In today’s smartphone market, big screens are all the rage. Just a couple years ago, if you handed someone a smartphone with a 5.5-inch screen, they would look at you like you were nuts. Nowadays, any smartphone with a screen that’s 4.5-inches or smaller is considered tiny. While big displays certainly aren’t for everybody, I’m personally a huge fan of them. That’s why I think the Samsung Galaxy Note II is one of the best smartphones I have ever used. Aside from the large 5.5-inch screen, you are also getting wickedly fast quad-core processors, 2GB of RAM, 8MP rear-facing camera, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and more. So, why exactly do I love this phone so much? Find out in our full review!

One of the most “noteworthy” things about the Samsung Galaxy Note II is it’s giant 5.5-inch screen. While we are starting to see smartphones being announced with screen sizes at 6-inches and bigger, 5.5-inches is nothing to scoff at. I
personally loved the giant screen real estate on the Note II. From watching videos, to playing games, to browsing the Web, and more, everything looks fantastic on this giant screen. One thing to bare in mind though, is that this phone certainly won’t be a great choice for those of you with smaller hands. I don’t have the biggest hands out there, but I can usually navigate a phone very easily with just one hand. That is not true at all for the Note II. The Note II can only truly be used with both hands, and can be quite an annoyance for smaller handed use.

Below the screen, you will find a physical home button, as well as a capacitive menu button to the left, and a capacitive back button to the right. While the buttons work great, this version of the Note II, which is running on Verizon Wireless,
has Big Red’s infamous logo slapped right onto the middle of the home button. Aside from the logo on the home button, there are also two Verizon logos and a Galaxy Note II logo on the back of the device, as well as a Samsung logo above
the screen. All of these greatly detract from the look of the Note II, and makes it look like a giant advertisement for both Samsung and Verizon.

The biggest downside on the Note II for me, was it’s build quality. While the device has a solid weight to it at 6.46 oz, the Note II is made entirely out of plastic, and feels quite cheap. While it was nice to see that the Note II has a removable back to swap out it’s battery, the back plate was one of the flimsiest I ever felt. When just slightly bending the back plate of the Note II, it felt like it could snap into two without even thinking about it. While the plastic does make the device fairly lightweight for it’s size, I would have liked to see a more premium and sturdy build quality on the Note II.

As mentioned before, the Note II features a giant 5.5-inch screen. The pixel resolution of this screen is 1280 x 720 with 267 ppi, and while it may not be full HD 1080p, it still looks fantastic. Colors are all nicely saturated and vibrant, text is crisp and easy to read, and the giant screen size allows you to browse Web pages easier than ever before on a smartphone. The Super AMOLED screen technology also gives the Note II great viewing angles, and was relatively easy to see in outdoor use as well.

In terms of processing speeds, the Note II is packing in a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos 4412 processor, along with 2GB of RAM. This means that the Note II can power through virtually anything you throw at it. Games like Shadowgun: Deadzone, Beach Buggy Blitz, and Into The Dead ran beautifully with no lag whatsoever. Web browsing, taking pictures, streaming video, and navigating your way through your homepages all feels fantastically smooth.

For all of your picture taking needs, the Note II features an 8MP rear-facing camera, and a 1.9MP front-facing camera. Although the Note II isn’t cramming in 13MP of camera taking pixels, the Note II’s camera certainly does not disappoint. All of the pictures we took with the Note II were surprisingly detailed, even in indoor shots. The flash on the camera also did a great job at lighting up even pitch black situations. The camera is also packed with a ton of software features, such as ISO adjustment, HDR, Panorama, Outdoor visibility, Anti-Shake, Voice-capture, and more. Along with these goodies, the Note II’s camera also packs in a good selection of  filter effects. While you have your standard ones such as Sepia, Black and white, and Negative, the Note II also allows you to use filters that make everything in your image black and white, aside from a specific color, such as green, blue, and red-yellow. The front-facing camera on the Note II doesn’t disappoint either, and is great for profile pics or video-chatting with your friends. Overall, I was quite impressed with the camera performance on the Note II.

The Note II that we reviewed is running on Verizon Wireless, so we had access to Verizon’s fantastic 4G LTE coverage. On the Note II, we got download speeds at around 30mbps and upload speeds averaging out at around 17mbps. Verizon’s LTE coverage is also constantly expanding to new areas, so you are pretty much guaranteed great LTE data speeds no matter where you are. Along with the blazing fast data, the Note II also provides great call quality. Everyone we talked to
sounded crystal clear, and the folks we talked to said that we sounded great as well. That brings us to a bit of an elephant in the room however. Is the Note II comfortable to make calls on? While it definitely won’t be for everybody, I didn’t have much of an issue with it in my time with the handset. If I held the phone towards the bottom of the body, I was able to get a firm grip on the handset, and didn’t feel like I would drop it. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t look like a fool holding up a giant device like this to your ear to make calls on. You certainly will. With the phone being the size it is though, we’re guessing that a lot of people will pair a Bluetooth headset to it if they decide to purchase one. If you don’t want to use a Bluetooth headset for your phone calls, Samsung has included a One-handed operation setting, which adjusts certain features on the device, such as the keyboard, keypad, and calculator, and makes them easier for one-handed use by shrinking them down, and moving them to the far right or left side of the screen (depending on your hand
dominance).

To power you through your days of use with the phone, the Note II is cramming in an enormous 3,100 mAh battery. Even with heavy usage of Web browsing, making and receiving calls, sending emails, and playing online multiplayer games, the Note II still had 23% battery left at the end of the day after having being used for 16h and 21m. Despite my best efforts to drain the device of it’s battery, I always found myself unsuccessful. If you are looking for a handset to last you through even the most intensive usage sessions, you really can’t go wrong with the Note II.

Another feature that is very “notable” about the Note II is it’s built-in stylus, which Samsung is calling the S Pen. The S Pen is can be used as an alternative way to navigate your 5.5-inch phablet and, for the most part, it actually works pretty
darn good. What really cool about the S Pen is that it allows you to perform certain functions on the Note II (previewing your photo gallery, scrolling through Web pages, etc.) by just hovering the S Pen over the screen of your Note II. The S Pen is also pressure sensitive, so when making notes in S Note, your simulated pen streaks will be thinner or thicker, depending on the amount of pressure that you make to the screen when writing with the S Pen. When you just want to use your fingers to navigate your phone, you can slide the S Pen up into it’s little compartment in the bottom right-hand side of the device.

Out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy Note II is running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, with an upgrade automatically available to 4.1.2. Although you aren’t getting the very latest Jelly Bean (4.2.2) on the Note II, 4.1 is still a welcome addition to the Note II’s software. Along with Google’s standard Jelly Bean goodies, such as Google Now, “Project Butter”, expandable notifications, and more, the Note II is also layered with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. Although it’s no secret that TouchWiz is one of the most cartoony looking UI’s for the Android platform, it doesn’t skimp out on awesome software features that greatly enrich the Android experience.

For those of you that are new to smartphones, or if you just want a more simple experience on your device, Samsung has included a Starter mode to do just so. The Starter mode, just like LG’s Starter Mode on some of their devices, adds simple widgets to your home screen for easier navigation.

Another software feature that I really enjoyed on the Note II was Page Buddy. When you detach your S Pen, plug in a pair of earphones, and connect the Note II to a dock, a page buddy will automatically appear, and an icon that which represents the function you are using will also be added with the right hand side of the page indicator at the bottom of your screen. Along with this, a set of shortcuts will replace what is currently when in your dock when at your page buddy screen. For example, if you plug in a pair of earbuds, your dock will change to shortcuts for apps such as YouTube, Music Player, Video Player, etc.

Another cool feature with the Note II are all of the motion features you can perform. These features include the ability to call a contact by moving the device to your ear when on that contact’s page, the ability to mute incoming calls by turning your device over on it’s face, swiping your palm over the screen to take a screen capture, and more. All of these features work (surprisingly) great, and were actually pretty fun to use. While most people will most likely forget that they have these features accessible to them, it’s still a nice welcome addition to the Note II.

Although not everyone will appreciate the Galaxy Note II's large form factor, I personally adored my time with the device. When you combine that giant 5.5-inch 720p HD screen with a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a surprisingly impressive 8MP camera, Android Jelly Bean, and loads of additional software features, the Note II becomes increasingly tough to say no to. While it would have been nice to see a better design and more premium feeling build quality on the phone, the Note II is one of my favorite Android devices I have used to date. While it may not be perfect, it is a pure joy to use, and should be an excellent choice for anyone who likes their smartphones big, bright, powerful, and fun.

DISCLAIMER: Joseph Maring used the Samsung Galaxy Note II for 9 days before beginning to write his review of the device. Verizon Wireless sent us the Note II to review, but in no way affected our final score of the handset.



Author: Joseph Maring

At this point in time, Windows RT-powered tablets are not anything new. Microsoft has been trying to push the Windows RT operating system since October, but has been fighting an uphill battle the entire time. Lenovo is looking to aid Microsoft in this battle though, with the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11. Unlike most Windows RT tablets, the Yoga 11 features a non-detachable keyboard, like you would find on most laptops. Is the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 the Windows RT tablet/laptop to rule them all? Find out in our review!

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 is a very sleek, light, and sexy device. At 11.7 x 8.0 x 0.61", and weighing in at just 2.8 lbs, the Yoga 11 is an extremely portable tablet/laptop hybrid. Like the Yoga 13, the Yoga 11's biggest selling point is it's ability to bend and contort into four different modes of use (Laptop, Tablet, Stand, and Tent).

The first mode, Laptop mode, is one of the modes that we used most in our time with the Yoga 11. Like most of Lenovo's latest laptops, the Yoga 11 uses the famous AccuType keyboard. As we said before in our review of the Yoga 13, the keyboard feels so freaking great. For an 11-inch laptop, Lenovo was still able to cram in a full sized keyboard that feels just as great as any high end laptop. The trackpad, located directly below the keyboard, worked really well in my time with the device. It's relatively large, and proved to be very accurate when clicking on smaller links on the screen.

The second mode, Tablet mode, is the other mode that we used the most. Tablet mode is the mode in which the keyboard is folding all the way back, so you can use the Yoga 11 as an 11-inch tablet. While the 11-inch screen felt surprisingly great in Tablet mode, the exposed keyboard proved to still be quite an annoyance, as it was on the Yoga 13. Even though the keyboard and trackpad are completely deactivated when using the Yoga 11 is Tablet mode, it still proved to be an uncomfortable experience to use the Yoga 11 in Tablet mode for a prolonged period of time.

The third mode, Stand mode, allows you to bend the screen back about 270 degrees, so the Yoga 11 sits on it's keyboard and brings the screen even closer to your face. I found this mode to be surprisingly useful when watching videos. It allows you to view the entirety of the 11-inch screen, and not have to look at the keyboard while doing so.

The fourth, and final mode, is Tent mode. Tent mode allows you to bend most of the screen back, and prop the Yoga 11 up like a tent. On Lenovo's website, they suggest this mode for listening to music, video chatting, and sharing the screen
with other people. While I didn't use Tent mode a whole lot in my time with the Yoga 11, it actually is a very comfortable way to use the Yoga 11's touchscreen.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with the Yoga 11's design. Along with the incredible flexibility, the Yoga 11 also packs in a bunch of welcome ports, such as two USB 2.0 ports, a 2-in-1 SD/MMC card reader, combo jack, and HDMI-out.

The Yoga 11 also adds a physical button on the keyboard to adjust it's screen brightness. While you may be thinking that this isn't that big of a deal, it sure is helpful when using Windows RT. To adjust your screen brightness in Windows RT, you normally have to go into the Charms bar, touch Screen, and slide the brightness adjuster on-screen from there. While it doesn't take long to get to this setting, it can be quite difficult to find for a first time Windows RT user. With the non-detachable keyboard on the Yoga 11 though, you also have quick and easy access to adjust your screen brightness, something you don't usually see with Windows-RT powered gadgets.

The IdeaPad Yoga 11 features, as the name suggests, an 11.6-inch display with a pixel resolution of 1366 x 768. While this isn't the highest resolution you will find on the market, I found that the Yoga 11's screen still looked quite good. Colors were very bright and vibrant, text was easy to read, and games and video looked good as well. The Yoga 11 also provides great viewing angles, which goes along perfectly with all of the modes you can use this convertible laptop in. In my time with the device, I did find one issue with the Yoga 11's touchscreen. When attempting to swipe down from the top of the screen to close the current application I was using, I often found that the Yoga 11 would not register my touch input at all, or would zoom in when trying to close the app. While I wouldn't normally bring something like this up, this happened to me numerous times throughout my use of the laptop, and proved to be quite annoying.

In terms of processing speeds, the Yoga 11 is packing in an NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, NVIDIA ULP GeForce GPU, and 2GB of RAM. Although we didn't play any graphically intensive games on the Yoga 11, lighter games such as Jetpack Joyride, Web browsing, music streaming, and navigating your way through the Modern UI on Windows RT proved to be a very smooth experience. Games ran great, Web browsing was extremely smooth, and the Modern UI ran with little-to-no lag whatsoever. While these aren't great specs for a laptop, they certainly do hold their own when you remember that this is more of a tablet, rather than a full fledged laptop. The Yoga 11 is also packing in a 64GB SSD to ensure that you have all of the storage you need for your photos, music, applications, and more.

The Yoga 11 has a 4-cell battery that Lenovo is promising 13 hours of use out of on a single charge. In our time with the device, that claim actually turned out to be quite true! We got about 13 hours of use with moderate Web browsing, application usage, and music/video streaming. Aside from the long lasting usage time, the battery itself charges up incredibly fast! You can completely recharge the Yoga 11 from 0%-100% is under two hours. That ladies and gentlemen, is pretty freaking impressive.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 is running on Microsoft's own Windows RT operating system. Windows RT looks nearly identical to Windows 8, but is technically a mobile OS, rather than a full fledged PC operating system. So, how does Windows RT stack up against other mobile OS's out there? Honestly, not so well.

One of my biggest issues with Windows RT, similar to the issues I had in Windows 8 with the Yoga 13, is the disjointed experience between the Modern (or Metro) UI and your Desktop. The Modern UI is where you will most likely spend most of your time, as it is treated like your home screen for the Yoga 11. From the Modern UI, you can open applications, search through all of the apps you have installed on your device, and access settings such as your User, General, Privacy, Wireless, and Devices, among others. If you want to access your Control Panel, Sound Recorder, or Office 2013 (included for free on all Windows RT devices), you will be forced into the Desktop to access these features. This can cause for quite a bit of confusion, and makes Windows RT feel like an operating system with an identity crisis. On one hand, you have the Modern UI, a clean, simple, and elegant UI that works like a "charm" (not our best pun...only real users of Windows 8 or RT will understand), but does not allow you to have full access to all of the features on your device. Then you have the Desktop mode, the familiar interface we've all come to know and love with past versions of Windows, but with the lack of the Start button. Your Start button is essentially the Modern UI. Confusing? It sure is. While experienced techies, like myself, will be able to figure their way around the operating system, casual electronics users will feel completely, and utterly lost. While I appreciate what Microsoft was trying to do with the Modern UI and the Desktop mode, it still needs work before it is anywhere near perfection.

It is also worth noting that, despite the ability to use Desktop mode, you cannot install full desktop applications such as iTunes, Adobe Photoshop, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Final Cut Pro, etc. with Windows RT. The only applications that you can download are the ones that you have available to you in the Windows Store. This is probably the biggest distinction, and downside, from Windows RT to Windows 8.

Windows RT also lacks in it's application store department. Microsoft uses the Windows Store as the destination to purchase and download all of the applications your could possibly want for all of your Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. While the Windows Store certainly provides an extremely larger selection of apps for Windows 8 PCs compared to Apple's Macs, the Windows Store falters when used as the primary app store for a mobile OS, such as Windows RT. While you have access to applications such as Evernote, Netflix, iHeartRadio, Amazon, Skype, and more, there is no official YouTube, Facebook, or Pandora applications, just to name a few.

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed my time with the Yoga 11. It's compact, lightweight, incredibly flexible, has a good looking screen, snappy processors, and a long-lasting battery. If you are looking for an easy to carry Windows RT tablet that will last you through a long day of use, and will be able to provide you with a freaking amazing keyboard, the Yoga 11 might be perfect for you. However, if you are looking for your a small and compact laptop, you may want to look elsewhere. Despite it's laptop form factor, the Yoga 11 should be considered to be a tablet with a keyboard. The Yoga 11 is still running Windows RT, so  you cannot install full desktop applications like you are able to do on Windows 8. Because of this, the Yoga 11 is not really meant for full laptop use. Despite our complaints though, the Yoga 11 is still an incredible piece of machinery. If the device was running on Windows 8, this would be (without a doubt) a near perfect laptop. However, due to the limitations of Windows RT, the Yoga 11 will certainly not be for everyone. If you are sure that the Yoga 11 has everything you are looking for in a Windows RT tablet though, then go out a buy it. The Yoga 11 is one of the best Windows RT devices that is currently out on the market, and is a pure joy to use.

DISCLAIMER: Joseph Maring used the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 for 17 days before beginning to write his review of the device. Lenovo sent us the IdeaPad Yoga 11 to review, but in no way affected our final score of the laptop.



Author: Joseph Maring

Two years ago, if there was a smartphone that was selling for free with a two-year contract, is was usually a complete piece of junk. They usually had sluggish processors, dreadful screen resolutions, horrendous cameras, and more. Today in 2013, free smartphones are still a thing,  but have progressed to a quality level that is quite exceptional for the price you pay up front for them. A smartphone that falls into this category, is the LG Lucid 2. The Lucid 2 may not have the absolutely latest and high-end specs, but it is still a great choice for people looking to get there first smartphone, and save a few bucks in the process as well. Is the Lucid 2 the budget smartphone to get? Find out in our review!

The LG Lucid 2 measures in at 4.82" x 2.51" x 0.39" and weighs in at 4.55 oz. Although the Lucid 2 is not the thinnest or lightest handset out there on the market, it is still very compact and is extremely easy to take with you wherever you may be headed.

On the front of the Lucid 2 you will find your four navigational buttons (Back, Home, Recent Apps, and Menu), on the left is your thin, but usable, volume rocker, on the right you will find the power/lock button, up top is your 3.5 mm headphone jack and microphone pinhole, and on the bottom is your second microphone pinhole as well as your microUSB syncing/charging port.

While it's design is very usable, the Lucid 2 is not a very attractive device. Aside from touches of silver on the upper left and right hand sides of it's body, the Lucid 2 is your standard black smartphone with a plastic body. The Lucid 2 feels very cheap, and is a constant reminder of it's free price tag.

The LG Lucid 2 has a 4.3-inch qHD display with a pixel resolution of 960 x 540. While the screen's resolution is acceptable, you will easily see the drop in resolution if you've used smartphones with 720p HD or 1080p HD screens before. Although colors are extremely vibrant and text is easy to read, I was able to see some pixilation on the screen  when I had the brightness turned all the way up. I also noticed that in my time with the device, the Lucid 2 proved to have some rather poor viewing angles, and was quite hard to see the screen clearly when using the handset outdoors.

In terms of processing speeds, the LG Lucid 2 is packing in a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm SnapDragon S4 CPU, along with 1GB of RAM. While the Lucid 2 isn't packing in top of the line processing speeds, it was still able to prove that it can very well hold it's own weight. 3D intensive games, such as Beach Buggy Blitz, ran surprisingly smooth will little-to-no drops in the frame-rate. The Lucid 2 can also browse the Web, multi-task, and more without a hitch. For it's price of free, the processor on the Lucid 2 went above and beyond the call to duty.

For all of your picture taking needs, the Lucid 2 features a 5MP rear-facing camera, as well as a 1.3MP shooter on the front. In our testing of the device, both cameras proved to capture some pretty decent pictures. While you aren't going to be getting the incredible image quality that we've been seeing on handsets with 13MP cameras, the Lucid 2 can still take a really good picture. The Lucid 2's camera is also packed with all of LG's great camera settings, such as the option to take a picture with your voice, HDR image capture, Geotagging, the option to change the shutter sound, and more. LG has also been great about including a ton of welcome features to the camera app with their phones, and the Lucid 2 is obviously no exception.

The Lucid 2 is an exclusive to Verizon Wireless, which means that you are getting access to Verizon's incredible 4G LTE network. In our testing with 3 to 4 bars of LTE coverage, we were able to get around 11mbps download and 13mbps upload (with a peak upload speed of almost 20mbps!). While the data speeds were stellar, the same cannot be said about the call quality. Although we were never without excellent service coverage, the Lucid 2 just doesn't function that great as a phone. People we talked to said that we sounded good on their end, but everyone we talked to sounded kind of muffled. While we could always understand what the folks we were talking to were saying, the quality of their voices was always very poor.

To get you through your days of use, the Lucid 2 is cramming in a giant 2,460 mAh removable battery into it's compact body. In our time with the handset, I was actually quite pleased with the battery performance. I was easily able to get through two days of use with the device, and got around 12 hours of total usage time with moderate texting, calling, application usage, Web browsing, and video/music streaming. Since the Lucid 2's battery is removable, you can also get an additional battery for the handset to pop in when your current one dies out. Removable batteries aren't something we usually see on smartphones nowadays, so it is a very welcome addition to the Lucid 2. The Lucid 2 also manages to pack in a microSD card slot, which can expand your memory up to 64GB.

The Lucid 2 also packs in the ability to take advantage of wireless charging. While I am certainly a fan of the wireless charging craze, it's a bit hard to get excited about it with the Lucid 2. To take advantage of wireless charging on the Lucid 2, you have to purchase a wireless charging pad, as well as a separate back for the device. With LG's charging pad selling for $49.99, and the additional back for the handset going for $29.99, you will end up paying over $80 just to enable wireless charging on your device. While some people may still be willing to take spend the additional cash for this feature, in the end, the convenience of wireless charging really isn't worth the $80 price tag.

The LG Lucid 2 is running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, which gives you great Google goodies such as Google Now, "Project Butter", expandable notifications, and more. Although you aren't getting all of the features that are found in Android 4.2.2, it's still nice to have Jelly Bean running out of the box, when some phones are still being released with Android 4.0.4 ICS. On top of Jelly Bean, the Lucid 2 is also layered with LG's own Optimus 3.0 UI. The Optimus 3.0 brings along many welcome additions to the Android platform, such as customizable icons, customizable transition effects, the option to use your handset's home screen in a landscape mode, QuickMemo, and more.

One of the features that I found really cool on the Lucid 2 was the option to use the handset in two modes. You can use the Lucid 2 is Easy Mode, designed to make the UI simpler for first time smartphone users, and Standard Mode which is the standard experience you will find on LG's Android smartphones. While Easy Mode doesn't make any drastic changes to the UI, it places large widgets on your home screens that show you all of your most important applications, and shows arrows on the side of the screen when you have swiped all the way to the right or left to remind you that there are not any more screens in that direction. These little tweaks make the phone easier to use, while still giving you the option to customize your home screens as you see fit.

If you, or someone you know, is looking to get their very first smartphone, the Lucid 2 is not a bad option at all. The Lucid 2 offers snappy processing speeds, takes relatively decent pictures, has an incredibly long lasting battery, runs Android Jelly Bean out of the box, has an Easy Mode for first time smartphone users, and for the price of free, it's nearly impossible to beat. While you will have to deal with the boring design, lower screen resolution, and lackluster call quality, these things probably don't matter all that much to you, since this is a phone that is selling for free, and is being marketed towards first time smartphone owners. If you fall into that category of smartphone virgins, and think that you're ready to take the plunge, I don't have a doubt in my mind that you will be extremely happy with the LG Lucid 2.

DISCLAIMER: Joseph Maring used the LG Lucid 2 for 7 days before beginning to write his review of the device. LG sent us the Lucid 2 to review, but in no way affected our final score of the handset.



Author: Joseph Maring