Don't Keep Up With Joneses

Okay, so I think we can all recall my initial excitement about the HTC Thunderbolt, but as always I jump on the first product that soon looks like a dinosaur a few months after its launch.  Let's talk technology.

Breakdown of 4G: What is it? Really?  It's supposed to be data speeds close to those of your home network.  Yeah, the phones that we're buying now that CLAIM to be 4G, actually aren't.  Granted, they are faster than 3G speeds, but they also work on newer, better technology.  4G Verizon phones can access voice and data at the same time.  Meaning you can finally use online apps, while on a call.  The BAD: 4G will eat your battery alive.  Seriously.  Expect to keep chargers at your job, in your car, and stashed all over the house (I even have a charger with a built in battery so I can charge on the go). You can expect about 5-7 hours off the wall.  

New Phones: Have dual-core processors in them.  Now far as smart as smartphones go they MUST remain compact (no more suitcase phone days), but running a dual-core processor takes a lot of energy.  Chances are if you are reading my blog, you've got no clue what a dual-core processor actually does.  You're right with your hunch that it makes the phone faster, but where are you used to seeing dual-core processors? That's right, in computers.  Now computers are plugged into walls or have batteries that are about ten times the size of phone batteries.  Do you see the problem when we put computer technology into a phone?  Prepare for your phone to be permanently attached to a wall.  A dual-core will give you battery life of 3.5-5 hours and performance that isn't that much faster than the standard.  I have a Thunderbolt, LOADED with music, apps, and photo and my phone rarely lags.

Summing It All Up: I say, don't follow this dual-core trend.  Stick with the base 4G phones, dual-cores overheat quicker and I think that their performance isn't worth the battery headache.  Besides, once your 2 year sentence/contract (whichever term you use) is over mobile makers should have made a phone that is small, powerful, and doesn't have terrible battery life.  Sometimes you just have to ignore the trends to save yourself grief.

'Til Later,

B.C.

Blackberry Playbook, Eh.

Not exactly the most interesting title, but it matches the product that I am reviewing.  The Blackberry Playbook, which was supposed to be the Holy Grail of the business world seems to have arrived and disappointed throughly.  Awkward dimensions, hard-to-learn operating systems, and just general uncool factors have made the Playbook (dare I say) the worst tablet of the year.

Now, calm your trackballs.  It may be brutal, but accurate.  Blackberry is slowly, but surely becoming famous for missing the mark when it comes to their technology.  This due to loss of market share.  See before in happy-blackberry land, they were the top dogs and there wasn't much competition to drive how fast new technology came out, so you guys were happy when small things like application multi-tasking, new bodies, or over-the-air sync came about.  Now, there are a lot more players in the market and RIM (the company that makes Blackberry products) is very far from being the kings of the playground.  Apple dominates, Android comes in a strong second, and RIM comes at the end of this list.  RIM is going to have to learn how to actually make a product that is not just marketed for familiarity, but that actually works.

SO, my advice is hold out on buying the Blackberry Playbook.  Go for an Android or maybe even the iPad 2.  I would suggest one of the newer Honeycomb OS Androids, because the OS is great (although it does take some getting used to) and to save $$$ go with an older version of an Android.  iPads are always reliable, but pricey in most cases.

Blackberry Sucks

And Yeah... you know.

'Til Later,

B.C.

Your Biggest Stalker...

Okay, so they don't do the creep (Ha,haaaa), but they are actually a lot closer than you may think.

Let's recap: So we ended the era of Garmins, Tom Toms, and Magellans when smartphones came along.  Then came our beloved Android came the cancellation of our cell phone companies charging us for turn-by-turn directions.  Now it seems that GPS location comes standard on every new phone that is released, but is this so much of a good thing?

Now:  Think about the break down some of the highest operating expenses for a business.  One of them for most big companies happen to be promotions and advertising (commercials, street ads, etc.) those same promotions.  Remember that standard GPS we were talking about?  Your cell phone company has and uses this information.  It's usually used for weather or map apps, but now the conversation is turning to the big companies.  If you were the CEO of Macy's and you had the option of delivering a text message to any consumer that got CLOSE to a Macy's would you exercise that right? Of course.

Let's sum it all up: With Verizon being the only exception most cell phone carriers are seemingly against this sale of their subscribers' information, but with companies like Sprint losing subscribers by the quarter (and adding a $10 fee on top of your data plan's fee every month) I don't think our privacy is safe.  Just a word to the wise, with most smartphones you can disable the location services and if selling information does actually happen I'd advise turning off your location if you don't want to be tracked.  Personally, I feel like virtual ads are invasive enough (i.e. tracking cookies that display that one pair of shoes you looked at on Overstock.com one time in EVERY ad space they can).  You've gotta fight...for your right... to not be preyed on by monster corporations. (I'll work on making that one a little catchier)

'Til Later,
B.Carter

Staples Easy-Tech $etup... *Sigh*

Okay general American public feel used like a cheap whore.

STOP BUYING INTO THESE RIDICULOUS PROGRAMS.

Okay, I am coming from the angle of a technology geek, but most of the pieces of technology today are pretty user-friendly and intuitive in terms of design.  If a piece of technology that you want to buy is so complicated you've got to pay $40 or $50 to understand it, chances are you shouldn't be getting it.

Ever heard of the phrase, do you give the man a fish or do you teach him how to fish?  Are you really going to go through the rest of your life paying BS fees for basic things that it'll take that tech about 5 minutes to do?  Get your reels, bait, and boats and get your asses in the water.  Google things that confuse you and teach yourself how to do these things yourself.

Okay, granted what I am saying may be harshly stated, but seriously just Google any problems that you are having.  GPS setup at Staples is $40, and that's just for programming some simple addresses.  This is about a five minute process for the person who has been doing this all day and to some one who was an absolute beginner this process may take all of 20 minutes.  Are you really going to pay $40 for 15 minutes of saved time?  Also, if something goes wrong is it not better to know how to fix the problem yourself rather than just giving it back and paying even more to have the same 5 minutes of work done?

I know that you may be scared of technology, but through Google all things are possible. Also, the MANUALS in the box shed an amazing amount of light into getting the most out of your products.  Seriously they seem a little unnecessary for smaller electronics, but sometimes there are features you were unaware of or operating instructions to have the life of the piece of technology.  Yes, I'm shutting up now.  Just know you've got the power, so use it. Don't be a suckers to the whiz kids.  Keep us nerds in our place.

Send me questions, fan mail, organs, whatever.

'Til Later,

B.Carter

Buy Back Program? Is it really worth it?

Best Buy, a national treasure of a company known for its high prices and great financing has introduced the technology buy back program and here are the reasons I am completely and utterly against its existence.

First, you have to buy into this program.  Now if this were just an added perk to shopping with Best Buy I'd be all for it, but it's not.  There's a bit of a promotion going on giving it out free and that I'm okay with, but paying to get not a maximum of 80% or even 65% of your money back (in the form of a Best Buy gift card might I add), but only 50% (MAX) sounds just plain stupid.

Second, this program is targeted at the technologically challenged (yeah, you).  Don't you find it strange that with every big ticket item you've purchased there comes a sales assistant swooping down on you as a eagle would on its prey forcing warranties down your throat? Yeah, older people are trusting of young people that are more technologically savvy to make the best decisions, yeah well these kids are working on commission and scheming on your wallets *evil laugh*.  Next time one asks you to enroll in a buy-back program or get a warranty ask how many of their big ticket appliances have either of the programs "protecting it".  (Also, out all the warranties you've been tricked into buying think about how many you've ACTUALLY used.)

Third, if you're looking for your money back you're better off posting these things on eBay.  I mean the fees are relatively low and you'll probably get more money there than Best Buy will ever cut you a check for.  The thing is Best Buy is just going to make sure this item works, give you MAX 50% (90% of the time way less based on their appraisal of the item and this is on a Best Buy gift card) back and put it back on the shelves for about 10% lowers than the price you bought it for.

In conclusion, salespeople are on the attack.  Be weary of being lured into their fancy talking.  Salespeople are like commission-seeking vampires.

'Til Later, 

B.C.

Hello Asus Transformer, R.I.P. Motorola Sales

My apologies for not keeping up with blogging every three seconds: I've been drooling on my Thunderbolt (making sure to avoid all of the water sensors in the process), but I've just got some hot new gossip.  I've been long-awaiting the arrival of the Asus EEE Transformer and according to some reliable sources it will be available in the US April 4th.  This tablet is comparably priced to the Xoom, so I'm seeing either a price drop (either in tablet price or Motorola stock price).  This tablet has an amazing and dare I say better than the Xoom.  It has already made its debut in Taiwan.

There my beauty goes.  The Asus EEE Transformer is something like a hybrid laptop/tablet that is just quite frankly amazing.  For those who don't want all the weight of a computer, detach the keyboard and for those who miss the feeling of typing on actual keys rather than virtual can just slap it on its keyboard dock.  Not only is this dock going to be a keyboard it will also have other ports on it, like USBs, HDMI ports, headphone jacks,etc AND act as an extended battery (bringing the 8 hours of battery life to a whopping 16 hours).  This tablet will be running Google's latest OS (HoneyComb 3.0), 1 Ghz dual-core processor, and sporting dual cameras.  The 16 GB version with the keyboard (that can expand memory with its MicroSd port) can run you a little under $700.  Do I think it's worth it? Of course, it's like your next-next laptop and with the ever-expanding Android market quickly bridging the gap between tablet and PC I'm sure the difference will be unnoticeable.

Welcome to the future

Til Later,

B.C.

3D? Too Much, Too Soon?

When I was growing up 3D was a rare, exciting feature exclusive to kids movies, now it is an overexposed hunk of technology junk.  I am always one for new progression in the technology world, but I think that we may be moving too fast with the new 3D movement.  The focus in the technology should on towards advancing and polishing technology rather than just making money.  Actually I think the way to go would be making 3D prescription glasses more available to the public.  3D is cool and all but 3D glasses and prescription glasses really don't mix well with one another, and that would limit the market potential of the 3D technology.  I think over the next 3 years there should be a movement of small businesses that can make 3D glasses more efficient, old vision friendly, and accessible to more people.  We can take the technology we have then and get some 3D use out of it.  Besides after years of existence the public is just getting onto tablets: I say big money isn't invested in this until there's a lack of consumer excitement with the technology market. 

Besides, why mess with the classics?

'Til Later,

B.C.

The Thunder Has Arrived

Ahhhh, Verizon makes its 4G debut with an impact.

The HTC Thunderbolt.  This phone has been somewhat of a folktale for the last few months.   HTC was successful at keeping it under tight wraps during its development. This phone is lighting fast (no pun intended, of course).   With a 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor and 4G speeds it single handedly beats any phone available now.  

Some of the Amazing Specs (Remembered By Heart)

• Dual Cameras (8 megapixel rear dual led-flash, 1.3 megapixel front-facing)
• Android 2.2 (Gingerbread)
• HTC Sense (complete with Swype)
• A Kick-Arse KickStand
• Flash Compatible
• The Ever-Expanding Android Market
• Expandable Storage (Comes with 32 GB MicroSD standard)

I've been in Verizon and have had some one on one time with this phone and I can tell you first hand it is as sweet as it sounds.  I'm glad they've decided to stick with the reliable Android 2.2 software, because it has 98% of the kinks ironed out.  All and all, sweet phone one of the best on the market and definitely on my wishlist.

'Til Later,

B.C.

iPad 2 Vs. Motorola XOOM (A Comparison for the Technologically Challenged)

Guess this will serve as both an introductory post as well as a urm... news related one.

I am a tablet fanatic, I've been fascinated with them from a young age and always wondered why they never gained the popularity and fame that they deserved. Well 10 years and simplified OSs (operating system) later tablets are set to take over the world.

The average consumer has a few basic needs when it comes to computing: checking emails, social networking applications, entertainment, directions, and the occasional video chat. Tablets, now stronger than ever, can meet all of those needs with their eyes closed. Let me just give you a small break-down of the hot tablets.

First, The iPad 2 (Apple iOS) and all of its commercial glory

User friendly, the cool factor, great customer support, and accessories ad nauseam ; possibly the strongest of the advantages that Apple has to offer. Apple's hold of the technology gadget market cannot be denied. Apple has some great range in the pricing of their devices with the least expensive model starting at $499. The new iPad 2 is slimmer than the original iPad (surprise!), has dual-cameras (front standard VGA and the rear capable of a 720p capture),a dual-core processor, but still no HD screen or expandable storage. A new refined OS is said to be available with the new iPads, but widgets will still not be supported. Apple definitely has the best branding of any company out right now, but they are really good at fooling the average consumer. First, this tablet is 3G capable NOT 4G. Personally, I'm not a need for speed kind of person and 3G is just fine for me, but it's really going to be irritating to see the next generation, next year with 4G speeds. It's a great tablet for the average person: there's an app for practically everything and you can rest assured that you can go accessory crazy at a lower price, because there's always going to be a high supply of companies making Apple accessories.

Android Honeycomb (Android OS 3.0) tablet: The Motorola XOOM

Perhaps the sexiest thing to me when I first heard about it. This tablet features Android Honeycomb OS, which is not the Android you're used to seeing on smartphones. Honeycomb has been refined to give you more of a computer feel. The Honeycomb operating system is experiencing some glitches and I wouldn't advise anyone really jump into it until the first update has been released. Also, the market needs a little more time to get some Honeycomb optimized applications out there. This tablet sports a dual-core processor faster than the iPad 2 and also both of its cameras are better than its Apple competitor. The Xoom has a HD screen, and also its widescreen display makes it the ideal tablet for typing and watching movies. A lack of ports is a little disappointing with this tablet, because there are so many Android Tablets available the accessories are usually for universal use (get ready to cough up some serious dough for Moto-specific accessories).

Speaking of money, this tablet hits an extreme sour note on its pricing; a whopping $800 for a 3G/4G+Wifi tablet without a contract ($600 for a 2yr contract option through the beloved Verizon Wireless). As of now, the tablets are only 3G capable and the microSD card port is not active. Motorola will, hopefully soon, be launching their free upgrade program. You will ship your $800 pride-and-joy away, all expenses paid by Motorola, for about a week to have it return 4G and microSD card ready. Personally I love this tablet, but I feel as if Motorola rushed to release it and sacrificed customer satisfaction. The owners of Xooms have laid out the big bucks and wait for Motorola to give them what they paid for. Also, Motorola rolled the die on the high prices and due to their piss poor sales their stocks are down by 20%. I pray that they come to their senses on the pricing of the tablets, but until then their revenue and thrifty geeks will suffer in silence.

In terms of a winner, I'd say for the average consumer you should be sticking with Apple. Motorola took some big gambles and lost miserably at most of them. The iPad 2 is more new user friendly and rather intuitive. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. The only problem lies with someone that does not use iTunes or have an Apple store account. The setup may take all of ten minutes, but once you're set up you're good to go. Allow Motorola to mature on its tablet sales and build, because this is their first shot and well it's only human to stumble through it. For my avid androphiles out there that can wait a month or two there's a tablet will blow the XOOM out of the water, until then iPads will dominate.

'Til Later

B. C.