HTC One Mini 2- Do good things really come in small packages?

HTC, one of the most popular Android manufactures just recently unveiled it’s One mini 2. A smaller version of the amazing looking and just purely fantastic HTC One M8. Some have even said that if you are a past iPhone user looking for a new Android phone, well then this is the phone for you.   So can the mini 2 thrive off of its big brothers success? Well read along with our first look and find out.

When HTC builds a device they make it to compete with any device, they make it to give a fresh approach to Smartphone’s in general. So did HTC make this the best mini out there? Well let’s start with what’s under the hood. HTC has packed this phone with some great internals. A nice Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 to go along with a Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU and an Adreno 305 GPU shows that this phone can compete with the best of them. The battery is a non-removable 2110 mAh pack, so it should get you through the day just fine

Also included is HTC’s new Sense 6.0 which brings a new flavour to Sense, with the stylish fonts and colors, plus all the extra goodies such as BlinkFeed and BoomSound. All that on top of Android 4.4.2 KitKat the newest version of Android.  Together equals a very intriguing option for people that normally prefer vanilla Android.  On the HTC One M8 software is one of the best parts and I sure hope it carries on to the One Mini 2.

Build quality is normal and I don‘t say that in a bad way. If it was made by any other manufacturer I would be saying it’s incredible. But HTC has done such a great job with their build over the years, amazing build is what we‘ve come to expect, it is honesty sex on a phone. Made with aluminum with its thin edges and wide-radius corners its fit for a king and at 137g (4.83 oz) feels great in the hand. Build quality is one of HTC`s best qualities and it`s no different on the Mini 2

The screen looks to be very good as well. At 4.5 inches it`s the perfect size for many and the 720p screen is perfect for a phone this size. Plus you get Gorilla Glass 3, meaning the screen won`t mind a drop here or there. On the back is a 13MP shooter which is decent pixel count and on the front is a 5MP camera for all your “selfies” ,plus both front and back takes 1080p video, which is very good news.  Not to mention that HTC`s Zoe and other camera features are back as well.

In a Android world with big screens can a Mini variant really be successful? I would say yes, there definitely is a market out there for them and HTC is leading the way. I very much like the look of this phone and hope it does well. What do you think? As always leave a comment and tell us what you think. Stay tuned for our full review and stay subscribed to the Geekanoids channel. Thanks for reading!

Author: Ben Smith - Twitter

Motorola Moto E - Smartphonebargainoftheyear

Motorola, a company many have come to love just made news again. If you thought that the Moto G was an amazing device, with an even better price tag and that it couldn't be topped, well think again. Meet the Moto E, let's dig in and see if this is the device that you and your wallet will love forever.

Motorola, a company in transition after being purchased by Lenovo, and with a reputation of making very affordable devices that show specs the back seat in favour of quality, may have just done it again. Yesterday Motorola gave us the Moto E. This device is actually fairly decent for the price. 

But before we begin, this is something worth mentioning. Motorola also came out with a new Moto G that now sports LTE, which was a big complaint with the previous Moto G. It will cost about $225 and will definitely add sales to the best selling phone in Motorola’s history. Over 6.5 million units were shipped worldwide, they won't tell how many were sold, but this update can only help their cause

Right off the bat Motorola gives us some decent internals. We get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor with a 1.2GHz dual core A7 CPU and an Adreno 302 400 MHz single core GPU, which is pretty good for the $130 and below Android category. Not to mention how the latest version of Android 4.4.3 KitKat is included and should get timely updates.

5MP for a camera is a little on the low side for me, not to mention how it doesn’t even have a front facing camera, but who knows, it might surprise us. It only ships with 4GB of storage; luckily it has microSD support for up to an extra 32GB which is plenty of storage. Motorola promises “all day battery life” with its 1980mAh battery, I think that this will be a very hard feat, but again who knows, they might surprise us.

The 4.3 inch screen is not the biggest, but does get the job done. With a 256ppi and not even 720p, there’s nothing special, but again it's not a flagship phone. However there is a very nice bonus feature with the screen, it comes with Gorilla Glass 3, which basically means that the screen will be okay if it runs into a little frazzle dazzle with the keys in your pocket.  

 It would appear as though it will fit great in your hand, at just 142g it will feel like it’s barely there. Not to mention that Motorola doesn't like to make phones with bad build quality, so you get very similar materials used in the Moto X and G.

The Moto E looks like a very worthwhile device for the price. One of the biggest things that cheaper Android phones have lacked is a good all around experience. You always have to sacrifice things. The Moto E is looking to change that. “Built to last, priced for all” the slogan that Motorola is using and we hope that its true. As they try so hard to give people the temptation to leave there old flip phone and get a new Moto E.

So what do you think? Would you consider purchasing this device? As always leave a comment and tell us what you think. Check the YouTube page and the Geekanoids website regularly, so you don’t miss anything, including our review of this phone. Thanks for reading and keep on enjoying tech!  

Just a reminder that this is just an overview, but do stay tuned for our full review.

Author: Ben Smith - Twitter

The OnePlus One

OnePlus, a company we haven't heard much about just made a big splash. This past week they announced the One, not to be confused with HTC, but it was impressing. It is often perceived that in order to make a good phone you must be an established brand. Well they might have proven that wrong too.

We will have a full review coming later on so stay tuned so you don't miss out, this is to provide a overview of the product. So let's begin, right off the bat OnePlus gives us flagship quality especially for a new company. We get the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor along with 3GB of RAM. The 5.5-inch screen is eye popping with a resolution of 1080p. The phone is running an OS called CyanogenMod, that has been known as a popular option for rooters but now it's a solid part of the phones OS. It provides a modified version of Android and gives the user plenty of helpful and easy tweeks and plenty of features too.

OnePlus also started a campaign that was rather impressive. It is called "The smash the past campaign". It is basically a ticket to get this phone early, but does come at a cost; you must smash your current phone. OnePlus recommends using a hammer,screwdriver,lighter, somthing of that nature. OnePlus will be contacting the 100 winners and give you your phone. That is sure to be an interesting contest.

This is just a short story but like I said stay tuned for our full review. If you have a phone you don't use anymore, I'd recommend participating in the contest, you never know; you might win. This is a very high quality phone by the looks of it and will be interesting to see how this goes for OnePlus. So far OnePlus has broken all the rules on "new phone companies" and hopefully the continue.

Author: Ben Smith - Twitter