Smart Phonote

The Apple iPhone 5 is a fast phone. The Apple iPhone 5S is faster based on GFX benchmark testing. The Egypt 2.5 HD test shows offscreen 1080p (FHD) results of 56 frames per second for the next iteration of Apple's full-price handset. That is a remarkable rise compared to the 29.8 frames per second scored by the Apple iPhone 5. The onscreen testing revealed a frames per second score of 53 for the Apple iPhone 5S versus 41.1fps scored by the iPhone 5.

While the benchmarking proves that the new iPhone is faster than last year's model, it is something that would have been assumed anyway, even had Phil Schiller not said it on Tuesday. While some developers won't want to bother with optimizing their app to the 64-bit architecture of the A7, and use OpenGL ES ver. 3.0, those that do will find Apple iPhone 5S users impressed with how fast their app runs on the Apple iPhone 5S.

Originally, the Dell Venue Pro was a Windows Phone smartphone with a slider keyboard, but this time around the Venue brand is being used on a Windows tablet. Dell has been active with Windows 8 hybrid devices, and it does still have a couple tablets on the market - the Windows RT XPS 10 tablet, and the Windows 8 Latitude 10 - but the Venue will be used on a smaller Windows tablet. The new Dell Venue will be an 8-inch tablet that runs full Windows 8.1, not the dreaded Windows RT. This is most likely because Dell has been targeting enterprise users, but the Venue is expected to be aimed at the consumer market as well. 

The Venue will have a 1080p display, an Intel Atom Bay Trail processor, HDMI out, and microSD card slot. Otherwise, we don't know what to expect. Dell is planning to announce more info on October 2nd.

A couple days ago a slight redesign to the official Google logo was found in a Chrome Beta APK. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be something we'll see any time soon; but, that doesn't mean the Google design team isn't working on other projects. Today, Google started rolling out a change to the Google Play logo, which oddly chooses to remove the word "Play" completely.

Maybe Google thought it was a bit off as well because the change was only up for a few hours before being pulled for the old logo again. The new logo was interesting, and we get that the Play symbol was supposed to replace the word; and, the darker color of the word Google looked much nicer than the washed-out grey that is in the current logo. 

We think it's probably best that the word "Play" stays in the logo for a bit longer, because we're not sure the name has enough traction with casual users yet. Play is a very important branding for Google, so to obfuscate that brand too soon is a risky idea. It's probably for the best that this rollout was pulled back, but we wouldn't be against seeing a tweak to the Play Logo. 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has already been unveiled and two variants coming to the states have just visited the FCC. One model, the SM-N900A, visited the Feds containing support for AT&T's GSM. HSPA and LTE pipelines. The second unit, with the model number SM-N900R4, was appropriately dressed to connect with LTE signals from CDMA flavored carriers like Sprint, U.S. Cellular and some smaller regional operators.
So far, we know that the phablet will launch via AT&T on October 1st, via T-Mobile on October 2nd and Verizon on October 10th. If you're interested in winning a free Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the companion Gear smartwatch, simply register your email address with T-Mobile before September 15th to be entered into a contest to win both devices.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is soon to have some more competition with the expected Elephant Man version of the HTC One, rumored to be called (rather uninspiring) the HTC One Max. And of course, Japanese OEM Sony has the largest screened smartphone in the industry with the 6.4 inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra, a device that has already launched. And a couple of camera centric phablets are apparently on the way with the Nokia Lumia 1520 expected to be introduced on September 26th. Three days before that, the OPPO N1 should be unveiled with its high-end snapper on board.

If you love big screens, the latter months of 2013 are going to be your time.

Motorola is shipping out 100,000 units of the Motorola Moto X handset each week, according to a report published on Tuesday. The phones are being produced in a factory near Dallas as the wholly owned Google subsidiary promotes the device as the first phone designed, engineered and assembled in the USA. Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside says that the 100,000 Moto X handsets in transit each week is just the start of a larger plan. He also points out that not every phone that has been shipped has been sold to a consumer.

Woodside would not breakdown the numbers into those units ordered to be customized through the Moto Maker website, and those standard models headed for carriers like Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. Right now, only AT&T customers can order a customized Moto X although that exclusivity expires in November.

To show what Motorola is giving up to promote that the Motorola Moto X is made in America, Flextronics CEO Mike McNamara notes that labor in the U.S. runs at about $12 to $14 an hour compared with the $4 paid workers on an hourly basis in China.

When you set up to ramp a factory you need a plan, and we have shipment targets we need to make with our carrier partners, and where we need to be right now is 100,000 units and that's where we are."-Dennis Woodside, CEO, Motorola 

AT&T's pre-paid wireless service, Aio (All in one), is the first carrier in the U.S. to offer its customers the Nokia Lumia 620. Priced at $99.99, the Windows Phone powered handset features a 3.8 inch ClearBlack display with resolution of 480 x 800 (WVGA) which works out to a pixel density of 246ppi. Under the hood is a dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus with the Adreno 305 GPU. 512MB of RAM is on board along with 8GB of native storage that can be expanded by using the 64GB capacity microSD slot.

The back and front-facing cameras weigh in at 5MP and .3MP respectively. The 5MP snapper has an aperture of f/2.4 and captures 720 x 1280 video in 30fps. A 1300mAh battery is on board. The phone was originally $179.99, but through Aio, the Nokia Lumia 620 is now $99.99.

Aio was originally available in Houston, Orlando, and Jacksonville, but starting Tuesday the network started piggybacking AT&T's pipeline which gives it a national reach. The pre-paid carrier has three plans priced at $40, $55 and $70. Each plan comes with unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE data speeds that are throttled when you hit each plan's data cap. The cap numbers are 250MB, 2GB and 7GB respectively. The $40 plan is for featurephones only.