Smartphones are supposed to make our lives easier. With the right smartphone you can manage e-mails and appointments, get directions, keep track of your workouts and what you eat, shop, share information with friends, listen to music and watch movies. So why is finding the right smartphone so darn confusing?
Think of a daily task
Think of a daily task, any daily task, and it's likely there's a specialized, pocket-sized device designed to help you accomplish it. You can get a separate, tiny and powerful machine to make phone calls, keep your calendar and address book, entertain you, play your music, give directions, take pictures, check your e-mail, and do countless other things
The Choice Is Yours
Choosing the right smartphone for you is a matter of determining what you will be using your smartphone for and finding a phone that excels at that task. For example, photography enthusiasts should find a phone with a high resolution camera, while audiophiles may be more concerned with the device's audio storage capacity and playback quality. With the wide variety of smartphones available, you should be able to find one that is just right for you.
Different types of smartphones are designed for different people.
Those looking for a new smartphone this festive season will find themselves flooded with choices — whether it is form-factor, mobile operating system or the price range. While Apple ’s new iPhone 5 , Samsung ’s new Note II , Sony ’s flagship Xperia devices already crowd the retail shelves, some more top-range smartphone launches from Nokia , Samsung and HTC , among others, will add more options for buyers in the weeks leading up to the holiday shopping season.
Last week iPhone 5 made its debut in Indian markets and soon Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 operating system can be experienced on the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820, Samsung Ativ S and HTC's Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8S. These devices, designed specifically for Windows Phone 8, are expected to be available in stores and online in November. Google too announced on its blog the launch of a new LG Nexus 4 handset that will start shipping November.
Hey all you turkey gobblers and potato mashers, Thanksgiving is just days from now, and if you are like millions of Americans, that means food, lots of food, friends, fun and...smartphones?
Chances are, if you are not hosting a dinner at your home, you are going to dinner at someone else's home, and since your smartphone has become a central part of your life, that means that it is going along for the ride as well.
Now, prior to the development of the cellphone, this article would not have been necessary, but because so many of us simply abhor being without our phones, at any time, for any reason, I thought that this would be a good time, with the Holidays upon us and all, to pass on some "tips" on the proper usage of your smartphone during Holiday dinner. Brought to you verbatim and with the generous permission of Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle.com Keep your phone off the table - A recent survey Gazelle conducted shows only 21 percent of respondents put their phone away at the table. Even though it may provide comfort having a quick escape, your company--even your Uncle John--deserves your undivided attention. No one likes being upstaged by Justin Bieber’s Twitter feed. Step out of the room to take a phone call or answer an email - If someone’s calling you, they’re not going to want to listen to the dulcet tones of your family fighting over the wishbone. And, somehow, we don’t think your family is going to want to hear about your friend’s reunion with an ex from high school. A polite ‘excuse me’ gives you a few valuable minutes in solitude and keeps the peace. Don’t bring your phone to the bathroom - This is one of Gazelle’s staple courtesy tips. For some reason, only 34 percent of our survey respondents put down their phone to use the bathroom. Be kind to your family and friends and keep your germs where they belong. If you really, really need a moment away, see our previous tip. Keep Internet surfing/YouTube streaming to a minimum - There are only so many times you can listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks sing holiday songs, so we think it’s acceptable to use your phone to search for some new music or a funny video for the family to watch, when needed. Minimize texting/Facebooking/tweeting - Your friends are busy with their families, too! Give your newsfeed a break. Your story about the ducky pajamas Aunt Sue got you can wait until 2013. It might even be funny then. Follow the “Golden Rule” - Chances are, you’re going to be traveling quite a bit around the holidays. Do us all (and yourself) a favor, and keep your eyes on the road, not on your phone screen. If you’re on a crowded bus/plane/train, keep the chatter to a minimum, or text. The golden rule is a great one to follow, especially when we’re all in a rush to get to the next holiday extravaganza. Reward good behavior - If you made it through the holidays relatively unscathed, why not treat yourself to a new device? You’ve earned it. Plus, trading in your old phone will give you a little extra cash, providing just what you need to get through the post-holiday slump.
Mind you, these are just "tips", albeit good ones, but I wouldn't want to hear any stories about someone becoming catatonic at the dinner table due to the "absence of smartphone" syndrome! (Oh....it's REAL!)
So if I had any advice to add to this list, I would just say, be aware of the depth of your dependency. If while sitting at the table, all you can think about is your smartphone, languishing in some deep dark coat pocket, then it sort of defeats the whole purpose.
If you absolutely have to have it (and you know who you are), then at least try to avoid glancing at it constantly. Maybe you could give yourself a timer. Like say after a certain number of words, it's okay to take a look. Or perhaps a number of bites or topics of conversation.
The method you use is not as important as making those around you feel like you are there to spend time with them, not your phone, even if they all understand what your going through! And when it's all over, and you and your smartphone are once again connected, won't you feel better knowing that you both made an effort to "be there"....gfete (grinning from ear to ear)
More and more tech consumers now turn to their trusty pal, their smartphone, to find the best deals on the most sought-after gadgets and tech deals. Here are some ways that using your phone can help you mobilize your Black Friday shopping campaigns—assuming you venture from your living room to do so.
Map your route
When you run through stores trying to find door-buster deals, your phone might help you beat the rush in the race to the Black Friday finish line this week.
For instance, Macy upgraded its iOS app to include location-specific Black Friday specials and where in the store they are stocked. Walmart also updated its app with store maps and product locations and prices. Google Maps for Android also offers store-specific maps and Black Friday deals from stores such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale’s. Google map of the giant Mall of America. Google's older map of the area is at the left; the updated version is much more specific.Many consumers participate in “showrooming,” which is a nickname for the process of checking out an item in the actual store and then purchasing it for a lower price online.
Twenty percent of people admit to showrooming, according to research from marketing software company Aprimo, and nearly 40 percent of showroomers do it to research consumer electronics.
Some stores, such as Best Buy, are offering to price-match online stickers during the holidays to keep up with the competition.
But retailers are still figuring out the best way to grab mobile market share, says DealNews.com founder and CEO Dan de Grandpre.
“(These approaches) are really brand new things and I think the strategy that Walmart, Macy’s, and others are using is a shotgun approach—doing all these things on mobile, Facebook, etc., and seeing what sticks,” de Grandpre says.
Smartphone app clutter
There’s also the little problem of clutter: Few smartphone users want their screens crowded with apps from every store they shop at, just for the chance at a few coupons or store maps. So a bunch of store-specific apps and maps might not catch on, de Grandpre says, but other tools might.
Google plans to remain a hub for some of the country’s largest retailers by adding features to its Shopping page just in time for Black Friday. Google added shortlists to save items you like and 360-degree product views. When browsing for a product, you see a list of discounts available on products you view on the site.
Some stores last Black Friday used mobile coupons to get people to buy online while standing in line.
Target and Best Buy this year said they plan to offer online-only Black Friday deals. Signing up for the sites’ deals of the day delivers e-mails with discounts to your inbox.
Mobilizing consumers
Mobile purchases are expected to make up 21 percent of all online sales this holiday season, up 110 percent over last holiday season, according to Adobe’s online buying forecast for 2012. On Black Friday, tablets and phones will account for 24 percent of online traffic.
Traffic translates to sales. Brick-and-mortar stores have embraced mobile because consumers are purchasing gifts on their phones and tablets more than ever before. PayPal last year reported a 516 percent increase in mobile payments on Black Friday.
De Grandpre says anything that works this time around, from store map apps to smartphone coupons, will be replicated in 2013.
“What you see this season will be next year’s normal,” de Grandpre says.
Unlimited data plans are an endangered species nowadays, so most of us have to watch our limits in order to avoid excess charges on our bill. That's easy enough when we know how much cellular data we're using on our smartphones, but becomes problematic when our smartphones eat up our precious megabytes in the background. This doesn't just happen on Android, but iPhone, too. Here's how to stop it.
Recently, a friend asked me for help when he reached 90% of his data usage despite barely using any data. I thought this was surprising because he has an iPhone and iPhones aren't allowed to do a whole lot in the background. Despite these limitations, apps can still do a fair amount of downloading when they're not open and regardless of how they're connected to the internet. In short, you could end up going over your data limits easily without even knowing it, regardless of whether you're on Android or iPhone. In this post we're going to look at how to figure out which apps are eating your data unnecessarily and how to stop them. On Android it's pretty simple, but for iPhone you need to do a little detective work.
Android
Tracking which apps use your data is pretty simple. Just install My Data Manager (Free) and allow it to track the data your apps use. At any time, you can open up Data Manager and take a look at how many megabytes (or gigabytes) any app is using. If anything is sucking your data plan dry, make sure that app isn't running in the background (or just delete it from your phone altogether). Solving the problem is easy so long as you know which app is using up all of your data.
iPhone
On an iPhone, you can't track exactly which apps are using your data unless you're jailbroken. If you are, you can grab iNetUsage ($2) from Cydia and monitor the breakdown. If not, you need to conduct an investigation and find the culprit(s) with some trial and error. Let's go over a few methods.
Ensure Wi-Fi Is Actually Enabled
Sometimes high data usage happens because you turned off Wi-Fi and just forgot. When my internet access goes down, I often do this and forget to turn it back on for a week. Fortunately I just don't use that much data in general, but if I did it could turn into a major problem. Before you spend a bunch of your time investigating the problem, make sure your data settings are actually correct.
Look at the Apps that Use the Most Battery
On an iPhone, if an app is draining your battery it has a better chance of eating up your data plan as well. Battery-sucking apps run in the background, and there are only a few things background apps can do on an iPhone: use the GPS, play music, and download files. While apps that download files might seem like guilty party, iOS only allows background downloading for a short amount of time. If the app isn't open on your phone, iOS will shut off its download privileges after about 10 minutes. As a result, you're probably aware of when an app is downloading something in the background.
You're more likely to run into wasted data when you leave a music or location-aware app open in the background. Music apps can play indefinitely, and if they're streaming that music you can use a lot of data simply by forgetting to stop playback. Location-aware apps use your GPS and may need to download data relevant to that GPS. While it's unlikely that they're constantly grabbing new data (e.g. maps or location-based photos), you want to be sure these kind of apps aren't accessing your location without your knowledge. Fortunately, this is very easy to do. Simply go into the Settings app on your iPhone, tap Privacy (in iOS 6, Location Services in earlier versions), then tap Location Services, and peruse the list of apps. Most apps will just have an ON and OFF switch, but some will have a purple solid, purple outline, or gray solid arrow next to them. A purple arrow means the app has used your location recently, a gray arrow indicates the app has used your location in the last 24 hours, and a purple outline arrow indicates the app is using a geofence (meaning that it's waiting to carry out an event when you're in a certain location, like when the Reminders app provides a location-based reminder). The purple solid and outline arrows are the ones that cause the most trouble, so if you see them, try quitting those apps to see if your data usage decreases.
Check Your Bill
Most cellular providers keep detailed records of your data usage, even if it's only temporary. Whether or not your bill will retain enough detail to tell you what you were doing with that data is another story, but it will tell you how much you used on a specific day and time. In the event you forgot about a large download, or you retrieved a lot of data that you thought was over Wi-Fi, you may be able to pinpoint the cause by knowing exactly when it happened.
Additionally, you may be able to find out more detailed information by calling your cellular provider directly. They may have access to more information than you, and they may be able to add something called "detailed billing" to your plan. This service often costs money but provides additional information about your data usage so you know what's going on. That said, signing up for this service means you're paying your provider to keep a record of what you do on your smartphone that they may retain longer than the data they already keep about you. Consider whether that matters to you before signing up.
Employ a Data Monitoring App and Use It Strategically
If you'd prefer to avoid your cellular provider, you can also use a data monitoring app to keep an eye on your overall usage. This won't tell you which app is causing trouble, but it will tell you when a lot of data was used. Just like you can with your bill (as discussed in the previous section), you can use the date and time information to try and pinpoint what happened when large amounts of data was consumed. Sure, this isn't a definitive method but it might help you zero in on the culprit(s).
Call Your Cellular Provider
Wasted data may not be your fault—it may be an error on the part of your provider. Don't just assume it's your fault. Chances are you did use the data, but sometimes mistakes happen (nobody's perfect, after all). If you've looked around and something seems a little fishy, call your provider and ask. There may be an error and you may be in the clear.
Several apps exist to help you remember the many things you'd otherwise forget, but perhaps none are quite as useful and efficient as your camera. Typing takes time. Snapping a photo only takes a moment, and there are so many ways you can remind yourself better with nothing but a picture.
Remember Who Borrowed That Book (or Whatever)
The folks over at Apartment Therapy came up with a clever solution to the problem of remembering who borrowed your stuff: take a picture of them and the thing they borrowed, then save it to an album of borrowed items.
Keep Track of Emergency Information
Whether you're taking pictures of insurance cards or prescription medicine, an emergency photo album can be useful in two important ways. First, if you need any of that information when you go to the doctor or pharmacy, it's right in your phone for easy access. Second, if you're in an emergency and need to provide information quickly, you can tell people that your information is in your phone.
Build a Wish List
We all want a lot of things we can't have, and so we stick them on wish lists for a day when the money's available and our desire to buy is ever-present. When you're on the go and want to remember something to purchase, just snap a photo and save it in a "wish list" album.
Take Notes
If you need to copy down some text, snapping a photo is much faster than typing it into you phone. On top of that, you can send the photo to an app like Evernote and make that text searchable thanks to the magic of optical character recognition (OCR).
Take Screenshots of Anything on Your Phone You Want to Remember
Although not really a photograph, exactly, screenshots end up in the same place when you take them. Sometimes when you're on your phone, you want to remember an app to buy on a later date, save a map for offline use, save a copy of a movie ticket that came into your email, or remember a specific alert. Save those as screenshots, sort them into the relevant reminder albums, and you won't forget.
Secure Your Photos
Perhaps you don't want important photographic information easily accessible on your phone. One way to secure your photos is to use a password to lock your entire phone. If you just want to hide your photos, however, there are apps that can help you out. Ben the Bodyguard ($5, iPhone) and Hide It Pro (Free, Android) both get the job done.
Running over your cell phone minutes is so 2005. These days, with more and more carriers cutting their unlimited data plans, the real shock when you receive your cell phone bill is likely to be an overage on your data plan. So what can you do to lower those data charges? According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, you should watch out for these top 5 data-draining activities.
How much money is your smartphone really costing you?
Streaming Video or Videoconferencing: Video is definitely one of the hottest things in mobile right now, but beware of how much time you’re spending on YouTube. Just one minute of video can eat up 2 MB of data, so if you’re on a standard 200 MB plan, this can get you into trouble fast. The silver lining: if you can hop on wifi you won’t use up your data and can watch as much video as your heart desires.
Streaming Audio: While significantly less of a drain on your data at half a megabyte per minute, streaming audio can sneak up on you and exhaust your data plan quickly. Just 10 minutes a day streaming music from Pandora will break the bank if you’re on a 200 MB plan. Switch to the old-school radio when you can .
Photos: The occasional photo every now and then won’t hurt you, but both sending and viewing photos eat up your data. Posting 10 photos a day can tip you over the edge of a 200 MB plan, not to mention, probably overwhelm your Facebook friends.
Maps: Smartphones are God’s gift to the directionally challenged, but using your phone to look up directions can use up to a megabyte per minute. And because you’re more likely to use maps for an extended period of time, these applications can actually end up being more damaging to your data plan than any other activity.
Web Surfing: While it depends which websites you’re surfing, pages with lots of pictures, video, or animation can drain your data quickly. However, if you stick to text-centered sites, you should be fine.
The bottom line is that media-rich content and activities will blow through your data plan quickly. Either stick to more text and voice related phone activities, or, if you can’t give up the media, upgrade to a 2 Gigabyte plan that gives you more flexibility with your activities.
Posted by Nicole Hall, Account Manager with Mobilize Worldwide. Mobilize Worldwide develops mobile apps, mobile ad campaigns, mobile websites and just about anything else related to mobile marketing for brands interested in growing their sales and revenue using this new and emerging medium.
