7 Reasons Why Curved Phones Will Be Awesome

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One word describes the overwhelming reaction that greeted the Samsung Galaxy Round and LG G Flex: meh. Their curved designs have been described as ‘solutions in search of a problem’ while their hefty price tags and limited availability mean they don’t feature on many Christmas lists.

But here’s the thing: I think everyone who dismisses the value of curved phones is wrong and here are the reasons why.

While architects will go on at great length about the increased structural integrity of curves, there is a far simpler reason why curved phones should prove more durable: their screens won’t hit the ground.

Whether you curve a phone screen top to bottom like the G Flex or side to side like the Round, both theoretically protect the glass from being impacted when they slip out your grasp. I say theoretically because drop tests of the G Flex have shown the impact can still easily break the screen, but that primarily comes from the weaker plastic substrates rather than glass used in its construction. This will improve with time.

It can’t come soon enough. A poll in February by MobileInsurance (admittedly a non-neutral source) found 23 per cent of all iPhone owners are walking around with cracked screens, so a form factor that inherently better protects it is a huge advantage. And that’s without mentioning the obvious reduction in day-to-day scratches.

SEE ALSO: 5 best cheap smartphones you can buy

Less face it, phone displays are getting bigger. This is fuelled by our changing usage patterns, which are less focused on phone calls and more on media consumption. The problem is our hands won’t grow to keep up and for most the explosion in 5-inch devices and beyond is a stretch our fingers can’t quite make.

Curved screens address this by bending these hard to reach corners closer to us and that makes hitting the edges and one-handed typing that little bit easier. It won’t solve the problem for anyone with very small hands, but we should embrace every advantage we can get to make big screens easier to use.

Furthermore all this content we are viewing in our phones will look better on a curved screen. The curves are gentle, so any sense of distortion is virtually eliminated, but more importantly curved screens greatly reduce visible reflections and offer greater privacy. The latter is only a problem when crowding people around your phone to view something, but do you buy phones based on whether they create a better experience for you or an occasional audience?

Furthermore the gradual rise of curved TVs is based on testing that found they offered a more immersive experience. We’ll benefit from that on our curved phones while critics who cite the reduced viewing angles curves bring to TVs for large get togethers have no leg to stand on when it comes to phones.

SEE ALSO: 10 best phones you can buy

Here’s a shocking revelation: your face isn’t flat. This is why land line phones traditionally curve to conveniently fit both your ear and mouth and now your curved phone will as well. Of course in being flat for so long smartphone technology has adapted so the distance of a microphone a few inches from your mouth isn’t a major problem, but it still means smartphones are generally terrible for picking up environmental noise.

Curved phones give R&D departments a helping hand. By keeping both the earphone and mic closer to their intended targets better noise cancellation and isolation technologies can be developed. If long-term that can teach people they no longer need to bellow into their handsets in public places, curved phones will have made the world a better place.

Furthermore while you’re speaking on your phone, playing a game, surfing the web or any of the thousands of things you can do on a modern smartphone you’ll also find you are doing it more comfortably with a curved phone.

You only need look at the design of landline phones and games console controllers to know curves fit our hands better. You can also get a better grip on a curved phone, so we shouldn’t drop them as much as the slabs currently in our pockets.

Tilt the Galaxy Round on a table and it will show you the time, date and any notifications you may have. Samsung calls this the ‘Roll Effect’ and while the implementation on the Round is a little slow and limited, there is no doubt that the combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes in modern phones can find some ingenious, context sensitive ways to take advantage of this movement.

Tilt to reject or answer a call on speaker phone, tilt to snooze an alarm, tilt to respond to a specific audio alert, tilt to play/pause music and much more make sense. Apple, Microsoft, Google and third-party developers should have a field day.

SEE ALSO: 10 best Android phones in 2013

Like it or loathe it, smartphones appear to have become the testing ground for most consumer focused tech innovation. Everything from touchscreens and finger friendly user interfaces to compact cameras and the growing trend for incredibly high pixel densities have come through their evolution in smartphones.

Curved screens will be no different and since they will be extremely important in wearable tech, most notably smartwatches, take up in phones can drive their maturation and miniaturisation for the benefit of other devices.

Make no mistake there remain problems with curved phones. Notably their components aren’t all curved inside yet, which can lead to reduced battery sizes (as seen in the Galaxy Round compared to nearly identical Galaxy Note 3), they will wobble on surfaces in planes, trains and cars and at the moment they carry a price premium.

That said, it seems the change is coming. Televisions, monitors, wearables and phones are all areas curved technology is being pushed and latest rumours even suggest Apple is toying with making a curved screen iPhone (possibly to justify an increased screen size?).

Consequently this may be a revolution that is hard to avoid, so try to keep an open mind.

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4 g contracts might become the norm within months suggests the phones 4u

With Vodafone and O2 launched their 4 g networks today, phones 4u dealers suggested that the 4 g contracts could become standard within a few months.

Although currently requiring data fees and increased rates, phones 4u has predicted that, with the right education and consumer network rollout prompt high-speed benefits of 4 g, soon might try most new owners of smartphones to make the transition from 3 g.

"Depends on the cycle where people are in their contracts but I think if you were in the middle of next year and launch plans were all on high adoption program through 4 g," Tom Shorten, phones 4u and strategy Director Customer said while talking with TrustedReviews. "If this is 30, 60, 70 percent do not know but it depends on how it Looks."

"He added:" If you look in terms of total base of networks, it will take much longer but if you look at the forefront of people assuming new contracts I think 4 g will have high penetration. "

Discussing the generalized introduction of 4 g services in the United Kingdom in more detail, said: "there will be an initial phase of education and then consumers will start to say, ' this is really, really good, I understand the benefits, let's go for it '."

Although EE after being the only 4 g network provider in the United Kingdom for the better part of a year, today, 29 August, saw O2 and Vodafone jumping on the high-speed bandwagon.

Although playing catch-up, shorten suggested that neither network will have problems with marking his land on the scene quickly and both 4 g will match EE in terms of service.

"I do not think will fight" head phones 4u said of the two newcomers 4 g. "When and where O2 and Vodafone roll out will impact what kind of penetration achieved but actually I think if you look at all offers on the market, I think we all are looking very competitive.

He added: "it's really interesting to see the content that are coming to consumers deals. It is interesting to see the band of speed that you get as well. "

To learn more: Three offers free 4 g

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Archos makes his IFA lineup early: Android phones and tablets galore

Archos was a few days too early in the new his IFA lineup many tablets and Smartphones, all powered by pure, skinning Android included.

The company is introducing a new line of oxygen. The ARCHOS 50 oxygen has a FullHD screen, 13MP main camera and secondary 5MP camera, quad-core processor with 1,5 GHz runs Android 4.2 and 16 GB memory.

The new mobile phones in the field of titanium start at 99 with 4 'screen, dual SIM connectivity, 5MP main camera, dual-core processor with Android 4.2. New phones to see are the Platinum range, but Archos is to reveal all the details for them and their other new phones at the IFA in Berlin.

The ARCHOS 97 Platinum Tablet an iPad is 4 competitors with aluminum casing, a 9.7 "screen with 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution. The French company is also from his Gen11 tablets with the ARCHOS 101xs2 with HD-IPS screen, stereo speakers on the front and a magnetically attached keyboard. Both have run quad-core processor and Android 4.2.

The Xenon line see 3 new tablets with HD screens, 3 G and 3 g + (whatever that means) connectivity, quad-core processor and Android 4.2. There is a continuation of the ARCHOS gamepads (a tablet with built in game controllers), but details will only be made available at the IFA in Berlin.

Finally there are a few child-oriented ChildPad tablets with Android 4.2 and game store for child-friendly content filtered. There is an 8 "and a 10.1" tablets and the "magnetic figures" can use for the specific game.

Source (PDF)

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IPhone gold 5S pictured next to current Apple phones

IPhone gold 5S images are leaked online, with saying that iPhone 5 continuation indicated next to the current offering of Apple's smartphone.

With the iPhone gold 5S have become the subject of much talk in recent weeks, the laptop questioned has once again made an appearance early in the form of pictures. Should be formally presented alongside iPhone 5 c 10 September budget, the 5S of the iPhone is a direct continuation to the iPhone 5.

Shows what is claimed to be a shade of gold ' champagne ', the iPhone looks 5S set ashore with a body is identical to that of its predecessor. With the same 4-inch shape features a two-toned brushed metal and glass back, leaked pictures shows a laptop with power connectors in the same location and existing iPhone SIM card like port 5.

With the iPhone 5S long believed to be market entry "6-8 colours", recent reports have looked to the nature of the tone of the handset.

While recent reports have suggested the 5S gold iPhone would have an "elegant" champagne ", not" further the insiders have suggested the choice seemingly high-end color was made due to its easy manufacture.

"As others have noted, gold tones are among the simplest of anodizing colors, so that technology is an easy option," said suggests insiders. "It adds a bit of flash to an otherwise serious color palette that hasn't changed in a number of years. Is a clear differentiator among current iPhone 5 and any successor ends up being called.

While the 5S iPhone should boast a significantly improved range of specifications including a fast quad-core processor and better camera lens, much attention has been heaped on iPhone questioned 5 c budget that reportedly will pay a reduced body spec, plastic and, above all, a much cheaper price tag.

In a recent exclusive interview with TrustedReviews, creator of the iPod and Apple's senior Vice President, Tony Fandell said that iPhone 5 c budget will be hard for Apple to make ' due to the reputation of a brand of high-end, luxury.

"It's really hard for Apple to do something cheap, so he's going to be really hard for them to produce an iPhone at low cost," he told fagugli.

He added: "I think they should [make a cheap iPhone]," he said. "We've done really cheap iPod so I think there is a way to make a cheap iPhone".

Read more: Samsung Galaxy items S5

Via: AppleInsider

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Best mobile phones 2013

Smartphones, phones, mobile phones. How do you call all share the same thing. Are the hottest type of tech. Sell millions and then billions.

They are also the gadgets many of us are willing to spend more money. Did you know that a high-end phone on contract may end up costing more than a thousand pounds?

You better be sure you're making the right choice before engaging in a phone. We are here to help.

The first thing is to decide which platform you want to negotiate with. There is the iPhone and iOS software, the Android phones by Google and Microsoft Windows Phone 8 – new kid on the block – BlackBerry 10.

iOS offers the best Android applications and games, most played potential. Windows Phone 8 is the slickest and 10 BlackBerry is available for those who want something a little different.

Which one would you choose? Rifling through phone reviews that get the TrustedReviews seal of approval, check out our best cell phones of 2013.

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Best buy Android phones in 2013

Which is the best Android phone to buy? It's a question that doesn't have a simple answer. There are high-end smartphones like the HTC and the Samsung Galaxy S4. Then there is a whole range of cheap Android phones from manufacturers such as LG, Huawei and ZTE. It seems like everyone is doing a Google phone with running these days, which makes the process even more of a headache.

If you're happy to spend big on a monthly contract or buy a high-end Android smartphone, you will get the hardware that drives the operating system to its limits. Thinking of power-mongering quad-core processors, huge HD touchscreen and camera type, which means you can finally ditch the Compact.

At the other end of the spectrum, you can save a few hundred pounds and still get a great Android phone-one that is a more pocket-friendly size and runs on a slightly older version of Android. Basically, though, will still play, watch YouTube videos, check Facebook and browse the web.

The Android OS has been praised for let you truly customize your phone. Has for some time even if it lacked the polished good looks of Apple's iOS. Google has now upped his game and 4.3 Android Jelly Bean, we have the OS version much cleaner and easier to use since it was released in 2008.

If you really don't want to own an iPhone 5 or a phone Windows Phone 8, then maybe it's time to go to Google. Hunting out the top rated high-end and mid-range phones, we've selected the 10 best Android phones to buy now.

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