Top 5 high-end smartphones worth buying for the 2012 holiday season

Smartphone war starts ahead of holiday season. Starts with iPhone 5, then Windows phone 8 follow up, such as Nokia Lumia 920, Windows Phone 8X by HTC, Samsung ATIV S. The Nexus 4, announced yesterday and rumored for about 50 years before, goes on sale directly from Google starting November 13. The Smartphone war is heating up as smartphones play a bigger role this holiday season.

Thinking about buying a new smartphone for yourself or as a gift this holiday season? People are spending a whole lot of time with their smartphones these days, so here's a list of the top smartphone choices to make sure it's time well spent.

1. Nokia Lumia 920

The Nokia Lumia 920 is the new flagship smartphone of the Windows Phone 8, which features a 4.5 inch PureMotion HD+ display, LTE, 8.7MP PureView camera, 1.2MP front camera, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, wireless charging, 2000 mAh battery,1GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal memory , Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia City Lens. Nokia claims its new handsets are “the world’s most innovative smartphones”. I know many of you have already added it to your list this holiday season, so do I. Now Nokia Lumia 920 is available in Canada (at Rogers). More units will be shipped in the near future.

2. Windows Phone 8X by HTC

The Windows Phone 8X by HTC is a premium Windows Phone 8 device that packs a punch with a beautiful 4.3-inch HD-resolution super LCD 2 screen, a powerful 1.5GHz dual-core processor, impressive 8MP camera with HTC's custom Image Chip technology and a very-wide-angle 2.1MP front-facing shooter on the other side. Customers will enjoy the feel of the pure unibody design in California Blue, access to Windows Phone’s Live Tiles, immersive studio-quality sound with Beats Audio™ and incredible camera capabilities of the Windows Phone 8X by HTC.

3. LG Nexus 4 runs on Android 4.2

The Nexus 4 has a 4.7-inch, 1,280 x 768 pixel resolution display, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor from Qualcomm, 2 gigabytes of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front camera and either 8 or 16 gigabytes of storage. It also has NFC, a micro USB port and micro HDMI output. For bells and whistles, Google is touting built-in wireless charging (though you’ll need to supply your own compatible charging mat) and a Photo Sphere feature that can shoot 360-degree panorama photos but it doesn’t support 4G LTE. LG Nexus 4 runs on Android 4.2, which comes with a lot of new features, like updated Google Now, and multiple user accounts. It also adds a Swype-like trace keyboard, built right into stock Android.

    See also: Android 4.2's four best new features

4. Samsung Galaxy Note 2

If you are interested in larger screen, then galaxy note 2 may be your best choice. The Galaxy Note II will be featuring HSPA+ and 4G LTE connectivity, a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, a 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, an 8 megapixel auto focus rear-facing camera with a 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera, S Pen stylus, Bluetooth 4.0, a 3100mAh battery, 2GB of RAM and microSD card support up to 64GBs. The Galaxy Note II will also be coming in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models along with a white or black color to choose from.

5. iPhone 5

“The iPhone has always been an innovator since its 2007 release and its true potential really came out with the 4 and 4S models, but the iPhone 5 is the king of them all,” said junior Caleb Hughes.

The iPhone has a 4-inch LED-backlit IPS TFT display featuring 326ppi pixel density with 640 x 1136 pixels and also has Gorilla Glass, features a A6 chipset with 1.2GHz dual-core CPU and of course the PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, 1GB RAM, has an 8-megapixel on the rear and a 1.2MP on the front, as well as 1080P HD video, geo-tagging, HDR, panorama, LED flash, autofocus and face detection. The iPhone 5 comes in 16, 32 and 64GB versions, which is running iOS 6. Price of the iPhone 5 is relative high than other smartphones.

With shoppers getting ready to kick off the holiday season the day after Thanksgiving — or sooner — retailers are ready for consumers to pull out their smartphones or tablets, NRF's Shay said. So Which one is your next mobile device as the holiday gift ?

Nokia Lumia 920 vs iPhone 5, price and top specs comparison

Since Stephen Elop, CEO, unveiled the Lumia 920 prototype in New York City On September 5, The Nokia Lumia 920 has gained a lot of attention from both the media and consumers. As Nokia’s flagship Windows 8 phone, many people are waiting for it, even though iPhone 5 has already been released part days ago. Now with the shopping season coming, AT&T is likely to launch the Nokia Lumia 920, which incorporates Windows Phone 8 operating system, Nov 11, states a BGR report.

The Lumia 920 and the iPhone 5 have many things in common, some of which are the exceptional industrial design cues, top-notch build quality, top internal specs and most notably, the synergistic hardware-software implementation that boasts an extremely robust and smooth-running software environment. Then many consumers are wondering which phone they should purchase. To help you make the best decision, it is necessary to explore both phones and the features each has to offer.

1. Design and Build

The most noticeable differences between the two phones is the build. Both are made with quality design. The iPhone 5 looks very much like the iPhone 4 and 4S, but it is slightly longer. Like its two predecessors, it is available in only black or white. The Nokia Lumia 920 boasts a beautiful polycarbonate unibody that is similar to the Lumia 900, except that it is glossy instead of including a matte finish. It is available in a variety of colors as well — yellow, red, black and gray.

The iPhone 5 is narrower and significantly lighter than the Lumia 920 which means that the device can be used easily with one hand compared to the latter; the Lumia 920 is also slightly thicker than the iPhone 5 which can be good or bad to some, just a little something to keep in mind.

2. Hardware 

The iPhone 5′s standby time lasts up to 225 hours on 2G/3G, up to 8 hours of talk time on 2G/3G, music playback of up to 40 hours and internet browsing of up to 10 hours.

The lumia 920 can last up 400 hours on standby mode under the 2G/3G networks, gives users up to 17 hours of talk time via 2G and 10 hours on 3G, music playback clocks in at around 67 hours.

As Engadget has proved it, the Lumia 920 is simply better, photography-wise, than the iPhone 5, especially in low-light

Engadget also proves that the 920 – which features optical image stabilization – bests the iPhone 5 when it comes to video recording, too.

On the hardware front, the Lumia 920 certainly wins over the iPhone 5 due to its hardware-related features.

3. Software

The iPhone 5 is powered with Apple’s own iOS 6 mobile operating system while the Lumia 920 runs on the new Windows Phone 8 operating system with a tiled user interface.

The Lumia 920 on the other hand boasts the Windows Phone 8 with a revamped UI which lets users gain even more control over their device’s Live Tiles UI, added HD resolution and multi-core CPU support, background multi-tasking, NFC and many others.

It’s worth noting that the Windows Phone Marketplace is still populating its app portfolio since Microsoft is having a hard time increasing the Windows Phone market share so they’re having difficulties luring-in developers to create apps for their mobile operating system as a result, thus, it still lacks in comparison to Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

Given that Microsoft seems to be gaining traction with the upcoming launch of the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 on the 29th of this month, it’s not too hard to see that the Windows Marketplace will no longer look like a ghost town in the next few quarters.

4. Price

The Nokia Lumia 920, according to sources from third-party retailers, is still more affordable than the Apple iPhone 5. Keep in mind that we’re talking about unlocked phones here. The latest price list shows that the Nokia Lumia 920 base model is sporting the tag price of $700, while the most affordable unlocked iPhone 5 is still expensive with $900 asking price. The original SRP or suggested retail price of the iPhone 5 is $650, but due to underwhelming supply, the phone’s price online is still unchanged.

As a conclusion, the Lumia 920 wins this duel thanks to its mightier spec list and Microsoft’s history in software development making the Windows Phone platform a viable choice for those who are planning to try a new mobile computing experience. So this time it is a good time to switch to the Nokia Lumia 920 as your next handset, whether you are an android user or iPhone fan.

Halloween 2012: Top 5 Halloween Scary Horror movies on YouTube

Halloween is around the corner. There are lot activities on Halloween, such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and above all, my favorite part is watching horror films.

What better to watch on Halloween than a horror Halloween movie? So if you are a horror films fan, here is a list 5 of the best Horror movies on YouTube for Halloween to help get you into the spooky season’s spirit.


I’ve watched some of them and most of these horror movies are really frightening. So attention please, if you are afraid of this HORROR movie, does NOT click it.

1. Halloween (2007) $2.99

After being committed for 17 years, Michael Myers, now a grown man and still very dangerous, escapes from the mental institution (where he was committed as a 10 year old) and he immediately returns to Haddonfield, where he wants to find his baby sister, Laurie. Anyone who crosses his path is in mortal danger.

See also: Zombieland Now On Blu-ray™, DVD & Digital Download

3. Trick 'R Treat ($1.99)

Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband.