Category: Android Phone

Today’s deal over at eBay is a great one for those looking at a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.  Right now you can pick up the phone with 32GB of built-in storage for $569.99.  That is a savings of some 37% and the phone is unlocked.  Right now the color options are gold and black so quantities are very much limited.  The even better news:  The Galaxy S7 Edge doesn’t have blow-up batteries. 🙂 (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

Specification wise, the Galaxy S7 Edge does not disappoint.  It comes with a quad-core 2.15 GHz on 2 cores and 1.6 GHz on the other two.  It has 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB of storage with expansion up to an additional 200GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The S7 Edge has a 5.5″ Quad-HD Super AMOLED display that renders at 2560 x 1440 resolution and 534 PPI.  The rear camera is an impressive 12MP f/1.7 shooter with OIS while the front camera is a 5MP that is also f/1.7.

It looks like the Nexus name is dying a death.  Reports are suggesting that Google is going to be hosting an event on October 4th, at which we will see the new HTC-built Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL announced.  Those phones are currently under their code names of Marlin and Sailfish respectively.  The new naming convention will mean that across all hardware types – phones, tablets and Chromebooks – there is one name to remember and will likely have some sort of suffix designation for the model.

What is interesting is that the name “Pixel” has been associated with Google as being the designer of the product.  Take the Pixel C or the Pixel Chromebook as an example.  While Google may not have built those devices, they had a very heavy hand in their design.  Is that the case for the Pixel and Pixel XL phones?  leaked mock-ups suggest no.  The Marlin (Pixel) device looks strikingly like the HTC built One A9.  While it may have different innards, outward appearances don’t suggest Google did the design.

Florida based BLU Products has announced and released their latest phone and it is pretty impressive for the price point.  The new Pure XR is a 5.5″ display device with a whopping 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage that sells for $299 in silver or gold.  That alone makes this a pretty attractive device but diving into the specs a bit more, this is a serious phone.  It is powered by the MediaTek P10 octa-core processor running at 1l9GHz on four cores and 1GHz on the other four.  It has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage but can be expanded with an MicroSD card up to an additional 64GB.  The display is a 5.5″ Full-HD Super AMOLED curved display that has 3D touch technology and is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.  That display renders at 1080 x 1920 with ~401ppi.

From a camera perspective, the main camera is a 16MP camera with laser focus and the front facing camera is 8MP and designed to give wide angle selfies.

Today’s Deal is a great one for those looking to pick up a solid performing Android Phone.  Right now over at Amazon you can pick up the Sony Xperia XA Ultra with a 64GB MicroSD card for $298.  That is a savings of about $100 on the phone alone so this is a really good deal.  The Xperia XA Ultra is a flagship device with flagship specs.  It is powered by the octa-core Mediateck MT6755 processor with 4 cores running at 2.0Ghz and 4 running at 1.0Ghz.  That is coupled with 4GB of RAM and 16GB of built in storage.  It has a 6″ IPS display that renders 1080 x 1920 pixels for ~367 ppi.  The cameras built into the XA ultra are pretty awesome too.  The main camera is a 21MP with hybrid autofocus while the 16MP front face camera has a flash and a gesture shutter so you can take that selfie with just a wave of your hand.

Today’s Deal over at Amazon is on the powerful but friendly priced BLU VIVO 5.  Right now the 5.5″ device with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage is down to $199.99 in either Gold or Silver.  BLU has made a name for themselves by having low cost devices that pack a fair amount of punch for the price.  The VIVO 5 is no different.  It is a full metal body design with a 5.5″ AMOLED display that gives you full HD quality, it has 3GB of RAM and has 32GB of storage built into it. You can expanded that up to an additional 64GB of storage (96GB total) thanks to the MicroSD slot in the chassis.  The phone is powered by the MediaTek 6753 processor which is a 1.3GHz octa-core processor so you should find it nicely responsive, especially coupled with the 3GB or RAM.

Last week I posted that Huawei had clarified their software update policy on the Honor 8.  This week the Chinese manufacture has added the Honor 5x to the list of devices under the new upgrade policy.  That means both of the latest devices, for the next 24 months, will see major and minor updates.  It is good news for sure as the Honor 5x has been a popular device (and at $189 unlocked, it’s not hard to see why) and Huawei is doing their part to keep their devices up-to-date.

Well done Huawei.