In the middle of traveling to San Francisco for Google I/O, London for a Nokia event and Orlando for BlackBerry Life this week, we still had time to review a few products. We got our hands on two smartphones: the contract-free Alcatel One Touch Idol and the highly-anticipated Nokia Lumia 928. We also got to test out Lenovo’s newest 14-inch business notebook, the ThinkPad T431s, and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra USB 3.0 hard drive. And for those who miss their Windows 8 Start button, Start Menu Reviver brings it back. But did any of these products earn our highly-coveted Editors’ Choice award?

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Alcatel One Touch Idol 6030A

This midrange phone appeals to those who aren't fans of contracts, with an unsubsidized price of $299. Featuring a 4.7-inch IPS display with wide viewing angles and excellent audio, the Alcatel One Touch Idol 6030A has a lightweight design and comes in black, red, yellow, blue, green and pink, so you can choose your favorite hue. The smartphone runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which isn't the newest version but has features like Google Now.

More: Alcatel One Touch Idol Review

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The rivalry between Apple and Samsung has mushroomed into an all-out war, and the brands’ flagship smartphones are its most deadly weapons. On one side, you have the iPhone 5, a device that’s Zen-like in its simplicity but also very swift and light on its feet. And on the other side, you have the Galaxy S4, which hopes to overwhelm Apple with a bigger screen and a steady barrage of features.

Yes, Samsung’s phone is shinier and newer, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best choice. We pit the iPhone 5 against the latest Galaxy S4 in 11 hard-fought battles to determine which device reigns supreme.  Read the rest of this entry »

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There’s no denying that the HTC One is a seriously nice piece of Android hardware. Unfortunately, though, there’s also no denying that it could use more endurance. Thanks to the process known as undervolting though, we can at least get an hour of additional endurance. Here’s how. Read the rest of this entry »

This time last year, the death knell was sounding loudly for Research in Motion. Its market share was in steep decline, its product lineup was stale, and all it had to show for its future was a prototype and the promise of an often-delayed new operating system. Just 12 months later, the company has changed its name to BlackBerry, debuted a new OS in BlackBerry 10 and launched two new smartphones, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. A third device, the BlackBerry Q5, is set to hit emerging markets later this year.

During his keynote speech at BlackBerry Live in Orlando, CEO Thorsten Heins said the company was well on its way to its most successful year yet. While he didn’t say that BlackBerry is back in the driver seat for the mobile market, Heins believes his company is well on its way. BlackBerry has also said its latest smartphones have resulted in the most successful launches in company history. But is that really the case? Read the rest of this entry »

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Spotify is at the head of the online music pack, with over 24 million active users enjoying access to more than 20 million songs in the its impressive library. Spotify’s interface mainly revolves around creating playlists and radio stations, but there’s a lot more to this music service than meets the eye. These tips will show you how to take advantage of hidden abilities, turn off annoying auto-functions, and make sure your free trial of Spotify Premium is really free.

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How To Try Spotify Premium (and Avoid Getting Charged)

If you want to try out the Spotify Premium experience but aren’t quite ready to cough up $9.99 a month for the privilege, Spotify offers a 30 day free trial. However, that free trial can turn you into a paying customer against your will, unless you can navigate Spotify’s roundabout cancellation process. Here’s everything you need to know in order to get a truly free trial.

More: How To Try Spotify Premium (and Avoid Getting Charged)

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Google Glass lets you do everything from take pictures with your voice to get directions right in your eye, but this wearable headset has a lot more potential. Months before it launches to the public, Google and its partners have announced several new apps, including Facebook, Twitter, CNN and more. Google has dubbed these apps Glassware, but what can they do? Here’s a quick look at what’s coming to the small screen.

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Facebook

It’s a bit early to say exactly how Facebook will play out on Glass, but the social network seems to be focusing on photo sharing. For example, after snapping a photo users can choose to immediately post it to their timeline and add a description through voice translation. 

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The smaller Surface tablet rumors are back. According to Digitimes, Microsoft is working on another Surface tablet, this time in a 7.9-inch screen for between $249 to $299. The smaller tablet, slated to launch in June at the Microsoft Build conference, will supposedly run Windows RT. Samsung will provide the display panels while Nvidia will add a Tegra CPU.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Between Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, there are tons of extremely useful apps out there designed to make our everyday lives easier. This article, however, is not about any of those apps.

Some applications exist to waste space in the App Store and eat up our time —  or at least that’s what it seems like. If you use your smartphone like most people do — to check your email, surf the Web, play games or send text messages — you’ve probably never heard of these apps. That’s because they won’t help you do any of these things. Here’s a roundup of the strangest, stupidest and most pointless apps we could find.

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Tap That (Free, Android)

Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like, if you have a dirty mind. And if you own an NFC-enabled Android smartphone running Gingerbread or higher, your device can, well, fornicate with another compatible smartphone through the app. I’d go further into detail, but this video from the developer pretty much sums it up. 

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Spotify’s desktop client is great for rocking the Beeb when you’re stuck behind a desk at work, but eventually you’re going to want to take your collection on the road. Here’s how to have all your tunes on hand even when you’re offline by syncing your Spotify playlists on your iPhone.

What You’ll Need

• A Spotify Premium Account (check out our guide on how to get a no-strings free trial of Spotify Premium)
• An iPhone running  iOS 5.0 or later.

Getting Spotify Up and Running On Your iPhone Read the rest of this entry »

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Gamers, grab your wallets.  For those of you waiting to plunk down your money to preorder the Nvidia Shield, four retailers — Gamestop, Newegg, Micro Center and Canada Computer — have bumped up the preorder date from May 20th to May 17th. That means gamers eager to reserve the highly anticipated handheld device can begin placing orders today. Priced at $350, Shield is expected to ship sometime in June and will feature a 5-inch, 720p display and 16GB of RAM.

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