distinctive take on smartphone software, and the introduction of resizable tiles has done wonders for providing as much live information as you'd care for. Internet Explorer 10 is a modern, speedy web browser. Like we hinted earlier, the ATIV S feels like it's occasionally solving problems that we see in the Galaxy S III, especially for those who aren't normally fans of big screens or a deluge of on-screen information. The Windows Phone keyboard remains one of the easiest to type with, at least on Samsung's big screen, with smart autocorrection as well as straightforward text selection.

All the same, there are a few undeniable chasms that have to be crossed. Multitasking is still awkward. Notifications are more prevalent than ever, but the lack of a notification center (missing due to time constraints, Microsoft has said) means you could miss a vital message if you're not paying attention while inside an app. Also, Microsoft needs to go beyond having 46 of the top 50 Android and iOS apps -- it needs the top 500, as there are too many must-haves beyond just the smash hits, whether it's Path or Remember the Milk. Those who live in Google's ecosystem will be hard-pressed to make the jump, regardless of third-party alternatives like MetroTube that occasionally fill in the gaps.

Most Windows Phone supporters have their share of custom apps to tailor what's otherwise a very uniform experience, and Samsung is more than eager to follow suit. We'd call its strategy a potpourri. Where Nokia is focused mostly on location, and HTC is a fan of little conveniences, Samsung wants to cover a few areas at once. Company loyalists will most likely recognize its cross-platform messaging serviceChatON as well as the Music Hub, which (at least in Canada) centers on a 7digital-run music store. There are a few less common additions such as Family Story, which shares memos and photos between groups like a cross-OS version of Microsoft's own Rooms; Live Wallpaper, which shuffles photos on the lock screen; a MiniDiary app for cataloging memories with photos and voice; Now, a hybrid news and weather aggregator; and a self-explanatory Photo Editor.

In practice, there's a real hit-or-miss quality to these apps. We use Now the most for news and weather, as with HTC's hub. The Photo Editor app helps for a quick crop or tweaking the contrast before sharing a photo with the world. Live Wallpaper and the Music Hub feel redundant, though, and we honestly didn't see much point to MiniDiary when its content is completely disconnected from the outside world. ChatON and Family Story, meanwhile, both have strikes against them through their small communities (we struggled to find and recruit users among hundreds of contacts) and an arcane sign-up process that relies on phone numbers. Quite frankly, we got more bang for the buck from Nokia's mapping suite and HTC's attentive phone options.

At least Microsoft's hardline stance on the user experience works in the ATIV S' favor. Samsung's apps are treated like regular third-party releases and can be deleted entirely, if you can't bear to see them; they're sitting in a dedicated Samsung Zone section of the Windows Phone Store if you want them again. Carrier bloat is here, but you can still uninstall the apps from AT&T, Bell, Rogers and others if they're more hindrances than help. The loadout is light, as well -- our Bell unit has just a lone Mobile TV portal instead of the several non-removable apps we usually see on the provider's Android lineup. The sense is that it's our personal device, not just a profit engine for the network.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

Theoretically, there shouldn't be any statistical difference between the ATIV S and any of its high-end Windows Phone 8 counterparts. After all, its 8X and Lumia 920 opponents share the same Snapdragon S4 and 1GB of RAM. For the most part, day-to-day interaction shows that to be true. The interface is still as speedy as ever, and 3D games in the Windows Phone Store like Ilomilo and Ragdoll Run stay smooth. Browsing is where you'll notice the jump the most; between Internet Explorer's improved renderer and the Snapdragon S4, pages load very quickly as long as the connection can keep up. We wish Samsung had used the extra time to stuff in a Snapdragon S4 Pro like that in the Lumia 920T, but the chip may be overkill when there are few things in Windows Phone's short-term future that would justify the added brute strength.

Going to more concrete numbers tells a slightly different story. Although the differences are imperceptible most of the time, the ATIV S just manages to edge out its Windows Phone 8 peers in every category. It crunches numbers faster and lasts just a tad longer in our battery rundown test. The longevity can be explained by the 2,300mAh battery pack, but there's no obvious explanation for such a consistent lead. We're intrigued enough that we've reached out to Samsung to see if there's a more logical reason than happenstance, such as the company's skills with in-house flash memory and RAM. We'll let you know if there's a definitive answer.

The extra 200mAh in battery capacity over the Galaxy S III is appreciated, though not quite as much of a boost to real-world use as you'd think. Our device had just under half of the battery left after the eight-hour span of a workday with periodic use of email, the web, social networking and the occasional phone call, and those who aren't any more aggressive should last the rest of the evening. It's very much possible to crush the ATIV S as a power user: on our first run, battery life shrank to about four hours after snapping 93 photos, recording three videos, streaming music over LTE and regularly hopping on to Twitter. Thank goodness there's a removable battery, then, even if we miss the wireless charging of the Lumia 920 and Verizon's 8X.

Outbound call quality was described to us as good by the various people we spoke to, although the inbound clarity on Bell's network wasn't as phenomenal as what we'd encountered with the Galaxy S III on other networks. Data was largely stable, albeit with a notable moment of inconsistency: we noticed that data traffic suddenly ground to a halt in downtown Ottawa on a Saturday night, even with three-bar LTE reception as we stood outside. Weekend revelers clogging the network may have played a part, but it wasn't confidence-inspiring. We can say that LTE was quick when working earlier in the day, and as we left the urban core. Our best result saw 21.4 Mbps downspeeds and 9.6 Mbps up, with downloads typically hovering around 17.5 Mbps. Outside of 4G, the dual-carrier HSPA+ 3G was good enough to reach a healthy 15.2 Mbps down and 1.6 Mbps up.

WRAP-UP

Some will like it that way. Fans who've been waiting for full SD card support on a top-of-the-line Windows Phone now have that choice -- and it may trump everything else. Converts to Windows Phone and even smartphone newcomers might gravitate toward the ATIV S simply because they'll feel right at home. We genuinely enjoyed carrying one around, and it's a solid choice for those who aren't strongly attached to another mobile operating system (and don't mind the mixed bag of pre-installed apps). And at $100 or less on contract in Canada ($80 at Rogers; $30 at Telus) it's priced quite well.

Still, it's this conservative strategy that makes it a tougher sell for Windows Phone diehards and people who care less about expandable storage. While HTC and Nokia are guilty of saddling their Windows Phone devices with fixed storage and non-removable batteries, they've managed to carve out spaces for themselves through sheer originality: their camera and design features are irreplaceable. Samsung's decision to blend in makes the ATIV S less likely to stand out.

HTC 8S review: a budget Windows Phone that doesn't compromise on style

We're not sure if HTC's One S suffered from middle child syndrome. It certainly shouldn't have. But if it did, it's a hindrance the company spared its Windows Phone 8 line. HTC decided two was enough, and who are we to argue? It was back in October that we handled the flagship, but now its smaller, cheaper companion has arrived. At around £230 (about $370) SIM-free, this potentially represents one of the best value Windows Phone options around at the moment (at least in Europe and Asia). Sure, Nokia's Lumia 620 will soon be gunning for some of its market share, but for now it's got relatively little competition. So far, Windows Phone 8 has seen plenty of entries running dual-core, 1.5GHz Snapdragon chips. This time we're looking at a slower clock speed (1GHz) and some more muted specs across the board (more on this later). Given that, did HTC get the budget-to-features balance right here? Read on to find out.

HARDWARE

When we got our paws on the HTC 8X, it's fair to say that we were smitten with the design. We're happy to say we felt the same way when we first met the smaller, more colorful, 8S. Here too, HTC's inspiration comes from Windows Phone 8 itself, with clean lines dominating the overall aesthetic. While much of the design language apes its larger sibling, the 8S does have an identity of its own, the most obvious difference being the chin, which has a different color than the rest of the handset. Our review model is black and white, but there are more vibrant options available, including the same blue shade offered on the 8X. Unlike its big brother, though, the 8S isn't made from one block of polycarbonate, or if it is, it certainly isn't one piece now.

That chin is removable, and hides the phone's SIM and microSD card slots (this might be a good time to remind everyone that you won't find a memory card reader on the 8X). We definitely welcome the option to expand the -- somewhat limited -- 4GB internal storage, and hiding it away here means that it doesn't interfere too much with the overall design. The little plastic clip-on section, however, can be difficult to re-attach; it often took us several attempts. Once you've got it back on properly, though, it sits flush enough to create the illusion that the device is one solid unit. HTC might have given us access to our SIM and memory cards, but you're out of luck if you want to get at the 1,700mAh battery, as that's hidden away along with pretty much everything else.

The back has a soft-touch finish, and arcs out in a "pillow-like" fashion similar to the 8X. The 8S might be smaller diagonally (with a 4-inch, rather than 4.3-inch display), but it's actually a shade thicker at 10.28mm (compared to 10.12). This isn't particularly noticeable, but if you hold both in the hand at the same time, you can sense the 8S is a little... stouter feeling. The rear is also where you'll find the 5-megapixel camera, embossed HTC logo, discreet Beats branding and drilled speaker holes at the bottom. The front is equally sparse, with the black screen and bezel only being broken up by the top grille which matches the main body color -- somewhat less noticeable on the black version we have here.

At the other end, on top of the colored base, are the standard Windows Phone capacitive buttons. The glass front is entirely flat, and sits flush with the polycarbonate casing -- unlike the slightly protruding, curved screen edges of the 8X. The sides are tapered, but still play host to the usual facilities. In this case, we have a headphone jack and power / standby button up top, a micro-USB port centered on the bottom, and a volume rocker on the right-hand side. There's also a dedicated camera button just beneath this, leaving the other side free of distractions. The result is a phone that is wonderfully easy to use with one hand, and the curved back means it sits there comfortably at the same time.

As for what's inside, that display is WVGA (800 x 480), which translates to a modest density of 233 ppi. There's Gorilla Glass 2 to protect it, though, and the 4-inch non-PenTile RGB Super LCD looks bright and crisp, despite the slightly low resolution. If you inspect icons and images close up, you can definitely see the rougher edges, but you'll have to really be looking for them. Likewise, blacks are displayed well, and colors appear bright and balanced. Similar to what we found with the 8X, the range of viewing angles seems a little more constricted than what we've seen from other HTC handsets.

Deeper down in the engine room, you'll find a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm S4 Snapdragon chugging along with 512MB of RAM, which so far make the specifications very similar to the HTC Desire X. As for radios, the HTC 8S supports GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and UMTS / HSPA+ (900/2100MHz). Along with those, you'll also find Bluetooth 3.1 and 801.11b/g/n, plus GPS and GLONASS antennas. So the main differences between this and the 8X are fewer HSPA+ bands (the 8X also supports 1900 and 850) and no NFC.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

Navigation of the OS is just as smooth as we've ever seen it, even on much higher-specced phones.

In general, we've been pleased with how Windows Phone 8 performs on most of the hardware we've used. When you bundle that with a smaller screen -- and less demanding silicon -- we expect battery life to be reasonable too. And this is indeed the case with the 8S. Performance-wise, WP8 feels just like it ever did. Navigation of the OS feels as smooth as ever, even compared with much higher-specced phones. We put it through extended sessions of graphically intensive racing games, and there's nothing to suggest that it was being taxed any more than something running a much faster chip.

The problem is, simply just knowing that there's less processing power can sometimes be enough for you to start noticing sluggish behavior, be it psychosomatic or otherwise. We're glad to report, however, that this most certainly wasn't the case in our subjective use. So much so, if HTC had given this phone a 720p display, we'd struggle to determine any significant difference in the user experience between this and its 1.5GHz-touting brother. Of course, this is in regular daily usage; the benchmarks will tell you a much more objective story, with the full numbers below.

You can see that -- perhaps as you might expect -- the 8S files in some way behind the 8X, and isn't exactly nipping at the heels of Nokia's Lumia 820. Possibly the least thrilling test result is the 1,415 in SunSpider. We've been spoiled by a string of Windows Phone 8 devices turning in sub-1,000ms scores, so the 8S might seem like a bit of a letdown, but given the lower-powered chip, it's not exactly surprising, either. This is where benchmarks aren't always useful: despite this difference in scores, we can't point to any part of the user experience where we saw any corresponding symptoms. Possibly -- at the very worst -- we found that when waking the phone up from time to time, swiping to unlock was a little unresponsive, needing a second or third attempt to open it up. As for more utilitarian features, we enjoyed solid, loud and clear voice calls each and every time. Data download speeds were as good as the network (O2 UK) could typically provide – about 5 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up.

As for powering all of the above? We're still waiting for Windows Phone 8-specific battery rundown tests, but using the same WPBench test as before we regularly got 3:30, a whole hour more than the 8X. In more anecdotal use, too, we were easily getting a full day's regular use before we started reaching for the charging cable. If you ask us, the tradeoff that comes with a smaller battery is more than offset by the smaller screen it needs to power.

CAMERA

A recurring theme with the 8S is that its characteristics fall into one of two categories -- those it shares with the 8X, and those it shares with the Desire X. When it comes to the camera -- unfortunately for prospective 8S owners -- it falls into the latter category. And if you're a fan of self-portraits, you're definitely out of luck. No, there isn't a snapper up front. The performance of the rear camera, as we hinted, is similar to the Desire X. Although the two aren't exactly the same (the 8S has a 35mm lens, versus 24mm on the Desire), both share the same number of pixels, along with f/2.8 aperture.

The autofocus can be triggered by tapping the screen, which supports tap-to-focus. Alternatively, you can use the two-stage dedicated shutter button to focus more broadly, and fire off shots that way instead. We found that method more preferable, as we kept wanting to tap to focus, and then trigger a shot manually. Small details, but deleting stacks of unwanted photos is one of life's modern annoyances.

If you've used Windows Phone before, then you'll know the deal with the camera options, and there aren't any changes here. If you want a little more control, rather than leave the software to do its thing, you can change ISO, white balance, exposure, saturation and so on. There's also the usual collection of simple effects (e.g., sepia, grayscale). Still, there aren't any options for HDR or panorama shooting, which are becoming increasingly standard in other operating systems. All is not entirely lost in this department, however. There's always the option of "Lenses," which are essentially installable software updates that add extra functionality to the camera. These can include visual translators (point the camera at foreign text, etc.) and simple photo tools. In reality, they're essentially third-party apps, some free, some otherwise. But at the very least it means the door for HDR and Panorama features isn't entirely closed.

The short summary is that color quality seems to be at the mercy of the amount of natural light, with images soon looking a little bit washed out -- heaven forbid -- should it get a little cloudy outside.

And what of the photos themselves, you ask? Well, the best thing is to explore them for yourself, and as luck would have it, there's a gallery full of samples just above. But the short version is that color quality seems to be at the mercy of the amount of natural light, with images soon looking a little bit washed out, should it get a little cloudy outside. Likewise, if you're not a fan of the flash, then you'd better have a steady hand. If not, the camera will punish you with noise or blurry shots. Even when we took some photos of static objects in the middle of the day, the automatic exposure was long enough to cause softer edges on the object we were aiming for. That said, point the camera at something throwing out some good light, and it'll reward you with some nice, vivid pictures.

Video recording is equally prone to such situations. While the camera is capable of recording 720p (at 8 Mbps) and results can look great on the phone, viewing them on a desktop or some other, bigger screen can highlight small flaws. In particular, we noted the color warmth noticeably changed as we panned the camera around onto different subjects. Not ideal, but at the same time, for what most people will likely want from this camera, it's adequate. One other small gripe -- more with the operating system than the phone -- is that if you choose to share your video by email, it'll automatically compress it. In the event you want the original file (which we think should be most events), then you might want to opt for something like SkyDrive instead. The bonus of which being that once installed, it actually integrates very well into the camera roll feature.

SOFTWARE

Once again, there's little to add that we didn't already explore in our original reviewfor Windows Phone 8, but HTC has ever so gently added its own touch to the OS in the form of some apps. In reality, what this amounts to is a pre-installed hub for news, weather and stock information, a Photo Enhancer app and a connection wizard. There's little else on offer here. But, that said, as Engadget is listed as one of the technology news sources, we're not entirely out of love with them. If however, you decide that that's simply not enough HTC-flavored apps, prod the tile for the Windows Phone store, and you'll see that there is also an option to go off and get a few more. Once again, though, there's little more on offer other than a simple converter app and the ubiquitous flashlight tool -- nothing you couldn't get anywhere else from other developers.

The other main software addition comes in the shape of Beats audio. This has been a feature of HTC phones for a while now, so it should come as no surprise to anyone who's used a previous device. If, however, you're one of the uninitiated, Beats audio"enhances" your music through proprietary preset equalization, changed to give your music more impact. Or, in our experience, it simply makes it louder -- in particular at the low and mid-high end of the spectrum (think bass and "sparkle"). Some will love it, others less so, but it's there so knock yourself out if you are in the former category.

WRAP-UP

When we got our hands on the 8X, we found it to be a worthy flagship, with a good balance of specifications and design. Fortunately for the 8S, much of the design DNA has carried over, which we like. Naturally, the spec sheet differs dramatically, but only as you would expect for a phone aimed at a more mainstream section of the market. Some people might not fancy the sound of a 1GHz dual-core chip or 5-megapixel camera, and these people should indeed look elsewhere. But, if you want a phone that looks good, is reasonably priced and just kinda gets the job done, then we're hard-pressed not to recommend the 8S. And until the Nokia Lumia 620 arrives, the 8S has the stage all to itself. So, if you're not looking to wait, we suggest you start thinking about color options.

YouTube Player API for Android opens for all, brings seamless app integration (video)

Adding a little dash of YouTube magic to your Android apps should be simple affair right? Well, historically, not entirely. That's all set to change though, now that thelong-promised Android YouTube Player API has finally been set loose in the wild. This means developers can access some new tools that should bring the ubiquitous video service snuggly inside any app that wants to use it. This includes high-quality playback for devices running Android 2.2 and above, easier integration there-of due to a change in how to call the videos, full screen and orientation mode support, closed captions display, support for YouTube ads and the ability to program most elements of the playback experience natively within your app. The tools have already been put to use by some partners who got early access, including one of our favourite social feed-readers Flipboard. Full details and tools at the source, or slide past the break for Google developers video showing it in action.