Abu Dhabi Week gets hold of two of the latest must-have smartphones to hit the market

Samsung Galaxy Note

If you’re a fan of the excellent Samsung Galaxy SII (and we certainly are) then you’re going to love the new Galaxy Note.

First things first, let’s look at that screen. The 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display isn’t just big, it’s massive. The 1280 x 800 pixels you once could only get with a full-size laptop can now slide comfortably into your front pocket.

In true PDA style, Samsung has also reintroduced the stylus, or as they call it – the S Pen. To be completely honest, we didn’t really get along with it but the S Pen does provide some neat tricks. The little button on the side of the stylus serves as a useful shortcut option, while double-tapping the screen with the S Pen brings up the Quick Memo app for nifty note taking, where you can draw, hand write notes and annotate websites.

Another plus is the battery life – it’s phenomenal. Considering the size of that screen and the ultra-fast CPU, you’d expect battery life to suffer but our test model easily lasted a full day on a single charge even after some serious web browsing and a prolonged YouTube session.

Is there anything we didn’t like? Well, once again we come back to the size. It wasn’t a problem for us but for some it might be a little tricky to use one-handed and it is a pretty snug fit in all but the baggiest of pockets. Also, even we have to admit that it did feel a little strange holding such a large device up to our ear when making a call – although the call quality was excellent and the loudspeaker unbelievably, well, loud.

Pros: That amazing screen! Combines the best elements of a smartphone and a tablet…
Cons: … as long as the dimensions don’t put you off.
We say: If you like your phones supersized they don’t come much bigger and better than this!

 

BlackBerry Bold 9900

When BlackBerry offered us a chance to review the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 it couldn’t have come at a better time; our BlackBerry Torch had given up the ghost just days before.

We're used to the heavier Torch, so the first thing we loved about the Bold was its size. At just 10.5mm and 130g, it's the thinnest and lightest BlackBerry yet – and not so far from the Samsung Galaxy SII which, at 8.5mm, is the thinnest Smartphone we’ve seen.

We never quite converted from our old Curve to the new Torch; and the Bold was like being reunited with an old friend, but with some swishy extras. We love, love, love the touchscreen on the Bold. The term user-friendly is somewhat overused but in this case we’d have to utter it, the Bold is just so easy to handle. And although the screen is a lot smaller than that of the Torch, watching videos and flipping through our photos was just as easy.

The quick photo key to the side of the device is also really handy: just push it twice and you have your snap!
With its oversized keyboard, flush function keys and scrolling bar the Bold 9900 just feels slicker than past models.

There are no clunky buttons, just clean, smooth surfaces. Also, despite its lighter weight the Bold feels sturdier than previous models with its reassuring metal casing. Let’s face it, we all drop our phones from time to time, and we’ve all been there to see our phone shatter into a million pieces only to need some lengthy reassembling. Not so with the Bold, which happily bounced across the car park the other day and emerged without a scratch.

Pros: Light, easy to use and stylish. What more could a girl ask for?
Cons: A smaller screen. That’s all we could think of.
We say: We love it!