ZTE Source (Cricket Wireless)

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Assuming you're able get Cricket Wireless' LTE coverage in the first place, the ZTE Source delivers LTE speeds at a decent $189.99 price. In fact, that's the carrier's most budget option for an LTE device by quite a wide margin. Its second-cheapest handset, the Samsung Galaxy Admire 2, costs $250.

True, the Source isn't banging on all cylinders (naturally, you'll have to spend more dough if you want better specs): it can be sluggish at times and its camera's image quality is less than stellar. However, it does feature a decently sized 4.5-inch screen, expandable storage, and Cricket's recently revamped Muve Music service. Altogether, that makes the handset a worthy value if you're on a tight budget.

Design
The ZTE Source measures 5.31 inches tall and 2.64 inches wide. Given that it's 0.40 inch thick and weighs 5 ounces, the device is hefty. I immediately felt its weightiness the moment I picked it up, and it feels bulky when I put it in my front pockets.

The edges are accented with a silver chrome-like finish, and on the left is a Micro-USB port for charging and a narrow volume rocker. Up top is a 3.5mm headphone jack and on the right edge is a sleep/power button.

The Source features a 5-megapixel camera and a matte, soft-touch battery door.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

The back houses a 5-megapixel camera with flash, and on the bottom left corner are two small slits for the audio speaker. Coated with a matte soft-touch material, the battery door surprisingly traps a lot of fingerprints and oils, but you can easily wipe them off. Using a small indentation on the bottom left corner, you can pry the battery door off to access the microSD card slot (which accepts cards of capacities up to 32GB), and the 2,070mAh battery.

Equipped with a 4.5-inch display, the handset has a 480x854-pixel resolution and 218ppi. This isn't the sharpest resolution, and indeed, you can see a subtle "crunchiness" when it comes to default wallpaper photos and high quality YouTube videos. The graininess isn't overly distracting, however, and the screen is still sensitive and responsive to the touch. I had no problem typing (either by pressing on the individual keys or by Swyping), and tapping on apps with my fingertips was a breeze.

Above the display is a 1-megapixel camera and below are three hot keys (for back, home, and menu). You can long-press the center home button to access recent apps.

Software features
The phone features many of Cricket Wireless' own apps, which include its own navigator; a My Account app to manage your phone payments; and MyBackup, which lets you store your contact information in a cloud. There's also a White Page-esque app called Cricket 411, where you can access information for the nearest pizza joint or grocery store; and a Cricket storefront that lets you purchase graphics and applications.

Finally, there's Muve Music. Muve is a subscription service tied to your service plan, and it lets you download and play (offline, even!) thousands of songs and albums. It's preloaded onto the Source, and after finally receiving a desperately needed face-lift, the service is more manageable and easier to use than ever. Features include Muve Mixes (formerly known as My DJ), which lets you access premade playlists organized by musical genres. There's also a New Releases section and Shazam, the popular music-searching app. The app can be accessed as a home-screen widget, wherein you can launch the Shazam tool directly, and pause and skip music tracks.

The device runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and as such contains several Google apps: Chrome, Gmail, Plus, Hangouts, Maps, access to the Play Store's Books, Games, Movies and TV, Music, and Newsstand portals, and YouTube.

The Muve Music widget (left) along with other Cricket apps, and the Muve app itself.

(Credit: Lynn La/CNET)

Other apps include Facebook and Twitter, an alarm clock, native browser and e-mail clients, a calculator, a calendar, a news and weather app, a notepad, a sound recorder, a timer, a voice dialer, and a world clock.

Camera and video
Casual shutterbugs shouldn't mind the handset's photo quality too much, if all you're looking for is to take some informal shots here and there. However, don't expect to take impressive photos. For one thing, colors tended to look muted, and ran on the cold, bluish side. The camera also struggled to focus at times; even when I held it extremely still, nonmoving objects still managed to appear blurry with ill-defined edges. It also didn't take much to take pictures riddled with digital noise. Even a well-lit indoor setting can produce the issue quite easily. For more on the camera's picture quality, check out the images below. And feel free to click on them to view them at full resolution.

Both the 5-megapixel and front-facing camera has autofocus, a 4x digital zoom, five white balance options, five ISO levels (from 100 to 1600), geotagging, compositional grid lines, and three photo qualities. However, the rear camera can shoot in five photo sizes (from 640x480 to 2,592x1,944 pixels), while the 1-megapixel camera can only shoot in two (from 640x480 to 1,280x720 pixels).

View the original article here

Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 (Cricket Wireless)

As long as you have a fixed data connection and admire a little patience, the Samsung Galaxy 2 (also known as the axiom for US Cellular) is a very good smartphone for range of Cricket.

Compact, heavy and a spitting image of Lighthouse of last year Galaxy S3, the admire 2 is nonetheless a smooth, polished 4.1 showing Android which has the additional benefits of support 4G LTE service Muve Music of Cricket and a quite decent camera.

For off-contract of $249.99 (or $11 down and $11 per month for 23 months), it is one of the most expensive Cricket Muve music autour phones, but it's important on the most powerful, but also much more expensive economy Samsung Galaxy S4 ($580 in all) and Galaxy S3 ($480).

Cricket lover customers should consider nice 2 admire, but also be aware of its flaws: namely, the carrier's limited footprint of 4G and often unstable music service which is overdue for a revision.

Design and construction
If you are wondering how to admire 2 compares with admirable original Samsung, forget about it. Both phones are in day and night. It is best if you see the 2 admires as a set to update the Galaxy S3 Mini (which, of course, is already a heavily modified S3).

Samsung begins with a very heavy (4.8 oz.!), shaped body pill which amounts to 4.8 inches high, 2.6 inches in width and thickness 0.48 inch compact. Blue-grey brilliant accents brighten the illusion of brushed metal everywhere in smooth, shiny surfaces. The phone fits well in the hand and is short enough to my pockets, even if its perimeter gives it a much larger adjustment.

It forms more compact and shiny surfaces help the glide 2 admire in pockets.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Run the risk of sounding like a broken here record, ratio of weight to the size of the phone makes it feel heavy when you hold it to your ear, or even when he is in your hand for a while. However, he did not much difference in my bag already stout hand, and when I slipped in a Pocket hoodie or sweatshirt while playing tunes, I just noticed that this is.

Smaller screens today 5-inch jumbo, 4 2 inch WVGA admire here offers enough screen space to get concrete results, even if the virtual keyboard is a little more cramped than the current fashion. Fortunately, followed by the word is built in.

Resolution of 800 x 480 pixels is not against phones high-end HD when it comes to the absolute clarity of the image, but there is nothing wrong to 233 the number of pixels. One thing I will say is that the screen looked a little sun on the automatic settings, and I have the transition to manual controls, especially in a brighter environment.

A slot for microSD card from the side multimedia stores as pieces of music.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

As the Galaxy S3, navigation is performed with the Home multifunction button (which also operates the tabs recently, instant Google and S voice) and two capacitive buttons backlit that dim of view. There are a set of front camera next to an array of sensors, and around the thorns are the volume controller, power/lock button, microSD, plug headphones and Micro-USB port.

On the live back the camera 5 megapixels and flash; the Micro-SIM card takes refuge under the back cover.

Operating system and applications
4.1 Jelly Bean, Samsung Android phone adds its typical TouchWiz OS on top. Like the design, this interface is last year's model and doesn't have quite the number of assets in the high end as the S4 Galaxy phones. Do not worry. You will always be able to quickly access the system commands, use the NFC and S beam and put the phone in a hot spot (with the right type of plan).

Service of Muve Music of cricket, which is built into the tariff plan, allows you to download unlimited songs and ringtones.

(Credit: screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

Cricket Muve Music service is an ingredient in huge call from the phone. Sewn into the monthly plan Android app Muve allows you to download an "unlimited" number of songs and ringtones - as long as you keep paying your Bill, and until you miss place the micro SD card (you can have up to 64 GB to play with, then, really, do your worst).

There is an element of the radio as well as in MyDJ and social networking connections.

MUVE allows you to search or browse for songs. Unfortunately, it stopped more often as I would like.

(Credit: screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

The problem is that navigation can be a little awkward and the software is overdue for a major update. Worst of all, the music application Muve frequently stops, crashes and recover until you close or restart the phone.

I still think that Muve is a genius addition that gives the customer of Cricket a huge value, but it is time for Cricket to reinvest in its partner of third-party software. A flagship like this requires progress forward and caring.

Cameras and video
I've said before: Samsung knows a thing or two about cameras, so that even his shot 5 megapixel - somewhat "low" in the output than the images more in more common 13 megapixel - can multiply plans clear, detailed and satisfactory. Photos taken indoors and out quickly targeted and delivered vivid colors and textures.

View the original article here

Samsung Galaxy discover (Cricket Wireless)

Don't be fooled by brand name Galaxy of the Discover $129.99; smartphone Samsung elite is not. While it offers the excellent Muve digital music service of Cricket at low price without a contract, its many flaws, including its 2 years, Ice Cream Sandwich OS Android, are difficult to live with. Indeed, the main competition of the Discover on Cricket, the Kyocera $139.99 Hydro corresponds to Discover specification for spec but has a better quality of life and appeal of battery. For only $10 more, in addition to the money much better spent.

Design
After seeing Samsung Galaxy discover in person he became instantly clear to me that this is not combined premium. Black and silver-false of unit chassis is conservative, almost dull and its plastic construction is miles away from the luxurious metal polycarbonates and high qualities you find in more expensive phones.

Chassis plastic of the discovery is not premium textured polycarbonate.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Yet, the Discover 4.59 inches in height by 2.42 inches wide and 0.47 inch thick takes plenty of room. Its dimensions and light weight 4, 44-ounce are also virtually identical to the Hydro-Kycocera, Cricket's Android, same price. Of course Hydro standout feature is its resistance to water, a trait that has not the discovery.

To almost a half inch thick, this phone is certainly not thin.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

More top of the 3.5 inch screen to discover the Galaxy is the headset from the phone but no front camera, a standard tool on almost all modern smartphones. Here is the screen three capacitive buttons for basic commands Android (Menu, Home and back).

The left edge of the device sports a thin volume bar, then on the side right is the key to power. The lower lip of the discovery is a Micro-USB port for charging and connecting to the PCs. Up top holds a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a furrow of the nail to remove the hood rear. Below is 1 500 mAh of the discovery, which is removable, a dying breed. Another rare pleasure in the phones these days is a microSD card slot to add additional storage. The discovery comes with 4 GB of ROM but Cricket preloads a 4 GB SD card.

A microSD card slot is located under the battery cover.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Also placed on back is a 3MP digital camera device that is not only relatively low resolution, it lacks a flash LED by companion as well.

Display
Small 3.5 inch HVGA (480 x 320 pixels) screen low resolution LCD Samsung Galaxy discover is disappointing to say the least. Colors, while that is not saturated, are not a lot of punch. Also, the contrast of the display is low with poor black levels, and image quality degrades greatly when the consultation of one angle other than the straight line.

I am not suggesting that allows you to consume large quantities of mobile media discovery. The minutiae pure screen pixel-challenged translates into narrow views office websites, pixilated photos and video with soft details.

Basic components
Unfortunately, you will not find a treasure of modern plays, hidden under the hood of the Samsung Galaxy discover. The phone operates a low 800 MHz single-core, not the quad - or even dual-core chips in many mobile gadgets of today. Another bottleneck is the discovery of paltry 512 MB of RAM, which is a quarter of the amount adorning the premium (2 GB) handsets.

The 3MP camera lacks a flash.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

That said, the Discover covers minimum of methods such as Wi - Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. There is no NFC hardware, however, so forget physically listens the phone for fast matching or sharing contact at a glance info.

Software and interface
Software Samsung Galaxy discover is just as Ho-Hum as his material without great interest. Embedded is the operating system Android Ice Cream Sandwich of aging, version 4.0.4. It is far from the last iteration of Android, Jelly Bean 4.3 and 4.4 KitKat Android is just around the corner.

Despite this, operating system of the discovery has not been tinkered with much and is more often Android in stock. The phone has a pinch of bloatware, however, which is also removable. Examples: the browser of Cricket for the directions of GPS, a trial version of the Uno games Gameloft game and application Web Mobile of Cricket.

The handset supports many Google services, you always have the ability to download additional applications from the store's mobile app Google Play.

MUVE Music allows you to download all the music you want.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

MUVE Music
One of the stellar features of the Samsung Galaxy discover are Cricket Muve music service. Included in the cost of your plan wireless, Muve offers a large choice of complete albums, artists and titles that you can download directly to the phone.

View the original article here

LG enact (Verizon Wireless)

Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation 'Translate'. The maximum string content length quota (8192) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 1, position 9155.

Outfitted with a generously spaced five-row keyboard, the LG Enact Android smartphone is a great device for quick-type message artists who aren't looking to spend an arm and a leg. In fact, with its $19.99 contract sticker price, the handset is a downright bargain.

In addition, the 4G LTE - enabled Enact features a simplified Starter Mode user interface option, which allows Android neophytes to navigate their way around the phone without feeling too overwhelmed.

But, as always, with a low price comes some drawbacks. Namely, the handset can lag at times, and don't expect to book any studio time with its ho - hum 5-megapixel camera.

That being said, you can opt for more expensive QWERTY handsets from Verizon (like the Motorola Droid 4). However, at its current price, the Enact stands on solid ground as a high-value Android smartphone.

Design
Small but sturdy, the LG Enact is a compact device that measures 4.37 inches tall and 2.06 inches wide. It's comfortable to hold in one hand, but at 6 ounces, its weightiness is immediately noticeable. Furthermore, because it is a slider handset, it does have a thick (0.62 - inch) profile that feels snug or bulky in pockets of jeans.

On the left are a Micro-USB and a volume rocker that's texturized with a dimple pattern. This makes it easy to distinguish just by touch. Up top is a 3.5 mm headphone jack and on the right is a sleep/power button.

The back houses a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash and a small audio speaker designated by two small slits on the right side. A small indentation at the bottom edge allows you to pry off the battery door with your fingernail. Once removed, you'll gain access to the 2, 460mAh battery, SIM card slot, and a microSD card slot that's expandable up to 64 GB.

The Enact features a spacious five-row sliding keyboard.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

As for the 4-inch WVGA display, it's topped with Corning Gorilla Glass and has a 800 x 400-pixel resolution. The touch screen is responsive and feels rather slick. It accurately displayed a white swatch, but I could see a bit of speckling against the screen. In addition to menu icons, text also looked clear, but there were times when a small, serif typeface showed a notable amount of aliasing around the edges of letters. Above the display is a VGA camera and below are four hot keys (back, home, recent apps, and settings) that glow when in use.

Though the smartphone is rather small, its five-row sliding keyboard beneath is generously sized and spaced. It's also easy to push out and in, due to the sturdy snapping mechanism. The keys were not so flush that they were difficult to feel out, nor were they so bulbous that it looked awkward. Each button took very little effort to press and I like how the space bar in particular is so wide. Included in the keyboard are four navigational keys, shortcut keys to turn on vibrate, and a launch button to open a memo app. There are also PC-esque functions you can carry out. For instance, if you press down the "fn" button, followed by either the letters A, C, or V, you will be able to select all, copy, or paste text, respectively.

Software features
Although the Enact doesn't run on the most recent OS, its Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean version still brings plenty of features, such as Google Now, which you can launch by long-pressing the home key. It also comes with Chrome, Gmail, more, Local, Maps with Navigation, Messenger, Search, Talk, and YouTube. The Google Play stores for Books, Magazines, Movies & TV, and Music are included as well.

The device is overlaid with LG's user interface, the Optimus UI 3.0, and comes with a few of LG's signature software features. These include the option to customize certain app icons. QuickMemo, which lets you jot down quick notes or sketches directly over images onscreen. and QSlide 2.0, a multitasking function that you can use to view and resize apps (like the calculator and video player) while using other apps or viewing the home screen.

The multitasking function QSlide 2.0 (left) and the Starter Mode UI.

(Credit: Lynn La/CNET)

Also included is VuTalk, which lets you create annotations on documents and photos while sharing it in real time with another VuTalk-enabled handset through either a network or Wi - Fi connection, and Smart screen, a feature that keeps the display it as long as it senses you are looking at it.

As a keyboard phone, the Enact features function LG calls Quality Communicator. Essentially, its a notepad app that launches any time you start typing on the physical keyboard. You can share what you wrote across different apps and platforms, attach photos, and format lists.

In addition, because the device is aimed at first-time smartphone users, the handset has two UI options: Starter and Standard. Tucked in the Settings menu under "change mode," the Starter UI has a more simplified design. The home screen saves on search time, and puts favorite contacts, a few choice apps, and setting options like brightness front and center for easy access.

True story. Also, you can share your memos via the apps listed below the text.

(Credit: Lynn La/CNET)

Verizon threw in a bunch of its own apps too, like Accessories, where you can shop for mobile accessories; My Verizon Mobile, which lets you check your data use and minutes; Verizon Tones music and media store. the video portal, Viewdini. and an app for video calling that just prompt you to download either ooVoo or Tango. The carrier also included apps for setting up visual voice mail and your mobile hot spot, its branded navigating app, and VZ Security.

There are also basic task-management apps, such as an alarm clock, a calculator, a calendar, a dictionary, a native email client, a memo pad, two video editors, a voice recorder, a weather app, and a voice dialer.

Other apps include several Amazon apps (the store itself, Kindle, MP3, its app store, and Audible), NFL Mobile, the mobile office suite Polaris Office 4, a language translator, a gaming portal, two content-sharing apps (FileShare and SmartShare), Slacker Radio, a help app, and the IMDB movie database app. Lastly, you'll also get Bluetooth 4.0 and 8 GB of internal storage.

Camera and video
The 5-megapixel camera and front-facing camera offer a variety of options. Both have a brightness meter, five white-balance options, four color effects, a timer, geotagging, and four shutter tones. There's also Cheese shutter, which is a voice-activated shutter function that takes photos when you say certain words, such as "cheese" and "whiskey."

Understandably though, the 5-megapixel camera has a few more features, including a digital zoom, flash, seven scene modes, six shooting modes, Time Catch (which lets users choose and save the best shot from before the shutter was pressed), three focus options, and five ISO settings. You can also save up to six picture sizes (from 1,280 x 768 to 2, 560 x 1, 920 pixels).

View the original article here