The alaTest Blog

It started off on giant movie screens using silly glasses with mismatched lenses. Then the screens shrunk, bringing 3D into the living room with 3D-capable HDTVs, but you still had to wear the glasses. Now the screens are even smaller, sitting on things like smartphones, digital cameras, and handheld gaming devices, and best of all, there’s no more need for the silly glasses. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re in the market for your first smartphone, or even upgrading from an old one, you’ll notice that there are a lot of choices on the market these days. Rather than blindly choosing your next smartphone based on a 3 minute test run at your carrier’s store, let alaTest help you decide which platform best suits your needs – Android, iPhone, Windows Phone 7, or BlackBerry. Read the rest of this entry »

Windows Mobile was always a very popular smartphone operating system, from its beginnings as Pocket PC 2000, back in the year 2000, up until version 6.5 running late into 2009. When it was created, smartphone users were a very select crowd, comprised almost entirely of enterprise users, so it was no surprise that Windows Mobile focused almost entirely on enterprise solutions. It wasn’t until smartphones started becoming popular amongst general users (coinciding with the success of the Apple iPhone) that Windows Mobile started losing ground. Over the last few years of its life, Windows Mobile lost a hefty portion of its market share, leading to a complete system overhaul and introduction of Windows Phone 7. Read the rest of this entry »

We were going over our data for June and noticed a very interesting trend among our most popular products for the month. It turned out that of our 10 most popular items on alaTest, 7 of them were digital cameras. It seems that consumers are getting serious about taking some great photos, perhaps for summer vacations or family get togethers. We decided to take a closer look at our most popular cameras and what makes them so great. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to smartphones, Android is by far and away the leader of the pack, with 38 percent of the world’s market share (Apple’s iOS is in second place at just 26 percent). Yet despite its popularity, there is still a lot of confusion around the Android name. Is Android a phone? Is it a lot of phones? Is it the “Google Phone?” Read the rest of this entry »

Smartphones these days do a little bit of everything, but that’s the catch; it’s only a little bit of everything. Many people think that because their smartphone has an 8 megapixel camera and can shoot 1080p HD video (like the HTC Sensation 4G), they have no need for a compact digital camera. Unfortunately, smartphones have small image sensors and lack key features to make them suitable for any serious photography. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the planned release of the PlayStation Vita right around the corner, game studios appear to be continuing development on some great PlayStation Portable games this year. It’s not yet clear whether the Vita will be able to play your PSP titles, but if you don’t intend to get the Vita as soon as it comes out, or if you’re looking for a few PSP games to tide you over until it does, here’s a list of the best PSP titles so far this year. Read the rest of this entry »