Application

Installing the silicone layer is a doddle given its flexibility. I personally found it quite difficult to apply the outer
plastic layer as the silicone port flaps wouldn’t go into place properly or the volume/power button wouldn’t go into
place correctly. Obviously it’s no brain teaser, it just took a few attempts to get everything aligned correctly.

Material

The Otterbox Commuter is different to most of the cases on the market as it has two parts, a soft silicone rubber
layer and a high impact plastic layer. The silicone layer is supposed to help with absorbing shocks and the plastic
layer helps against bumps and protects against scratches. The durability and build quality of both layers is really
solid and is extremely well fitted to the phones curves and corners, with no issues in either layer covering any
cameras or microphones, however, it does cover the docking port with no move-able flap.

As the Galaxy Nexus has a textured back cover, the Commuter has a more smooth feel to it which does take
some getting used to especially if you have small hands. One downside to the silicone layer is that it will attract
any loose dirt or lint from your pockets and also gather it onto the screen. Not good.

With there being two layers to this case, it does add quite a big chunk of bulk to the phone. I weighed the phone
after applying the case, the outcome was an additional 39g* (174g* vs. 135g). I couldn’t tell the difference in
weight when the phone was in my pocket but the additional bulge was definitely noticeable. The bulk also
detracts from the slickness of the phone, making it much less sleek and pretty.

(*weighed on digital scales accurate to 1g)

Protection

Overall, the Commuter offers great all around protection of the phone. All ports are protected by the silicone
layer, of which, are able to be accessed easily by flaps in the material. The bottom flaps are extremely annoying.
I would have much preferred it if they opened the opposite way than they actually do as it makes inserting the
power cable/earphones much more difficult than it needs to be. The power button and volume rocker are also
covered by the silicone layer and are easily pressed. I’d have preferred if this wasn’t the case as pressing the
buttons over material is a little strange when you’ve used the buttons au naturale. The plastic outer layer will feel
a little on the cheap side if you’ve used the phone without a case but knowing that you have that extra protection,
to me, outweighs this slight flaw.

As soon as the case was fitted, I instantly wanted to throw my phone on the floor. That’s how solid this case
feels. It’s a tank! Granted, you still have a 4.65″ display which isn’t protected in the same way the rest of the
device is. The case does however, come with a screen protector but it’s not even worth applying. I’ve used high
quality screen protectors in the past and this isn’t one. Avoid.

What We Think

Having used the case for a decent amount of time, the bulk, for me, makes this case unusable for most
occasions. It makes the phone feel awkward to hold at times and with the increased amount of dirt it picks up, it
leaves the phone looking much less desirable than it actually is. That’s not to say that the case isn’t good for its
sole purpose which is to protect the phone as it does that very well indeed, I just feel that it could have been done
in a much slimmer manner.

HTC Endeavor Specs Leak.

HTC CFO Winston Yung has already dropped some strong hints that HTC will use processors from manufacturers other than Qualcomm and, according to the guys at MoDaCo, HTC will be doing just that when they announce the Endeavor is announced at MWC. The specs are:

• 4.7 inch 720p Display
• 8MP rear camera, 1.3MP front facing camera
• Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Blue tooth 4.0
• 1GB RAM
• Tegra 3 (1.5GHz Quad Core)
• Quad band HSPA+

Source.

To read more news, click on the Continue Reading button below.

New HTC Device Leaks. Looks to be Part of the Incredible Series.

A new HTC device has allegedly leaked showing off the sort of back cover we have been accustomed to with HTC’s Incredible range. The photographs look pretty legitimate and rumours are it’s running Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.1, which is expected of a new phone. Other rumoured specs include:

• 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• 1GB RAM
• 8MP rear camera

Other interesting news is that HTC may be switching (once again) to an AMOLED display for this model. We won’t know for sure until HTC confirms the device (likely at MWC).

Source.

New Apple Lawsuit Against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus This Time.

Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the U.S. The Galaxy Nexus, as we all know is the latest in the nexus line and is the first phone to feature Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. Now I am not patent expert (not by a mile) but I will try to explain each patent as simply as I can.

• U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647: This patent relates to the analysing and linking data structures between documents and programs.
• U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604: This patent is related to search, particularly Siri, which may affect Google’s services for mobile searching.
• U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721: This patent is related to slide-to-unlock.
• U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172: This patent is related to word completion when using a virtual keyboard.

All these patents are directly related to software and, as the Galaxy Nexus runs stock Android, therefore directly related to Google’s implementation of these functionalities. The outcome of this lawsuit will probably take a while. It is easy to say Apple is being a “patent troll” and anti-competitive but the bigger issue is the patenting system that is granting patents to companies even though the technology already existed before the company implemented it into its own products.

Source.

Google Working on a Home Entertainment System.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google are going to enter the consumer electronics business initially releasing a system that will allow a user to stream music around the house. This would be released under the Google Brand and will start with music and probably move into streaming more media, such as videos and images. This will be Google’s first hardware product adding to the competition between Google and Apple, especially with Apple rumoured to be releasing their own solution to media streaming within the home (a further upgrade to Apple TV).

Source.

HTC Announces Android 4.0 is Coming To More Phones.

Earlier this week HTC issued a statement outlining the phones that are, so far, planned to get an update to Android 4.0. The HTC Sensation, Sensation XE and Sensation 4G will be the first to get their updates and are planned to get their update by the end of March. Other phones confirmed to getting the ICS update are the HTC Evo 3D, HTC Sensation XL, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S and the HTC Desire HD (there are more HTC phones in the US that will be getting the update but I’m sticking to the European market for the moment). Good news for Desire HD owners, bad news for owners of any other HTC phones. The HTC Flyer is still planned to get an update to Android 4.0 sometime in Q1.

Chrome Beta for Android was Released This Week.

Chrome Beta was released into the Android Market this week, by Google. It’s available for Android 4.0 and above. Early reviews are positive and we may soon see Chrome become the default browser on Android. It is based on the same Chromium project that the desktop version of Chrome. One downside is that there will be no Flash support as Adobe has issued a statement that it is not willing to support Flash for Mobile anymore. For more information click here.

That’s all the big news from this week. If I’ve missed anything point it out in the comments below and I will do my best to update my post. Have a good week everyone and make sure to check Droid-Den during the week for your chance to win some goodies!

Congratulations to Mike Jones and Stuart McGregor! We’ll be contacting Mike and Stuart and sending them their new mugs. If you did’t win this competition, don’t worry as we have a huge backlog of android related goodies to give away! Stay tuned for the next competition coming very soon!

It is available in 12 countries, including the USA, Canada and UK. The full list of countries can be found here. It supports multiple tabs as well as incognito mode, accelerated page loading, bookmarks sync with desktop Chrome and more… Check it out and let us know what you think!

App Name Google Inc. ND

Source: Google Chrome Blog

HTC has realised that it’s quality that sells not quantity. The “HTC Studio” division has been set up to help find that “Hero Device”. HTC has already stated that they will be releasing fewer devices this year, instead focusing on making the devices better, more distinctive and improve the battery life. This is where the Studio division comes in. They have been assigned to come up with ideas for Hero devices and report directly to HTC CEO, Peter Chou. Let’s hope that one of their main goals is to churn out OS updates to their devices quicker.

HTC’s CFO Winston Yung also indicated they are willing to try anything and even use different chipset manufacturers to improve their smartphone and tablet range for 2012. It is no secret that HTC has a good relationship with Qualcomm and most, if not all, of their devices use Qualcomm chipsets. But, as they were late to the dual-core party and NVIDIA has already released devices with quad-core chipsets, HTC may jump ship with Qualcomm and switch to different manufacturers as is rumoured with the HTC Edge. The Edge could be the first smartphone by HTC or any manufacturer to be released with the new Tegra 3 chipset. This probably doesn’t mean that they won’t be using Qualcomm or other manufacturers in other devices, but that they are keeping their options open.

The rumoured design for the HTC Edge

What do you think about HTC no longer exclusively using Qualcomm chipsets? What would you like to see from HTC at MWC? Comment below to let us know. Personally, I love my desire but lost a lot of faith in HTC last year. I hope they prove me wrong. Bring on MWC!

This week I’ll be posting an article on how well Android 4.0.3 (ICS) works on my, almost 2 year old, HTC Desire and I’ll be posting the “Droid-Den’s Weekly Update” article (formerly known as Android News Weekly Update) where you can get a quick look of this week’s Android news. If you own a desire and into flashing your device with beta ROMs the links to such ROMs will be at the bottom of this post. I have been using it as my main driver for the past few weeks and here’s a minor preview, “It runs fairly well”.

Click below to read on.

Since this post doesn’t really have much news attached to it and Mobile World Congress (shall be known as ‘MWC’ from now on) is at the end of the month, why don’t you guys let us know in the comments what you are looking forward to seeing from MWC. Which devices are you looking forward to seeing? Which manufacturer do you think will have the best products on show? I personally was looking forward to the Samsung Galaxy S III but that has been confirmed by Samsung that it will not be at MWC. So I’m now turning my interest to everything else rumoured to be at the show (like the HTC Ville and the LG X3). Sound out in the comments below.

Remember Droid-Den is giving you the chance to win an Official Android Mug. Entrants must be made by the end of tomorrow so If you haven’t entered the competition yet, you still have sometime (hurry up! ).

There are two HTC Desire ICS builds that I know of:

• HTC Desire Android 4.0.3 build based on CM9. (This is the one I will be reviewing).
• HTC Desire AOSP build.

UPDATE:
The review of the ICS rom on the HTC Desire may be delayed due to an update coming out with full HWA (hardware acceleration) implemented . Might upgrade to a video review.

Once again, here at Droid-Den we don’t discriminate, this competition is open to EVERYONE and ANYONE, regardless of your location! But if you do win and live abroad, it might take a bit longer to reach you, but reach you it shall!

As always you have 3 ways of entering this competition. You may enter once using each method, and entering all 3 gives you more chances to win the prize!

And now the entry methods!

1. Follow us on twitter, then tweet the following phrase on twitter, remember to replace <tell us why here> with why you want to win an android mug! (Click here to auto-fill your tweet).

I want to win a funky #Android Mug from @Le3ky & Droid-Den because <tell us why here> http://bit.ly/droidmug #droidmug

And/Or

2. Add us to one of your Google+ Circles and re-share this post to your public circle together with the why you want to win an Android mug.

And/Or

3. Like us on Facebook and then reply to this post as to why you want to win an Android mug.

And now for the boring stuff!

1. This competition is open to everyone. That’s right, we will ship the prize to the winner wherever you live on this beautiful planet.
2. The competition is open immediately, and ends in exactly 1 week on Wednesday 8th February at 11:59PM GMT.
3. The winner will be chosen at random and notified through their choice of entry, either Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
4. You may enter through each method once only. That means you can enter a total of 3 times.
5. Good luck!

From the outset you can tell that this is more than simply a money maker from Polarbit. It’s a huge upgrade to the game, and looks well worth the purchase price (actual price TBA). The original Reckless Racing for android was limited in the number of game modes it has, really only offering Rally and Time Trial modes. The new game goes beyond that with the following game modes:

• Career
• Arcade
• Single Event
• Multiplayer

Career

Career consists of multiple cups, 12 by my count. Each cup has multiple races too. That’s a hell of a lot of game content already, and we’ve only had a look at one of the main game options. You race to earn credits which can be exchanged for goodies like new cars, or upgrades to your existing cars. Upgrades includes performance upgrades, as well as looks. A nice feature is the ability to view leaderboards, adding another dimension to the Career mode gameplay.

Arcade

Arcade mode offers a total of 40 tracks. Each track offers you a different challenge, for example place 3rd or higher. If you complete the challenge set for the track, the next track becomes unlocked. You can also earn credits in arcade mode to upgrade you Career car.

Single Event

Single event essentially lets you do as you please. You can select from Race, Hot lap or Elimination modes. Within each mode you can select from one of 6 main areas, each holding a number of cool tracks to race on.

Multiplayer

You can play Reckless Getaway 2 with up to 3 of your friends, or against random people over the internet within any of the game modes previously mentioned. Polarbit provide Game Rooms that allow you to search for and join games online. At the time of running through this preview, I was unable to connect to any games, but I’ll put this down to the fact the game isn’t actually out yet! You can also create your own game room putting you in control of what type of racing you want to play.

Controls

The game offers the following 5 different control methods:

• Standard
• Tank
• Tilt
• Half Wheel
• Full Wheel

The Tilt style is the only one that allows you to use your device’s accelerometer to move, whilst the others all provide different on screen control layouts. You can also select steering sensitivity as well as auto accelerate. The layout and size of buttons for each layout type can also be fully customised, ensuring the controls will be laid out exactly the way you like.

Options

The game offers a few options designed to allow you to get the most out of the game. Things like showing the racing line, recommended pace, mini map and camera style are all customisable within the options menu.

Conclusion

I’m a big fan of the Reckless series of games from Polarbit, and I have been really excited to get my hands on this game ever since it was announced. After playing through the pre-release version I can say that my expectations were not only met, but have been pretty much blown away!

The graphics have been given a nice clean up, racing is smooth and the backgrounds are quite beautiful. I’m in awe of the amount of content within the game too. There are so many tracks, this is not a game you’ll be completing quickly (one of the issues with the previous games). The career mode is a fantastic introduction, especially the ability to buy new cars and completely personalise them.

As mentioned, the game will be available on the android market on February 2nd. If you want to make sure you’re notified when it is released, I’d recommend following us on twitter for news as quickly as it comes!

12►

The following article will take you through a particular day in my life, that is, a day in the life of an Angry Birds addict.

Morning

Finally, access to the next level in the Angry Birds Seasons Wreck the Halls Advent stage of levels. Now every Angry Birds addict out there knows that this advent style of giving us access to new levels is complete hell on earth! Thanks a lot Rovio!! What were you thinking about making me wait 24 hours to play a new level? This is going to be a long 25 days!

Lunch

Diet? Who needs a diet! It’s simply a case of getting your priorities right… With only 30 minutes break for lunch there’s no time spare to waste eating!

Afternoon

Travelling home from work on the local bus is great, it gives me plenty of time to update my high scores (because any self-respecting addict already has 3 stars on everything!). With my head down and portable charger to the ready, I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder knocking my slightly off-balance causing me to release my egg too early and send my white bird off into space. Who would dare interrupt me mid-shot!? Ah, it was the bus driver (again).. “Excuse me miss, this is the last stop”. not again! But fear not! An extra 30 minutes of walking time equals a few more points on the board!

Evening

Bath time: I opened the bathroom door ready for a nice relaxing bath, when I suddenly saw an Original Source Golden Pineapple shower gel my boyfriend must have bought. Nothing out of the ordinary there I hear you ask? Well you’d be wrong!

Through the eyes of a normal person…

Through the eyes of an angry bird addict!

I felt my finger instinctively flinch, getting ready to pull back the slingshot and fire a quick yellow bird to collect my fruity award! A thought quickly flashed through my mind, and I came crashing back down to reality… Of course that shower gel couldn’t be one of those golden pineapples, I’ve already collected them all! 15/15!

Bedtime

Time to enjoy a nice relaxing sleep, all tucked up, dozing off…

3am!? I woke up in a cold sweat after what can only be described as the worst nightmare that anyone may have ever had, ever.

I was sat on the bus on my way home from work, when I reached for my phone for a quick game of Angry Birds. Now if you’ve ever misplaced your phone, you’ll know the exact feeling I had when it was nowhere to be found. Thoughts flashed through my mind, did I leave it in the locker at work? Did it fall out of my pocket when I ran for the bus? Nope, neither of those could have happened, that left only one more possibility… In a frenzy, I looked around at my fellow passengers, whoever stole my phone was gonna get it!

Then something suddenly caught my eye, I noticed a familiar disgusting green colour. What the hell is going on?!?! That Sergeant Pig and his fellow troops have my phone??!! Snorting and sniggering, standing their staring right at me as my bus slowly crawls past. Me vs Pigs, take a deep breath. I’ve got this, those Pigs haven’t defeated me yet, and they damn sure won’t this time!! Just like any true Angry Birds fan, I pulled out my Official Angry Birds Slinghot™ and prepared to enter battle! All I needed was the ammunition. No birds around, the only other thing I could use was… people?

Steady.. Aim.. Fire! Oh no! They don’t split into three, and they can’t break through glass! The last thing I remember before waking up was seeing that arrogant sarcastic grin on Sergeant Pig’s face, you know the one,  just before you’re asked to retry the level…

This nightmare was one step too far, it made me realise I had to get over my addiction. Since then I’m doing well, I play the game when I want to, not when it wants me to. I am in control.

…Only 3 days, 10 hours, 49 minutes and 49 seconds until the next update arrives!

If you have been affected by any of the issues featured in this article… There’s always Angry Birds Addicts Anonymous!

There’s no doubt 2011 has been a fantastic year for Android. Andy Rubin, head honcho at Android and it’s founder, recently revealed that there are now over an incredible 700,000 Android device activations every day, and at Expansys we’ve seen record sales figures for the system.

But, amongst the huge choice of new phones 2011 brought us, which Android handsets did the business? We added up the sales figures and found the phones that captured the public imagination the most in the past year – 2011’s five top selling Android smartphones. It makes for a pretty interesting list…

5. Samsung Galaxy Note

Literally the biggest phone on the market, the Galaxy Note was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2011. Is it a big phone, or a small tablet you can make calls on? Samsung marketed it as being both, an awesome piece of Android powered tech that can replace you phone, tablet, games console, PDA and more. And it’s clear that loads of Android fans understood it’s genre-defying purpose straight away making the Note, one of the most inventive products of the year, also one of the biggest sellers.

4. Google Galaxy Nexus

Although it was only released at the end of 2011 the latest Google/Samsung Nexus collaboration was a huge seller. The first handset with the hugely upgraded Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system, the Galaxy Nexus was hugely anticipated and is arguably the finest Android phone available. With a huge 4.65 screen, plenty of processing power as well as the (so far exclusive) new Android software on board, the Galaxy Nexus’ success is probably no surprise.

3. Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Now this is one phone that had plenty of pre-release hype; an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) phone with sliding out official PlayStation controls, what’s not to get excited about? After the initial surge the Xperia Play’s high price point hurt it’s sales, but once Sony Ericsson re-positioned it as a mid-level device (which it’s specs fit into) this all changed. The Xperia Play’s mix of decent Android performance and full-on PlayStation gaming on the go proved a winning combination hard to resist.

2. Acer Liquid Metal

Here is an entry into out top-selling list that may well surprise a few of you. Acer isn’t known for it’s phones, and the Liquid Metal is an older handset. The Liquid Metal did however drop substantially in price during the year, and found success as a bargain older device. Suddenly you could get better specs than many of the latest ‘entry-level’ Android phones for less money, albeit in an older chassis. The Liquid Metal found it’s niche as an introduction to the joys of Android without a big layout, and once it was updated to Android 2.3 late on in the year it shifted even more units.

1. Samsung Galaxy S II

Winner of countless end-of-year awards, Samsung’s Galaxy S II not only won out as the premium Android phone of choice (at least until the Galaxy Nexus’ release), but was the biggest selling Android handset, and indeed best-selling phone of the year overall, on Expansys.com. Gorgeous looking, and simply remarkably svelte and light, the S II wowed us from launch, and continues to sell well even now, displaying an almost iPhone like life-cycle that will last until it’s successor is announced, and possibly beyond as a budget device. A fantastic phone in every way from processing power to a gorgeous screen, the Galaxy S II has captured the public’s imagination, and cash, like no Android phone before.

So, there we have it, a quick rundown of what Android phones enjoyed the most success in 2011. Did your favourite phone of the year make the list, or has everyone been missing out on the best Android beauty? Let us know what you think!

Let us know what your thoughts on this are!

Source

Well we might have some good news for you. We’ve just been informed by our friends over at Expansys that Samsung have confirmed that the 32GB version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus should be available (fingers crossed) from the first week of February! Great news from those who held off from buying the 16GB version, but perhaps still later than most of us would have preferred..

Expansys have also gotten confirmation that the white version of the Galaxy Nexus will be available in about two weeks time, although this will only come in the form of the 16GB version. I know a lot of people will be very excited by the white version, but it’s not entirely to my taste… Now mention an orange and black version and I might just be interested!!

Source

So starting us off this new year we’ll be giving away the CaseMate Barely There case for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus that we reviewed last month! At the time we rated this as probably the best case available for the Galaxy Nexus, so you’ll be getting your hands on a great accessory to help keep your Galaxy Nexus in top notch condition.

The best news? This competition is open to EVERYONE, and its very easy to enter. All you need to do is complete one of, or all of the steps below. You can only enter once using each step, but you can up your chances by completing every step!

For each step, you need to include the answer to the following question.

What DIY tool does the image included in the CaseMate Barely There packaging suggest the case is resistant to? If you need a hint, you can find the answer in our review!

And now the entry methods!

1. Follow us on twitter, then tweet the following phrase on twitter, remember to replace <youranswer> with the actual answer! (Click here to auto-fill your tweet).

<your_answer> @Le3ky & Droid-Den are giving away a CaseMate BarelyThere Case for the Galaxy Nexus! http://bit.ly/nexuswin #nexuscasewin

And/Or

2. Add us to one of your Google+ Circles and re-share this post to your public circle together with the answer.

And/Or

3. Like us on Facebook and then post the answer to our wall!

And now for the boring stuff!

1. This competition is open to everyone. That’s right, we will ship the prize to the winner wherever you live on this beautiful planet.
2. The competition is open immediately, and ends in exactly 1 week on Wednesday 11th January at 11:59PM GMT.
3. The winner will be chosen at random and notified through their choice of entry, either Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
4. You may enter through each method once only. That means you can enter a total of 3 times, one each.

Good luck!

Software

Fructal provide an android app to accompany the GameTel gamepad. The app is available for free from the android market and is used to both connect GameTel gamepads to your device as well as provide some basic gamepad settings. Pairing a new device to the GameTel gamepad is extremely simple. The application is very esy to use, and almost pairs itself to the device without you having to do much of anything! To pair a device (phone or tablet) to the gamepad you can follow the steps below:

1. Open the GameTel app.
2. Click yes to the popup asking you to allow an app to turn on bluetooth.
3. Press and hold the start button on the GameTel gamepad for three seconds until the green LED begins to flash.
4. Click the add device button in the GameTel app.
5. Click the GameTel device that appears in the popup within the app.
6. Select Pair when the bluetooth pairing request window appears.
7. Select the GameTel input method from the select input method popup

And that’s all there is to it, you should now be able to test that the gamepad has successfully paired by using the gamepad to navigate around your android phone. The app also contains a Games tab which lists 50 games that are officially supported by the GameTel gamepad. The list of games also includes an appropriate link to the game in the android market which is a nice feature. Although I have to say, in my experience the gamepad supports much more games than the 50 that are included in the official list. The final section of the app contains the settings. The list of settings isn’t really extensive, but does include the following:

• Prevent Screen Idle

Ensures that using the gamepad will not allow the screen to turn off.

• Default Input Method

Set which input method the device will default to when the GameTel gamepad is disconnected.

• Key Mappings

Mapping of GameTel gamepad keys to actions.

When the gamepad is low on battery, the app will display a new notification on the device informing you. However, there is no way to tell just how much battery is currently left. It would have been nice if there was an option to show the current battery percentage rather than just notifying when it’s low. I’ve actually fed this back to the GameTel guys and they say it’s something they may look at adding in a future update.

The app is functional and does help to ensure that pairing gamepads to your device is as simple as possible, but I wish it looked a bit nicer to the eye. It doesn’t really obey any android UI or functional rules. For example pressing the menu button does not open a menu. Pressing the back button wherever you are in the app closes the app, when it should take you back to the last screen. Thankfully, you probably won’t be using the app after the initial pairing of your device so this isn’t a huge issue.

You can grab the android Gametel app using the link below:

App Name Fructel AB ND

Hardware

I was sent one of the first GameTel units off the production line, and as such the final packaging wasn’t available so I can’t comment on that. The contents of the packaging will include the gamepad itself as well as a user guide.

One thing I was disappointed in was the lack of a MicroUSB charging cable. Fructal’s answer to this was that you are expected to use the MicroUSB cable supplied with your device to charge the device, but in my opinion this isn’t always practical. For example, what if you wanted to charge both the gamepad and your device at the same time? MicroUSB cables are extremely cheap, and for the price of this device I would really expect one to be included. The gamepad itself is quite light at ~100g (just lighter than the SGSII) and measures in at 11.7cm (w) x 6.7cm (12.5cm when fully extended) (h). The plastic material helps keep the device light which is great, especially if you have a heavy phone, as you’ll probably be holding both the gamepad and your phone at the same time. The gamepad contains the following buttons:

• Dpad (8 direction movement)
• Start
• Select
• 4 action buttons
• left and right shoulder pads

The shoulder buttons feel really good, if you’ve ever used an Xperia Play, then you’ll wish Sony Ericsson had implemented their shoulder buttons just like this. The action buttons are fine, if I had one complaint I’d probably wish they were slightly larger, but that’s me pushing for something to say, they do work fine.

The bottom end of the gamepad contains the MicroUSB port and two LEDs. To the left is the green LED that notifies you when the gamepad is ready to be paired while the red LED to the right lets you know that the gamepad is charging.

The gamepad contains an adjustable clamp towards the top of the unit where you can clamp your phone in place. This clamp sits nicely away when not in use, and extends to a height of just under 7cm, not quite large enough for the Samsung Galaxy Note, but more than enough for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the second largest phone I can think of! The clamp has rubberised ends that wrap slightly over the phone ensuring it stays in place and doesn’t slip.

I did find an issue when I placed the Galaxy Nexus in the clamp. The clamp actually presses the volume down rocker on the side of the phone so that the volume always goes to mute. You can adjust the placement of the phone so that this doesn’t happen, but it did annoy me slightly. Also, this only occurred with the Galaxy Nexus, I tried the Galaxy SII and the HTC Sensation and neither had this issue.

Gaming

As mentioned earlier in the review, Fructal says that the Gametel gamepad officially supports 50 games. However I’ve tried it with many games that aren’t on the officially supported list and it works great.

I find that using the gamepad that games are much more responsive that using on screen controls, and you get the added bonus of being able to see the whole screen as your fingers aren’t in the way. I actually find that I’m much better at games when using the GameTel gamepad too. I’ve tested the device on phones as well as on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it works great on all screen sizes.

Conclusion

I’m very happy with the Gametel gamepad. It really does add much more to gaming on android. I find that I enjoy games a lot more due to the more accurate control I have. The number of games supported is also quite large. It seems to work with most games that have an on-screen dpad/action buttons which are the games you’ll be primarily playing.

For the price I’d really expect a MicroUSB cable to be supplied, nevertheless I would definitely recommend this accessory to any android owner that loves to play games on their mobile.

You can pick up the Gametel gamepad yourself from Amazon for RRP £49.99.

We here at Droid-Den hope you had a lovely Christmas period, and wish you all the best for the coming year! As a little treat to start off 2012 we have slashed the price of the official android Droid-Den app to only 50p/99 cents for the new year. Simply head over to the market to grab the deal, but as with all New Years sales, you’d better grab it quick while stocks last

App Name Droid-Den ND

If you want to try out the app before deciding to purchase, then we also have an ad-supported free version for you to try!

App Name Droid-Den ND

1. MultiTasking

Ok, so you probably know about this feature already, but there is a lot of confusion about exactly what happens in the background when this is used. Well, that’s all about to be cleared up! Anywhere within ICS you can press the multitasking button to view a list of the 15 most recently used apps. A nice preview of the last state of the window is given, as well as the name of the app. You can slide an app in this list left or right to remove the app from the list. It’s great for managing apps you don’t use that much and just want to hide away. But what many people don’t know is what exactly this swiping action does in terms of the app itself. Well, let’s have a look shall we!

The easiest way to describe what happens would be to say that swiping an app off the multitasking list is effectively the same as pressing back when inside the app in question, until you are returned to your homescreen. Effectively the swipe loops through all open activities associated with the app and calls the android method of finish(), asking the activity to finish. Now this generally means that the app will be closed, but not so if an activity is still in the foreground, a prime example being an app where music is currently playing.

But at the end of the day, I guess it’s not really that important what happens when you swipe an app from this list, because android knows itself better than any of us, and is more than capable of taking care of itself

2. Widget Resize

This is something many of us have been doing for a while with 3rd party launcher apps. Resizing widgets to either fit them into a smaller space, or increasing their size in order to display more information at the same time (There is also the additional use, ensuring the widget is displayed using the original dimensions when we add additional columns and rows to a custom launcher).

Ice Cream Sandwich, like Honeycomb before it, lets you resize certain widgets. However, this is currently limited to the stock widgets that come as part of ice cream sandwich. There are ways of expanding this to all widgets however, most notably via the use of a customised stock launcher such as Nova Launcher.

3. Swipe Notifications

One of my personal wishes was for the ability to remove individual notifications from the notification bar. We’ve had this for a while in custom roms such as CM7, and now we have it in stock android thanks to ICS. You can swipe left or right to remove individual notifications from your notification bar, of course you can still press the x to clear everything at once.

I’d love to see the notifications functionality enhanced in future versions of android. For example swiping an individual notification left to mark the item as read in the respective application, swipe right to delete the item you are being notified about, and maybe long press to remove the notification.

4. Force GPU Rendering

The rendering within a window pre-ICS was all performed by the CPU (windows animations were done by the GPU, but that’s a different story all together). This changed with the introduction of Honeycomb and now with ICS. ICS automatically turns on GPU rendering for all apps that are targeting to API level 14 (API level 14 is android 4.0, the base version of ICS). This is great, but means that the GPU isn’t utilised for apps that don’t specifically target ICS (which at the time of writing is quite a few!).

This option available within the Developer Options settings effectively turns on GPU rendering for all applications, regardless if they specifically target ICS or not. This can be great news, as offloading rendering to the GPU typically leads to a smoother UI experience, especially within apps that handle lots of information such as the official twitter app. However, there are some disadvantages to enabling this option that you should be aware of. It may cause some UI issues within certain apps and games. For example the menu bar within Astro just doesn’t appear when GPU forced rendering is enabled.

My advice would be to try turning this on and see if you notice a difference in the smoothness of any apps. If not, revert back and forget about it, but if so, bear in mind that any graphical glitches in apps you see may be caused by this, and to see if disabling it fixes the issue before reporting it as a bug to the app developer.

5. Screenshot

Simple, and easy. A great feature that had already been implemented by many android manufacturers, but noticeably missing from stock android. Simply press the volume down key and the power button at the same time to take a screenshot of the current screen. A notification will then appear allowing you to jump straight to the new screenshot and share as you wish.

That’s it for part one! I hope an explanation of some of the more apparent features of ICS was helpful, remember to stay tuned for part 2 which will cover some of the more obscure features of ICS and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus!

Packaging

The case actually has packaging, which is a bit of an anomaly with phone cases. The case is clear plastic, and contains the CaseMate logo and Barely There name on the front, along with a “Compatible with Samsung Galaxy Nexus” sticker to ease the mind. The back of the packaging proclaims this case to be the “Le Boitier Fin Original”, or “The Original Slim Case” for those of us lacking in a bit of French… je ne sais quoi.

Inside the case an information sheet is provided. The sheet contains a QR code allowing you to join the CaseMate newsletter, and  an image that seems to suggest that this case is hammer resistant. For the purposes of this review, I unfortunately won’t be confirming this claim, but feel free to send us in your pictures if you fancy having a go!!

Application

As with most thin phone cases, the process of putting this case on your phone is extremely simple. Simply put the phone in the case and push, it should clip right in place. Unlike some clip in cases, the Barely There case easily slides in, almost as it if shouldn’t logically stay in place.  The sides of the case lift up over screen which helps keep the case on. It will never come off unless you purposely remove it.

Removal of the case is also very easy. Again, some cases drag on the volume rocker or power button when you attempt to remove them, not so with the CaseMate, it slides off just as easily as it slid on.

Material

The case is made of some sort of plastic material, according to the CaseMate website this is actually a specially engineered material with a hard to break shell. The material feels smooth to the touch which is nice, but it also makes the phone slightly more slippy to hold than without the case. As you should know the back cover of the Galaxy Nexus is textured, so this smooth case will always be more slippy. It’s important to note that it isn’t excessively slippy though, I certainly don’t ever feel like I will be dropping the phone while using this case.

The back of the case has the CaseMate text ad logo just above the gap for the rear speaker. The logo is indented into the case, and is very small, it’s actually difficult to notice it’s really there which is a positive from my point of view. The logo doesn’t attempt to be the main focus of this case.

As the name of the case suggests, the aim is to offer some protection without adding bulk or weight to the phone. The case does generally live up to its “Barely There” name, the phone doesn’t really feel much heavier with the case on, but it does feel slightly more substantial. I think this might be due to the fact that the bottom end of the case doesn’t sit flush with the back cover of the phone. You can push down the case slightly showing there is a slight gap. I think this may be due to the curve of the phone, and it’s not a huge issue, just something I personally noticed whilst inspecting this case.

Protection

The case covers the whole back of the phone, both sides and about 1/3 of each end. The back of the case has a gap for the camera and flash, the rear speaker and also contains 2 strange little holes towards the bottom that don’t seem to serve any purpose at all. The left hand side has room for the volume rocker while the right makes pace for the power button and docking connectors. The bottom of the case leaves plenty of space for the microusb connector, 3.5mm headphone jack and microphone.

I’m glad that CaseMate didn’t cover the power button or volume rocker, as I find it unpleasant to press these through material. However, the cutout for the power button on the right side of the case seems to be too heavily weighted towards the right side of the power button. The left side of the power button is quite close to the case and because of this pressing the power button is quite fiddly, you sort of have to half push the power button, and half push the case with your thumb to switch the phone on. It is annoying, but I have gotten somewhat used to it during my time with the case so far.

The case won’t protect your phone from a hammer blow, but it will stop those pesky little scratches and scuffs we all hate so much.

What We Think

The case doesn’t ever try to portray that it will offer maximum protection for your phone, that fact is implied within the name really. However, it does what is was created for very well, and that is offer some basic protection whilst adding a minimal footprint to the phone. This is probably the best case available for the Galaxy Nexus in my opinion, but as there aren’t a whole load to pick from as of yet, take from that comment what you will. It is the case protecting my Galaxy Nexus, for the time being at least.

(Photos taken on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, indoors with default settings, no flash)

The app is really nice, there has been a lot of work put into the typography for sure, it’s really a pleasure to read articles on this thing. The only catch so far? It’s America only. If you live in america then check out the official market link below.

App Name Google Inc. ND

If the above link doesn’t work for you, then grab the apk from here instead, this should work for all devices!

Well the guys over at Mobile Fun have kindly sent me a Genuine Samsung Galaxy S2 Mesh Vent case. Lets jump into the review and see if the case lives up to the awesome sounding name!

Packaging

The packaging is pretty non-existent really, it’s literally a small plastic film bag with a barcode on. Now you don’t normally purchase cases for the packaging so really this shouldn’t be a big deal, but this case is supposed to be a genuine (I’ve no doubt that it is genuine btw) case so you’d really expect something more substantial. But once again, this shouldn’t matter much as I’m guessing 9/10 of you throw the packaging away almost immediately (the 1/10  of you should be ashamed/proud for being such a huge geek!). The good thing about minimal packaging like this is that the price of the case isn’t artificially inflated to take expensive packaging into account, so generally speaking the less the better.

Application

Very, very simple. The case clips on very easily, and it never feels like it will break or snap in the process. The top “rim” of the case come in slightly so that when the case is actually on the phone it sort of clips in. It’s a good design element and helps to add confidence that the phone will never slip out of the case.

I have to add that I worry about applying and removing the case because it is quite tight it pushes the volume rocker and power button in during the actual process of application/removal. Now I’ve had this case for a while and both the power button and volume rocker are as they were when I bought the phone (since it was released here in the UK, in other words a long time), so that worry is most definitely unfounded. You generally won’t be taking the case off much anyway so again not really a big (or even a small) deal.

Material

This case is made using “ a contemporary mesh material”, really it’s a smooth plastic like substance. It’s quite strong, but flexible. You can twist the case about a bit and it won’t lose its shape or rigidity at all. It feels smooth to the touch which is nice, in fact I much prefer the feel of this case than the feel of the Galaxy SII itself.

The back of the case contains a small shiny silver Galaxy SII logo. Looking at the pictures of this before actually seeing the case in person had me worried, it did look a bit cheap. However, in person this is a nice touch to the case, not too shiny and adds to the “cool” look of the phone overall.

The back of the case is meshed, like the name suggests. It’s very nice, it adds something extra you wouldn’t get with a case with a standard, boring back! One of the most popular aspects of the Galaxy SII is the thinness and lightness of the phone. Personally, I hate cases that add bulk and weight to this device, in my opinion they uglify the phone somewhat. You’ll be happy to know that this case really doesn’t add much at all to both of these factors. The phone still feels light and thin with the case on, definitely a huge plus for me.

Protection

The case covers the back of the phone, and both sides. The front screen, bottom and top of the phone are not covered at all. This is most definitely not the choice for you if you like your phone fully protected. Having said that, it does offer some protection. The back is fully protected from scratches, as are the sides. The side protection actually rises slightly higher than the phone, meaning if you lay the phone screen down the screen doesn’t touch the floor. This actually offers a decent amount of protection to the screen if you do happen to drop the phone. I know as I’ve done this myself.

The case has cutouts on the left for the volume rocker and speaker, while the right has a cutout for the power button . As mentioned earlier, the top and bottom of the phone are not covered at all so the 3.5mm headphone jack and the mhl/microusb port are completely free.

What We Think

This case is my favourite case for the Galaxy SII, in fact I might even go as far as to say its one of my favourite cases for any phone. The main reason is due to the lack of bulk or weight the case adds to the phone, whilst keeping the stylish look and adding at least some protection. The case is also available in multiple colours so there is something there for everyone’s taste.

I’ve created a video review of this game using the Xperia Play, in the video I walk through the main features and give an overview of the “goal” of the game, check it out after the jump!

The app is available in both free and paid for formats on the android market, the links are provided below. If you have had a chance to check this game out yourself, please let me know what you thought!

App Name Angry Mob Games ND

App Name Angry Mob Games ND

The controls do take some getting used to however, and the fact that the d-pad is not used is somewhat confusing, nevertheless the touchscreen buttons have been implemented well and you also get the choice to use the touchpad on the controller too. If any of you Xperia Play owners out there have had a chance to play this game let me know your thoughts! Oh, one last thing, make sure you have at least 1.5GB of free space on your sd card before attempting to download this game!

It’s not a bad offer, well its free media content so it can only be good really. If you want to take part you need to go into your Samsung Hub app, click Exclusives and enter your IMEI number. The full details from Samsung are given below, enjoy!

You may have seen my recent review of the official flip case for the Galaxy Note, that official case is great and definitely gives the other cases out there something to reach for. It’s also a unique type of case due to it replacing the back of the phone. Thanks again to the guys at MobileFun I had the chance to checkout a different type of case, one that you may even have tried before yourself on a previous phone,  the Flexishield Galaxy Note case.

Packaging

The packaging this case came in is extremely minimal. In fact, you could very well find a picture of this packaging against the term ”Minimal” in your dictionary (or search Google for define: minimal  if you’ve joined us in the 21st century). It comes in what is literally a clear plastic bag, think of something you’d wrap your sandwiches in before you went to work, or perhaps your liquids under 100ml before you jump on a plane. It’s just minimal. Is this a bad thing I hear you ask? Well, no not really. I mean you don’t stick the case on your phone with the packaging still on right? And you generally don’t keep the packaging in case you want to sell it later on. The packaging also helps to keep the price of this case down, which is always a good thing!

Application

Applying this case is the easiest thing in the world. If you’ve ever experienced trying to remove the back casing from the Galaxy Note, then breathe a sigh of relief because this is child’s play in comparison. The case is quite flexible so you can simply place the phone inside and wrap the flexishield around the sides. That’s all there is to it really.

Material

The flexishield is one continuous piece of material. I’m not entirely sure what this kind of material is called, but its a gel like substance that reminds me of silicone, but is apparently stronger and more durable. It doesn’t feel very expensive, but then again it isn’t expensive so that’s to be expected. You can also see and feel the seam going all the way round the sides of the device. It’s not very big, but it’s there so something to consider if you like an all around smooth case. The case I received for this review is a light blue colour, but it’s also available in Black, White and Pink. The case isn’t the most stylish of things to put on your phone, but its light and thin so doesn’t add too much in the way of bulkiness.

Protection

The case covers everything except the front of the phone. There are cut outs for the rear camera and flash, the speaker and the stylus pocket, as well as the mic and microusb/mhl port along the bottom of the phone and the 3.5″ headphone port along the top. The volume rocker and power button are covered, but the case does outline these. The covered buttons can still be pressed easily, however you do lose the “feeling” of having pressed them. Testing this out I could only ever tell that I hit the volume or power buttons by looking to see if the screen reacted. It’s annoying, but maybe something you could live with.

It will definitely protect your phone from any scratches in normal use, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of padding so a drop could still damage the phone, especially as the screen is not covered.

What We Think

This is your typical flexishield case, if you have used one before then expect more of the same. It’s cheap and knows it is, but the light touch doesn’t add much bulk or ugliness to your phone, especially if you pick one of the more muted colours. We recommend if you want to keep stray scratches away from your phone without blowing your budget.

Speaking of the newly released FIFA 12, I’ll be reviewing this game for the Play very soon so watch this space!

We have both a free version (ad-supported) as well as a paid for version (£0.99 – or as we like to say, 1/3 the cost of a Starbucks coffee). Feel free to check out the ad-supported version, which offers the same full features as the paid for version. If you like the app, we would advise you to grab the paid for version to get rid of the ads (yes we hate them too!) and to show your support for the Droid Den team!

We were contemplating reviewing our own app, but early drafts seemed to have a slight bias! As a result, we thought we’d include you guys on the action and offer you the chance to get a copy of the paid for version of the app for FREE!

Over the next few weeks we will be posting a few reader-sent reviews of our Official app. All you have to do is write up a review of the Droid-Den.com application and email it to us. We will select the best reviews and post them to the site, as well as providing those that get published to the site with a free copy of the paid-for application!

App Name Droid-Den ND

App Name Droid-Den ND

Good luck!

Christmas is coming, and if you are on the lookout for a top level android phone at a decent price, you might be thinking about either of these handsets, so to help you out I’ve put together a comparison of the main features these phones provide.

CPU

SGSII: Dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset
Sensation: 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm MSM 8260 Snapdragon

Both of these phones are running dual cores at the same clock speed. The exynos CPU made by Samsung is generally regarded to be the better of the two, and virtually all the available smartphone benchmarks seem to prove this point. You won’t be disappointed with either of these, but the SGSII takes it simply because it’s benchmark results blow the Sensations out of the water.

Winner Samsung
Samsung 1:0 HTC

RAM

SGSII: 1GB
Sensation: 768MB

The SGSII has slightly more RAM than the Sensation, but the Sensation really does need it more thanks to Sense. Sense is quite a heavy optimisation over android, and does consume a hefty amount of RAM. Samsung’s equivalent TouchWiz interface has a much lighter touch and therefore doesn’t consume nearly as much resources as Sense. It seems strange to me that HTC decided to only put in 768MB of RAM on this phone. Its something you do notice often in daily use. The SGSII generally hovers around the 400MB of free RAM, whereas the Sensation is typically less than 100MB. This is especially noticeable when you press the home button on the Sensation. Android sometimes has to close the Sense homescreen application in order to free up RAM for other uses, meaning as delay to get back home whilst the phone reloads Sense. The SGSII never has this problem at all, everything is silky smooth.

Winner Samsung
Samsung 2:0 HTC

Display

SGSII: 4.3″ 800x480px (218ppi) Super AMOLED Plus
Sensation: 4.3″ 540×960 (256ppi) SLCD

Looking at the display specs, most people would immediately jump towards the Sensation, however the reality is a very different story. The Super AMOLED Plus technology is supposed to provide better blacks, contrast, viewing angles as well as being less reflective than the SLCD display on the Sensation. Well, in reality it really does! Pictures on the SGSII look much more vivid than those on the Sensation. The difference is also quite clear outdoors as the Sensation has quite a reflective screen. The SGSII isn’t amazing either, but is better than the Sensation in this regard.

The extra ppi and resolution on the Sensation is worth speaking about. Text on the Sensation is extremely sharp, and if I had one complaint about the SII it would be the lack of a higher resolution. The Sensation can fit more words on the screen, and things do generally look sharper when using the phone.

The result here should have been close, with the Sensation having an edge with its higher resolution. However, the Super AMOLED+ display Samsung have created is just… well super. I personally can’t wait to see this screen technology on high resolution phones.

Winner Samsung
Samsung 3:0 HTC

Camera

SGSII: Rear: 8MP, autofocus, LED Flash, 1080p video recording @ 30fps Front: 2MP
Sensation: Rear: 8MP, autofocus, Dual LED Flash, 1080p video recording @ 30fps Front: VGA

The camera specs are pretty much identical here, with the Sensation having the benefit of two LED flashes over the one found on the SGSII. HTC have never had a history of good cameras, the thought of the camera on the Desire still gives me shudders, however they have done a top job with the Sensation. The camera is definitely one of the stand out features on this device. It picks out detail well and touch to focus is a nice feature.

The camera on the SGSII however is one of the best I’ve ever used on a smartphone. It really does a great job of catching colours, and the macro mode is stunning. In fact I’ve used it quite a lot myself to take pictures of devices for Droid-Den I’m that confident in it.

Video recording is largely the same on both devices, both very good for smartphones, with the Sensation probably taking it due to the stereo sound recording.

This one really is a close call, again I would say you won’t be disappointed in the camera if you opt for either of these phones, bt once again the SGSII takes it by as nose, thanks to the vividness of the photos it captures.

Winner Samsung
Samsung 4:0 HTC

Size

SGSII: 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.49mm, 116g
Sensation: 126.1 x 65.4 x 11.3 mm, 148g

The SGSII is thinner, shorter and weighs less than the Sensation, but is also slightly wider. The extra width comes from the wider screen that the SGSII has when compared to the Sensation (the Sensation not as wide due to the screen aspect ratio). The Sensation definitely feels like there is more to it, and although it’s actually not as wide and only marginally longer it feels much bigger than the SII. That’s not to say the SGSII is bad, because personally I like the lightness and thinness of this device, but its something you should consider when choosing between these phones.

The Sensation has a unibody case, essentially the phone innards and screen fit into the back casing. The SGSII in comparison has a very thin back plate, it’s almost nothing really. Both are awkward to take off in my experience. Taking the back off the Sensation (it would be more accurate to say, taking the front off the Sensation really) left me with sore fingers, whilst removing the back from the SGSII has left me with jittery nerves!

The back of the SGSII is a textured plastic, with a small bit protruding towards the bottom housing the speaker. The camera extends out of the back somewhat, giving some worry as to whether the lens casing can be easily scratched (this worry is mostly unfounded I have realised through experience). To the right the power button, the left the volume rocker, the 3.5″ headphone jack along the top and the microusb/mhl port along the bottom, standard fare really.

The back of the Sensation displays a sort of cool wave effect, seemingly splitting the phone into three distinct parts. Its different, and its nice. The camera is towards the top left, and to the right of the camera is the speaker. The right side of the phone contains nothing, the left the volume rocker and the microusb/mhl port, with the power button and the 3.5″ headphone jack along the top.

The power button and volume rocker seem slightly loose on the Sensation, especially when compared directly with the SGSII, where the same features are extremely sturdy. I also have an issue with the placement of the microusb port, it feels much more comfortable being at the bottom of the device rather than the side.

I hesitant to give a win to either side here really. Both devices are so different, but fantastic in their own way. Really the choice here is down to which you personally prefer. Both can have a point here!

Winner Tie
Samsung 5:1 HTC

Storage

SGSII: 16/32GB internal + microSD
Sensation: 1GB internal + microSD

There’s not much you can say about storage really, generally the device with the most storage is automatically the winner, but lets give it a shot. The Sensation has a lot less internal memory than the SGSII. In fact, with regards to storage space you can use for your own items, it has none. The whole 1GB of internal storage is reserved for apps. Now if you’ve come from a previous HTC devices this might excite you a bit, because it’s a lot more than can be found on their previous phones. However, when you compare this to the 1.7GB of available app storage on the SGSII, it puts it into perspective. The truth is you probably won’t use up the whole 1GB of app space on the Sensation, unless you play a lot of games, and even then you have the option to move apps to the sd card. But it is something to bear in mind, from my own experience, 1GB just isn’t enough, for example I am currently using about 1.3GB of app space on my SGSII, more than is available on the Sensation in total.

Whereas many of the previous rounds were extremely close, the SGSII takes this round easily. HTC really need to start providing more than the basic amount of space on their android phones, especially as games and apps become more rich and begin to require more app storage.

Winner Samsung
Samsung 6:1 HTC

OS

SGSII: Android 2.3
Sensation: Android 2.3

Both of these phones are running android 2.3, or Gingerbread. ICS has just been released and both of these phones will be getting an update to this latest version of android sometime in the near future. I would expect Samsung to get the update faster, HTC have a history of being slow at updating their phones, mainly because it takes them longer to integrate Sense into the OS, which is much more tightly integrated than the Samsung TouchWiz overlay.

Sense does provide a lot of nice features, but sometimes “takes it too far”. You cannot turn off sense, so you better make sure it’s your cup of tea before you purchase the Sensation (or any HTC phone really). You can just about turn off TouchWiz, but it’s more accurate to say you can replace more of the bits of the OS that it changes than you can do with a Sense phone.

Personally, TouchWiz is closer to stock android and therefore gets my vote. But I respect what Sense brings to android, and although not my cup of tea, it does hae many fans out there.

Winner Tie
Samsung 7:2 HTC

Price

SGSII: £386
Sensation: £329

I’m using the sim free price from the official Three UK website for the price comparison. Not much you can say about this really, +1 for HTC!

Winner HTC
Samsung 7:3 HTC

Conclusion

The final score is slightly advantageous to the SGSII, but really both of these phones are great. You would not be unhappy opening your Christmas presents and finding either one in there for sure. It’s my personal opinion (shared by most out there) that the SGSII is the better phone, and certainly the one I’d out my money down for. The only real wish is for a higher screen resolution, but that’s just being picky more than anything.

I hope you guys found this comparison useful, and a big thanks to the great guys at Three UK for giving me some time with the HTC Sensation too! Three have both of these phones on contract starting from £30p/m if you are looking for Christmas presents!

The flip case comes in some nice, but standard Samsung packaging displaying most of the case. The back of the box lets you know that this case is only compatible with Samsung products, just in case you were hoping to fit this onto your HTC Sensation or Motorola Xoom…

The case itself consists of a replacement back cover and a front cover made of synthetic material. Samsung like this type of material on their official cases, and if you’ve ever seen the official book case for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, you’ll be familiar with this material. It’s not leather which may disappoint some people, but it has a nice feel to it and is slightly textured making it feel high quality, and expensive (which is important).

As mentioned above, this case actually replaces the back cover of your Note. It clips in just like the stock back cover (well actually, it is a bit easer to clip into place than the stock cover), but is slightly thicker and as such slightly heavier. But only very slightly, the biggest advantage I can see to the extra thickness is that the rear camera now sits under the case slightly meaning that when the phone is laid on a flat surface the lens cover does not touch the surface! This is great for those of us (me included) who love taking pictures with their smartphones and don’t want any damage to occur to the lens cover. As far as I can tell the back cover on this case is made out of the same material as the stock back cover. It also contains the same Samsung logo,  you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who could tell this isn’t the stock cover just from looking at it.

Where as the front of the case is made of the leatherish synthetic material Samsung likes, the read of the front cover is a bit softer, almost padded really, which helps to ensure that the screen is protected from any harm. The front cover leaves a small slit for the earpiece, which means you can actually hold a phone call with the case closed.. It’s kind of strange, but shows Samsung have put thought into the use of this case. It also makes the front look a bit cooler which is always good!

You can flip the front cover all the way round the back of the phone. This is great as one of my pet hates is a cover flapping about when you’re trying to send a text, or grab that last golden fruit on Angry Birds. However, this feature also leads me onto the one negative I have with this case. The front cover is free to flap about as much as it likes. There is no magnetic or physical clip keeping it in place when resting. This means that after about the first 5 minutes of using the case, the front will never again stay truly flat against the front of the phone. It just lifts up slightly. You can check the photos in the gallery attached to this post to see what I mean. I haven’t had a great deal of time with the case yet so I can’t comment on if this will get any worse, but its something to bear in mind.

However, this is still a fantastic Galaxy Note case, and definitely one of the better ones out there for sure. It’s not too expensive, and a lot cheaper than a real leather case you might find. I’ll be using this case on my Note for the time being at least!

My girlfriend didn’t really agree with my self-portrait however, so against my better judgement…. I’ll post her drawing of me too…

So up first, my pretty damn accurate (I swear) self-portrait!

And up second…. What I can only describe as a criminally inaccurate drawing of me!

There we have it….. O_o