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While browsing a galaxy of new smartphones launched in India, set off to purchase a smartphone which is manufactured in Q2 2012, so as a new phone will last well atleast for its first year. Ordered it on flipkart.com for Rs 12,300 inclusive of 8GB micro-SD card. The next day when I checked the purchase summary, it stated delivery after 9 days and so cancelled the order. Got a seal packed piece from Indraprasht shopping centre, Borivali, Mumbai for Rs 10,000 excluding the memory card with 1 year HTC warranty. Initial hands-on:- A light press on power and it boots on, boot time is quite less. Device takes quite a minimal time to settle down. The 4.0.3-Sense 4A interface is identical to the HTC One series. The back cover is rubber coated to prevent slip-off. It fits well in an average sized palm. Google sync went through well though some users claim HTC Golf has sync issues. It supports social site syncing as well. In-call:- Call quality showed a little more bass but it was reasonably clear both ways. HTC dialpad was easy to use, searching contacts was good too. The phone does not lag herein. Sad part here is, when in call, the proximity sensor does not sense the call, instead the screen goes off as soon as the call gets connected and then one has to press the power button repeatedly to switch on the screen till you hang up. It seems the phone has the proximity sensor bug which is not adjustable/repairable at this moment. Network connectivity:- Phone works well in WCDMA preferred mode. Auto switching between 3G and 2G bands work properly. 3G data can download any file from anywhere without compromising on battery or overall OS stability. Social Networks:- Facebook initialization, log-in and usage showed no lags of using a 600 MHz processor, Tapatalk, Forum Runner and Whatsapp worked flawlessly in this so called low powered device. Inspite of all the power hungry apps running in background, the back panel did not warm up. Touch was as responsive as it was designed. Screen:- With a 3.5 inch HVGA screen, images did not look cheap, videos did not shudder at any time. The bottom padding and key size of HTC ime is not adjustable so in some websites/ form fills it can be a little hectic to space out the type margin while using the HTC ime. Auto brightness works well and this phone's lowest brightness level is lower than most phones. Chrome does have visual niggles on this phone as in others. Camera:- No autofocus and no flash but still the image quality is not that cheap. HTC Sense 4 UI camera fits well with this phone's hardware aperture. Low light imagery is not good though. Camera can click fast and review time in gallery is fast. Battery:- Cannot expect a week long battey life just because the hardware is limited and screen size is smaller. Battery lasts for about 4 hours talktime on WCDMA and 5 hours on GSM. 3G data does take up the jiuce fast but slightly better than faster devices. Battery never heated up at any point of time. Music time lasted very well. OS-UI:- HTC's Sense UI 4A on 4.0.3 ICS on a low powered entry level device. The performance of this combination did not let down HTC's reputation. But this is surely not a gamepad. Games do not work well on this phone. Overall:- A better entry phone with a workable and tweakable OS. Future ROM developement can improve phone operations drastically. At 98 gms it is worthwhile for those using for heavy duty calling. Music quality with Beats Audio is fine. Hint:- Do not unlock bootloader and root your phone, custom roms (fewer) are unstable and not daily drivers. Reverting back to stock RUU is not possible because of non-availability of stock boot.img, Bootloader re-locked will continue to show warnings, CID errrors and more. Specifications General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 Body Dimensions 107.2 x 60.6 x 12.3 mm Weight 100 g Touch-sensitive controls Display Type Capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches (~165 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes HTC Sense UI v4.0 Sound Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes Beats Audio sound enhancement Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB Internal 4 GB storage, 512 MB RAM Data GPRS Yes EDGE Yes Speed HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP NFC Optional USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 Camera Primary 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus Features Geo-tagging Video Yes Secondary No Features OS Android OS, v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU 600 MHz Sensors Accelerometer, proximity Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email Browser HTML, Adobe Flash Radio TBD GPS Yes, with A-GPS support Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Colors Polar White, Stealth Black, Flamenco Red SNS integration MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV player Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk Organizer Document viewer Voice memo/dial Predictive text input Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1230 mAh This is a personal review and does not represent the product as a whole nor is a matter of generalization.

Linaro Android Nearly Doubles Android 4 ICS Performance Source Source Source What do you get when you take stock Android 4.0.4 and double its performance? You get Linaro. Linaro is a build of Android that has many performance enhancements and optimizations, making the OS visibly snappier. In some cases, Linaro manages to double performance over stock Android 4.0, which is impressive since stock Android 4.0 is already fairly snappy over older versions of Android. Linaro is a project to optimize Android on ARM architecture, architecture that carry almost all the terminals that are sold today. This project is carried out from Samsung, IBM and Texas Instruments, among other manufacturers. Its main function is to ensure that Android can do better in those architectures, and so far the results are amazing. In a related report by teknoids, commenting on Linaro, the author states, “Basically, parts of the Linaro code have been submitted to the CM9 gerrit and are currently awaiting approval. Once commited, these tweaks will be added to the main CM9 code, giving all supported devices a drastic increase in performance. The good news doesn't end there, though: Galaxy Nexus owners can already take an unofficial CM9 build with the Linaro bits for a whirl. From what we've read, this build is noticeably faster and more fluid right out of the gate. Awesome. Bernhard Rosenkränzer, an engineer working on Linaro, showcased Linaro speed tests at Linaro Connect Q2.2012 in Hong Kong using two pandaboards, one running stock Android 4.0.4 (AOSP), and the other running the Linaro build of Android 4.0.4. Check out the video of Rosenkränzer describing Linaro and showing the tests

Huawei Ascend C8812 - CDMA SIM Android With 1 Ghz Processor, Android 4 ICS, EVDO This has just been launched in China Market few days back. It is perhaps the rare CDMA Android with Ice Cream Sandwich which also has CDMA SIM Card support. Though targetted as a Budget handset but Specs are nice. It is selling between US $ 180 to US $ 220 on some chinese online websites. This may be a viable option for CDMA users in india who are not getting any decent specs OFFICIAL CDMA Android with SIM Support. Huawei should bring this to the Indian Market. Huawei Official Product Page >> http://goo.gl/fEmog Review >> http://www.technolog...evaluation.html (Pardon the terrible english. Must be written by some chinese fella.) Specs: Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich CDMA2000 1x/EVDO Rev.A, 800MHz 1 Ghz Processor 4.0 inch WVGA (800x480) 16 Million Colors Capacitive Touch Screen, Scratch Resistant, 178 Degree Viewing Angle 3.2 MP Primary Camera, 0.3 MP Secondary Camera 512 MB RAM, 4 GB ROM, 2 GB User Available Memory, 32 GB Memory Card Support GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth 1350mAh Battery 16 GB Free Huawei Cloud Storage 5 Second Speed Boot 135 Gms

ICS For EVO 3D - Step By Step Folks, Ice Cream Sandwith for EVO 3D is here. Let's taste it. I have given detailed step by step instruction which may sound elementary to some but helps people not conversant with flashing. Standard Disclaimer: (Still Worth Reading) Everything given here is tested and working. Still if you face a problem, brick your phone or mess up anywhere, you know you have only yourself to blame. No guarantees / warranties whatsoever. At Your RISK. Background: This is MeanROM Ice Cream Sandwich for HTC EVO 3D based on leaked Ice Cream Sandwich for Cricket's version of HTC Evo 3D for CDMA. Cricket's EVO 3D is exactly the same as Sprint's. Mean ROM's are almost the same as Stock HTC ROM's except the optimization, speed and extra features. This Ice Cream Sandwich is nearest to what you will be getting from Sprint by OTA when it's released officially. What's Good: Since this ROM is based on Sprint STOCK ICS leak, pretty much everything works. (USB Micro SD Card Mount when connected to PC is not working but you can use app like AirDroid to copy) Fast and furious. 1.5 Ghz Dual Core Speed out of the box instead of 1.2 Ghz. Requirements: You need to be on latest ver 2.17 Sprint Firmware. Baseband Version 1.06.001216, PRI Version 1.42.003. You can be S-ON or S-OFF. You can be HTC Dev unlocked / unlocked otherwise and rooted. (Rooted will help install 4ext Touch Recovery through it's app directly from your existing ROM instead of fastboot commands.) What You Need: (All Credit / Copyright To Original Developers / Owners of respective files.) 4ext Touch Recovery. Get it from here, Click on Download Free and save APK. >> http://www.4ext.net/ Mean ROM Ice Cream Sandwich For EVO 3D CDMA. Get the latest version. I have V07. >> http://www.androidfi...s/mikeyxda/ICS/ Anthrax Kernel for fixing bootloops on ICS Leak >> http://db.tt/kl2915kV Warning: The below process will wipe out everything from your phone including all user, app and app data. So back up your SMS, other app data if you want to. Additionally have your current ROM on your SD Card if you need to reflash it. Better take a Nandroid backup also as additional safety. Steps: Copy all the files you downloaded in What You Need to your Micro SD Card. Ensure your phone battery is fully charged. First flash 4ext Touch Recovery. Install the downloaded APK on your phone. Enable Data / Wifi. Start app. It should show the latest RC version available. Download and install, grant super user right. It will ask for database not available locally, so allow it download. It should identify the phone as HTC EVO 3D CDMA. OK. It will also ask whether you are S-ON? Say YES if you are. This is important as it will enable SmartFlash which is needed to stick boot on S-ON phones without the help of fastboot commands. Go to Settings / Power / and ensure Fastboot is Disabled. Shut down the phone. Wait for atleast 30 seconds to ensure it's fully shut off. Remove battery, wait 10 seconds, insert battery. Hold Volume Down Button + Power Button together. Once menu is shown, press Volume Down Button once to select Recovery, then press power button. You will reboot into 4ext Touch Recovery. Once you are in touch recovery, no need to use any physical button. It works on touch completely. Install From SD Card / Choose ZIP from SD Card, Select the Modified Superwipe and OK. It should take 2-3 minutes to finish. Repeat the Superwipe process once again by going back and selecting the same file. From Touch Recovery Main Menu, Select Wipe | Format and then wipe battery stats. From Touch Recovery Main Menu, Select install from sdcard, choose zip from sd card and then select MeanROM ICS version you downloaded. Do not Reboot your phone yet. Now flash Anthrax Kernel in the same manner, install from sdcard, choose zip from sd card. (This step is CRITICAL. If you don't do it, the phone will be in constant bootloop after reaching the main screen) Now from touch recovery main menu, Wipe | Format and then wipe cache + dalvik. Do it TWICE. Finally Reboot Now from the Main Menu. Recovery will flash a message saying pending boot operation detected, your ROM will reboot once. That's a good sign. Phone will reboot.It will Reboot once more on HTC screen. Then the first boot. This will take some time. Can sip a very quick cup of Tea / Cofee if it's ready while you wait with bated breath for ICS Nirvana. Wow. The ICS is in front of you. It will automatically enable 3G to complete account setup screen. If you don't have Data provisioned on your phone, ensure you're near a WiFI setup. Else you won't be able to proceed any further and finish account setup screen. Some Screen Shots: