The Benefits of Droid Phones and iPhones

July 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Motorola Milestone & LG GW620

Image via Wikipedia

  • Touch Screen: Having a touchscreen is a huge benefit because it makes the user experience better. Texting is easier because of Swype, and games can be more interactive. If you buy an LG Android phone, you’ll have a touch screen

and be able to do a lot more than if you had bought the standard phone.

  • Apps: Droids and iPhones have access to huge app markets where you can find anything from productivity tools to games. This means you can use your phone for virtually any task you can think of.
  • Internet Access: Smartphones have the ability to access the Internet if you subscribe to a data plan through your cell phone service provider. This means you can look up information on the go anytime you so desire.
  • Geo-Locator Technology: Many people who have a smartphone enjoy being able to use a GPS to get to where they want to go. Geo-locator technology is also useful for apps like FourSquare, where you can check into locations and get area specific information and promotions.
  • NFC Technology: This is a fairly new feature of cell phones, but pretty soon everyone will be paying for things at stores with their cell phones instead of using credit cards.

Smartphones are going to continue to get better as the years go by. It will be interesting to see what changes are made.

 

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How Smart Phones Can Help You in Your Everyday Life

July 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Cut-away cell phone

Image via Wikipedia

Smart phones have quickly supplanted the traditional no-frills cell phone as the “must have” gadget of today’s techno-savvy business people, parents, students and everybody in between. There are smart phones that let you post simultaneously to multiple networking sites, phones that offer 2-way video calls, and phones that are part computer and part personal secretary. Here’s a look at how today’s smart phones can benefit different kinds of people.

Business people obviously benefit from having smart phones. These phones let them sync their schedules with the office or schedule meetings. They can send remote emails, check in with the family and even find a local restaurant for lunch with a client. Business people can scan Canada 411 to find whatever they’re looking for, from just about anywhere they are.

Moms are busy people, too. Smart phones can help moms manage the house, kids and family. These phones won’t just help keep everybody’s schedules straight, but they can also hold grocery lists, check bank balances and make appointments with the dentist.

Students benefit from smart phones in ways different from other people, and not just for storing the personal information of vast numbers of friends. Students can have complicated schedules with homework and projects due at various times, club meetings, extra-curricular activities and sports events all making claims on their time. Smart phones can let them keep all these activities on schedule and will even allow them time for a video call home from the other side of the country.

There’s no doubt that smart phones have a universal appeal; there are smart phones for just about anybody from every walk of life.

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Benefits of Multimedia Phones

May 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc... 

Image via CrunchBase

Droid phones and iPhones are multimedia phones, phones that utilize cameras, apps, web browsers and other functionality in order to significantly increase how much you can use your phone to your benefit. There are a wide variety of different benefits associated with multimedia phones, including all of teh following:

Benefits of Multimedia Phones

The biggest benefit of multimedia phones like the iPhone and Droid phones relates to the apps. Apps significantly increase the functionality of these phones by allowing you to make them into practically anything you like. You will find games, productivity apps, apps for business, apps for meeting people and a wide variety of other types of apps that you can utilize directly on your phone.

Another great benefit of the multimedia phones is the camera functionality. the iPhone 4, for example, has a camera on each side of the device, and allows for FaceTime video conversation. It also does HD video recording, so you can take photos and videos front-facing or back facing. Camera functionality on these multimedia phones takes photos and videos to the next level.

Web browsing and e-mail support are also excellent benefits of these multimedia phones. Access your e-mail anywhere you go, and use a web browser to surf the web, look things up, communicate with friends or check your Facebook on the go. Some mutlimedia phones even allow you to browse the internet while you are talking on the phone, which increases the functionality of these multimedia phones even more.

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Putting Macs to Work as Appliances

December 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
MacBook Air!
Image by Lady Madonna via Flickr

If you work around computers long enough, you’re sure to hear the benefits a Mac can offer over other operating systems. These typically include better integration with software, less crashes, and better reliability. But compared to newer products–Apple’s iPad and iPhone have set the standard for their sectors—the Mac computers often feel clunky. That’s why Apple has revealed a new plan to revamp Macs.

According to Steve Jobs, Apple is planning to implement new services, new hardware, and new software for the computers. And it’s about time. The current Mac platform is 27 years old—that’s ancient in computer talk. The goal is to make the Macs more like appliances than computers.

The first part of this revamp is the newly released MacBook Air notebooks, with razor-thin packaging, a lower starting price, and better specs. The anticipated price on these is under $1000, making them an attractive option. To get the lighter weight and the trimmer style, Apple has ditched DVD burners and hard disk drives. As most everything can be done through USB ports, this probably won’t be a problem for most people. This change also eliminates the need for a moving part on the machines, reducing the manufacturing price, which gets passed along to consumers who want a smaller price tag.

The Air notebooks will come with 64GB of storage space, which is less than you would get if you purchased a notebook with a hard drive. While this does lower your storage capability, it does increase the speed of the computer while extending the battery life. The Air notebooks will have two versions available based on size and features. The smaller version weighs in at 2.3 pounds and offers an 11.6-inch display. The larger version comes in at 2.9 pounds and ups the screen to 13.3 inches.

If you like Macs, you’ll want to keep you eyes open for more information on upcoming models from Apple.

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Free Internet Games

December 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Free Internet Games

With people spending more and more time on websites like facebook and MySpace the power of online gaming has truly come into its own. According to a study conducted by Ball State University in 2000, the average person spent about nine hours online. Keep in mind that this was a time before Kindle, iPads and web-enabled coffee mugs. (No, we don’t actually have those yet.) Add ten years and technological developments like the latest models of the BlackBerry, iPhone and Android and you’ve got an entire generation of kids who literally live online.

While there has always been a large market for intense role-playing–think World of Warcraft and Baldur’s Gate), a growing number of casual gamers are coming out of the woodwork. The games they play may not seem like much to a serious gamer, but the old-school simplicity and zero learning curve gives these time-sappers undeniable appeal.

You can find free games on social networking sites, such as facebook and MySpace, or at online arcades. Online arcades are indexes of web-based and downloadable games. While many of these sites offer game play for a monthly or per-use fee. There are plenty of free, publicly-accessible arcades that have a decent offering.

Since many web arcades link to the same games, it saves time to stick to a handful two to five– sites that offer the best collection, appearance and navigation system. That way you’ll spend less time browsing and more time shooting rabbits (Kill the Wabbits by Heroik) or sawing stick figures in half (Stick Dude Killing Arena by Stick Page).

Here is a list of some great free arcades and individual games.

Game Arcades
Kongregate.com
FreeWebArcade.com
FreeArcade.com
Yahoo! Games (games.yahoo.com)
AddictingGames.com
1up.com
Shockwave.com

Web-based Games
Desktop Tower Defense by Kongregate
Super Text Twist by Game House
Cheat Death by Garbux Games
Cafe World by Zynga
Bejeweled by PopCap Games

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How Cell Phones Catch Internet Viruses

September 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
SAN ANSELMO, CA - AUGUST 23: In this photo ill...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

When most people think about internet viruses, they think about how they can affect their home or office computers. However, internet viruses are not just limited to your computers. Now, they have the ability to attack your cell phones as well. If you take the time to think about it, it really does make sense. Why would internet viruses be limited to computers when we can also access the internet from our cell phones?

Many cell phone users don’t have any idea that their phones are susceptible to internet viruses. However, this does not protect them from having their cell phones attacked by a debilitating virus. So, how exactly do cell phones catch internet viruses? There are three main ways.

1. Downloads: The most common way internet viruses spread is through internet downloads. This is true for both computers and cell phones. With cell phones such as the iPhone and the Blackberry, users are constantly downloading apps off the internet as well as media files sent to them through email. Understand that any type of file you download on your phone has the ability to infect it with a virus.

2. Multimedia Text Messages: These types of text messages usually have an attachment that the receiver has to download in order to view. The most common type of multimedia text message is one that has pictures or a video attached. If you download and open a MMS text message that has an internet virus attached, it will normally send itself to everyone else in your contact list. You may not even realize your cell phone has a virus until one of your contacts tells you about a message “you” sent.

3. Bluetooth: The internet viruses that are caught and spread through Bluetooth wireless connections are especially hard to prevent. This is because they are able to spread from one phone to the next through the actual Bluetooth technology. When a cell phone that has both Bluetooth capabilities and a virus, and detects another cell phone in the area with Bluetooth, it can automatically send the virus to that phone.

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Check Out What Smartphones Can Do with this Smartphone Comparison

August 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The term “smartphone” seems to be on everyone’s lips. Whether it’s the rumors spiraling about as to whether Verizon will finally provide service for the iPhone or the Droid versus the iPhone debate. A smartphone comparison is needed to know which phone would be the right one.

But what exactly is a smartphone? Simply it is a cell phone with a lot of additional features. These features may be found on PDAs (personal digital assistants) or computers. These features include email, web surfing, and document editing.

A little history may also help understand smartphones. Cell phones and PDAs were the first so-called mobile devices. Phone calls were the main function of early cell phones; they did not have any other function. PDAs were portable organizers. Basically these devices stored contacts and lists and would connect with personal computers. Later these PDAs were given wireless connectivity access and could start using email services. Cell phones also began using email capabilities. This was followed by cell phones adding the services of PDAs and vice versa. And hence the smartphone was born.

There is really no industry-wide definition of a smartphone. But there are some general similarities including:

  • Smartphones use an operating system. This allows the use of applications. These systems include Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry OS.
  • Smartphones use richer software than cell phones. Most cell phones will include applications such as a contact manager; but smartphones do more. They can edit and create documents. You can download applications including management software for business and finance, and you can even get travel directions using GPS software.
  • Smartphones have the ability to access the Web. High-speed Web access is growing allowing Web access at high speeds on these mobile devices.
  • While all cell phones have text messaging capabilities, smartphones can communicate and synchronize with your email accounts. Some can even handle multiple accounts.
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