Over the past few years Quebec has been embroiled in fierce competition, mainly from Bell and Rogers, but Videotron has stepped up their offerings to protect their territory. They were first in the province to release an unlimited plan, plus recently launched an on-demand Netflix service called illico Club Unlimited. As for their wireless service, Videotron has some sought after handsets such as the Nexus 4 and Galaxy S III, but the no-term pricing is usually higher than their competitors. At last count Videotron had 378,300 wireless subscribers.

Robert Dépatie, President and CEO of Videotron, stated “It is always an honour for us to receive this confirmation of the high regard in which we are held by Quebecers. Day after day, we strive to provide the best possible experience for our customers, to make their lives easier, to make a difference. This recognition proves that we are succeeding, that we have been able to stand out by virtue of the attention we pay to our customers. More than ever, they will be our top priority in 2013.”

Source: Videotron

Nokia has a knack for releasing entry-level devices unmatched in build quality, price and software compatibility.

The Lumia 620 is a natural extension of its Windows Phone 7.5-based Lumia 610 predecessor, but accomplishes everything considerably faster. At $250 outright on TELUS and free on a two-year term, there aren’t many true competitors to the 620. But is it worth purchasing for the price alone, or are there better choices out there for the average smartphone buyer?

Specs

- Windows Phone 8 Portico release
- 3.8-inch 800x480px ClearBlack LCD
- 1Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus SoC
- 512MB RAM, 8GB internal storage (+microSD card slot)
- 5MP back camera, VGA front camera
- 1300mAh removable battery
- WiFi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, A-GPS
- HSPA+ 21Mbps/5.76Mbps
- 115 x 61 x 11mm
- 127g

What’s Good

There may not be a lot to say about the Lumia 620 past the obvious: it’s a wonderful device at any price, but particularly at $250.

The screen is sharp, with excellent colour saturation and lovely contrast levels; viewing angles are fine, though anything past 30 degrees horizontal gets washed out. The ClearBlack display is responsive and gloriously one hand-friendly. There’s something peaceful about using a device this size after handling larger Android devices for the past year. Even the Lumia 920 feels cumbersome at times, and in using the 3.8-inch Lumia 620 it made me long for a simpler time.

More practically, though, the smaller screen means one-handed typing is a pleasure, as is the ability to reach any spot on the screen without adjusting the phone in your hand. Similarly, tipping the phone to one side to use as a camera is a subtle affair, and the 11mm thickness is negated by the phone’s trivial 127g weight.

Windows Phone 8 has really come a long way since its launch, with a bevy of well-made, nicely-designed, high performance apps available on the Windows Store. The Lumia 620 benefits from all of them, and runs the majority of apps with a consistency that most entry-level Android devices couldn’t dream of. Nokia didn’t skimp on power in this handset: a dual-core Snapdragon processor is plenty fast to run the latest apps and games, barring a few graphically-intense 3D ones like Asphalt 7.

The camera is quite good for a 5MP shooter, with a quick shutter and powerful flash. It in no way captures photos that compare to the excellent image-stabilized results of the Lumia 920, but Nokia does right by this little camera phone. Similarly, the Finnish OEM saw fit to include a front-facing shooter, albeit at a paltry VGA resolution, but the same can’t be said for the HTC 8S.

And while the Lumia 620 won’t win any awards for design, it does come with a removable back cover whose matte black finish can be replaced with a variety of hues. Battery life from the 1300mAh cell was excellent — we obtained longer than a day per charge — and call quality was similarly good. The device also has a microSD slot to expand storage another 64GB, if desired.

- Excellent outright price
- Fantastic one-handed usage
- Able to keep up with its more expensive peers in terms of performance
- Good call quality and battery life
- Nice screen
- Replaceable back cover
- microSD slot

What Needs Work

The Lumia 620, while great value, is only such when purchasing outright; far better phones can be had for $0, though you may have to sign a three-year contract (as opposed to a two-year) for the privilege. It may also be worth waiting to see if a Canadian carrier will release the newly-announced Lumia 720, which may carry a bit more bang for the buck.

If there is one serious design flaw in the Lumia 620, it’s that in removing and replacing the back cover, a non-trivial amount of pressure is exerted on the thin glass screen. This leaves the phone open to user-generated cracks, something that would have been avoided with a different mechanism.

The screen on the Lumia 620 also displays a fair amount of ghosting, a result of latency from a relatively cheap LCD part. Similarly, while the camera quality may be good enough for an entry-level device, it’s certainly not up to par with most mainstream handsets for a couple hundred dollars more. Lack of LTE connectivity will also be a concern for some users, especially as this is launching on TELUS and not Koodo.

Other than those minor quibbles, there really isn’t much to complain about here. We could continue to drive home the idea that Windows Phone lacks many of the top apps users can take advantage of on iOS or Android, namely Instagram, Flipboard, Path and more, but the OS itself integrates many of those popular functions. Facebook and Twitter integration is excellent, and developers are slowly coming around to the platform.

- Back cover removal is poorly designed
- Lacks LTE capabilities
- Can’t play some more graphically-intensive games
- Screen shows some ghosting
- Competitively priced only when purchased outright
- Windows Phone 8 still lacks many of the top apps available on iOS and Android

Final Words

The Nokia Lumia 620 is a competitively-priced entry-level smartphone and deserves a good look. It’s not necessarily the right choice for those signing a multi-year contract, since many better devices are discounted to $0 on three-year terms at the moment, but combined with an inexpensive pre- or post-paid plan, there aren’t many choices better than this.

Hitting all the right notes where it counts — performance, battery life, form factor — the Lumia 620 is let down only by the continued paucity of great Windows Phone 8 apps, though the number is certainly growing. Consider the Lumia 620 over the similarly-priced Windows Phone 8S, if only for the Lumia-exclusive app catalogue.

The Nokia Lumia 620 is available from TELUS for $250 outright.

The Samsung S275 and the LG F4n are making the rounds in Canada. Both take a page out of the 1990′s and are probably selling incredibly well with its $100 price tag. The Samsung S275 has now found its way onto the Bell and Solo Mobile lineup for $99.95 – this entry-level flip has a 1.77-inch display and a 1.3 megapixel camera. As for the LG F4n, this was recently released on Eastlink and Videotron and will soon be making an appearance on SaskTel. This flip is also $99.95 outright and barely has a camera (1.3MP).

Source: Bell & Solo, SaskTel

Check out our full Nexus 4 review here.

Source: Videotron

The company has taken a lot of hits and has kept on going; from poor sales of its One series Android phones to falling market share and dwindling share price (all of which are correlated), HTC has found a strong partner in Microsoft at an important time.

With powerful specs, a gorgeous 4.3-inch screen and plenty of visual flair, can the HTC 8X make it into your holiday smartphone list? Let’s find out.

The Good

The HTC 8X is powerful, and it’s gorgeous. This phone is light, slim and feels perfect in the hand; it’s one of those set-it-and-forget-it type feels, except it applies to actually, well, using it. This comes from the relatively tiny form factor (for today’s market), though it’s a lot taller than it initially appears.

The body is made with a similar-feeling matte polycarbonate to its One X sibling, though the material is slightly courser, almost leathery. It’s also a lot narrower than the aforementioned Android flagship, which allows it to slip into of any pocket seamlessly. The sloping edges help the 8X feel thinner than its mid-range 10.1mm frame, and the little touches, such as tiny drilled holes in the back for speaker output, work in its favour.

With a top-right power button, slim right-side volume rocker and equally recessed camera shutter button, the 8X puts itself at a disadvantage against the Lumia 920 which, despite its size, operates more effortlessly as a camera. That being said, the low profile nature of the phone lends it a remarkably feeling of self-containment, one that has yet to be rivalled by any phone but the iPhone.

The Super LCD2 display on the Windows Phone 8X is one of the best ever made. It’s sharp, dense and colourful, with accurate colour reproduction, something that can’t be said yet for Samsung’s Super AMOLED screens. While not everything is perfect — Nokia’s Lumia 920 bests the 8X in direct sunlight tests, and blacks could be darker — the phone’s display is in many ways still unparalleled. Unfortunately HTC bested itself with the Super LCD3 display on the Droid DNA, but despite its super high pixel density the 8X is brighter and shows deeper colours.

The Windows Phone 8X boasts the same 8MP shooter as the One X and its ilk, but improves upon the Android crowd by offering a wide-angle 2.1MP front-facing camera that is by far the best we’ve seen from a smartphone. Thanks to deep Skype integration in Windows Phone 8, users of the 8X will enjoy unprecedented video quality from the front shooter. It can shoot 1080p video, too, and is controlled by the dedicated Image Sense chip, something in which HTC takes a lot of pride.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said of the rear lens, which is bested in many ways by the Lumia 920, especially in terms of video quality and low-light performance. The 8X takes great photos, and is even better able to focus at close quarters than the Lumia, but results lack the sharpness and dynamic range of the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III. And while the Lumia 920 currently shoots “soft” photos in daylight, there is potential for improved results, and will likely be corrected in a future software update; the 8X is merely limited by its mediocre sensor.

Performance and battery life on the Windows Phone 8X are what one would expect from a flagship device. They’re excellent. I was able to get through an entire day with the device pushing through emails, Twitter notifications, Facebook messages, taking photos and video, and generally doing what one does on a smartphone. The 1800mAh battery is non-removable, but due to Windows Phone’s well-known power efficiency it should last longer than an Android phone with the same size cell.

The phone was not demonstrably swifter or slower than the Lumia 920, likely because they share the same 1.5Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 1GB RAM combo. Some apps exhibited slow load times and poor scrolling performance, but that has more to do with apps that have yet to be optimized for Windows Phone 8 than any fault of the 8X itself. The OS, with its multiple-sized live tiles, superlative keyboard and excellent social media integration, feels spacious and effortless on the 8X.

One thing that 8X has going for it over any other device on the market right now is a comparatively powerful headphone amplifier. At 2.55v, it is able to drive headphones noticeably louder than most smartphones, and can reach ear-bleeding levels without distorting. While this is meaningless to most users, on a blind test I was easily able to tell the difference in quality between the One X (good) and the 8X (better) using the same pair of 120-ohm Beyerdynamic headphones.

More importantly, it means that audiophiles with 300-ohm headphones will be able to obtain nearly double the volume from the 8X over an equivalent smartphone. And while most sound aficionados won’t take their $1600 Sennheiser HD 800′s for a walk on the town, in the event they should the 8X will more than suffice.

Needs Improvement

The Windows Phone 8X is still a Windows Phone, and that means that despite HTC’s unmatched design ethic and build quality and the operating system’s smooth performance, it is still not quite able to compete with the big boys.

Where Nokia has its own Collection of apps, many of which are good enough to sell Lumia devices on their own, HTC’s homemade assortment is anything but robust. There’s a mediocre photo editing suite, a hub for weather and news, a flashlight and some other odds and ends. It pales in comparison to what is available to Lumia owners, and undermines many of the 8X’s advantages.

There’s also the question of storage space. You can get the 8GB version of the 8X for free on Rogers with a three-year contract, and Bell sells the 16GB for the same price. Rogers charges $79.99 for the 16GB version but only $20 more for the 32GB Lumia 920, which is arguably better value. Now, the 8X is half the size, or at least seems so, and a good 55g lighter, so it’s certainly going to be more attractive to the average consumer. Just keep in mind that neither device has expandable storage, so go with the phone that will offer you the best value for your money.

The other thing that the 8X lacks is wireless charging. This is neither a necessary feature nor a deal-breaker, but I can see some Nokia fans using it as yet another reason to pick the 920 over the 8X. I’m not so sure it matters. Both devices have the same sensors and radios, including NFC support, but this is true of all modern Windows Phone 8 devices.

I’d be remiss not to talk about the app situation on Windows Phone 8 as a disadvantage, but it’s well-worn territory, so we’ll skip it. The Windows Phone 8X, for better or worse, has the same third-party app selection as any WP8 device today, and while selection is likely to improve in the coming months — developers are just now updating their apps to take advantage of larger live tiles, quick resume and smooth scrolling — it’s paltry right now.

More importantly, a multi-platform app on Windows Phone is usually a feature or three behind its iOS or Android equivalent, and that isn’t good news for those endorsing the platform. When Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare or Evernote takes six months to roll out big changes to Microsoft’s mobile OS it puts users at a huge disadvantage. Some big name apps like Twitter have not seen feature updates in over a year.

The Sum

HTC’s Windows Phone 8X is a delightful phone with excellent performance, decent battery life, a gorgeous screen in a unique form factor. It has the promise of being one of the best phone’s on the market, but is disadvantaged by a half-baked app store and a lack of Nokia’s proprietary apps.

Nevertheless, the 8X has a great camera, best-in-class sound quality with Beats Audio and a powerful headphone amplifier, and a number of features that make it worth your time. Considering it is being heavily discounted on both Rogers and Bell at the moment, it may be worth looking into.

And yet, the One X has held up remarkably well since its release. Its design is still largely unmatched in the Android ecosystem; its unibody polycarbonate body is tremendously hardy and its Super LCD 2 display phenomenally sharp.

So it’s bittersweet that, eight months or so later, HTC’s follow-up to the phone that started its design revolution is one that looks identical. That it arrives in Canada days after the release of the company’s next-generation Droid DNA doesn’t help matters. Where does the One X+ fit in TELUS’ lineup, and despite the speedy 1.7Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 chip and 64GB of internal storage, how quickly will be it replaced?

Specs:

- Android 4.1.1 with Sense 4+
- 4.7-inch 1280×720 Super LCD 2 display
- 1.7Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 SoC
- 1GB RAM / 64GB internal storage
- 8MP back camera / 1.6MP wide-angle front camera (with ImageSense)
- 2100mAh internal battery
- 850/900/1900//2100 MHz HSPA+ / 700/850/AWS/1900 MHz LTE
- 134.36 x 69.9 x 8.9mm
- 135g

What’s Good

The One X+ takes everything that made the One X a great phone and improves upon it. That includes a LTE-capable Tegra 3 chip at speeds faster than the original international version; triple the internal storage of the former Rogers- and TELUS-sold One X; and a larger 2100mAh battery inside the same frame.

While this doesn’t change the experience dramatically — the One X, even running Ice Cream Sandwich, doesn’t feel slow to this day — it certainly adds some zip to app loading times, and improves upon the already-great benchmark results of its predecessor.

The screen and build quality are superlative. The black finish on the phone looks a lot nicer than that of the original white, though I am still a fan of the grey model that came to TELUS this summer. The two phones share the same 720p Super LCD2 screen, and even after eight months it’s still the best on the market. Nothing has beaten it for clarity, viewing angles and sheer beauty — not even the Nexus 4.

While the One X+ uses the same 8MP back camera with ImageSense, the front camera has been upgraded to a wide-angle 1.6MP shooter which also plugs into the ImageSense chip. The updated camera software offers a timer for front-facing shots, and the back camera appears to take photos slightly faster than its predecessor.

Battery life on the One X+ is also improved over the original, though that feat shouldn’t have been difficult to achieve; the One X always had disappointing uptime. Nevertheless, we were able to attain over a day on a single charge, and that was even without the persistent nagging Power Saving feature turned on.

Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean on Sense 4+ doesn’t look too different from its Sense 4 predecessor, but expanded notifications and Google Now are appreciated additions. The UI doesn’t feel any faster or more fluid than the already-polished experience under Ice Cream Sandwich, but the extra 48GB of internal storage is certainly appreciated. Because the One X+ uses a Tegra 3 chip, you have access to the “Tegra Zone” gaming portal, where developers have created apps specifically for the hardware. These games usually have smoother frame rates, more detailed textures, or added lighting/water effects over their non-Tegra counterparts.

What’s Not So Good

Whomever decided that it would be a good idea to have a persistent “Power Saver Off/On” switch in the notification bar needs to lose his or her job. Not only can it not be removed, but even if you fully disable the Power Saver mode it sits there unused and unbidden. It’s a waste of space and an abhorrent abuse of Android’s customizability by HTC.

And while TELUS does not include any bloatware (other than one app portal, which upon launching directs you to download it from the Play Store), there are still a ton of preloaded apps here, many of which will never be used by the average consumer.

We’re also concerned that the Tegra 3 SoC, despite its extra 200Mhz per core, is showing its age. It is built on a 40nm process and is inherently less energy efficient than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chipset. The One X+ would have been better suited for the quad-core S4 Pro SoC with the Adreno 320 GPU, a graphic chip far more powerful than the anemic ultra low power GPU in the Tegra 3.

Conclusions

The One X+ is a great phone, and HTC has every right to improve upon a timeless design and an excellent feature set. But when it comes mere months before the inevitable launch of the Deluxe, and the constant forward momentum of next-generation chips and high(er)-definition screens, we wonder if the One X+ is merely a stopgap phone on the way to something better.

Most consumers who would have appreciated the One X+ have likely already invested in a One X, and few will see it is an essential upgrade. Indeed, while the synthetic benchmark scores are 20-30% higher than the dual-core version, real-world performance improvements are barely noticeable, and once the original gets upgraded to Jelly Bean, many of the advantages of the One X+ will be rendered moot.

If you’ve been holding off buying a One X in hopes of something better, here’s your chance to unload $129.99 on contract or $649.99 outright. You’d be buying one of the top Android phones on the market today — you just never know how long that qualification will last.

The base price is $20/month and steadily increases to $50/month, but apart from the addition of unlimited text and picture messaging, Koodo’s cut the number of Anytime Minutes you have by up to 50%, depending on the plan. However, on the plus side the prices have slightly dropped. Here are the complete details of what to expect on Friday:

Canada-Wide Plans:
$20/month:
- 25 Anytime minutes (was previously 50 minutes)
- Canada-wide Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
- Unlimited Weekends (was not previously offered)
- Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting and Conference Calling
- Unlimited Text and Picture Messaging (was previously up to 50 Text Messages)
- Pay-per-Use data

$25/month:
- 50 Anytime minutes (was previously 100 minutes)
- Canada-wide Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
- 7PM Unlimited Evening and Weekends
- Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting and Conference Calling
- Unlimited Text and Picture Messaging (was previously up to 50 Text Messages)
- Pay-per-Use data

$28/month was previously $30/month):
- 100 Anytime minutes (was previously 150 minutes)
- Canada-wide Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
- 5PM Unlimited Evening and Weekends
- Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting and Conference Calling
- Unlimited Text and Picture Messaging (was previously up to 50 Text Messages)
- Pay-per-Use data

$38/month (was previously $40/month):
- 150 Anytime minutes (was previously 250 minutes)
- Canada-wide Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
- 7PM Unlimited Evening and Weekends
- Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting and Conference Calling
- Unlimited Text and Picture Messaging (was previously up to 50 Text Messages)
- Pay-per-Use data

$50/month:
- Unlimited Anytime minutes
- Canada-wide Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
- Unlimited Evening and Weekends
- Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting and Conference Calling
- Unlimited Text and Picture Messaging (was previously up to 50 Text Messages)
- Pay-per-Use data

Now for the Canada-Wide Promo Plans – basically they stay the same at the $30, $45 and $60/month rates, but have doubled the number of Anytime minutes and data each receives. So essentially a better deal all around as the $60/month plan tops out at Unlimited talk/text, VM, CD, and 2GB data.

Look for these to go live tomorrow.
(Thanks tipster!)

The ATRIX HD LTE, or the Atrix 3 to those averse to acronym-heavy names, equates to a list of firsts for Motorola: its first device with a 720p screen; its first with LTE connectivity; its first with on-screen buttons (besides the recently-released RAZR V); and its first with Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s also the company’s best smartphone by far, and one of my favourite devices of the year. What makes the ATRIX HD LTE so good? Read on to find out.

Specs:

- Android 4.0.4 with custom Motorola skin
- 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 pixel TFT LCD display with ColorBoost
- 1.5Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor
- 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage (5GB usable), microSD slot
- 8MP back camera with flash, 1.3MP front-facing camera
- WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, WiFi Direct
- 69.9 x 133.5 x 8.4 mm
- 140g
- EDGE/HSPA+/LTE
- 1780mAh battery

Design

The ATRIX HD LTE bears little resemblance to its namesake. Rather, it takes cues from the existing RAZR line and looks far more like the Rogers-released RAZR XT910 than the Bell-released MB860. We like this: the Atrix, which is 8.4mm at its thinnest point, is comfortable and well-constructed without being oversized.

It’s not a striking handset by any means — while there is a satisfying symmetry on the phone’s face, the bezel is larger than most modern handsets, reminding us once again that Motorola is focused more on function than form. The TFT screen, too, likely keeps the device a millimetre or so thicker than its AMOLED-festooned peers, but the vividness of its colours and sharpness of its text is something to behold.

The Atrix has rounder edges and less harsh angles than its Kevlar-equipped brethren which makes it, in my opinion, a more mature-looking device. High-quality components prevail throughout: the Atrix uses a much more rigid, higher-quality plastic than the recently-reviewed RAZR V, and the right-side power button is subtly textured for optimized sightless operation. On top the the HD has a mini HDMI port, microUSB port and 3.5mm headphone jack; the left side has a small latch that opens to reveal the microSD and microSIM slots. Yes, thankfully the Atrix HD uses a microSIM.

The advantage of being comparatively thicker than the RAZR is that the Atrix suffers less from “reverse chin disease.” While the camera module protrudes slightly and converges with the battery cover in a gentle curve, the transition is not stark, nor does it alter the balance of the device in the hand. This was one of my main complains about the RAZR, being thin for thinness sake. Unfortunately the Atrix is not equipped with a larger-than-average battery, but the 1780mAh non-removable cell is treated kindly by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 SoC with integrated LTE.

Display

Motorola’s first HD display, equipped with on-screen navigation buttons, is stunning. While not an OLED part, blacks are Super LCD-deep and text is some of the sharpest I’ve seen from a mobile display. At 4.5-inches, its pixel density is higher than the HTC One X and Galaxy S III, though by virtue of its TFT roots the screen is more recessed than those handsets. This is due to the LCD being separate from the glass; Super AMOLED and Super LCD screens fuse the LCD, digitizer and glass together for an impression much closer to the surface.

The digitizer on the Atrix is not quite as sensitive as I’m used to. Occasionally when scrolling down a webpage or an email, a slight brush of the screen would activate a link or fail to register my touch altogether; the screen must be acquitted more firmly. Viewing angles, too, fail to impress compared to the two aforementioned devices, but that’s where the downsides end.

Colours are vivid, making media a pleasure to view or watch on the device. Despite calls of oversaturation from other reviewers, I found the calibration to be close to perfect on our testing unit. Text is some of the sharpest I’ve seen from a mobile display and whites were accurate. Auto-brightness worked as expected, and levels adjusted smoothly as lighting changed in the room. While not the easiest device to use in sunlight, it blew past the Galaxy S III in our outdoor viewing tests.

It must also be noted that, aside from the Galaxy Nexus, this is the most powerful device released in Canada with on-screen buttons. While not for everyone — Samsung and HTC have ensured users won’t get too comfortable with the virtual menu button — as more developers add support for Android’s 4.0+ Holo guidelines, Motorola stands to benefit the most from this extra real estate. Having those virtual buttons, which disappear when watching video such as Bell Mobile TV, is a huge advantage over comparable devices, and proves that Google was in the right by changing the way we interact with our navigation buttons in Ice Cream Sandwich.

Performance & Software

The Atrix HD LTE is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 SoC clocked at 1.5Ghz. This is the same chip used in the North American HTC One X and Galaxy S III and holds up extremely well to benchmarks and day-to-day performance. Due to the relative light-weight nature of Motorola’s skin — it’s as close to stock as any manufacturer is likely to offer without removing features — the Atrix’s build of ICS feels faster than any other device on the market, including the Galaxy S III.

As we move away from our emphasis on benchmarks which do not positively convey how a device feels in everyday use, I will emphasize that the Atrix can and does handle anything you throw at it. While it doesn’t have four cores, nor the fastest graphics processor on the market, there was never a time I found myself saying, ‘I wish this was faster’. The reason we’re moving away from using benchmarks as a gauge for smartphone performance? Despite blazing performance in all the apps and games we tested, its scores (for example Quadrant seen above) were 10-15% lower than the Galaxy S III and One X.

The new launcher embedded in Motorola’s build of Android 4.0.4 resembles stock Android in many ways, including the ability to easily create folders and swipe away notifications, but the company has gone a step further and integrated some pretty useful features that go far beyond what Android was built to do.

The launcher may look like stock ICS, but a few of Motorola’s first-party app icons — Phone, Email, Browser, Messages, Email — have a little arrow near the top right. Flicking up on the icon reveals a mini widget that overlays atop the screen, allowing you to scroll through missed calls, emails, text messages and browser bookmarks. It proved to be a handy and often-used feature, and proves just how versatile Android can be.

And the homescreen layout has been tweaked a bit: new pages are added to the far right, and Motorola has included some templates to accomodate new users. The four-icon dock is customizable, too, but you’re always welcome to install a custom launcher such as Nova or Apex if stock isn’t up to snuff.

There’s also SmartActions, which we spoke about in our RAZR V review. They do a good job at automating some of the most arduous tasks one would think to perform on a smartphone, such as time- and location-based silencing of your ringer, or turning off certain radios such as WiFi or GPS when not in use. This version goes further than last year’s sending suggestions at certain intervals which you can choose to activate or ignore. I found battery life improved significantly after turning on the Low Battery Saver option, though I wish the phone was NFC-enabled as Smart Actions would be great with SmartTags.

Overall, you’re unlikely to be disappointed with the version of Android Motorola has put together. It’s the closest to stock Ice Cream Sandwich we’ve ever seen on a shipping device and all alterations to the interface are improvements. The phone does have a few pieces of bloatware from Bell and Motorola, but they can be disabled by going into Settings/Apps. The HD screen is really great for Mobile TV, if your plan gives you access to it.

The one issue I had with the software is the constant ‘Bell’ logo in the notification bar. It’s a constant reminder that the Atrix is a Bell exclusive, and takes up much-needed space at the top of the screen.

Camera

Here’s where things get a bit muddled. While the Atrix takes decent photos, it’s not nearly up to the standards set by the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S III. And we mean not even close. For some reason Motorola can’t quite get its stuff together when it comes to sourcing decent sensors and lenses, and while the user interface is positively overhauled, and the speed at which you can take photos is fantastic, the end results are often far less impressive.

The Snapdragon S4 chip allows for 5-shot burst mode and an instant shutter, so if it’s speed you’re worried about, don’t fret. Shots taken in good quality light tend to have a blueish tinge to them, as if the software can’t quite figure out the proper white balance. Detail is plentiful in those scenarios, with only a slight amount of grain or distortion. Move inside, or dim the lights, however, and you’re met with Mr. Grain in large doses, and he doesn’t taste very good.

The phone’s 1080p video quality is moderate at best, and suffers from softness and grain. Captured audio is good — better than on most smartphones — but is still not nearly usable for anything other than sharing the occasional clip on YouTube. We’re not at a point yet where, despite the purported “HD quality” of captured video, smartphones can be used for anything other than casual life journaling.

Battery Life

Again, decent. While we were hoping for a RAZR MAXX-style 3000+ mAh battery in the Atrix HD, the device had no trouble lasting through the day. LTE is still a considerable battery drain, but the Snapdragon S4 processor is one of the most efficient chips on the market and we rarely worried about the device dying on us.

That’s not to see we didn’t encounter some strange battery issues. On one particularly vexing streetcar ride, I yanked the device out of my pocket after discovering it had reached a temperature close enough to burning my skin. There were no open apps or processes that I could tell — some demon in the background was keeping the CPU at 100% utilization, knocking off around 1% of battery life per minute. A restart fixed the problem, but I still don’t know what caused the erratic behaviour. This happened several times over the course of a few days, despite a careful consideration of which third-party apps I had installed on the device.

Nonetheless, I was able to keep the device on and operating for around 16 hours on a regular day, surfing the web, answering emails, making phone calls, tweeting, ‘booking, and ‘gramming (that’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for those not in the know). With less intense use, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Atrix surviving nearly two days on a single charge, especially with assiduous use of Battery Saving features.

Note that in the Power Menu (when you hold down the power button for a second) there is an option to enter into Sleep mode, which is great for movies or other activities when you don’t want your phone to be on and using battery, but want quick access to it after the fact.

Network Speeds, Call Quality & More

As with most newer LTE devices, regardless of carrier, network speeds on the Atrix were astounding. We averaged around 30Mbps down and 23Mbps up, and achieved over 35/30 in some tests. Over HSPA+ the device was markedly slower but still blazing fast (and easier on the battery). Such speeds contributed to instant page loads, effortless app downloads and wait-free streaming on services such as Netflix, Bell Mobile TV and more.

Call quality, as with all Motorola devices, was excellent and above average compared to other OEMs. Some things never change, and in this case it’s a good thing. Audio quality from the headpiece and rear speakers were excellent and good, respectively, though maximum volume could have been higher on both.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the phone’s reception. Inside a room with thick walls in a small Ontario town, I laid a Galaxy S III (LTE), a new iPad and the Atrix HD LTE next to one another. The two former devices had 2-3 bars of HSPA+ — this was well outside LTE range — while the Motorola struggled to keep a signal at all. When in downtown Toronto, or a place with plentiful 1900Mhz signal, the Atrix maintained full bars of LTE or HSPA+, but keep this in mind if you live in a region of mediocre Bell service and plan to purchase this device.

Conclusions

The ATRIX HD LTE is one of my favourite Android devices of the moment, and speaks to how Motorola has been constantly listening to its customers. Not only has the company opened a bootloader unlock service for developers and custom ROM creators, but they have pared back many of the MOTOBLUR software quirks that irked Motorola loyalists since the original Milestone.

This particular phone is neither complicated nor prophetic. It sits comfortably in the realm of “near-the-top” Android devices with a three-year term price far below that of most of its competitors. Indeed, I prefer Motorola’s no-frills software to Samsung’s overwrought and garish TouchWIZ on the Galaxy S III. And while the latter’s software may have the edge in terms of design, battery life and camera quality, the Atrix has a denser, sharper screen, virtual navigation buttons and a competitive price. It achieves so much because it doesn’t come off as trying too hard.

The ATRIX HD LTE is available for $49.95 on a three-year term or $599.95 outright, exclusively from Bell.

Motorola hasn’t made too much noise since the release of the revamped Rogers-exclusive RAZR in November. Now, nine months later, the RAZR V hits the market on Bell and Virgin for a significantly more affordable price in a body that makes some concessions to achieve it. In many ways this is the same phone that Motorola released last year — internally and externally — but stands on its own with a great new build of Ice Cream Sandwich and a more compact design. Is it worth your time and money? Read on to find out.

Specs

- Android 4.0.4 with (slightly) custom Motorola skin
- 4.3-inch 960×540 TFT display with ColorBoost
- 1.2Ghz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 SoC
- 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, microSD slot
- 8MP back camera with flash, 0.3MP front-facing camera
- WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM Radio
- 65.8 x 128.5 x 8.35 mm
- 125g

Design & Display

The RAZR V definitely resembles the original with its angular face, sloping Kevlar backing and chrome accents, but Motorola has certainly toned down the quality of materials. While the RAZR V by no means feels cheap, there is a definite plasticky aspect to it that was absent on the premium-feeling RAZR.

The RAZR V is also some 5mm narrower than the sometimes-unwieldy RAZR, and it feels much more comfortable in the hand as a result. The screen, too, while on paper the same as the RAZR — a 4.3-inch display at 960×540 pixels — is somewhat sharper and less distracting than its predecessor. Instead of going the Super AMOLED route, Motorola opted for a traditional TFT LCD display, making text significantly sharper and whites much more accurate. While it loses the deep blacks and lovely colour saturation that comes with a Super AMOLED screen, we did not miss the RAZR’s moiré aberrations and distinct lack of sharpness.

While the device, at around 8.4mm thick, does not come close to the impossibly thin dimensions of its predecessor, we think Motorola made the right move for the end user. It’s more compact overall, which makes it feel like a smaller handset despite being 1.3mm thicker than the RAZR.

Note that the RAZR V uses a regular-sized SIM over a microSIM, and shares a latch door with the microSD slot on the left hand side. The volume rocker is nicely delineated on the right, and the power button, headset jack and microUSB port sit flush on the top.

Performance & Software

As the RAZR V uses largely the same internal hardware as the Rogers version released last year, we weren’t expecting any performance miracles. Motorola has done a lot with the software, however, and this is not your mother’s MOTOBLUR. The version we see on the RAZR V, which runs Android 4.0.4, resembles in many ways the stock Ice Cream Sandwich experience. While transitions between homescreens are not quite as smooth as those on the Galaxy Nexus, we felt right at home navigating around the menus.

The RAZR V uses Texas Instrument’s aging OMAP 4430 processor clocked at 1.2Ghz, with 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage. It’s also limited to Bell’s HSPA+ network at 14.4Mbps, but many of these things are built into the price. Still, considering the ATRIX HD LTE is only $20 more on the same Bell network and offers a better array of internal hardware and software, we’d be inclined to recommend that one over the RAZR V. If you’re insistant on the smaller form factor, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the spritely app load times, total lack of lagginess when scrolling through the browser, and a stability that could only have come from Motorola.

The company’s SmartActions have been updated for ICS, and now provide recommendations based on usage patterns. For example, the device can keep track of your favourite locations or times of day and, based on your battery life, enable a Battery Saving mode. Similarly, if you tend to go to bed every night around midnight, you can have SmartActions enable Silent Mode and suppress the screen from turning on during the night if you receive a notification.

Motorola has also added a four-way lockscreen shortcut system that provides easy access to the camera, phone and messaging. But perhaps the most notable admission of Motorola’s integration into Google’s corporate culture is the inclusion of virtual buttons in place of capacitive ones. Both the RAZR V and ATRIX HD LTE sport the Galaxy Nexus-like on-screen navigation icons, and while they have been slightly altered from stock, they work identically. We couldn’t be happier.

Camera

The 8MP camera on the RAZR V does a decent job at capturing moments in good lighting, but suffers from Motorola’s reliable distortion and softness. That’s not to say the camera is bad — the interface is fantastic, with easy-to-reach granular controls, and the shutter is snappy for a piece of older tech — but it doesn’t reach the heights of other 8MP sensors on the market. With the bar being set so high by the iPhone 4S, Galaxy S III and HTC One X, it’s easy to dismiss the RAZR V as underperforming. But we have to take into account the handset’s price — $399 outright or $29.95 on a 3-year term — and cut it a bit of slack as a result.

The device can also shoot modestly smooth and detailed 1080p video, though again it lacks the sharpness and smoothness of its ATRIX HD LTE sibling. The VGA front-facing camera does a decent job at video chats and vanity shots, but we wouldn’t recommend using it for anything other than a mirror.

Battery Life

SmartActions is supposed to allow your battery to last up to 30% longer than an equivalent device, but we were happy to find that the RAZR V didn’t need it to last a full day. The 1750mAh battery was sufficiently large to see us through most of the day with regular calling, browsing, emailing, photo-ing and more. While the PowerVR SGX540 GPU is no longer the graphical beast it once was, we found it to be pretty light on the battery wallet when playing games or watching video.

We were a bit vexed that Motorola didn’t manage to squeeze in a larger battery — something like the 3300mAh cell of the RAZR MAXX would have been nice — considering all the extra proverbial legroom, but we’d imagine it would have raised the price of the handset considerably. Nevertheless, the juice, coupled with liberal application of battery-oriented SmartActions, should allow for one-day-plus usage from the RAZR V.

Call Quality, Network Speed & Miscellaneous

As with all Motorola phones, the RAZR V is solid as a phone. Call quality is unsurpassed in the industry, with a sharp, clear feed that never sounds muddled or sibilant. Call volume, too, is more than adequate for even the loudest of rooms, and Motorola’s background noise suppression works very well.

Because the RAZR V is a HSPA+ device, it’s network speeds are limited to Bell’s 3G network. We were able to achieve around 4-6Mbps download and 0.5-2Mbps upload depending on the location and time of day. Compared to the newest LTE devices this is nothing to write home about, but we were pretty pleased with the performance overall.

Bell and Motorola have bundled a number of apps on the RAZR V, including some business-oriented services such as Citrix GoToMeeting and Receiver. There’s also a full version of Gameloft’s Asphalt 6 and Bell’s Mobile TV app, among others. Because the platform has been upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich, you can now disable unwanted apps, which is the next best thing to being able to uninstall them.

Conclusions

The Bell Motorola RAZR V is a good little smartphone at a decent price. Because its bigger brother, the ATRIX HD LTE, is priced so closely — just $20 more  than the RAZR’s $29.95 on a 3-year term — we can’t fully endorse it unless you’re buying it outright. At $399.95, it’s an excellent deal if you’re looking to go off-contract and want an all-round high-performing handset with a great screen, good battery life and a solid, close-to-stock operating system.

The thin phone craze has reached its zenith, as we’ve come to expect newer phones to shed weight and girth in favour of pocket-friendly (and battery-unfriendly) form factors. Huawei, a relative newcomer to the Canadian market, has launched the Ascend P1 on WIND as a stylish and functional mid-range device. For $399 it has all the right specs to appeal to budget-conscious buyers, but does its slice of stock Android have enough firepower to convince people it’s a better deal than the Galaxy Nexus?

Specs:

- Android 4.0.3 with custom Huawei skin
- 4.3-inch 960×540 Super AMOLED display
- 1.5Ghz TI OMAP 4460 SoC with PowerVR SGX540 GPU
- 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage (512MB microSD card included in box)
- 8MP camera w/ flash, 1.3MP front-facing camera
- 1670mAh battery
- UMTS 850/900/1700/1900/2100; GSM 850/900/1800/1900
- 110g
- 129 mm x 64 mm x 7.69m

Device & Display

The Ascend P1 is attractive – the black front is curved at the bottom and has limited bezel, with three capacitive buttons below the 4.3-inch qHD screen and a notification light just above it. We’re happy to see Huawei eschew the unnecessary Search button in favour of a three-button layout, but we’d have preferred no capacitive buttons at all. The white plastic casing is glossy and scratch-prone, picking up fingerprints and scuffs too easily. The black-white contrast is elegant, however, and the chrome buttons and camera lens, while plastic, provide the phone with a bit of needed classiness.

The device is slim — 7.69mm at its thinnest point — but there is a sizeable chin at the bottom, and the 8MP camera sticks out of the back like a symmetrical wart. We’re quite happy with the design overall, and its relative small nature makes the Ascend P1 very comfortable to hold in the hand. The 1670mAh battery is non-removable, and you’ll find a full-sized SIM card slot next to the microUSB charging port on top, while a microSD slot shares the right side with the power button.

Huawei’s Ascend P1 doesn’t try anything new when it comes to displays, either, but for the most part the choice works. The 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen is lush, vivid and bright, with excellent viewing angles, deep blacks and an assured crispness that tries its best to make you forget its PenTile origins. Only when looking closely at the individual pixels can you tell there are slight aberrations on letters and a discomfiting moire pattern on certain graphics and images. It’s not distracting, and can be compared to the HTC One S in acuity. In all, the Ascend offers a very good display for a couple hundred dollars less than the One S, which is a nice compliment. The same can’t be said for the scratch-prone plastic body, but you’re unlikely to be disappointed in the design of the P1.

Performance & Software

The Ascend P1 comes with a fairly stock version of Android 4.0.3 — that is, if you use the included 2D Launcher. Huawei also throws in its own garish, sluggish 3D Home launcher that, while it may look good at first, bogs down the device with transition flourishes and unnecessary effects.

If you stick to the 2D Launcher, which is Google’s stock Trebuchet as far as we can tell, you’ll be quite happy with the zippy performance of the Ascend P1. The internal hardware — Texas Instruments’ OMAP 4460 SoC at 1.5Ghz and 1GB RAM — is still pretty fast for a modern smartphone. It’s the same hardware, clocked 300Mhz higher, as the Galaxy Nexus, but the aging PowerVR SGX540 GPU doesn’t have to push as many pixels. This makes it a really able gaming device and, if browsing is your thing, Chrome renders most pages with aplomb.

We found touch performance to be spot-on, and the compact handset felt just right when held in landscape; for that reason, we’d have no problem recommending the Ascend P1 to Android gamers, a growing community indeed. We managed to stream a good amount of 720p and 1080p video and the lower-bitrate stuff played fine but the GPU struggled to decode some of the more difficult stuff.

Camera

The Ascend P1 has a decent 8MP camera that won’t turn many heads with its soft photos and overexposed outdoor shots, but for the most part it is a consummate performer in most respects. Huawei has adapted Google’s stock hardware-accelerated real-time morphing abilities, expanding it to include not only face-related processing, but the ability to morph entire scenes a la Paper Camera. While these features won’t be widely used, they’re useful for playful photo sharing.

The Ascend P1 takes photos fairly quickly, though unfortunately it doesn’t have the instant shutter that debuted on the Galaxy Nexus. This is surprising considering the two devices share not only a code base but a hardware base. The f/2.4 lens and 8MP sensor work quite well together, and in the right conditions you’ll get a good shot or two. The device is quite sensitive to shakiness, so a steady hand should solve any bluriness in lower light.

The device can take 1080p video, which is also comparatively soft when compared to newer devices, with a lower bitrate than the Galaxy S III and One X. The sensor also has trouble adjusting to lighting changes, causing a 1-2 second period of over- or under-exposure.

Battery Life

The 1670mAh battery inside the Ascend P1 is non-removable, so it’s a good thing the device isn’t too power hungry. We were able to achieve nearly 18 hours of continuous use from the Ascend on WIND’s network, something that can’t be said of most Android phones today. While we’re aware the relatively small battery was necessary to keep girth to a minimum, we wish Huawei hadn’t gone the “beauty contest” route and instead opted to put a 2000+mAh battery inside the device. We’d much rather have a full day-and-a-half uptime than a wispy smartphone.

Network Speed & Miscellanous

The Ascend P1 is a pentaband device capable of 21.1Mbps download speeds and 5.76Mbps upload speeds. With the network still in its relative infancy, we were not expecting to hit speeds anywhere near that on the Huawei and we were absolutely right. Download speeds in downtown Toronto averaged 500kbps to 2.2Mbps; upload speeds stayed between 90kbps and 880kbps. In other words, not very fast. The WIND network, while improving throughout the country, is a still a good deal slower than even Rogers/TELUS/Bell’s 3G network.

The device does come with a microSD card slot, but a meagre 512MB card is bundled. Along with an underserving 4GB of internal storage, you’re likely going to want to invest in a 8-32GB microSD card.

We noticed that the P1 sounds great over WIND’s network, and the back speaker is fairly loud and clip-free for a tiny mono crevice.

Conclusions

The Huawei Ascend P1 does everything mostly right, and its weaknesses are built into the price. A decent performer with a mostly-stock version of Ice Cream Sandwich, the $399 handset is one of the fastest, thinnest, and most attractive mid-range devices on the market.

While WIND still sells the Galaxy Nexus for $499, there’s a chance they will lower it to the $299 mark set by Mobilicity in the coming weeks. If they do so, the Ascend P1 becomes much harder to recommend despite its all-round goodness. Still, the Ascend P1 sits nicely below the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S III in WIND’s back-to-school roster and is a great device for someone looking to simplify, downsize or merely save a few bucks.