Alexis Philippides

Email: alexis@stuff-review.com

Profile: Alexis is the founder of Stuff-Review and the primary editor. He's a blogger, an engineer and a web entrepreneur. Alexis has been building and managing websites for over 12 years. An eternal sufferer from gadget lust, he tries to keep his passion in check by writing overly lengthy pieces on technology and consumer electronics. Soft spots include digital cameras, high-end audio separates and portable devices. At times, his electrical engineering background peers out in technically convoluted articles, but otherwise he provides down-to-earth reporting.

Latest posts by Alexis Philippides:

Corning Gorilla Glass 2 coming soon. Thinner, stronger? We’ll find out at CES 2012

News

January 6, 2012 at 12:13 pm

What could make the world’s most popular fortified glass brand better? We’ll soon find out as Corning comes to CES 2012 in Las Vegas. Gorilla Glass can be found in more than 575 products, including many of our favorite smartphones and tablets. Unofficially you’ll also find Gorilla Glass in the iPhone and iPad.

Corning has just announced that it will be showing off the next generation Gorilla Glass 2 at CES 2012 next week. Details are scarce at the moment besides that the company will be accommodating thinner designs by manufacturers. This could mean that the new Gorilla Glass 2 can be made thinner or easier to integrate in curved designs while maintaining hardness. Thinner cover glass would also mean better touchscreen performance and screen sharpness.

Apple has been using optical lamination to fuse the iPhone’s display to the glass in order to keep designs thinner while improving touch experience as the screen seems to be floating on the surface of the device. There are rumors that the Tegra 3 quad-core 4.7-inch HTC Edge will also have an optically laminated screen.
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HTC is still brilliant

Editorials News

January 6, 2012 at 7:01 am

So HTC posted its unaudited revenues for Q4 2011, showing a small 2.5 percent fall compared to the same quarter in 2010. The main culprit for this fall was the month of November, with revenues down 19.6 percent.

That’s unusual for HTC, which has been seeing consistent revenue growth for a while. It does however make sense. HTC is big in the Android camp, and at the end of October we saw the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (which we’ve reviewed here) as Google’s launch device for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Galaxy Nexus in fact started shipping in November.

However, tech blogs love big titles, so today we’ve been seeing posts in the lines of HTC losing its steam or even that this could be the beginning of the end for HTC, all of which are far from the truth. First of all bear in mind that HTC’s whole year 2011 revenues grew by an insane 67%.
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Motorola announces cost conscious Motoluxe and Defy Mini Android smartphones (video)

News

January 6, 2012 at 4:34 am

Motorola Mobility has added two new Android smartphones to its lineup, the 4-inch Motoluxe and the 3.2-inch Defy Mini. Both smartphones will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread on launch, though one would hope an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update would soon be on the way. The two smartphones will launch in Greater China, Europe and Latin America this spring.

The Motoluxe has a 4-inch edge-to-edge touchscreen (smaller bezels is one of our wishes for 2012) with a 854×480 resolution. It runs on an 800Mhz processor and 512MB RAM. Other features include an 8-megapixel rear camera, a front-facing VGA camera, 1GB of storage, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS and FM radio. A 1,400 mAh gives up to 6.5 hours of talk time in 2G. The Motoluxe measures 117.7 x 60.5 x 9.85 mm and 123.6g and will come in tasty licorice or white colors.

The Defy Mini, as you might have guessed, is the smaller version of the rugged Motorola Defy+ that we’ve reviewed here. Its smallish 3.2-inch touchscreen display with 480×320 resolution is covered by scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass. It’s also water-resistant and dust proof. You only get a 600Mhz processor with 512MB RAM and 512MB of built-in storage. A rather large 1,650 mAh gives you 10 hours of talk time. The Defy Mini also comes with a 3-megapixel rear camera, VGA front camera, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS and FM radio. It measures 109 x 58.5 x 12.55 mm and 107g.

Videos and press release are after the break.
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Samsung Galaxy Nexus to become Sprint’s first 4G LTE handset

News

January 5, 2012 at 6:52 pm

Talk about a trigger happy day, first we get a Nikon D4 leak, then the Fujifilm X-Pro1 camera leak and now somebody pushed the button on Sprint’s Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE ad a little too early — full review of the Galaxy Nexus here.

The 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone has appeared in a flash ad on CNET’s website and the people over at Engadget managed to snap up a few screenshots of the ad before it disappeared. It’s interesting to note that in the advertisement, the smartphone’s TI OMAP 4460 processor is shown to be clocked at its maximum 1.5GHz rather than the battery saving 1.2GHz as in the Verizon LTE and HSPA+ versions.

The Galaxy Nexus will become Sprint’s first LTE handset as the carrier will turn on the lights to its 4G LTE network in the first half of the year. Having the LTE network as prerequisite, don’t expect the Sprint Galaxy Nexus in the following few months.
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AKG K495 and K490 active noise cancelling headphones to bring the sound of silence at CES 2012

News

January 5, 2012 at 6:22 pm

We’ve disputed before that it’s hard to put a price on piece of mind, though AKG intends to do just that. The Harman owned quality audio brand has announced a pair of active noise canceling headphones the K490 NC and K495 NC. Active noise cancellation (ANC) works using small microphones and special circuitry to cancel out unwanted outside noise; we’ve covered the technology in some detail, and invite you to read out primer on noise cancellation here.

Though we are better inclined towards the more portable in-ear variety, like the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC23, full-sized over-the-ear cans can provide better noise cancellation performance and audio quality. The K490 and K495 are both USB chargeable using integrated batteries, providing 40 hours of enjoyment. Thankfully, both will continue to pump out your tunes, even with the ANC circuit off, when the battery runs out.
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White Samsung Galaxy Nexus coming in February to the UK

News

January 5, 2012 at 9:19 am

Depending on which side of the yin and yang debacle you fall into, you might have a color preference between black and white. So if you feel that you are better expressed by a white smartphone, and if that smartphone would be by any chance a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD device running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich then you’re in luck.

The as far as now all black and grey Samsung Galaxy Nexus will soon be released in white according to a number of UK retailers. Both Clove and MobileFun UK have the smartphone on release for the 6th of February for around £500 ($780)

Despite any deep emotions you might have towards the lighter end of the tone curve, you might want to check out our lengthy review of the Galaxy Nexus before taking the plunge.

Broadcom ousts first gigabit speed 802.11ac Wi-Fi chipset, say farewell to choppy HD streams

News

January 5, 2012 at 8:31 am

We already knew that the latest 802.11ac Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) communications standard was on the way, also known as 5G Wi-Fi, but what good is a standard if there are no devices to support it. Well, Broadcom has just made the move of freeing us further from the shackles of ethernet, by releasing their first family of IEEE 802.11ac chips.

802.11ac uses the 5GHz band to provide multi-station WLAN throughput of at least 1 gigabit per second. The new standard’s capabilities are obviously suited for high-speed video streaming, like HD content. It will also help speed up substantially all file transfers over WLAN. 5G Wi-Fi also promises fewer dead spots and better battery life for portable devices, since transfers will now happen so much faster.
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Volvo unveils its XC60 plug-in hybrid concept car (video)

News

January 5, 2012 at 7:50 am

We like a touch of green here at Stuff-Review, and Volvo has just announced a new plug-in hybrid concept car, which it claims to be superior to all existing hybrids. The Volvo XC-60 concept car is both a plug-in electric vehicle, an economical hybrid and a high-performance car in one. The driver can switch between different driving modes using buttons on the instrument panel.

The driver can choose between three modes. The Pure mode, which mainly uses the car’s electric motor for zero emissions and a range of 35 miles. The Hybrid mode, which is the car’s standard setting, and combines both the gasoline engine and electric motor to provide maximum efficiency. Under European standards you get CO2 emissions of 53 g/km (2.3 l/100 km) and a fuel economy of over 100 mpg (50 mpg under the US standard, which includes emissions for electrical energy). Under the hybrid mode the car has a range of 600 miles (960 km). The final is Power mode, which combines the 280 horse power four cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine and the 70 hp electric motor to achieve 350 hp and acceleration of 0 to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds.
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Fujifilm X-Pro 1 (LX10) interchangeable lens camera system specs leaked with three fast prime lenses, March release date

News

January 5, 2012 at 4:55 am

Someone has been quite trigger happy today. The same source that has given us the Nikon D4 leak, has also leaked a wire on Fujifilm’s X-series mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) system. Though several names for Fujifilm’s new interchangeable lens camera have been rumored, such as LX10 or X1, it seems that it may eventually be called the X-Pro 1.

Thanks to this latest leak we finally have some more detailed specs on the Fujifilm X-Pro 1 MILC. If the leak is to be believed, the X-Pro 1 will receive a new custom-developed 16-megapixel APS-C EXR sensor (up from the 12.3-megapixel sensor in the Fujifilm X100) with a new filter array. The camera will include a second-generation hybrid viewfinder, building on the success of the X100.

Fujifilm will release the X-Pro 1 system with three fast prime lenses. Though a zoom lens was also initially rumored, there isn’t any indication of one for now. The three prime lenses will be 18mm (27mm equivalent) f/2.0, 35mm (53mm equivalent) f/1.4 and 60mm (90mm equivalent) f/2.4 macro.

For more images of the X-Pro1 check out the previous leak this week. More information is bound to come soon as Fujifilm takes the stage at PMA @CES 2012.
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Nikon D4 details leaked, full-frame 16.2-megapixel DSLR coming in February for $6,000

News

January 5, 2012 at 4:04 am

No need to speculate any further on Nikon’s new flagship full-frame DSLR, the D4. The successor to the D3 and the D3s, has just been leaked in a wire that was set to be released on January 10. The hotly anticipated D4 will be made available starting this February for a $6,000 suggest retail price. The latest full-frame camera by Nikon brings a host of new features and spec improvements over the previous models.

You get a new 16.2-megapixel full-format CMOS sensor capable of up to 10fps at full resolution and a native ISO range from 100 to 12,800 with improved low-light performance; though can be expanded to 50 and 204,800. You also get an improved 51-point autofocus system with 9 cross-type points, 91,000-pixel RGB metering sensor and the ability to shoot full HD 1080p30 and 1080p24 video with contrast detect AF and H.264 compression support.

The Nikon D4, will come with an 100 perfect field of view pentaprism viewfinder and illuminated function buttons. The camera will be one of the first to support the new XQD Compact Flash memory cards and also offers a secondary card slot for conventional CF cards. There are also other niceties like face detection and aperture control while shooting video.
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Sony Ericsson Xperia Active survives decathlon of torture (video)

News

January 4, 2012 at 4:12 pm

We are suckers for rugged gadgets. Our lives are hectic enough and our minds are filled with all kinds of worries, like keeping you informed on all the latest gadgets, to have to worry about pampering our smartphones. We loved the Motorola Defy+ in our recent review, because of the convenience in having such a rugged phone.

Sony Ericsson’s rugged Android smartphone is called the Xperia Active. It’s a small 3-inch device with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Someone who either loves or hates his Sony Ericsson Xperia Active immensely, has gone to great lengths to torture-test the device. First, dunking it into a street puddle, then stubbing it with a swiss army knife, a cutter, a screwdriver and a chisel and finally hitting it with a hammer and a wrench. If that wasn’t enough to make you close your eyes and look away in pain, the last test involves driving over the Xperia Active and a potato with a Jeep Wrangler; guess which one survives! All three videos are after the break.
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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now accounts for 0.6 percent of Android devices

News

January 4, 2012 at 1:21 pm

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was released with much fanfare this past November together with the Galaxy Nexus — you can read our full review here. Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is a huge step forward for Google’s mobile platform, and offers a large number of visual and backend enhancements.

We are pretty sure that every knowledgeable Android user can’t wait to get his hands on this latest version, however ICS currently only comes officially pre-loaded on the Galaxy Nexus, while existing Android device owners would have to wait if and when their devices get upgraded. The ASUS Transformer Prime tablet, will be the first device to receive an Android 4.0 update on January 12.

Well, now we have the first official numbers for the adoption of Android ICS, which now accounts for 0.6% of all Android devices that have accessed the Android Market during a set period. The pie chart below is based on the number of devices that accessed the Android Market within a 14-day period ending January 3rd.
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Samsung Galaxy M Style is a mid-range Android smartphone with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display

News

January 4, 2012 at 12:20 pm

We guess that ‘M’ stands for mid-range in Samsung’s latest Android smartphone the Samsung Galaxy M Style. The smartphone has just been released in South Korea and has some interesting specs. First off you have the 4-inch Super AMOLED display and 9.9mm slim design (0.39 inches). You also get a DMB TV tuner, 4GB of storage and a 1,650 mAh battery. However, that’s where the fun stops, as the phone has only a 3-megapixel main camera and VGA front camera, 1GHz single-core processor and is running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The entire device measures 122.5 x 63 x 9.9 mm and will be available in platinum silver, blue black and lavender pink for the equivalent of around $500 without a contract. It’s priced below Samsung’s high-end devices like the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus.

There are no news whether the device will launch beyond Samsung’s home market.
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Apple iPhone 4S coming to China and 26 other markets from 13th of January

News

January 4, 2012 at 11:47 am

Apple will soon be further tapping the incredible expanse that is the Chinese market with its iPhone 4S smartphone. China Unicom, the country’s third-largest mobile carrier, has been the sole iPhone provider in China thus far, though it’s uncertain whether the iPhone 4S will now also be taken up by other carriers in the country. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that response for Apple’s products in China has been off the charts. China contributed to roughly 13.3 percent of Apple’s total third-quarter revenue of $28.57 billion.

In addition to China, the iPhone 4S will be made available in 26 other countries beginning Friday, January 13: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.
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