Friday, July 8, 2011

13 things I've learned

In this course I have learned...

How to build a website from scratch
How to create a blogger
How to post to a blogger
How to create different types of blog posts
How to create CafePress products
How to create a Privacy Policy page on my web site
How to submit URLs to a search engine
How to create an eBook
How to setup a PayPal account (sadly I've never had one before)
How to create a PayPal donate button
How to find and promote ClickBank products
How to advertise on my website
How to add a counter to my web pages on my website

13 things I've learned

In this course I have learned...

How to build a website from scratch
How to create a blogger
How to post to a blogger
How to create different types of blog posts
How to create CafePress products
How to create a Privacy Policy page on my web site
How to submit URLs to a search engine
How to create an eBook
How to setup a PayPal account (sadly I've never had one before)
How to create a PayPal donate button
How to find and promote ClickBank products
How to advertise on my website
How to add a counter to my web pages on my website

iPhone 4

Apple’s most recent invention has wowed nearly every iPhone user. People thought the 3GS was the next best thing and then Apple trumped itself again as it always has with the iPhone 4. Recently Apple announced that the new iOS 5 operating system will be released to iPhone 4 users for free making this product even more popular. Most iPhone 3GS users that didn’t have the luxury of picking up the iPhone 4 and planned on waiting until the 5 came out until Apple’s announcement of this new operating system now every iPhone user is rushing out to get their new iPhone 4. Here is a quick rundown on one of the most popular phones on the market…
When creating iPhone 4, Apple designers and engineers didn’t start with a clean sheet of paper. They started with three years of experience designing and building the phones that redefined what a phone can do. iPhone 4 is the result of everything they’ve learned so far. And it’s all contained in a beautiful enclosure a mere 9.3 millimeters thin, making iPhone 4 the world’s thinnest smartphone. All the breakthrough technology in iPhone 4 is situated between two glossy panels of aluminosilicate glass — the same type of glass used in the windshields of helicopters and high-speed trains. Chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the glass is ultradurable and more scratch resistant than ever. It’s also recyclable. The 960-by-640 backlit LCD display boasts a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch, making it the highest-resolution phone screen ever. To achieve this, Apple engineers developed pixels so small — a mere 78 micrometers across — that the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels. That makes text remarkably sharp and graphics incredibly vivid. IPS technology also provides excellent color and contrast from almost any viewing angle. iPhone 4 includes a built-in three-axis gyroscope. When paired with the accelerometer, it makes iPhone 4 capable of advanced motion sensing such as user acceleration, full 3D attitude, and rotation rate. Translation: More motion gestures and greater precision for an even better gaming experience. The iPhone 4 camera shoots gorgeous 5-megapixel photos and stunning HD video. And with its advanced backside illumination sensor, it captures beautiful images even in low-light settings. The built-in LED flash does double duty. When you’re taking pictures, it works as a flash. When you’re shooting video it can stay on to light up the scene. And on the front of iPhone 4, the built-in camera is perfect for making FaceTime calls and shooting self-portraits.

For a list of the top 25 Smartphone apps go to...
http://101smartphones101.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-25-smartphone-apps.html
http://101smartphones101.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-10-smartphone-apps.html
http://101smartphones101.blogspot.com/2011/06/rooting-and-jailbreaking.html
http://101smartphones101.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-personal-recommendation.html

Thursday, July 7, 2011

iPhone 3GS

Apple has trump itself time and time again with better and stronger iPhone devices one after another. The iPhone 3GS was one of the most durable and most sought out iPhones before the iPhone 4 came out. It has been so popular that Apple has elected to continue to sell the iPhone 3GS three years after its original release (very unusual for Apple). The 3GS packed a powerful punch and here is a quick rundown of Apple’s most popular product for nearly five years now. Keep applications open in the background. Organize your apps with folders. Shop for books in the iBookstore. The 8GB iPhone 3GS takes advantage of all the great features of iOS 4. And it starts at an amazing new price — just $49. Now you can run your favorite third-party apps — and switch between them instantly — without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily. So you can listen to a ball game while emailing. Or receive a VoIP call while playing a game. Drag and drop to organize apps into folders on your Home screens and get fast access to your favorites. More than a full-color ebook reader, iBooks is also an amazing place to browse and shop for books anytime you feel like it.2 It works with PDFs that you can sync using iTunes on your Mac or PC. And you can customize iBooks to suit the way you read — adjust the brightness, change the text size, and more. On iPhone, making a call is as simple as tapping a name or number. And Visual Voicemail lets you play messages in any order — just like email.

Blackberry Torch

Blackberries have fallen off the face of the earth since Androids, iPhones and Windows 7 phones have hit the market. Blackberry’s used to own nearly 40% of the market share and now they have dwindled down to a measly 12%. Blackberry combated this recent decrease in market share with the release of their first ever touchscreen device which also couples with a full QWERTY slideout keyboard. Here is a quick rundown of Blackberry’s Torch…
With 8 GB of memory, expandable up to 32 GB with a microSD card, feel free to immerse yourself in all that inspires you. Use your fingers to pinch a screen for a zoomed out effect and expand two fingers to zoom in. Thanks to BlackBerry 6 and a large screen, you can experience a full-featured music player that allows you to see full album art and track listings in portrait or landscape. With a 5 MP camera with flash, continuous auto-focus and image stabilization, plus 11 photo modes and video recording, it's easy to capture those spontaneous moments. Bring your sources of inspiration together. Gather and filter all your social network and RSS feeds in one view. Or spread your own inspiration - update multiple social networks with a single post. Manage multiple open websites with tabbed browsing. Bookmark your favorite sites with branded icons and customizable names, and access them right from the home screen. Just a few of the great features from BlackBerry 6.2. For all it can do, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone is remarkably easy to use when you've got the right tools to help with setup and using all the new features.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

LG Quantum

The past few posts have been quick rundowns but here is more of a review on a solid Windows 7 device that comes fully loaded with a full QWERTY slide out keyboard…
LG's first Windows Phone 7 device is the Quantum, which comes out swinging with a QWERTY keyboard and solid build quality. Is there enough to set it apart from the other WP7 devices? The LG Quantum is one of the few Windows Phone 7 devices to have a physical keyboard. As with its other smartphones, however, LG takes a decidedly feature phone approach to the Quantum. Did LG go far enough in shedding its feature phone funk to attract the more sophisticated smartphone crowd? The LG Quantum combines mostly good hardware with a solid smartphone operating system. Though it still looks a bit too much like a feature phone for my tastes, I am sure many people won't look at it that way. The Quantum is heavy and dense, but offers a roomy QWERTY keyboard for messaging and a fantastic display. The Quantum performed well at the basics (signal strength, call quality and battery life), and was fast and responsive throughout the user interface. Even the camera and video player stepped up to the plate and delivered a solid base hit. Microsoft's fledgling smartphone platform still has weaknesses, such as limited landscape support, and lack of cut-and-paste, but those are mostly forgivable for now. WP7's messaging toolset is excellent and there are already plenty of third-party apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace to get you started with social networking, as well as fill in other gaps within WP7.
Would I recommend the LG Quantum? Yes, yes I would. It's as solid a smartphone as any on the market, though it's not a quantum leap forward.

HTC HD7S

Windows 7 phones are fairly new but are truly starting to make a statement in smartphone industry. With plenty of phones arriving in the next six months, the Windows 7 phones will start to take a decent part of the market share away from the rest of the operating systems available on the market. The newest Windows 7 phone available today is HTC’s HD7S. It packs a powerful punch and is very similar to HTC’s Inspire 4G Android-based phone except it’s a Windows 7 phone. Here is a quick rundown of this brand new phone…
Windows® Phone, designed for life in motion.A glance and go experience delivers crucial info right on the Lock and Start screens, while integrated Hubs help you find what you love faster— like Facebook® updates integrated with your contacts in the People Hub.
Get into the groove with superior sound.A gigantic 4.3-inch screen puts you right in the action. Flip out the kickstand and rock to Dolby Mobile or SRS WOW HD™ surround sound stereo speakers and truly enjoy media on the go.
More movies, more music, more games. Unlimited music with Zune® Pass. Games from casual to extreme with Xbox LIVE.® Streaming movies with Netflix.® Whatever kind of entertainment you love, the HTC HD7S has it all.
The magic of HTC SenseTM on your Windows Phone. The HTC Hub brings you beautiful weather animations and handy tools to check stocks, take notes, enhance your photos, and more.
This phone is just a week or so old and still needs to make it’s name in the smartphone industry but I feel that it will be a very viable option for non-Android users and superior to most other Windows 7 devices.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Samsung Focus

Samsung has made hundreds of phones over the last few years, much of which have been very high quality and very well-done. Samsung dipped into a whole new world earlier this year when they released their first ever Windows 7 based phone, the Samsung Focus. Here is a quick rundown on this excellent phone and a small personal review of the device…
The Super AMOLED screen gives you a razor sharp, cinema quality image. It makes surfing the web and reading texts much easier in bright sunlight. The brilliant display allows you to quickly access the information most important to you with Live Tiles on your start screen. Now your calendar, contacts, and social networking sites are fully integrated through Windows Phone People Hub. It makes staying in touch with friends and business contacts much more efficient and streamlined. In an effort to provide our customers with the latest in technology and the best user-experience, we've provided an new environmental-friendly alternative to a printed paper guide. Virtual Guides provide a "one-stop" support experience with everything from User Guides, Support Videos, Commercials, and Simulations. FOCUS REVIEW…
The Focus is kind of the everyman of the Windows Phone 7 line. It doesn't really have any fancy features and isn't especially stylish... but it gets the job done. If you're in the market for a WP7 handset, here in America you don't have a huge amount of options. I prefer the Focus over the Surround (for you AT&T buyers), but there isn't such a wide amount of differences between the two that either one would be a bad choice. The Focus is thinner and sleeker to some extent, though its plasticky build leaves a lot to be desired. Still, it's a solid, comfortable phone that works exactly as you'd expect, and if you're the photo snapping type, you'll be pleasantly surprised by its prowess in that area. At the end of the day, a lot of people will find that the Focus hits the sweet spot.

Samsung Captivate

Feel free to stop over at my website http://101smartphones101.webs.com/ for some insightful information on AT&T’s smartphones and how to use them. The information is clearly organized and easily understandable even for the most novice user. For a quick rundown on AT&T’s Samsung Captivate read the following…
Do you want the whole world in your hands? How about the whole universe? Tens of thousands of apps populate Android Market -- everything from popular games to productivity tools to constellation maps. Powered by the latest Android platform this phone fully integrates with Google Mobile Services. You're now at one with your Gmail account, Google Maps, YouTube videos and more. Your world just got brighter and you don't even need shades. Experience HD-quality video recording that's clearly detailed, extraordinarily vivid and astonishingly colorful on the brilliant 4-inch Super AMOLED screen. Movies, games and websites all come to life even in broad daylight thanks to an anti-reflective screen. One of the thinnest, most responsive smartphones in the world, it also uses less power and has a longer battery life. In an effort to provide our customers with the latest in technology and the best user-experience, we've provided an new environmental-friendly alternative to a printed paper guide. Virtual Guides provide a "one-stop" support experience with everything from User Guides, Support Videos, Commercials, and Simulations. Take the next step in going green. In my opinion the Samsung Captivate is one of Samsung’s finer creations. The Infuse is to new to dub it the best but the Captivate certainly has lived up to its hype.

Monday, July 4, 2011

HTC Inspire 4G

Today I stopped over at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones which is another great blogspot for smartphones and smartphone news. I found the site very useful and the user interface very easy to use and the site very clear and concise. I enjoyed reading the articles and the posts put on this site. Someday I’d like my blogger to look something like that but for now I’ll stick to the basics as I am still a beginner. Now for a quick rundown on HTC’s Inspire 4G…
Social Intelligence. With HTC Sense, every email, status update, tweet, text message and phone call is grouped by person for easy viewing and follow-up. And with HTC's Friend Stream app, you can see what's happening on your social networks, all in one easy place.
Entertainment HQ. With a mind-blowing 4.3" WVGA screen, Dolby + SRS Surround with noise cancellation and all your favorite movies, live sports and primetime shows streaming at 4G speed, you don't waste any time when there's time to kill.
Digital sharpshooter. It's got an 8MP camera with LED flash, in-camera editing, live picture effects, an 720p camcorder for shooting HD video and instantaneous uploads, should you decide to share.
Phone screen meets flatscreen. With built-in DLNA connectivity, you can stream videos, photos, and music wirelessly, from your phone to your flatscreen. So instead of huddling around a phone screen, everyone can kick back on the couch and watch the show.
A form that fits. It's got a sleek, uni-body metal alloy design for a sophisticated look and a substantial feel. After all, any phone capable of doing so much deserves to look good doing it.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Samsung Infuse 4G

First off for great and solid information on the smartphone world go to http://smartphonenation.com/. This site is a great blogspot on smartphones and news on smartphones. Now for a quick rundown on the new Samsung Infuse 4G read the follow…
The Infuse 4G is Samsung's thinnest smartphone at just 8.99 mm at its thinnest, so it's easy to slip into a purse or pocket. You'll have access to over 150,000 Android apps, allowing you total freedom to create your own customized collection of apps to fit your individual lifestyle. To a smartphone, the screen is critical. The Infuse 4G gives you the largest touch screen on any Samsung phone. Samsung screens have a reputation for brilliant color, and the Infuse 4G’s 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus screen exhibits our latest innovations. The screen gives you a full spectrum of rich, vivid color with high color contrast, for an incredible cinematic experience. The screen’s amazing luminance allows you to easily read the display even in daylight. With its brilliant color and thin design, the Infuse 4G is fantastic for social messaging, outstanding browsing and entertainment on-the-go. With the Infuse 4G, you're only seconds away from being able to watch hit movies and TV shows from Samsung Media Hub. It's your best entertainment experience on-the-go in a handheld device. And there is a 2GB microSD card that comes pre-loaded with this summer’s hottest movie trailers. With the brilliant color and sound, videos and TV shows come to life. Once you choose a movie or show to watch, the content can be shared with up to four other devices. Visit back for blogs on more AT&T smartphones…

New twist.

I realized I have been trailing away from my niche area in my last few posts as pointed out by my professor for this course. I’ve decided that the next 7-9 posts will be geared towards particular smartphones available at AT&T since those are the ones I am most familiar with. I will cover each operating system and a few phones from each of those operating systems. I already have blogged about my phone, the Motorola Atrix, so that phone will not be included in these posts. I will cover the Samsung Infuse, HTC Inspire, Samsung Captivate, Samsung Focus, HTC HD7S, LG Quantum, Blackberry Torch, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. I feel that blogging about these particular devices will help new and current customers make a better decision on purchasing their new AT&T smartphone. As far as the other smartphones on other carriers go I will blog and add them to my website in the near future. For the sake of this project I have decided to just stick with AT&T smartphones for two reasons: one because I am most familiar with these and two because there are just way too many smartphones available on the market today it would take more than a four week project to talk about all of them. I do plan on extending the smartphone information beyond AT&T at some point but as mentioned above for the sake of this course I will stick with just AT&T smartphones. Check back daily to see new blogs about the devices listed above…