102111 #9

ANDROID
Samsungs Galaxy Nexus, HTCs Sensation XE,
Motorolas Droid RAZR and the Amaze 4G
plus
A taste of Ice Cream Sandwich
Our frst Ultrabook: Acers Aspire S3
Tom Merritt: Growing Up Geek
the
Google challenges itself with
dueling Android superphone
launches, and RIM fnally talks
QNX on a phone
If last week was owned by Apple, with the launch of the
iPhone 4S and release of iOS 5, this week Google took
things over with not one but two big events, both tak-
ing place on the same day despite one being on the
other side of the world from the other. First was the
NYC Motorola event, in which Sanjay Jha made us sit
through the announcement of the Motoactv (basically,
it can manage that with LTE
enabled itll be a revolution.
What it wont manage is run-
ning Ice Cream Sandwich at
least not at launch. ICS was
unveiled later that same day
at a Samsung event in Hong
Kong. (Technically it was the
next day, but dont ask me to
fgure it out. Im still too jet-
lagged to really know what day
it is.) At this event we fnally
saw the offcial unveiling of the
Galaxy Nexus, a device that
doesnt seem to ft into Sam-
sungs new naming scheme any
better than it will ft into those
pants of yours with the tiny
pockets at 8.94mm its only
slightly thicker than the RAZR,
but its 4.65-inch screen makes
for a phone with... presence.
It too has a 1.2GHz TI OMAP
processor and a Super AMO-
LED display, but this one
makes use of that
from other devices that use the
same 4G tech and, as if that
werent good enough, Moto is
promising up to 12.5 hours of
talk time on a single charge. If
editors letter
a $249 Android-favored iPod
nano with a nerdy workout
angle) before showing us what
wed really come to see: the
Droid RAZR. Its the rebirth
of what was perhaps the most
iconic fiphone ever made and,
while this new model bears no
resemblance to the frst other
than a name, we still think it
looks mighty sharp.
Its a 4.3-inch device front-
ing a qHD Super AMOLED
display, processing handled by
a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP
chip paired with 1GB of RAM
and16GB of storage. It has LTE
and, despite that, is just 7.1mm
thin. Thats a huge decrease
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
extra acreage to step up to
proper high defnition 720p
to be exact. It looks to be a very,
very promising device and our
extensive hands-on time with
the thing echoes that, leaving
us to wonder just what Google
was thinking when it let these
two devices out the door on the
same day. The RAZR, with its
Gingerbread install, immedi-
ately looks dated.
Motorola has promised it will
receive Ice Cream Sandwich
sometime in 2012 (as, indeed,
will most Gingerbread-hav-
ing phones) but we cant help
thinking a better tactic would
have been to simply delay the
thing. After all, Google owns
Motorola; its not like they
wouldnt have seen it coming.
And what of Ice Cream Sand-
wich? This is Android 4.0, the
one OS to rule them all, be they
tablets or phones or that bur-
geoning class of device that
slots uncomfortably in between
the two. The promise for unif-
cation (and, by defnition, end-
ing fragmentation) is great,
and for that were optimistic,
but ultimately ICS is not going
to revolutionize the way you
use Android. And, if you dont
use Android, its not likely to
change that either.
But, if youre on-board with
Googles little green robot guy,
you will like whats new here.
Most notable are the almost
invisible graphical tweaks
scattered throughout fan-
cier transitions and subtle re-
formatting of applications to
make everything look and feel
better to interact with. The
apps have been improved too,
like Gmail with offine search
and a Gallery app with simple
photo editing. You can now
unlock your device via facial
recognition (and a front-facing
webcam, naturally) and, if it
has NFC, exchange webpages
and contacts and other simple
information with the simple
touch of two devices. That trick
is called Android Beam and
its one of the most promising
implementations for near-feld
communication weve yet seen.
The Galaxy Nexus launches
in November and will be the
frst device to rock Ice Cream
Sandwich. We were told by
Matias Duarte and other mem-
bers from the Android team
that the Nexus S will be getting
its own upgrade soon, and that
other Android Gingerbread
devices should be compatible
whether their manufacturers
will choose to upgrade them, of
course, is another story. And,
when they do, were also curi-
ous just how ICS will look when
burdened with Blur or Sense or
whatever. The OS is, weve con-
frmed, just as easy to skin as
Motorola has
promised it
will receive
Ice Cream
Sandwich
sometime in
2012... but
we cant help
thinking a
better tactic
would have
been to
simply delay
the thing.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
all the other favors before.
In other Android news,
Googles Andy Rubin con-
frmed that the company has
shipped about six million tab-
lets running the OS. Thats
nearly twice the amount ban-
died about earlier this week
when a developer did the math
based on overall tablet sales
and reported Android penetra-
tion and came up with a num-
ber of 3.4 million. Six million
does indeed sound like a lot
until you realize that Apple
sold 11.25 million iPads last
quarter. That is, I must say, a
gap I expect to see start closing
in short order.
It wasnt all about Android all
week, though, with RIM fnally
unveiling BBX, its phone-
friendly version of the QNX
operating system that cur-
rently powers the PlayBook.
Well, the company didnt actu-
ally show the thing running,
or even really tell us when it
might ship, but it is said to be
like Ice Cream Sandwich in that
itll run on tablets and phones
alike. Eventually.
Finally, Microsoft seems to be
listening to the cries of users
who hate the new Start screen
in Windows 8 a giant, col-
orful Metro-esque collection
of icons thatll look great on a
tablet yet looks almost unus-
TIM STEVENS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,
ENGADGET
able on anything with a mouse.
Redmonds best promised the
ability to customize that big
grid into groups, and also is
presenting smaller icons to get
more up on the screen in one
shot. We power users dont
have time to scroll, Microsoft.
If your week was anything
like mine, its time for you to
unwind. So kick back and enjoy
this very Android-heavy edition
of Distro, featuring our frst
taste of Ice Cream Sandwich, in
a preview of Samsungs Galaxy
Nexus, our early impressions
of Motorolas Droid RAZR and
reviews of HTCs Sensation XE
and Amaze 4G. If youre not
Six million does indeed
sound like a lot until
you realize that Apple
sold 11.25 million
iPads last quarter. That
is, I must say, a gap I
expect to see start
closing in short order.
in the market for an Android
phone, weve also got a review
of the frst Ultrabook to cross
the Engadget threshold, the
Acer Aspire S3, and a good old
Growing Up Geek with Tech
News Todays Tom Merritt.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
ADVERTISEMENT
review
Acer
Aspire S3
Ultrabook
by dana
wollman
preview
Motorola Droid RAZR
by brian heater
stats
Mobile devices may
outnumber humans in
the US, but they cant
take our soul
by amar toor
preview
Samsung Galaxy
Nexus with Ice Cream
Sandwich
by darren murph
growing up geek
Tom Merritt
by tom merritt
review
The HTC
Amaze 4G
by joseph
volpe
editor

s letter
Google challenges itself with
dueling Android superphone
launches, and RIM fnally talks QNX
on a phone
by tim stevens
last word
This is the best
day of my life!
by box brown
review
HTC Sensation XE with
Beats Audio
by sharif sakr
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
the weekly stat
Mobile devices may outnumber
humans in the US, but they cant
take our soul
0
50
100
150
200
250
Were not really sure what to
make of this, but it looks like
Americans may be under siege...
from their own cellphones. No,
seriously according to the lat-
est survey from CTIA, there are
now more mobile devices in the
US than there are human beings.
The trade associations semi-
annual statistics show that dur-
ing the frst six months of 2011,
the number of wireless sub-
scriptions rose by nine percent
over the previous year, to a total
of 327.6 million. The combined
population of the US, Puerto
Rico, Guam and the US Virgin
Islands, by comparison, is around
315 million. That translates to a
nationwide wireless penetration
rate of 103.9 percent, and, not
surprisingly, a 111 percent surge
in data usage. CTIA says these
results highlight the industrys
need to purchase more spectrum
from the federal government, as
well as our collective need to get
a life. Amar Toor
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
I
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M
I
L
L
I
O
N
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review
Until now, Windows fans have had pre-
cious few alternatives to the MacBook
Air. Sure, theres Samsungs Series 9,
but just like the original Air, its far from
cheap. Since then, of course, Apple has
cut the Airs starting price to $999, while
the Windows options now marketed as
Ultrabooks are about to mushroom in
number. And so far, theyre all starting in
the (more reasonable) neighborhood of
a thousand bucks, making these pinch-
thin, long-lasting laptops accessible to
the budget-conscious masses.
Acers Aspire S3 was the first to hit
the market here in the States, and
with an entry price of $899, its cur-
rently the least expensive. That its
skinny (just 13mm thick, to be exact),
should be a given, but it also claims to
wake from sleep in two seconds flat
and reconnect to known networks in
two and a half. But, as the least pricey
Ultrabook on the shelf, it also forgoes
some specs you might have liked to
see namely, all-flash storage and
USB 3.0. But does that matter much
Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook
by dana wollman
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
when youre potentially saving hun-
dreds of dollars? Lets find out.
Look and feel
The S3 has something of a split per-
sonality: understated elegance on the
outside, something more pedestrian
when you lift the lid. At frst glance, its
refned (but never ostentatious) thanks
to a cool-to-the-touch brushed alumi-
num lid that doesnt seem to pick up
fngerprints. Make no mistake: this
thing makes a strong impression.
Its slender frame doesnt hurt, either.
At three pounds fat (1.4kg) and half an
inch thick, its on par with the 13-inch
MacBook Air (2.96 pounds / 1.35kg)
and the 2.9-pound (1.32kg) ASUS Zen-
book UX31. If youve handled a Mac-
Book Air before, its skinny silhouette
might not impress you but if (like yours
truly) youre used to schlepping a six-
pound 15-incher, the difference will
feel refreshing, and the ounces separat-
ing it from the competition will seem
irrelevant. While were on the subject
of comparisons, by the way, were dig-
ging the S3s rounded edges and cor-
ners. One thing we dislike about the
MacBook Air (or any Mac, really) is
that although those sharp edges make
for a bold design, resting your wrists on
them or pressing your palms into them
can make for a none-too-comfortable
ergonomic experience. The S3 is softer
in this regard, and it works.
The S3 also has a softer aesthetic under
the lid, and thats where the design starts
to seem a bit cobbled-together. For one,
the display has a habit of wobbling even
when you set the machine down, which
chipped away at our confdence in the
build quality. Also, because the keys,
deck, palm rest and bottom side are
made of plastic, they seem mismatched
against that striking metal lid. Well
spend two paragraphs on the keyboard
in just a moment, but for now, suffce
to say the problem isnt that plastic
keys are uncomfortable to type on; its
just that an all-metal keyboard ( la the
ASUS UX21 / UX31) would have gone a
long way in pulling together whats oth-
erwise a slick design.
Above the keyboard, a black, rubbery
strip interrupts the beige deck. There,
youll fnd a pair of LED lights along
with a metal power button that peeks
out even when the lid is closed. Like
other Acer laptops, this one features
Dolby sound, along with two promi-
nently placed logos to match: Dolbys
Home Theater branding on one side
of the keyboard, and its Profession-
ally Tuned slogan. The bottom of the
machine, meanwhile, is studded with
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
four rubber feet a homely sight, but
not something youll notice when youre
using the machine.
Taking a tour of all the ports and
openings, youll fnd that the front edge
is completely blank, as are the left and
right sides, save for a headphone / mic
socket and SD slot, respectively. Theres
also your requisite 1.3 megapixel web-
cam tucked in the bezel. Really, though,
most of the actions to be found on the
back edge, where the vent, two USB 2.0
ports, HDMI-out and the AC socket
sit in a row. For comparisons sake,
the Air has two USB 2.0 ports and a
Thunderbolt socket, whereas the UX31
has two USB 2.0 ports and one of the
3.0 persuasion. Meanwhile, Toshibas
forthcoming Portege Z830 will have
USB 3.0, HDMI and an Ethernet jack,
while the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s will
also have USB 3.0 and HDMI. Even the
UX31, which has mini-HDMI and mini-
VGA ports, at least comes bundled with
USB-to-Ethernet and mini-VGA-to-
VGA adapters.
Keyboard and trackpad
You might think that if youve seen one
chiclet keyboard youve seen em all, but
the S3s reminds us that some are more
(or, in this case, less) tactile than oth-
ers. Starting with some kind words, the
keys have a pleasant, ever-so slightly
textured fnish, and the panel is rigid
enough that it stood frm even as we
pounded out stories on deadline. The
problem is, theres not much travel here,
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
which left us craning our hands over
the keys, typing deliberately to make
sure our presses registered. As we said
when we reviewed the current VAIO
Z, typing on shallow keys is not unlike
trekking around in fip-fops: you know
how your toes roll into a claw, pressing
into the rubber in an attempt to com-
pensate for the fact that your feet arent
well supported? Well, in the case of the
S3, we found ourselves digging into the
keys with concerted effort since theres
otherwise not much to latch onto. All
told, the MacBook Airs keyboard is the
cushier of the two. (Then again, if were
talking ergonomics, the Air is no Think-
Pad either.)
For what its worth, though, we were
able to type the brunt of this review on
the S3 with only the occasional spell-
ing error and thats despite the fact
that all of the major keys (Enter, Tab,
Caps Lock, Backspace and right and left
Shift) are shrunken. The arrow keys are
especially miniature here, so if youre
like us and regularly use them to high-
light text, youll fnd yourself pining for
a keyboard thats a little less crowded.
Whats more, the brightness and vol-
ume controls are located on those arrow
keys, which means even if you dont
use them for anything else, theyre still
unavoidable.
Even when we frst saw the S3 back in
August, one of the frst things to make an
impression was that spacious trackpad.
Even after spending more time with it,
the integrated button still feels stiff a
faw we were willing to chalk up to pre-
production kinks when we got hands-on
at IFA. Similar to the keys, the touch-
pad has a slightly textured fnish, and
while it sometimes made for a friction-
less experience, it more often slowed us
down, even as we tried to do something
rudimentary like drag the cursor across
the desktop. We also noticed that this
giant clickable pad sometimes mistook
our left clicks for right ones a quirk
weve noticed in other laptops whose
trackpads have integrated buttons. At
least this is something that can be rem-
edied with a software update.
Despite all this, two-fngered scroll-
ing generally works as promised
a pleasant surprise considering the
grief multi-touch trackpads can cause
when executed poorly. Its not perfect,
though: although pinch-to-zoom works
reliably, youll have to concentrate a bit
(and apply some pressure) to make text
resize to the exact scale.
Display and sound
The S3s 13.3-inch display has 1366 x 768
resolution, which is common for lap-
tops this size. In fact, the Portege Z830
and IdeaPad U300s will tap out with
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
If you can wait until years end to pull
the trigger, Acer will release additional
models with Core i3 and i7 processors
and expanded storage capacity.
the same pixel count. Still, the 13-inch
Air sports a 1400 x 900 panel, while the
UX31 steps up to 1600 x 900 resolution.
When we were using just one program
at full screen, the S3s low-res panel was
more than adequate for reading docu-
ments and scrolling through web pages,
but we felt the squeeze keenly when we
used Windows 7s Snap feature to view
two pages side by side.
For what its worth, high-def videos
looked plenty crisp on that display, and
we enjoyed decent viewing angles from
the sides once we dimmed the lights.
We didnt have as much luck head-on,
though; even when we dipped the display
forward slightly, the picture appeared
washed out. Not good news when the
person sitting in front of you on the plane
decides to lean all the way back.
And hows the sound, you ask? Not bad
depending on the sort of music youre
into. Pop songs, such as Lady Gagas
The Edge of Glory sounded more or
less as wed expect them to, though the
speakers limitations became obvious
when rap tracks like Hypnotize took
on a distinctly metallic quality.
Performance and graphics
Right now, theres one confguration
of the S3 available in the States, and it
has an ultra low voltage 1.6GHz Core
i5-2467M CPU, 4GB of RAM and a
hybrid drive that combines a 320GB
HDD for accessing fles and a 20GB
SSD for storing the operating system.
If you can wait until years end to pull
the trigger, Acer will release additional
models with Core i3 and i7 processors
and expanded storage capacity.
So how does the performance stack
up? Well, that depends on what metric
you use. If we go by benchmark scores,
it falls short, frankly. Particularly when
it comes to overall power, the current
MacBook Air trounces it, thanks to all-
solid-state storage, equal RAM and a
similar 1.7GHz Core i5 processor. In
PCMark Vantage, the most general of
the performance tests we run, it notched
5,367, while the Air managed 9,484 in
Bootcamp. In 3DMark06, we expected
the two systems graphics performance
to be similar, as both machines rely on an
integrated Intel graphics card. Indeed,
the gulf was smaller, but still signifcant:
the S3 scored 3,221; the Air, 4,223.
Right now, our ability to judge by the
numbers is limited: the S3 is the frst
Ultrabook to hit the market, and so we
dont yet have scores from the ASUS
UX21 / UX31, the IdeaPad U300s or
the Portege Z830. Well fesh out our
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
performance chart in due time, but for
now, the only fair comparison is with the
MacBook Air, not just because its argu-
ably the inspiration behind the S3 and
others, but because its the only other
machine you can buy thats compara-
bly priced with a pinch-thin design and
ultra-low voltage innards.
Instant-on and real-world
performance
Still, as far as real-world performance
goes, the S3 deserves more credit than
that. Say what you will about its bench-
mark scores, but we freely went about
our everyday business, jumping between
at least half a dozen tabs in Chrome,
checking email and Facebook, chat-
ting over Google Talk, loading YouTube
videos and downloading and installing
apps. It also boots up in a more-than-
respectable time of 45 seconds. Through
it all, that vent round back did a fne job
of expelling heat the laptop always
felt cool to the touch. We did notice the
occasional hang, though for instance,
while we were installing a program, the
machine took its sweet time opening
Windows advanced power settings.
This also might be a good time to tackle
the S3s two key claims: that it automat-
ically connects to stored WiFi networks
in 2.5 seconds, and that it resumes from
sleep in two seconds provided the
machine hasnt been asleep for more
than half an hour. After all, these are
things that can immeasurably improve
your daily grind with the thing, and
that wont be refected in pat, four-digit
benchmark scores. Indeed, without fail,
the machine consistently resumed from
sleep in two seconds (less, actually,
according to our stopwatch). Thats a
faster showing than we saw when the S3
debuted at IFA, and its perfectly con-
ceivable the company has ironed out a
few kinks since then with fnal software.
As for connectivity, we tested Acers
2.5-second claim by turning off WiFi
and then timing how long the computer
took to reconnect once we fipped the
radio back on. Indeed, two Mississip-
pis passed, though the scenario we cre-
ated is, admittedly, an unrealistic one.
After all, how often do you really disable
WiFi? We were also curious to see how
long the computer took to latch onto our
home network at start-up, and found
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
COMPUTER PCMARK VANTAGE 3DMARK06 BATTERY LIFE
Acer Aspire Ultrabook S3 5367 3221 4:11
13-inch, 2011 MacBook Air
(1.7 GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD
Graphics 3000)
9484 4223 5:32 (Mac OS X)
4:12 (Bootcamp)
Samsung Series 9
(1.7 GHz Core i5-2537M, Intel HD
Graphics 3000)
7582 2240 4:20
Lenovo ThinkPad X1
(2.5 GHz Core i5-2520M, Intel HD
Graphics 3000)
7787 3726 3:31
6:57 (slice battery)
that time was more in the neighbor-
hood of 35 seconds. No different from
our experience with other notebooks;
just dont expect that Acers technology
will let you bypass that routine delay.
Battery life
The S3s three-cell, 3,280mAh battery
is rated for six hours of active use, or 50
days of standby time. In our standard
rundown test, which involves looping
the same movie with WiFi on and the
brightness fxed at 65 percent, it lasted
four hours and eleven minutes. Now its
true, you can eke out more than that if
you just bum around online and refrain
from playing a movie off the hard drive,
but lets not forget that in that same
video playback test, the current Mac-
Book Air lasted fve hours and thirty-
two minutes in its native OS X (in Boot-
camp, it managed just four hours and
twelve minutes). Again, well be in a
better position to grandstand about bat-
tery life once weve reviewed competing
models by ASUS, Lenovo and Toshiba,
but for now, that gap in runtime doesnt
exactly bode well.
Software
The S3 comes with a fair share of pre-
installed software, including your req-
uisite security software (McAfee Inter-
net Security), Microsoft Offce 2010
and Windows Live Essentials. Less
typical, though, are additions like the
Times Reader, Skype 5.3, newsXpresso,
Nook for PC and an eBay desktop short-
cut. Youll also fnd a good deal of Acer-
branded apps, including clear.f for
sharing media fles over WiFi and utili-
ties for tweaking power management
and sleep settings. To be fair, even after
we removed Bing Bar, Offce, Norton
Online Backup, Skype, newsXpresso,
Nook for PC, Times Reader and that
annoying eBay shortcut, our boot-up
time held steady at about 45 seconds.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
Wrap-up
We wanted to love the Acer Aspire S3,
the same way were rooting for all of
these reasonably priced, impossibly
skinny, long-lasting laptops that have
the potential to give the MacBook Air
a run for its money. Indeed, its priced
aggressively $200 less than the
UX31 and $400 off the 13-inch Air. It
performs well enough for everyday use,
stays cool throughout and keeps its
promise to resume from sleep in two
seconds. Youll have a mostly enjoy-
able experience if you pounce, and
wed sympathize if you ended up going
with the least expensive option.
But now that weve spent some time
with it, were not sure it should be
the poster child for Team Windows.
Whats more, something tells us the best
Ultrabook is yet to come. Whether or
not you agree that the S3 isnt quite the
looker that the Air or ASUS Zenbook is,
the fact remains that it relies on hybrid
HDD-fash storage and, as a result, trails
the MacBook Air in both battery life and
all-around performance. Though we
havent tested them yet, we wouldnt be
surprised if ASUS Zenbooks have a sim-
ilar advantage given that they, too, use
all-fash storage. Stick around for more
Ultrabooks and youll also see multiple
options with USB 3.0. If you absolutely
must buy a laptop of this ilk right now,
youll get better performance and lon-
ger battery life from the MacBook Air
and possibly one of the Zenbooks, but
if youre more comfortable with Win-
dows or are simply platform-agnostic,
we highly suggest you sit tight and sur-
vey whats likely to be an ample feld of
contenders.
Dana Wollman is Reviews Editor at
Engadget, a marathoner, lover of puns
and a native Brooklynite.
Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook
PROS
Relatively inexpensive
Thin and light design, runs cool
Resumes from sleep in two
seconds
CONS
Disappointing battery life
Trailing performance
Stiff touch button
BOTTOMLINE
The frst Ultrabook to go on sale in the US is as thin and light as youd expect
and also happens to be the cheapest, but its battery life and performance are
underwhelming
$899.00
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
What do you do when youve already
created a sensation? If youre HTC, you
repackage that lightning in a slightly dif-
ferent chassis, turn the volume (read:
speed) up to 11 and borrow a bit of opti-
cal wizardry to add that new smartphone
smell. All key elements that can be found
in the DNA of the companys latest imper-
atively named product offering the
Amaze 4G. Clearly, HTCs throwing cau-
tion to the fckle consumer winds here,
raising the bar for Android users expec-
tations and mixing in just enough raz-
zle dazzle to win over those hard-earned
geek dollars. So, whats the hook this time
round? No, not Beats thats for its Euro
stepcousin, the Sensation XE. Here, the
main attraction is this handsets ability
to surf along T-Mobiles HSPA+ 42Mbps
network. Thats right, Magentas tiptoe-
ing into LTE speed territory and youve
got Sense 3.0 to help pilot that wireless
ride. Join us as we peel back the layers of
this unibodied mobile onion.
Hardware
Right out of the box, theres no deny-
ing your frst impression will be one of
shock. The Amaze 4G bucks the thin-
ner is better trend that weve seen the
review
The HTC Amaze 4G
by joseph volpe
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
likes of Samsung and its Galaxy S II
variants adopt in favor of a large and
in charge 5.1 x 2.58-inch design phi-
losophy. Though the handset may not
be much thicker than its competitors,
at 0.46 inches (11.7mm) thick, its 6.1-
ounce (0.17kg) heft certainly gives off
the opposite impression. With a similar
4.3-inch qHD super LCD display, the
phone picks up right where the Sensa-
tion left off, although in this iteration
that Gorilla Glass-coated screen spills
out of its aluminum confnes a tad too
much for our tastes. Its an odd design
faw that HTC could have easily rem-
edied by tapering the edges down into
the phones frame, rather than subject-
ing users to indented palms. Still, as the
majority of your usage will most likely
have everything to do with data con-
sumption and less to do with carrying
on an actual phone call, youll hardly be
bothered by this discomfting quirk.
One of the frst things we noticed
when booting up the Amaze 4G was the
minute pixelation on its qHD display.
Its not terribly obvious, nor is it par-
ticularly irksome, but when compared
to the similarly super LCD-equipped
Droid Incredible 2, this screen is sim-
ply dull. Colors on the device appear
washed out, and viewing angles take a
dramatic hit at 45 degree tilts. Its a far
cry from the crisp images and vivid hues
achieved by its current competition, the
Galaxy S II. And while it wouldve been
nice to see HTC outft the phone with
a Super AMOLED Plus display, were
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
Theres no denying it
the Amaze 4G is a
handsome handset.
sure the sheer expanse of the screen
will override any of your resolution-
centered grousing.
Theres no denying it the Amaze 4G
is a handsome handset. Weve seen other
past and present high-end smartphones
(e.g., the Nexus S and Droid Charge)
belie their internals with cheap-feeling,
scuff-prone frames, but thats not the
case here. HTCs wrapped this HSPA+
present in a unibody mixture of metal
and soft touch plastic that not only
inspires confdence in the devices dura-
bility, but also goes a long way towards
justifying its on-contract $260 price
tag. Embedded throughout its metallic
perimeter are the usual array of inputs
and controls. Down at the phones base,
youll fnd both a microphone and bat-
tery door latch the latter of which
makes accessing the phones guts an
absolute breeze. Up top, a power button
and 3.5mm jack preside, with the vol-
ume rocker and dedicated camera but-
tons over to the right. On the left-hand
side, a lone micro-USB port breaks up
the devices otherwise unblemished
chrome trim.
Nestled between the HTC and
T-Mobile branding at the very apex of
this 960 x 540 screen is the admittedly
underpowered earpiece which houses
an embedded notifcation LED. Flank-
ing it on either side are a front-facing 2
megapixel camera and proximity sen-
sor. Around back, we fnd a speaker
grill directly adjacent to an 8 mega-
pixel shooter with dual LED fash, and
lurking below that soft touch back is an
NFC chip the frst for an HTC device,
although there isnt much use for it yet.
Moving on to the exposed internals,
we have the requisite SIM card slot,
accompanying 1,730mAh battery and
vacant microSD card reader. The hand-
set comes packed with an ample 16GB
of onboard storage, but if youre look-
ing to load it up with an abundance of
audiovisual goods, you better plan on
supplying additional capacity.
Performance and battery life
Lets not beat around the bush, though.
In the rush to get this 42Mbps capa-
ble device to market a few rough edges
were overlooked namely, battery life.
Consider the Amaze 4G a kind of Thun-
derbolt redux: both phones unleashed
into the market ahead of their time,
destined to bear the torch of hereto-
fore unseen speeds (well, for HSPA+,
at least) at the heady sacrifce of daily
usage. It could be the dual-core archi-
tecture or the demands of the 4G net-
work, but whatever the culprit, expect a
good three to four hours of action before
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
hitting a productivity ceiling and plug-
ging back in to your nearest outlet. A
three-hour charge should get you back
up to 100 percent and running until
the next three hours, that is.
In our short time with it, weve found
the phone will consistently drain from
fully juiced to about 30 percent after just
three hours of light to moderate use
thats with Twitter, Google Reader and
two email accounts synced. Toss in some
casual web browsing, a YouTube video
or two and a half an hour GTalk session,
and the aforementioned four hour limit is
easily reached. Power users should heed
this warning and turn a blind eye to the
Amaze 4Gs tantalizing promise of next-
gen wireless wonderment, as the oft-
recommended need for an extra battery
would here be multiplied by two.
You want benchmarks, you say? Well,
weve got em by the loads. In the name
of a fair fght, weve lined up these vari-
ous CPU / GPU stress tests against
Magentas own Galaxy S II variant. For
Quadrant, Sammys beastie beat out the
Amaze 4G, scoring 2,576 vs. 2,514. Lin-
pack averaged about 51MFLOPS, easily
topping the GSII at 42MFLOPS for single
thread and, again, yielding 77MFLOPS
vs 70MFLOPS in multi scoring. And the
benchmark dominance continued on,
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
with our handsets Neocore score inching
over the GSIIs 57fps at 59fps.
How does all of that translate into real-
world performance? Truth be told, you
wont even notice the dual-core chip-
set chugging away beneath that rapidly
warming back. In fact, an average con-
sumer coming from a single-core 1GHz
device would be hard pressed to spot an
appreciable speed boost. The real vim and
vigor becomes apparent when running
several apps at once, a feat commonly
known as multi-tasking. We ran Pandora
in the background while responding to
emails, running Google Talk and Maps,
browsing the web and scouring the New
York Times app for the latest on Occupy
Wall Street. To HTCs credit, the Amaze
4G stood up to the test and passed with
uninterrupted fying colors.
Network speed and call quality
By now, youre most likely wondering
what sort of downlink pizzazz is in store
if you do choose to claim this phone as
your own. Well, in our jaunts around
New York City, weve recorded inconsis-
tent HSPA+ network speeds. Thats not
to say T-Mobiles service around the far-
ther reaches of the Big Apple is spotty.
On the contrary, 4G signal strength was
surprisingly strong, dropping down to
2G only twice to our knowledge. But
when that 15Mbps / 1.7Mbps magic did
happen, it was primarily on the outskirts
of the city. Within Manhattans crush of
people and buildings, download speeds
hovered in the 6Mbps to 8Mbps range,
only occasionally topping out at 10Mbps
down nothing to sneer at, but cer-
tainly nothing to applaud either.
If you absolutely insist on using your
handset to make (gasp!) phone calls, get
set to dig that earpiece and the edges of
the screen deep into the side of your head.
Even with the volume cranked up to the
max, we had a hard time hearing our call-
ers, who sounded distant and muffed.
On the upside, loudspeaker performance
is quite robust, and should enable you to
move freely around while carrying on that
gossip fest. Reception, too, was relatively
strong and our voices came across crisp
and clear on the other end.
Software
Of course, this is the Android show
2.3.4, to be exact but you wouldnt
know if from the Sense 3.0 smothering
at play. It appears as if HTC didnt want
to load up the Amaze 4G with an accom-
panying suite of freshly updated software,
and instead saddled prospective owners
with an outdated version of Gingerbread
and its penultimate UX. Perhaps the com-
pany needed to reserve the Sense 3.5 fuel
for its gimmicky stab at mobile fashion,
a.k.a. the Rhyme. No matter, the Amaze
4Gs 1GB of RAM and dual-core 1.5GHz
Snapdragon S3 CPU handily beat out any
further OEM embellishments or fashy
plum-colored fnishes.
We have to tip our hat to that beefy
Qualcomm chip, as not one iota of lag
cropped up in our testing. Transitions
between Senses carousel of home-
screens were fuid and devoid of hic-
cups. Web pages on the inbuilt browser
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
rendered swiftly, capably handling the
demands of Flash and other various
plug-ins. And equally as impressive
was pinch-to-zoom, which responded
immediately to our touch with nary an
instance of checkerboarding.
Unfortunately, it wouldnt be an Android
device if it didnt come bogged down with
an array of carrier-installed bloatware.
For the Amaze 4G, however, the pre-
loaded shenanigans dont quite incite
frustration the way Verizons crapware-
heavy devices normally would. Here, the
operator-inserted apps like 411 & More,
Adobe Reader, Lookout Security, More
for Me, Polaris Offce and Qik Video Chat
are arguably useful, though defnitely not
essential to the experience.
To get a real sense of the newly
bestowed powers of 42Mbps HSPA+,
you need go no further than T-Mobile
TV HD. The app, which offers a mix of
live and on demand content, has been
around since the introduction of the
Samsung Galaxy S 4G, and gets a real
jump start from Magentas new wire-
less threads. A live MSNBC program
played back almost instantly, however
the quality of video stretched across the
devices 16:9 dimensions was noticeably
poor, and undeserving of the HD label-
ing. As for that on demand content, a
full episode of ABCs Happy Endings
downloaded in its entirety within seven
minutes all thanks to T-Mos zippy (at
times) 4G network. Curiously enough,
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
on both the streaming and downloaded
video, audio was noticeably out of sync,
rendering the couch potato on-the-go
viewing experience a trife annoying.
Camera
No doubt, T-Mobile intends to lure willing
customers in with the promise of super
network speeds, but the true crown jewel
of this HTC fagship device is actually its
camera. The Amaze 4G borrows the same
backside-illuminated 8 megapixel mod-
ule found on the myTouch 4G Slide, and
unsurprisingly, it performs just as well
here. Its clear the company intended this
phone to be a replacement for your point-
and-shoot, tacking on camera shortcut
keys and bundling it with user-friendly
photo software. We put the 3.69mm lens
and its various scene modes to the test and
came away mostly convinced this might
be all the camera you need. Thats not to
say we dont have our gripes. While the
incessantly autofocusing sensor defnitely
has it perks, we struggled on more than
one occasion to get the focus ring to settle
and let us snap a clear shot. Additionally,
low light shots, even when taken in Night
mode, often resulted in grainy, oversatu-
rated pictures. As for video, recordings
made in full 1080p HD came off largely
without a hitch, displaying good contrast
and sharpness of detail, although we did
note an occasional decrease in frame rate
from time to time.
Keeping the camera tech fresh for ama-
teur photogs are two new HTC-added
features SmartShot and PerfectPics.
Despite its promise to sample multiple
shots and deliver a smile-laden compos-
ite photo, SmartShot is essentially a use-
less and ineffectual mode. After dozens of
failed and frustrating attempts, we were
only able to procure fve successful images,
with the rest being a blurry mix of happy /
sad faces. As for PerfectPics, well thats less
of a mode and more of a smart gallery.
Using an algorithm, the software parses
through your photo collection and deposits
your Avedon-worthy series of still life shots
in a separate gallery. It may just be our artis-
tic bias, but were inclined to believe Per-
fectPics critical eye is all a bunch of hooey.
Bizarrely enough, many of our least favorite
photos made their way into this A.I. curated
collection, leaving our vastly superior pho-
tos lumped in with the rest.
We have to hand it to HTC on this one:
the zero lag shutter and constantly auto-
focusing f2.2 sensor lend themselves well
to fts of sudden photographic inspiration.
If you see something that catches your
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
The Amaze 4Gs eight mega-
pixel camera and its luddite-
proof scene modes got a virtual
workout on our tour of New
York City. The autofocusing
sensor generally captured vivid
images in fne detail, although
low-light performance was a
mixed and often grainy bag.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
sample
images
fancy, all it takes is a drop of the camera
app into the lockscreen ring and, voila!,
youre right there, fnger on the shutter,
capturing the moment you thought would
slip by. This ease of use gradually becomes
addictive and, in time, youre likely to
take it for granted. As you can see in the
samples above, our tour of Central Park
gave way to feeting moments of flmic
brilliance that would otherwise have been
lost with a lesser-equipped phone.
Wrap-up
So, does HTCs new fagship manage to
live up to our high expectations and its
hyperbolically named state of awe? Well
put it this way: a better moniker for this
girthy handset wouldve been the Kind
of Awesome 4G. As a daily driver, the
Amazes bound to leave you high and dry
a few short hours into your day, critically
hampering your busy work / social sched-
ule with its power-hungry demands.
Sure, you can obsessively monitor your
screens brightness, manage syncing and
hold off on the mobile video consumption
until youre close by to an outlet, but the
name of this industry game is wireless,
and T-Mobs Galaxy S IIs already out of
the gate. Ignore this phones battery life
shortcomings, and youre left with an ele-
gant camera module and T-Mobiles just
out of reach 42Mbps HSPA+ dangling
carrot. Simply put, its just not practi-
cal to opt in for a high-end device that
will, sporadically, treat you to downlink
speeds that are half of whats been prom-
ised, and desert you in the process. At
the end of the day, the purchase choice is
yours to make, but for our money, wed
hold out for something packing a wee bit
more milliampere-hours. The Amaze 4G
XL with Beats, anybody? Its inevitable,
and you know it.
Joseph Volpe is ambiguously ethnic.
He is also an Associate Editor at En-
gadget.
T-Mobile HTC Amaze 4G
PROS
Attractive design
HSPA+ / theoretical 42Mbps
network speeds
Easily accessable camera and
camcorder shortcuts
CONS
Pixelated qHD display
Short battery life with moderate
usage
Handling the phone is slightly
uncomfortable
$260
on
contract
BOTTOMLINE
Despite being one of T-Mobs frst HSPA+ 42Mbps phones, HTCs Amaze
fails to stun with its subpar battery life and washed out qHD display.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
Growing Up Geek:
Tom Merritt
by tom merritt
I always hesitate to apply the term
geek to myself. To me its an honor-
ifc. Someone with super mad skills or
knowledge deserves the term, and the
superior of all those who deserve it is the
alpha geek. But times being what they
are geek has become a term of currency.
Before I let this devolve into a debate
about the difference between geek and
nerd, lets move on to the evidence.
You, dear reader can decide for yourself
where on the geek scale I belong.
My love affair with things geeky begins
with a pocket calculator and Star Wars.
They were my two obsessions grow-
ing up. At frst it was a little candy-
buttoned calculator with an LED read-
out, my Dad used for his food science
that I would use to spell hello by typing
01134 and turning it upside down. But
Welcome to Growing Up Geek, an ongoing feature where we take a look back at
our youth and tell stories of growing up to be the nerds that we are. Today, we
have a special guest: journalist and broadcaster Tom Merritt, current host of
Tech News Today on TWiT.tv.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
then Dad brought home the TI-30. It
had memory. It had Log functions. It
taught me what sine and cosine were.
It had a cardboard cutout that let me
calculate my biorhythms. (It was the
1970s after all). I dominated the thing
so much, that my Dad was forced to
buy a second one in order to be able to
use it for work stuff.
Then, of course, came Star Wars. I
dont recall exactly why, but I frst saw
it at a drive-in theater in Springfeld,
Illinois as a double feature with Griz-
zly Adams. I loved it. It was space. It
was adventure. It was everything mov-
ies had never been to me before. I was
obsessed with the action fgures. To
this day I still drift through department
store toy sections to look at the Star War
toys, just to get a brief reminder of the
jolt I had examining the ever-expand-
ing collections available when I was 7. I
had to split my collection with my sister
at frst. Thank goodness she hit puberty
frst and gave up her interest. But I still
sort of think of C3PO, Princess Leia,
and Chewbacca as weirdly belonging to
my sister.
My movie and TV interest proceeded
along a predictable path. I embraced
Battlestar Galactica, including the Pho-
toNovel, as the heir of Star Wars on tele-
vision. And of course, was glued to TV
for all Star Wars specials, including the
famous Life Day one. Superman, Buck
Rogers, Tron, War Games and more all
followed in good order. I watched Star
Trek with my Dad on Sunday morn-
ings at 11 AM on Channel 11. He liked it
because he had been in the Navy. I liked
it because of spaceships.
But I wanted stuff to be real. Which
leads me to the two greatest decisions
in my geek childhood.
The frst came in the summer I went
to science camp at Kaskaskia Col-
lege and got to choose three courses. I
chose futurism, chess, and computers.
Futurism got canceled, because I was
apparently the only 11 year old inter-
ested. Computers, on the other hand,
was packed. Upon entering the room
for the frst time, I was confronted with
two columns of tables. On the right
side of the room sat tables with TRS-
80s. On the other side were Apple IIs.
I still to this day wonder if the teach-
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DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
ers of that two week class knew what
they were doing when they forced this
choice. I made a fateful choice and sat
on the Apple II side.
The next fateful choice came later that
summer. I had saved for quite awhile
to buy an Atari 2600. Several of my
friends had it and I dreamed of playing
Pac-Man and Space Invaders at home.
I brought my bank full of money to the
department store with its $99 (a for-
tune!) in it and strode up to the shelves
with the Atari boxes on them. My heart
was beating fast. This was the moment I
had been waiting for. As I reached with
probably trembling hands to take the
box off the shelf, my Dad stopped me.
Before you decide, I have an offer for
you.
My heart fell. He was going to stop me
from getting the Atari 2600 somehow. I
knew it.
You can buy the game thing if you
want. Or, I will give you an extra hun-
dred dollars, and you can buy that. He
pointed to the TI 99/4A. Which sat on
the shelf next to the 2600s with a price
tag of $199.99. I felt angry. How dare
he! This was my moment of triumph
and I would be left without the Atari I
had dreamed of. But then, that was a
real computer he was pointing at.
I can get the Atari if I want? I asked.
My Dad reassured me that would be
fne, but he wouldnt give me any extra
money in that case. He was offering me
matching funds. A subsidy to get me to
buy a real computer.
I realized I would be getting more
for my money. Then I noticed the car-
tridge slot on the TI. And I can buy
games for the TI too? Dad agreed that
yes I could buy games. It was settled.
I went home with the TI-99/4A and
probably as a reward for my smart
decision, Dad sprung for a copy of TI
Invaders and Parsec.
I was off to the races. Soon I was fll-
ing up cassettes with slot machine pro-
grams, text adventures and who knows
what. Eventually my programming
skills, such as they were, outstripped the
TI, and I either needed the Expanded
Memory and Advanced Basic cartridge
or a new computer.
I got a Commodore 64 for Christmas.
And a 1541 foppy drive. By High School
I was actively swapping foppies with
kids in the neighborhood and running a
fantasy baseball league out of my room,
using Micro League for the C64.
Eventually I left home and got an
IBM PS/2 and was a Windows person,
active on Gopher, and Usenet and that
darned graphical Web that brought all
the problems I predicted but was worth
it anyway. In the mid part of the 2000s
Boot Camp lured me back to my roots
and the world of Apple. And recently I
bought the complete Star Wars on Blu-
ray. I know, some of you will say not to
encourage these Lucas changes, but I
cant help it. That is also my roots.
Tom Merritt can be found on Twitter
@acedtect, Google+, and of course ev-
ery weeknight at 2:30pm PT / 5:30pm
ET as the host of Tech News Today.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
To everyone who rocked a Motorola
RAZR in the 00s, its time to get excited
again. The line or at least the name
has been reborn, and not without good
reason. This is a thin device extremely
thin. The Droid RAZR by Motorola is
7.1mm thin, in fact, and holding it up
next to the iPhone 4 makes Apples
phone look downright beefy by com-
parison. At 127 grams, its also incredi-
bly light, a fact thats quite apparent the
frst time you hold the thing we were
honestly a bit surprised when it was
frst dropped in our hands. The com-
pany has clearly come a long way from
the frst generation Droid.
Of course, as noted, Motorola didnt
skimp on the specs here. The RAZRs
got a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and
1GB of RAM inside, and it zips through
apps with ease. The handset is rocking
Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread or at least
was when we got our hands on it. The
4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED display
is quite bright, and should do wonders
on those Netfix HD videos.
Also of note is the phones relative rug-
gedness, thanks to its Kevlar backing, dia-
mond cut aluminum and Gorilla Glass,
but in spite of these facts, it really doesnt
feel or particularly look like a rugged
device in your hands, just a big, surpris-
ingly light handset. Its a slick, fast, thin
phone that certainly seems worthy of the
RAZR name we all know and love.
Zach Honig contributed to this report.
Brians work has appeared in Spin,
The Onion, Entertainment Weekly,
The New York Press, PCMag, Laptop,
and various other publications.
Motorola Droid RAZR
by brian heater
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DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
DIMENSIONS
height: 130.7mm
width: 68.9mm
depth: 7.1mm
weight: 127 grams
CAMERA
Rear-facing: 8 megapixel,
1080p HD video recording
Front-facing: 1.3 megapixels
BANDS
LTE, CDMA / EVDO
STORAGE
16GB internal + 16GB microSD
PROCESSOR
Dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430
OPERATING SYSTEM
Android 2.3.5
DISPLAY
4.3-inch
960 x 540 qHD Super AMOLED
MEMORY
1GB RAM
PRICE
$199
Motorola Droid RAZR
everything you need to know about the
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
Samsungs just busted out the plan-
ets frst Ice Cream Sandwich-based
smartphone here in Hong Kong, a few
days late but hardly worse for the wear.
The Galaxy Nexus (formerly referred
to as the Nexus Prime) carries on the
Nexus torch in spectacular fashion, and
we spent a few quality moments with
one at Tuesdays launch. Design-wise,
its clear that the Nexus S DNA is here,
though the rear reminds us most of the
Galaxy S II. Those who abhor physical
buttons will also be delighted, and while
wed gotten used to the whole Power
+ Home for a screenshot on the GSII,
Power + Volume Down works just fne
on this fellow.
The 1.2GHz dual-core processor was
startlingly fast. It actually felt a wee bit
quicker than our Galaxy S II, and given
that Ice Cream Sandwich and the Gal-
axy Nexus were apparently built for
one another, were assuming theres
some deeply ingrained optimizations to
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
with Ice Cream Sandwich
by darren murph
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DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
thank. Swiping from pane to pane was
faster than its ever been on Android,
and the new Roboto font actually is
super eye-pleasing.
The overall phone feels adequately thin,
and while the 4.65-inch display sounds
gargantuan, the handset itself doesnt
feel so massive to hold. Until, of course,
you grab the comparatively minuscule
Nexus One. Still, weve been clamoring
for a 1,280 x 720 display on a smartphone
for what feels like forever, and now that
its here on the Galaxy Nexus, we arent
about to kvetch. Indeed, the panel looks
downright gorgeous, with unbeatable
viewing angles, remarkably crisp text
and graphics and a beautiful feel as one
swipes across it. The fngerprint magnet
that is a glossy overcoat is still here, but
its the only feel niggle weve found on the
screen as a whole.
Having the 3.5mm headphone jack on
the rear seems like a necessary design
choice given the tapering at the top,
and unlike that other phone, theres
no mute switch here youll just have
to hold the Volume Down button for a
few seconds. The rear cover pops off in
similar fashion to the Galaxy S II, but
the ridged plastic cover has a far softer
touch than the aforesaid contempo-
rary. The camera is also situated right
in the center, with branding kept to a
minimum. Oddly enough, were being
told by Samsung that two models will
be available in terms of capacity a 16
gigger and a 32GB sibling but nei-
ther will have a microSD slot for add-
ing your own expansion.
The lack of a physical Home button
may be disorienting for Galaxy S II
loyalists, but the Galaxy Nexus is truly
the frst smartphone that expresses
Googles desire to make one Android
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
screens
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
for all a mantra we heard about at
Google I/O, but havent seen birthed
into anything until now. Digging into
the particulars of Ice Cream Sandwich
a bit, its clear that folks who arent ele-
vated to Android 4.0 (were still waiting
on word of what phones will and wont
make the leap) will be missing out on
a fair bit. Face Unlock isnt particularly
special in our estimation typical lap-
tops have been using this forever, and
weve never found em to be entirely
intuitive. However, the bump-to-share
functionality that was lost when webOS
croaked will undoubtedly be cause for
celebration. Also, just so its known, the
Galaxy Nexus we played with here was
running Android 4.0.1.
The data usage manager is a total god-
send in this nasty, depressing world of
tiers, and while apps have done simi-
lar things for quite some time, tight
integration like this is hugely appreci-
ated. We found in our play time that
ICS was amazingly responsive in every
aspect. Swiping was a breeze. Gestures
worked beautifully. The entire experi-
ence just felt polished. In a way, its as
if Androids growing a bit and maturing
before our eyes, and its obvious that
Googs focused on making its mobile
OS as enchanting (Googles word, not
ours) as iOS seems to be.
Overall, were thrilled with how the
frst ICS handset has turned out. Its
understated, sleek, beautiful and packs
a display thats destined to drop jaws.
Now, if only we knew how much, and
what carriers...
Darren holds the Guinness World Re-
cord for being the most prolifc profes-
sional blogger on planet Earth. Hes
also an argonaut.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
DIMENSIONS
height: 135.5mm
width: 67.94mm
depth: 8.94mm
weight: 135 grams
CAMERA
Rear-facing: 5 megapixel,
1080p HD video recording
Front-facing: 1.3 megapixels
BANDS
LTE or HSPA+, GSM
OPERATING SYSTEM
Android 4.0
MEMORY
1GB RAM
STORAGE
16GB or 32GB
DISPLAY
4.65-inch
1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED
PROCESSOR
Dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460
SPECIAL FEATURES
NFC
PRICE
$TBA
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
everything you need to know about the
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
We had some hands-on time with
HTCs new European Android fag-
ship a short while back, but it wasnt
nearly enough to answer all our ques-
tions about how the 4.3-inch, 1.5GHz
dual-core XE compares to the origi-
nal 1.2GHz Sensation, or whether the
implementation of Beats Audio was
anything more than a cunning scheme
cooked up between the manufacturers
marketeers and Dr. Dres agent. Now,
though, this phone has been our closest
companion for long enough to reveal its
true colors. Theyre red, primarily, but
theres a whole rainbow of detail in the
following paragraphs.
Hardware
In many respects this is not a complete
review, because weve avoided covering
the same ground we already trod exten-
sively in our review of the Sensation.
Instead, weve focused only on those
areas where there have been signifcant
review
HTC Sensation XE with
Beats Audio
by sharif sakr
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
changes, or where the passage of time
has altered a particular specs standing
with respect to the ever-eager competi-
tion.
In particular, we spent a great deal
of time looking into Beats Audio
far too much time, perhaps, if youve
already convinced yourself that this
Dre hookup is nothing but a gimmick.
But we felt that since HTC has invested
untold dollars in Beats in order to dif-
ferentiate itself from the competition,
and since it plans to bring the this tech-
nology to many more devices in the US
and around the world, then we ought to
try to come up with something defni-
tive and if at all possible scien-
tifc. By all means, if youre just curi-
ous about this phones musical prowess
then skip down to the Software section,
but for now well start off with the key
hardware features.
Just like the original Sensation, the XE
is well-built and beautiful to behold. Its
tapered edges and smooth wraparound
aluminum case conspire to make it
feel thinner than the 11.4mm statistic
might suggest. Of course, the XE differs
in its coloring and when we frst heard
about the red accents we were worried
they might look cheesy, like a Qosimo
gaming laptop or something, but our
fears were misplaced. The coloring of
the navigation button back-lights, the
speaker grill and the ring around the
camera lens all helped to lift this phone
above the plain black and silver hordes.
The speaker grill and front-facing cam-
era both have glinting chrome borders
which make them look extra special.
Add in the bold red headphones with
the Beats logo on the back of each bud
and its an all-round good look unless
you would prefer your gadgets to be
more discreet.
If you grip the phone hard youll feel
and hear slight creaks from the plas-
tic-aluminum hybrid construction, but
its far less than what you get on purely
plastic phones. We should also mention
that no matter how we held the device,
we failed to encounter any of the so-
called death grip issues that people
complained about with the frst Sensa-
tion.
Perhaps the only nits wed pick and
theyre much smaller than your average
nits are the tendency of the border
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
between glass and aluminum around
the panel to collect dirt which cannot
easily be cleaned, plus the strange slant
of the power button. We should prob-
ably disregard this latter faw, since the
device in our hands-on didnt have it
and it could simply be a factory error or
a result of transit damage. Nevertheless,
if wonky power buttons turn out to be
an issue with this phone, then remem-
ber: you heard it here frst.
Processor
We didnt have an original Sensation
to compare against the XE side by side,
but we did have an EVO 3D to throw
into the mix, which has a 1.2GHz dual-
core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor
thats very similar to the Sensations
MSM8260. The comparison isnt per-
fect, because the EVO 3D has 1GB of
RAM instead of 768MB, but its nev-
ertheless suffcient for an indication of
what 1.5GHz delivers in terms of real-
world advantage which turns out to
be not a great deal. The EVO 3D actu-
ally booted much quicker than the XE,
taking just eight seconds from Off
to snapping a picture on the camera.
Meanwhile the XE took 11 seconds to do
the same thing possibly because the
extra Beats Audio logo animation takes
a few extra seconds at boot up.
Our Quadrant Standard benchmark
scores clustered around 2080, which
was signifcantly more than the EVO
3D (1800) but only slightly more than
the original Sensation (2000). Linpack
gave us 43MFLOPS for the XE, versus
41 for the EVO 3D and 46 for the Sensa-
tion so nothing worth shouting about
there either. Meanwhile, the Sun Spi-
der javascript benchmark for browser
speed timed the XE at approximately
3,300ms, which was much healthier
than the strangely slow 6320ms time
from the EVO 3D, but not a great deal
quicker than what youd get from the
single-core iPhone 4. Forgetting bench-
marks for a minute, the fact remains
that webpage rendering on the XE was
impeccable.
Our impression was that anything
the XE could do, the EVO 3D could do
just about as well, so the extra 300MHz
doesnt count for much at all in prac-
tice. We cant help but notice that the
chip in the XE is identical to that in the
original Sensation and has merely been
overclocked something savvy Sen-
sation owners are perfectly capable of
doing themselves.
Battery Life
HTC bumped the battery up to
1750mAh in the XE instead of the origi-
nal 1520mAh, ostensibly to let you lis-
ten to more tunes but also, perhaps, to
compensate for the 300MHz bump to
the original Sensations clock speed.
The lower part of the case heats up
whenever you put the processor under
any serious load and you can just imag-
ine how those two cores must be gulp-
ing down energy. After a 14-hour day of
heavy use, including a ton of music, a
few photos and a bit of video, the bat-
tery fell to eight percent by the time we
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
got on a train home. It subsequently fell
to three percent after listening to about
30 minutes of music and then fnally
died after taking four fnal night-time
photographs. In other words, theres
no forgiving fuel tank here; when the
battery says its nearly dead, it really is.
However, just like with the original Sen-
sation, the phone is frugal with power
while its idle and on a less busy, more
normal day wed still fnd around 30-40
percent of the battery remaining when
we plugged the phone in to charge.
In our regular battery test, looping a
standard-def video with low-to-mid
connectivity and push settings, the
phone died somewhere between fve
and six hours, which is slightly below
average for a large screen device. For
the sake of reference, the 3.7-inch sin-
gle-core BlackBerry Torch 9850 lasted
20 percent longer in this test which
merely shows that the Sensation XE
pays for its specs in battery life.
Camera
The camera hardware in the XE is
identical to that in the original Sensa-
tion, so check out that review for a full
appraisal. All we really have to add is
that the slight increase in clockspeed
with the XE might translate into a minor
improvement in the time it takes to load
up the camera app and start capturing
video or stills, but its nothing particu-
larly noticeable after all, the original
Sensation was no slouch in this regard
to begin with.
On the other hand, one thing has
changed signifcantly since the XEs
predecessor, and thats time. As the
months have progressed and new
handsets have come to market, weve
become less forgiving of XE cameras
faws particularly with video. The
auto-exposure isnt particularly smart,
and it adjusts too quickly when flm-
ing video, with ugly results compared to
the camera in the HTC Titan and Sensa-
tion XL which have far better camera
units. Moreover, the sound recording
is terrible: its default sensitivity of the
mic is way too high, resulting in clipped
audio whenever the person holding the
camera speaks, or when theres a gust of
wind or any other sharp noise.
Still images suffer from the fact that
you cant change the compression set-
tings, which means the output from the
eight megapixel sensor is often ruin-
ously over-compressed to as little as
600KB. HTCs panorama mode, which
weve enjoyed on the Titan and XL, is
absent here, too. Altogether, the camera
counts frmly against the XE and feels
way more outdated than the display
panel.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
Beats Audio
HTCs marketing department has gone
to town with Beats Audio. For the
record, heres some of the language
theyve used to describe it:
Beats by Dr Dre and HTC will
work together to reengineer how sound
is delivered so that the consumer
feels the music the way that the artist
intended.
When it comes to doing music
justice, youre way ahead of the crowd
with... Beats Audio
The tailor-made headset is spe-
cially engineered to deliver extraor-
dinary sound. Finally, hear what youve
been missing.
In general, this hyperbole condenses
down to two separate claims: that the
XE makes music sound more like the
original artist intended, and that it also
involves tailoring the music output to
the matched Beats headphones.
Beyond these two claims, theres very
little in the way of factual information
from HTC about what exactly Beats
Audio is. When weve interviewed HTC
reps on this point, the conversation has
generally ended up being about sound
profles, which we take to mean EQ set-
tings or the way certain frequen
cies are lifted or depressed in order to
change the way music sounds. This fts
with the impressions we had in our in-
itial hands-on with the XE: that Beats
Audio is simply an EQ setting that comes
to life when you attach Beats-accred-
ited headphones in order to lift the bass
and some of the upper frequencies and
hence deliver a more lively experience
with certain genres of music.
We know that the Beats Audio EQ can
sound great with the right type of music,
but we need something more objective
than that. So, with EQs as our start-
ing point, we decided to test out HTCs
claims about Beats Audio with help from
the friendly chaps at AMS Acoustics in
North London. Thanks to their input,
we now have a ton of objective infor-
mation about exactly what Beats Audio
does. Indulge us with your patience and
well do our best to explain.
Round One
We started out by testing the XE with
the packaged YourBeats in-ears, which
are re-branded iBeats with the addi-
tion of HTCs in-line controls. Our test
involved playing pink noise on the XE,
with BA frst enabled and then dis-
abled, and recording the sound using a
mic specially modifed for the analyz-
ing this type of earphone. This yielded
two different power spectra, which are
presented as simple tables showing the
amplitude (in dB) of each frequency
SOFTWARE
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
(in MHz) of the pink noise. Subtracting
the frst spectra (BA off) from the sec-
ond (BA on) revealed the Beats Audio
EQ, i.e. how, exactly, the XE modi-
fes the sound when you activate Beats
Audio. For corroboration, we also ran a
different test signal through the XE and
YourBeats in order to get a frequency
response curve, which is basically just
a higher-res power spectrum depicted
as a line graph.
The frst thing our tests revealed was
that the Sensation XE and packaged
headphones form a bass-heavy system,
even before you activate Beats Audio.
Looking at the raw data with BA dis-
abled, we see that the lowest frequencies
still have the highest amplitude, while
the higher frequencies get steadily qui-
eter. This EQ is the equivalent of old-
school bass boost and weve listened
to enough music with BA off to know it
sounds just about as boring.
Our next step, of course, was to enable
Beats Audio, and this changed the pic-
ture entirely. Suddenly, theres a mas-
sive boost to most of the treble frequen-
cies as well as the bass, which prevents
the treble from just trailing off so dis-
mally. Looking at the Beats Mode EQ
column above, we can describe the EQ
as S-shaped: it has a hump at the lowest
frequencies, then a valley in the middle,
and a second hump at the top. This is
signifcant because, for many types of
music, an S-shaped EQ is greatly pref-
erable to one which simply emphasizes
the bass. Subjectively, activating Beats
Audio when listening to music does
exactly what wed expect from a good
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
S-shaped EQ: it gives the music more
presence by emphasizing the bass and
vocals, while depressing the less inter-
esting mid-tones but only when were
listening to an appropriate genre of
music such as hip-hop or house. When
listening to orchestral music, activating
Beats Audio does nothing good.
In addition to the treble boost, most
of the other frequencies are also ampli-
fed to a greater or lesser extent, deliv-
ering an overall jump in loudness that
screams Beats Audio ON! in the lan-
guage of pure decibels. This is sup-
ported by the frequency response curve
below: the BA-enabled curve follows
the BA-disabled curve very tightly, but
is signifcantly higher (i.e., louder) all
the way along with the extra boost at
the bass, upper mid-range, and highest
trebles that weve already observed.
At this point, we can debunk one of
HTCs more ostentatious claims about
Beats Audio, which is that it somehow
reengineers music to make it sound
the way the artist intended. For this
to be true, the Beats Audio EQ would
need to fatten the systems output,
to make music sound more faithful to
the source recording just as studio
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
monitors do. But Beats Audio does
no such thing. Wed suggest that this
makes music sound the way Dr. Dre
(or his engineers) intended: with a cer-
tain S-shaped EQ that suits his kind of
music. In fact, when we suggested this
to an HTC rep during our hands-on, he
didnt contradict us. Round one there-
fore goes to the skeptics albeit, with
the caveat that Dres EQ can actually
sound really good when you try it with
the right type of music.
But we have another question to
answer before we call it a match: HTCs
second claim about Beats Audio being
tailored to the packaged Beats head-
phone. Does the same Beats Audio EQ
get activated regardless of which head-
phone is plugged in? If the answer is
yes, then the consumer is simply being
duped into thinking a dumb EQ is more
than it is. If the answer is no, then the
marketing spiel has some justifcation.
Round Two
Our approach in this round was to run
the pink noise test with three other sets
of headphones: Senn CX300 in-ears,
Senn HD598 over-ears and a pair of
Beats Studio active over-ears. We threw
in the Beats Studios to mix things up a
bit theyre part of the Beats range but
theyre not offcially supported by the
XE. Currently, the only supported head-
phones are YourBeats and Beats Solos,
with the latter soon to be sold with the
new limited edition Sensation XL.
We should also clarify at this point
that our XE allowed us to activate
Beats Audio with whatever headphones
we liked. However, it only explicitly
acknowledged the YourBeats head-
phones, which triggered a popup mes-
sage on the XEs screen when we plugged
them in. Were not sure this is how HTC
intended the software to behave in
fact, weve been told that Beats Audio
should not be available with the third-
party headphones. But this is how the
review device worked for us and a
good thing too, because it allowed us to
learn a lot more about Beats Audio.
So, starting with Beat Audio disabled,
we noticed that the same excessive
bass was apparent with the CX300 in-
ears. However, when we moved on to
the more expensive and more balanced
over-ear headphones, the bass boost
was matched by a similar boost to the
lower trebles. This suggests that XE has
been designed with a relatively com-
mon S-shaped sound profle already,
even without Beats Audio enabled, but
this treble amplifcation is largely lost
with the in-ear Senn CX300, just as it
was with the packaged YourBeats.
What happened when we activated
Beats Audio in these tests? Well, this is
where it got interesting. With the Senn
CX300, Beats Audio further boosted
the bass as well as some mid-range fre-
quencies, but it totally failed to rem-
edy the lack of treble. In other words,
the EQ it applied was clearly different
to that with the YourBeats, and the end
result was nothing like Dr Dres S-curve
we discovered in the last round. The
same can be said of both the over-ear
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
headphones we tried: they generally
displayed the same pattern, with a bass
and mid-range boost, but the end result
was nothing like with the YourBeats.
This is illustrated in the graph above,
which compares the Beats Audio EQ
with the YourBeats, versus the average
Beats Audio EQ with the other head-
phones. The shapes are totally differ-
ent, and the key difference is the treble.
This tallies with what an HTC rep told
us about the way Beats Audio works: the
XE has multiple sound profles stored
within it. It has separate and specifc
profles for the YourBeats and Solos,
plus a third generic Beats Audio profle
for other headphones, which are inher-
ently less tailored. We can only assume
that the YourBeats EQ above repre-
sents the tailored sound profle, while
the other headphones were all given the
generic BA profle, which looks signif-
cantly different. Its entirely possible
that the Beats engineers were aware
that the YourBeats headphones have
trouble delivering the treble end of the
S-curve and so deliberately adjusted the
tailored EQ to compensate. This means
we must notch up a point for HTC: Beats
Audio does appear to tailor the XEs out-
put to suit compatible headphones and
deliver a predictable and good-sound-
ing S-shaped power spectrum.
This leaves us at a 1-1 draw between
HTC and the skeptics. The skeptics won
a point when the Beats Audio power
spectrum proved to be S-shaped and
hence have nothing to do with what the
artist intended. HTC drew level when
it turned out that Beats Audio only
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
delivers this particular S-shaped spec-
trum with the compatible headphones.
So can we call it quits? Nope, we need a
fnal round.
The Decider
If we take a step back from all these
charts and consider the fundamental
value of what Beats Audio achieves,
then we have to come down squarely
on the side of the skeptics. No matter
how much effort we put into testing this
thing, the fact remains that these sound
profles are just EQ settings. You can
achieve exactly the same effect using
PowerAMP, which costs $5 and allows
you to create your own EQs. PowerAMP
can tailor and save your EQs to suit cur-
rent headphones and even to the track
youre listening to, in order to get the
sound just right. The app can also apply
the EQ to lossless music, which can-
not be played by the XEs stock player
and therefore cannot be listened to with
Beats Audio enabled. Listening to the
Black Eyed Peas in Apple Lossless for-
mat, with our own PowerAMP EQ and
the YourBeats headphones, provided a
great experience and it was achieved
while Beats Audio was switched off
and irrelevant.
Sure, you might think lossless is over-
kill, and you might not have the patience
or the time required to experiment with
your own EQs. But we think that any-
one who loves listening to music would
surely appreciate having full control,
and if HTC was true to its marketing
they would have made this possible.
If, in addition to Dres EQ and head-
phones, Beats Audio also meant we had
an amazing stock player, with tons of EQ
customization and a better user inter-
face than PowerAMP, wed be happy.
If HTC went whole hog and threw in a
high-end DAC to improve the overall
quality of the XEs output, wed be over
the moon. Theres still plenty of time for
HTC to make improvements like that,
but until then we can only conclude that
Beats Audio is mostly a gimmick.
Wrap-up
The Sensation XE is a great phone, but
it is no more or less great than the orig-
inal Sensation. Sure, it has some spec
bumps, but these are minor and can-
celled out by our concerns about the
display and camera, which havent aged
well over the last fve months.
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
The Beats Audio software isnt com-
plete marketing vapor, but its still
inherently gimmicky and adds nothing
in the XEs favor: you could achieve a
better result on the original Sensation
simply by downloading a third-party
music player that lets you play with the
EQ settings yourself.
The only thing which might sway us
to by the Sensation XE over its prede-
cessor is the packaged YourBeats head-
phones, coupled with the red styling
on the phone. But for us to opt for the
XE, itd have to by priced similarly to
the original Sensation, such that were
not paying much extra for these head-
phones. Theyre only good if theyre a
bargain otherwise wed prefer to take
matters into our own hands and spend
$80 to $100 on some Etymotics, which
would be even better.
Sharif is a British tech journalist with
ten years experience flming and re-
porting news for the BBC and other
broadcasters.
HTC Sensation XE w/Beats Audio
PROS
Good build quality and aesthetics
Great packaged headphones
CONS
Beats Audio is largely a gimmick
Aging display technology
Camera isnt up to par, especially
with video
The extra speed isnt worth the
battery drain
BOTTOMLINE
The XE doesnt improve much on the frst Sensation and better phones are
hitting the market. Did we mention Beats Audio is a gimmick?
450.00
UK
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
DISTRO | ISSUE #9 OCTOBER 21, 2011
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