5 Essential Tips for Choosing Smartphones

Smartphones can seem a little daunting if you are a new consumer just getting into the market. There are seemingly new smartphones released on a daily basis and it can be tough to choose which phone may be right for you. Here are a few tips that can help when choosing which smartphone is suitable for your specific needs. If you use these tips, there should be no issue finding the perfect new smartphone to bring you into the 21st century.

Choosing the best network can vary on the spectrum between extremely simple and difficult, depending on your attachment to your current network. If you already have a cellular provider and are pleased with the service currently provided then it is probably wise to take a look into what smartphones they offer and utilize the rest of these tips to choose a phone in their line. For people who are looking at all cell network providers, it will take slightly more research to come to a conclusion. One of the main points to consider is the data rate and network availability. Many companies offer a tiered range of prices for data usage on their networks, so try to estimate your needs, or call and ask the company what they consider a good entry level data plan. Also, depending on the city in which you reside, you may want to look at the coverage map of 4G and 3G to make sure the network you desire is available in your area.

Choosing a mobile operating system can sound complicated, but is very simple once you get a phone in your hand for testing. Android by Google is the most popular operating system and is very accessible for people who are new to the smartphone market. Android can be customizable and can be tailored more for each individual, depending on their preferences. IOS by Apple is less customizable than Android but is extremely user friendly. IOS comes on the iPhone and can be a very good entry point for new smartphone users because of the simple nature of the user interface. Most stores will have multiple Android phones and iPhones to test and get an idea of which operating system is best for you.

Smartphone features and functionality are another very important step in the process to choosing a new phone. There are a wide range of features that differentiate between the abundance of phones on the market. One of main features to consider is full QWERTY keyboards versus touchscreen-only phones. Some people, especially new smartphone users, can find it difficult to make the transition to a phone that only utilizes a touchscreen. There are a decent amount of phones on the market that have a full keyboard for the users that are not comfortable making the switch to touchscreen only. If having a keyboard is not an issue, then there are an even broader range of phones available for you.

Screen size and resolution is an important part of the smartphone decision process. Some people like to have an extremely large screen for watching videos and browsing the web. Larger screens also mean larger phones, so keep in mind how sizeable of a phone you want to be carrying in your pocket. Large screens can also utilize more battery power, so keeping in mind how often you will be charging,

Batterylife can be argued as being the most important element of the smartphone buying process. The biggest complaint of any smartphone user is usually the battery life on the phone. Some points to keep in mind are how often you think charging your phone will be possible, how much you will be utilizing the phone, and how long you would like the battery to last. There are a plethora of resources on the internet to find out about battery life for specific phones and doing a little research on each phone can lead to a much more fruitful smartphone relationship.

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What Does 3g Mean?

Ever since the cell phone market was flooded by the introduction of the smartphone, there has been an ever increasing amount of related jargon thrown around. I think it is fair to say that the average cell phone user probably doesn't understand an awful lot about this lingo, so where do they turn to find out? Well the internet of course.

One term that has become ever more popular over recent years is '3g', but what does 3g mean, and how does 3g work?

There are plenty of websites that answer this question online, however many of them are so filled with jargon that they appear as totally foreign to a lot of readers. Whatever happened to a simple explanation, something in a nutshell?

This article is going to provide you with a very simple explanation as to what 3g is, in case you are one of the thousands of people each month that search the internet trying to find out!

What does 3g mean?

First off I am going to answer the basic questions, what does the 'g' mean in '3g', as well as what does the 3 stand for in this acronym. Well it is quite simple really, the '3' stands for 3rd and the 'g' stands for generation. It is simply referring to the stage of mobile cell phone technology that it represents. The generation that preceded it was 2nd generation, and the improved technology that comes after it is referred to as 4th generation or 4g. Look at it as a stage in history or evolution, we refer to everything between 1900 and 1999 as the twentieth century, well it is no different here in that it is a type of technology applied to products in a period before the next generation of the technology comes along.

What is 3g?

So what is 3g? The term 3g is specific to wireless devices such as cell phones, and it represents the technology that compiles current cellular data networks. These networks allow cell phone users, and the users of other wireless devices that are capable of connecting to a cellular network (such as tablets), to send and receive data at high speed. This basically means when you are on your cell phone you are able to upload and download data by using apps on your phone, and using the internet. You will notice this is always faster when the '3g' logo is showing, as that means your phone is connected to the network and taking advantage of it's advanced power. Without it you may fail to connect at all or just experience much slower speeds, as regular cellular networks are not as advanced.

There are two main pillars of cellular technology, these are called CDMA, which stands for Code Division Multiple Access, and GSM, an acronym that is short for Global System for Multiple access). Both of these have their own specific sub-technologies, that qualify as '3g', but that is not so important when we are explaining what 3g is in a nutshell.

All of the major cell phone carriers have their own networks that fall under the 3g umbrella, because of the technology that is used to make them.

For example, in the USA the popular cell phone carriers AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM carriers and they use a standard of technology known as UMTS, otherwise known as HSPA. However, for the average person wanting to know what 3g is and what it means, this is not so important. The differences are that some 3g networks may be faster and more reliable than others.

What about 4g?

Whereby 3g technology is something that has been around for several years now, 4g is the latest standard of cellular technology. However, it is not available in as many areas as 3g yet, nor are there as many wireless devices that can support it.

Unlike previous generations of mobile technology such as 3g, 4G mobile will be commonly used for internet access on computers, in addition to carrying cell phone communications. Users in areas which have good 4G coverage will be able to use it for home broadband connection which doesn't require any cabling to their house. It will also be used for accessing the internet on the move without the need to be in a wireless hot-spot. This however is in the future when 4g is widespread, at present it is still predominantly 3g for the average cell phone user.

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Mobile Wallet Products And Services Heating Up The Mobile Communication Market

Everyday, with the introduction of something new, the mobile technology is taking the mobile phone industry to one newer dimension and milestone. All the elements of the mCommerce such as international and domestic money transfer, various alert services, prepaid airtime e-top up, retail store transactions, utility bill payments and mobile ticketing services offered by the mobile companies have become a USP for companies selling mobile phones. This mobile captivating market has led to an evolution of mobile trends.

Today mobile communication has grown to immeasurable limits. Its extent is continuously widening and connecting people with latest technologies plus the mobile wallet serves the purpose of everything was once available online. This is all because of the growing trends in mobile technology.

In these intensifying trends, the mobile application developers have gone one step ahead of mobile service providers and operators. They are consummating this trend intelligently and coming up with a newer and innovative solution for the operators as well as customers. Their focus is more for simplicity, speed, scalability, security, cost effectiveness and return on investment. And of course, it is the high time the application developer companies leveraged the technology and made the most of it.

Furthermore, The mobile communication market is flooded with the latest and advanced products and services. There are products designed specially to build a next generation mPayments and mCommerce ecosystem which can be utilized by financial institutions and payment processors in Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Likewise next generation mWallet enables everyone to access everything on mobile devices. This radical change can be referred to as a new revolution in mobile technology.

According to trade analysts, this shift towards mCommerce will be one of the biggest technology trends and Centrepoint of the operators focus in the world of marketing and campaigns. An Indian market with over 450 million subscribers, being the second largest mobile market in the world, will probably be the best in terms of mWallet and NFC payments. This clearly gives out a loud and clear message to the telecom industry that mCommerce market is growing strong to add another dynamism to mobile experiences.

The competition in the industry is heating up as the new competitors are coming up relentlessly. However, with the conventional services, keeping the customer's satisfaction at the priority, it is the unique features and capabilities of the next generation mWallet that they are providing much needed mPayment and mCommerce ecosystem.

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The Galaxy S3: Samsung's Next iPhone Killer?

We are a few months away from Samsung's 3rd Galaxy release and it seems Samsung are not as tight lipped about their upcoming offerings as Apple has been. The "leaked" pictures and specs for this phone seem to be exactly what we can expect. As you would probably have noticed by now, these two tech super-powers have been in a power struggle for a few years now, especially with regards to their phone and tablet offerings, and this has resulted in a number of copyright lawsuits and general cat-fighting as they jockey for the no. 1 position in both these markets. Whilst there have been noticeable similarities in their previous phones, especially the iPhone 4 vs. Galaxy S2, Samsung adamantly refuses to accept the "copycat" tag. Let's see what the 3rd generation Galaxy has to offer:

Firstly, the design of the S3 is an improvement, we feel, from the S2. The base material is still plastic but the slightly rounder shape and the massive 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen makes this phone feel great in your hands. Apple's Retina Display is certainly impressive, but the S3's combination of HD (309ppi pixel density) and impressive screen size makes this one of the best displays out there. The phone might feel a bit big in your hands for some people, but at least Samsung have kept the phone light (133g) and reasonably thin (8.6mm). With regards to the Sim Card, the S3 uses a Micro Sim.

The S3 has an improved Touchwiz interface that seems to be inspired by "nature" (unlocking the screen is accompanied by a ripple on the screen and the sound of a water droplet), whist the whole experience feels more simplified and the large screen looks uncluttered. Samsung has come up with an innovative eye-tracking method called Smart Stay, which tracks your eyes to dim the screen when you are not looking at it. Samsung have also included voice control (e.g. Siri in the Apple iPhone 4) although we are not really convinced this feature will ever really perform well on a smart-phone.

The operating system will be Android's latest ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) version 4.0.4 which has proven to be a hit so far with users on other devices, notably the new HTC One X. The best part of the S3, we feel, is the quad core 1.4 GHz Exynos CPU and 1GHz Ram which makes surfing the internet and general navigation an absolute breeze. There are concerns though that this powerful processor along with the HD screen will drain the device's battery in no-time, but Samsung has added a larger Li-Ion 2100 mAh battery to counter this. The camera remains the same from the S2 offering 8 megapixels with features like Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilization.

Overall then Samsung seem to have outdone themselves again with the S3, looking like it could be the best Android phone ever. It's a vast improvement on the S2 and a legitimate iPhone 4S alternative. Time, and sales, will tell whether it will take the crown of the greatest phone ever but Apple may have something to say about this when the, much touted, iPhone 5 gets released later this year. For the time being though I cannot wait for this phone, one of which will hopefully be in my proud possession soon.

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Monthly Contracts Versus SIM Only Contracts

Introduction to Contracts

In the last two decades technology has become an inescapable part of who we are and how we interact with the world. We have been driven by the want to have information as soon as possible and the ability to communicate it with immediate effect. The mobile phone has been one of the devices that have evolved over the last few years to reflect this relationship we have with technology.

However, mobile phones are not a cheap product to get your hands on as they cost a lot to manufacture and the materials used in them can be quite expensive. Also, you have to be pay to use the mobile once you have your hands on one. This means that for the average person to get hold of the latest ones they need to have access to long term contracts, or to have enough money to buy one outright. This article will go through the best qualities about two types of contract: monthly and SIM only.

Monthly Contracts

Monthly contracts are self explanatory in a way. They are contracts which are set for a predetermined set of months ranging from 12 to 24 months. As part of these contracts you pay for the handset and the cost of using it which includes text, calls and data usage.

This type of mobile phone contract is quite good if you don't necessarily have the funds to buy the handset that you want outright. The mobile phone operators give the user a number of different options depending on how they are going to use the phone (i.e mainly texting etc) and how much they can afford to pay every month.

There are two possible bad points to having a monthly contract. One is that the monthly contract means that you are stuck with the handset that you have chosen until the contract runs out or until you choose to pay off the rest of the contract. This can be quite annoying for some people as they find that they have to wait longer than most to get hold of the handset that they want because they are stuck in a contract that they don't want anymore. Another bad point is that the amount of minutes, amount of texts or amount of data allowed by the terms of the contract might be either too much or too little for what the user requires. This means that some users may be on the wrong monthly contract for what they want and are either paying too little or paying too much.

SIM only

SIM only contracts are also quite self explanatory in that they are contracts that are for just the SIM card and not the handset.

This type of contract is low cost and short term, which is great for people who like to have the freedom to be able to change their mobile phone every other month. They generally range from a month to 12 months and give users access to texts, minutes and data the same way that a monthly contract does but at a lower price.

There aren't many bad points to a SIM only contract other than you will have to pay for the handset in full without the luxury of having the payments spread out over a longer period of time.

Conclusion

The two types of contract are very similar and in the long run offer the same thing which is the use of a mobile phone. They cater to both those with high disposable income and those without. Depending on what handset you are after and how much are able to afford the best contract would be SIM only.

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The HTC One S Is A Slim And Powerful Google Android Smartphone

The brand new HTC One S was announced at a recent mobile phone exhibition that took place in Barcelona. This is a special phone for a number of reasons and it considered the most powerful slim handset on the market at the moment. It really is a fantastic handset and is amazing that they have managed to fit so much power into the tiny shell of the phone.

There is a huge 4.3" super AMOLED touch screen display that spans across the front of the phone. This display has the same resolution as the screen on the Apple iPhone 4 which means it is of exceptional quality. Looking at family photos and videos is a very pleasurable experience thanks to the vibrant display. The screen is also covered in a thin layer of Corning Gorilla Glass which will prevent the screen picking up any scratches.

Like other smartphones that have been released recently the HTC One S has a much improved camera. Mobile phone cameras have always had problems taking good pictures when it is dark. The HTC One S features a brand new 8 megapixel camera sensor that has been designed to solve that problem. The lens lets in more light than before which means all of your pictures will be bright and vibrant. If you want to record video then you will be glad to learn that it can record full HD videos.

The phone runs on the latest release of Google Android which has some pretty exciting features. If you are easily confused by technology then don't worry because Google Android is designed to be very easy to use. You will have access to thousands of different apps which are mostly free of charge to install. The HTC One S will also get regular updates for Google Android which means it will get even better over time.

Under the hood you will find a speedy 1.5Ghz dual core processor which means the phone will always be fast and responsive. The processor is more than fast enough to deal with everything you throw at it so don't worry about it lagging. There is also a huge amount of RAM available to help keep everything running smoothly.

The most impressive part is that HTC have managed to get all of this fantastic hardware to fit into a case that is only 130.9 x 65 x 7.8mm. That means it is one of the slimmest phones on the market today and will easily fit in your pocket. It only weighs 119.5 grams as well so it is very lightweight considering how powerful it is. The battery life is also very impressive and will last for hours even if your a heavy user.

What You Need To Know About The Brand New Apple iPhone 4s Smartphone

The brand new Apple iPhone 4s is one of the newest smartphones to hit the market. Although it was created and developed by Steve Jobs, he unfortunately passed away before it was officially unveiled to the world. After a lot of rumour and speculation on the web, we can finally reveal the full details of the brand new Apple iPhone 4s. It has a very impressive selection of features which will change the way you go about your daily life.

On the outside the new Apple iPhone 4s looks identical to the previous model. Don't be fooled though as all of the changes have been tucked away inside the handset. One of the first things you will notice is the latest version of iOS 5 which has become the worlds most advanced mobile operating system. This is driven by a dual core A5 processor which gives twice as much power as a normal processor would. This allows the Apple iPhone 4s to make short work of even the most processor intensive tasks such as playing 3D games or watching high definition videos.

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of the voice controlled mobile assistant which is called Siri. This feature will allow you to have complete control over the Apple iPhone 4s without actually having to touch the phone. You can something simple like asking Siri what the weather forecast is like or you can use it to check your calendar and book in appointments. You can also read and write text messages/emails all without touching the phone once. That is a huge leap forward and may well change the way we interact with our smartphones in the future.

The Apple iPhone 4s also features one of the most impressive cameras ever on a mobile phone. For the first time you will be able to take pictures of anything you want without having to worry about them been out of focus or dark. This is due to a brand new lens assembly which captures more light no matter where you are. This helps to create pictures with clarity and bright colours. It also has a series of advanced editing functions and can be used to record HD videos. You really need to try the camera out for yourself to see just how good it is, it really is a massive step forward in mobile camera technology and I hope other smartphone manufacturers catch up soon.

All of this might sound quite expensive but the price isn't actually that bad. There are a number of promotions online that will give you the phone free of charge which seems to be the most cost effective way of owning one. It is certainly worth shopping around online to make sure you get the best deal and save some money. The new Apple iPhone 4s had a global launch recently and it was out of stock for quite a long time. Stock is now readily available to buy in most countries now though so there's no need to rush out to buy one anytime soon.

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