The best and latest gadgets for
creating a home Wi-Fi network with 3G broadband
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung is essentially the daddy of the
Android smartphone world, and the Galaxy S4 is its latest, greatest offering to
date. The 5in display is gorgeous, offering a full HD resolution of
1920x1080 pixels - a 441ppi pixel density that blows the iPhone 5 out of
the water.
It has a quad-core processor, so
it’s extremely fast, and a 13-megapixel camera with good low-light
sensitivity.
Samsung
Galaxy S4
Like the iPhone 5, the S4 is available with
16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage. But, unlike its Apple rival, this can be
expanded by up to 64GB via the built-in micro-SD card slot. Another
advantage that the S4 has over the iPhone is that its battery is remove-able,
so you can carry a spare with you.
The S4 is so new that we’ve only had a
little time to play with it, but early indications are that it’s going to be a
superb phone. It faces stiff competition from its Android rivals and whatever
Apple plans to release next, but interest and demand for the phone remain high.
The price varies depending on the contract,
but on Three’s The One Plan, for example, it’s free on a $55-per-month
contract.
More details: www.snipca.com
Apple iPhone 5
There’s a very simple way to describe the
Apple iPhone 5: thinner, lighter and a bit taller than the iPhone 4S. While
that gets across the general look of the phone, it rather underestimates what’s
gone into the design to achieve this.
For starters, Apple managed to shave 1.7mm
off the frame of its previous phone, so it’s now just 7.6mm thick. When you
compare the iPhone 5 alongside earlier models, the difference is marked - this
is one beautiful smartphone.
Apple
iPhone 5
The iPhone 5 has a larger 4in screen with a
16:9 aspect ratio, rather than the 3:2 aspect ratio used on earlier
iPhones. What this means in practice is that the screen is the same width, but
taller, with a resolution of 1136x640. The 326ppi pixel density (or Retina
Display, as Apple markets it) is good, but no longer the market-leader - the
Samsung Galaxy S4’s display is superior.
Overall, the iPhone 5 is a great bit of
work. It’s brilliantly made and very fast, with an incredibly responsive mobile
operating system. However, while previous models have been way ahead of the
competition, the iPhone 5 just doesn’t maintain the gap. In particular, Apple
Maps is a big step backwards, while iOS 6 feels more like a tweak than a
significant improvement.
The 16GB iPhone 5 costs $794 from Apple,
though it’s available cheaper on contract - $74 up front on a $54-per-month
contract on The One Plan from Three, for example.
More details: www.snipca.com
Nokia Lumia 920
The Lumia 920 is Nokia’s flagship Windows 8
Phone. It’s a chunky handset with a large 4.5in screen that has a huge 1280x768
resolution. It’s also the first 4G Nokia, so it can take advantage of EE’s new
high-speed 4G network (as too can the Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5).
Nokia
Lumia 920
The case is a corker - a polycarbonate
unibody. Essentially, this means that it’s a single piece of tough, molded
plastic. With the slightly convex screen, it looks fantastic. The phone is
available in black, yellow and red, and in white exclusively on EE - a nice
change from the staid black and white options of most smartphones.
However, the Lumia 920’s real talking point
is its operating system - Windows Phone 8. It looks rather like Windows 8 for
PCs, though it isn’t actually the same thing. The latest version - which is
included on the 920 - lets you choose the size of the tiles, so you can
allocate more space to those with interesting information to show, such as
Photos, and shrink those that don’t need so much space, such as Messaging and
Internet Explorer.
The Lumia 920 is another beautifully made
Nokia handset. It has a great screen, is fast and has some excellent Nokia-only
apps to enhance Windows Phone 8. The handset is expensive, especially on an EE
4G contract where it will cost you $60 a month, and limited app support means
it’s still a big decision to jump to Windows Phone. But if you’re willing to
take the plunge, the Lumia 920 is the handset to choose.
More details: www.snipca.com
