Acer Liquid M220 Review: The $80 Smartphone

At a certain point, a deal is so good that certain sacrifices become acceptable, right?

Acer Liquid M220, an $80 smartphone

That would at least appear to be Acer’s philosophy with its first US smartphone offering, the Windows Phone-powered Liquid M220. For a mere $80 off contract, users can get their hands on a full-fledged smartphone, albeit an entry level one. Emerging markets are undoubtedly at least part of the target audience here, but that’s still a solid deal no matter how you slice it.

It’s important to remember that you get what you pay for — at $80, this simply isn’t a top-notch, high-end device, nor was there any way Acer could have made it one.  But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some decent bang for your buck to be found here.

Build & Design

Acer Liquid M220 back panel

The build of the Liquid M220 is simple, but it also has a certain understated appeal to it. Sharp-angled edges and rounded corners make for a straightforward slab of a phone that, while unadventurous, is comfortable in its familiarity. It’s also very low-profile, weighing in at 4.2 ounces (119 grams) and sporting a nice, small footprint that measures only 4.92 x 2.52 x 0.38 inches. That said, it feels like Acer made the bezel unnecessarily large, especially below the display, given that Windows Phones no longer place capacitive navigation buttons on the hardware itself, instead opting to display them on screen. It’s not a huge deal; it just seems like wasted space.

Though the removable backing is cheap, flimsy plastic that has only the slightest of textures to it, a ridged band snakes its way around the edges of the phone, thankfully lending the user something to grip. Underneath the back plate lies access to the unit’s removable battery, microSD card slot, and two SIM card slots. The two SIM card slots are different sizes, with one for a regular-sized SIM and one for a microSIM.

The arrangement and selection of the phone’s buttons and ports is standard, with the 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB charging port located on the top edge, and the volume rocker and power button located on the right. The left and bottom edges are devoid of any features, while the Liquid M220’s 5-megapixel rear-facing camera is centered towards the top of the phone’s back, and the 2-megapixel front-facing shooter is located in the upper right corner above the display.

As mentioned, with such a low off-contract price point, it’s to be expected that many aspects of the Liquid M220 will be lacking in quality, and in few places is it more apparent than the device’s display.

Display

Before I really lay into it, though, I would like to point out that I find the smaller screen size refreshing; this reviewer is particularly averse to the unstoppable trend of smartphones becoming increasingly large in the name of massive displays. So the Liquid M220’s 4-inch display is perfectly comfortable for me, but the compliments end there.

Graininess abounds on the display, which is to be expected when the resolution is a mere 800 x 480 pixels. Colors aren’t particularly crisp, and the brightness is very poor. Even on its highest setting, the brightness of the Liquid M220 is underwhelming at best, and it makes viewing the display outdoors in high-light situations nearly impossible.

HTC One M9 Review

HTC One M9 Review

Viewed from the outside, the HTC One M9 doesn’t seem much different from last year’s One M8. Take a peek inside, and you’ll see the incremental changes that have become a hallmark of successful smartphone lines.

HTC One M9

So the HTC One M9 looks like the One M8 (and One M7), but includes upgrades to the front and rear cameras, key location, sound quality, and display sharpness, as well as a modernized chipset. Some of these upgrades are stark improvements, while others are a bit underwhelming.

HTC One M9 features a 5-inch Super LCD 3 display with Full HD resolution and the screen surface is covered in Gorilla Glass 4. The phone is equipped with Qualcomm’s most up-to-date chipset, the Snapdragon 810, which consists of two quad-cores: one pair running at 2GHz and the other using a 1.5GHz clock speed. It also has Adreno 430 graphics and 3 GB of RAM, complete with 32 GB of memory storage, which can be expanded via microSD. The front and back cameras have literally switched places compared to the previous model. The rear camera now snaps 20.7-megapixel images, while the 4-UltraPixel camera (using a higher-quality 4-megapixel sensor) is now on the front.

Build and Design

HTC One M9 unibody design

While the device looks identical to previous models, it definitely feels different. In fact, it feels like a premium device.  It’s carved out of a single piece of aluminum alloy, however, the textures vary on the back and the sides. Its rear is ‘brushed’, while its sides are smooth. This, along with a slimmer display rim and the a “tougher” feel, make the HTC One M9 feel like a higher-quality piece of hardware as far as Android smartphones are concerned.

Touching up the materials while maintain the design presents issues for HTC. Indeed, the manufacturer is obviously confident in the One (why change something that is exceptionally good?), but with both Apple and Samsung rolling out new looks, HTC seems behind the curve. It seems consumers simply like their new phone to look different from their old one.

Of the changes HTC actually made, moving the power button from the upper portion of the phone to the right side is praiseworthy, as it is now in a far more natural position. The top portrait edge is now covered in a black glass mask, hiding the IR transmitter, as well as several antennas and sensors.

Interestingly, the phone is a millimeter shorter and narrower than its predecessor, as its dimensions are 144 x 70 x 9.6 mm (5.7 x 2.8 x .37 inches). It weighs exactly the same as the One M8 at .34 pounds. The fact that HTC has managed to install a battery with greater capacity is notable, as it now includes a 2900mAh brick, compared to a 2600mAh battery.

Display

HTC One M9 5-inch LCD display

On paper, the display remains unchanged, coming with a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch. But compared side by side with the One M8, there is a noticeable difference. The One M8 offered immaculate image sharpness on static images, but this sharpness was lost when thin, sloped lines moved. It was especially noticeable on thinner fonts and scrolling text. Now this unpleasant effect is gone and the display offers superior detail and clarity in all situations.

The screen contrast is very good, and the screen has a particularly wide viewing angle with very bright white tones and balanced blacks. Overall, the realistic color saturation helps create a pleasant visual experience

Huawei P8 Review: Price-to-Performance King

The latest Huawei flagship is best summed up by two improvements from its predecessor: a big jump in craftsmanship and a significant camera upgrade.

Huawei P8 Android smartphone

Simply called the Huawei P8, this smartphone has adopted a trend set by other high-end manufacturers by advancing features that users seem to care about, like the display, chipset, battery, and camera, suggesting that all other technical characteristics already functionally peaked with the previous model.

Of course, the Huawei P8 still retains what is perhaps its best feature: an attractive ratio of price to performance. To be fair, the P8 doesn’t match what most other flagships, like the Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9, offer, at least on paper. But in use, it feels just as enticing as any of those devices, and it’s cheaper to boot.

Some more important specs include an aluminum unibody, 5.2-inch Full HD display, ‘homemade’ eight-core Kirin 930 processor running a 2 GHz clock aided by 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB storage that can be expanded via microSD  (Huawei also offers a 64GB version), a 2680 mAh battery, a 13-megapixel back-facing camera with optical stabilization, and an 8-megapixel selfie-camera.

Build and Design

Huawei P8 looks like an iPhone from behind.

The Huawei P8 has an aluminum body, which is an upgrade over the combination of glass back cover and metal rim that made up last year’s model. It actually feels significantly lighter than its .31-pounds. Being .25-inches thick and with a strict square form, it’s simultaneously firm but not particularly ergonomic. It looks great though, and its gripping comfort is a minor gripe given the overall quality.

Obviously, Huawei “borrowed” many design elements from Apple, Samsung, and HTC. In fact, some P8 features are perfectly identical to the latest flagship phones. We can’t help but suspect that this goes hand in hand with Huawei’s decision to remove its logo from the front surface of the white model, which was quite prominent on the P7.

The Huawei P8 has a display-front-surface-ratio is about 78%, and no physical keys. The slight space above the display features the speaker, front-facing 8-megapixel camera, and several sensors. The back includes a 13-megapixel back shooter with a dual-LED flash tucked over the left, and an aluminum strip along the bottom that enables better signals for all built-in antennas, while the Huawei logo is located in the upper center.

From the back, the iPhone resemblance is uncanny.

The left side is bare, while Huawei packed the left with two nanoSIM card slots (for dual-SIM mode), one of which doubles as a microSD slot. It also includes the Power key and the volume keys. The bottom side includes stereo speaker perforations with a microUSB input situated in between. The upper side holds the tiny secondary microphone and a 3.5-mm audio jack.

Display

Huawei P8 display

The Huawei P8 has a 5.2-inch Full HD IPS LCD with a 1080 x 1920-pixel resolution, and a pixel-per-inch count of 424. It perfect exemplifies Huawei’s approach with the P8. It’s not the best, but it’s still pretty darn good.

The display imaging is exceptionally sharp and individual pixels are impossible to discern with the naked eye. The more pixel-dense displays featured on the current flagships appear superior when compared head to head with the P8, but it’s ultimately a case of great versus really great.

The contrast is highly sustainable and the viewing angle is wide. When it comes to colors, darker and colder tones are more pronounced, meaning that the phone has more accurate blacks than whites. Saturation is above average. Interestingly, users can manually set the saturation level, adjusting the tones and specter pronouncement.

The P8 can handle daylight glare and unwanted reflections as well as any premium phone. Though, how well depends specifically on the manual settings.  Still, it’s more than capable.

Samsung Galaxy S6 And S6 Edge Review

The controversial new Samsung Galaxy S6 sheds its plastic construction, removable battery, expandable storage and environmental protection for slicker looks.

For five generations of the Galaxy S, Samsung followed the same formula: throw in lots of features and technology, but hold design in disregard. This formula was wildly successful and helped make Samsung synonymous with Android in smartphones.

The smartphone market is fiercely competitive, however, with OEMs desperate to differentiate their products and gain an advantage. Software used to be a focal point, but Google’s tighter grip on Android makes this increasingly difficult, not to mention the customer backlash against feature bloat. We’ve seen several trends in hardware too: larger screens, more CPU cores, and higher camera and screen pixel densities. But with most of the OEMs buying hardware from the same suppliers, the spec sheets for flagship phones within the same generation end up looking fairly similar. With less room to innovate in these areas, OEMs are focusing their attention on product design and materials, which means the old Galaxy S formula no longer fits the data.

For several quarters now, Samsung has seen its sales and profits shrink. Increased competition in China, the world’s largest smartphone market by volume, is a contributing factor. Local manufacturers, including Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi have been steadily improving the quality and design of their products, while undercutting Samsung on price in the low- to mid-tier segments. According to the IDC, in the past year Samsung has fallen from first to fourth in smartphone market share, with shipments declining 53% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same quarter a year ago. Meanwhile, Apple holds the top position, with shipments expanding by 62% over the same period, fueled by the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

In addition to the increase in competition at both ends of the price spectrum, Samsung, along with every other smartphone OEM, is battling declining sales in mature markets. There’s fewer and fewer new smartphone customers, and existing owners are holding onto their phones longer, partly because what they have is “good enough” and partly because they have not seen a compelling reason to buy something new.

Starting last year, Samsung began adjusting the coefficients in its product development formula, adapting to the new market conditions by placing an emphasis on product design. The Galaxy Alpha was the first Samsung phone to incorporate an aluminum frame, a feature adopted soon after by the Galaxy Note 4. These designs kept the familiar removable plastic rear cover, a feature that disappeared when the lower priced Galaxy A3 and A5 were released, foreshadowing the new design philosophy for the Galaxy S6.

Samsung’s latest flagship phone looks like a mashup of the iPhone 6, Sony Z3, and Galaxy A5. The front and back are glass like the Z3 and the satin finished frame, with bottom mounted speaker and headphone jack, is similar to the iPhone 6. The chamfered edges and accents are polished like the Galaxy A5, and the front remains unmistakably Samsung.

Along with the new design language and materials, there’s also two different versions: the standard S6 with a flat screen and the S6 edge whose screen curves on both sides, similar to the Galaxy Note Edge. The curved screen gives the S6 edge a unique look and enhances the user experience in an emotional rather than practical way.

Radical change tends to polarize opinion, and the S6’s elegant new design is a prime example. Detractors disagree with Samsung’s decision to elevate form over function by eliminating useful features such as a removable battery, expandable storage, and environmental protection, features which attracted many buyers to the Galaxy S brand and created a group of loyal fans who are now frustrated they no longer have a clear upgrade path.

The loss of these features will disqualify the S6 from consideration for many buyers, but for those who can live without them, the latest flagship galaxy phones offer a tantalizing array of technology.