The social media experience has changed drastically over the years, allowing people to use their mobile phone for more than keeping in touch with friends and family. Statistics have shown that mobile phone users are logging onto social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare to post status updates, upload photos, and let others know where they are. The majority of mobile phone networks now offer free access to major social network sites with no extra internet charges.
Smartphones, such as the iPhone, HTC, Android and Blackberry make it easier than ever to use social networking websites with the functionality of large display size and touch keypad as part of the visual interface. Mobile phones with QWERTY keypads such as Blackberry Pearl, Nokia E61 and Palm Treo use these features with the added bonus of a keypad on the handset.
LG handsets are ideal to stay in touch with others using social media. LG Optimus 2X reviews are available online which give trusted reviews on the handset amongst many other phones. Deals are also available online and in store; consumers will find deals online for the LG Optimus Black which has many great features.
Whilst most social networking websites offer mobile functionality with a simple interface designed for touch screen interfaces, there are a number of apps available via the iPhone, Blackberry and other major smartphone handsets. The apps create an even easier user experience, with the ability to see who is online, chat directly with friends, and ‘check in’ to establishments such as bars, workplaces and coffee shops. Many of the apps are free and are a big hit with social media users worldwide.
This re-engineered smartphone from Palm is a sliding phone offering a full QWERTY keyboard and touch screen. Encased in an attractive curved pebble-like casing, it is 60mm wide and offers integrated digital media player, GPS receiver, Wi-Fi hotspot and digital camera. Pocket sized and user-friendly, it does not offer as many apps as other Android smartphones but scores highly in other areas.
The Palm Pre 2 offers a fantastic ‘pack of cards’ style feature, whereby several apps can be open on the home screen at the same time as thumbnails, and the user can simply swipe between cards to switch the apps or swipe the apps to the top of the screen to close them down. The screen offers decent resolution and a gesture-sensitive control panel, which makes internet browsing simple and fun.
The Palm Pre 2’s upgraded spec means that its search feature, previously named ‘Universal Search’, has been remodelled as ‘Just Type’, and this excellent feature means you can access any app or messaging service simply by typing the words onto your home screen. The Palm Pre 2 also comes with improved battery life, and an innovative wireless charger called the Touchstone. The 5 megapixel camera with LED flash is also an excellent addition to this mobile phone.
With elegant looks, an exceptionally efficient user interface and some great Palm Pre 2 deals, the Palm Pre 2 is managing to hold its own in a crowded marketplace.
Whilst internet has changed banking forever, mobile banking has moved on with new and innovative ways to manage finances and pay for purchases when out and about. It is now possible to check your balance, transfer funds and pay bills within seconds using your mobile phone handset by simply logging in to your account. Many banks offer a free app allowing users to manage their finances using a simple interface, yet with all the details of recent transactions, direct debits and standing orders in one place.
Handsets with touch screen capabilities such as the iPhone, HTC Desire S, Google Nexus, Palm Pre 2 and Blackberry Curve offer a large display to make internet banking an easy task, yet with all the security you would find in a desktop browser. Mobile banking apps provide the same level of security, where users are faced with security questions associated with their account, putting their fears at rest.
It is not only current and saving accounts stealing the limelight, as there are a number of financial services available online via the mobile phone handset, such as credit card providers and online payment merchants. PayPal offers users the facility to make and receive online payments both via a desktop browser and by using the official iPhone and Blackberry app. Users can check their balance and send money direct from PayPal or an associated bank account to others by simply inputting their contact’s email address.
Google Nexus S reviews and LG Optimus One deals can be found online. These handsets are ideal for banking online with your mobile phone, with high-speed internet access available from leading networks.
Unlike the HTC norm, the body of the Incredible S is designed with a moulded shape where the battery is located and the camera lens (8 mega pixel) is curvy; the overall effect of this design is super cool, masculine, robust and just a little different from the usual. The Incredible S is super comfortable to use when making a call. The texture of the Incredible S is different too, soft rather than hard metallic and the shape does feel comfortable in the hand, although perhaps a little larger than others of its ilk. The Incredible S at 120 x 64 x 11.6mm is hardly a ‘brick,’ it weighs in at 135 ½ grams and includes a 1GHz processor in its formidable package.
The Incredible S has a 4” Super LCD display and handy innovative buttons that rotate to landscape or portrait, making watching video a smooth experience. The inbuilt camcorder is state of the art and you can view your videos in HD on the cinematic screen in brilliant sharp colour. The HTC Incredible S also offers the option of sending videos and photos to the TV or laptop via DLNA.
With the HTC Incredible S webpages load, scan and zoom with rapid ease and apps load with no-nonsense professionalism. Zoom resizing works seamlessly and video play is effortless.
Battery life is around 380 minutes talk time from full charge although with mixed usage the HTC Incredible S is more than capable of lasting a day. Compared to its contempories the longevity of the Incredible S is an absolute bonus.
BlackBerry is a name familiar to anyone who has ever picked up a mobile phone, but what is BlackBerry? BlackBerry is an iconic product, a pioneer in the mobile phone world. Adopted by business people in the early 21st century, BlackBerry has spread to many more sectors of society and now holds its own in a world filled with cutting edge smartphones fuelled by Android apps and a wealth of gadgets.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is a case in point; this recently launched BlackBerry handset is up there with the best of the new smartphones. Eye-catching and sophisticated but also colourful, this handset retains the classic QWERTY keyboard beloved of BlackBerry users. Still firmly rooted in the business community, while this model doesn’t contain the Android sat nav apps and games such as Angry Birds that other smartphone users might take for granted, it still delivers on a variety of levels. It boasts a bright and well-lit screen, an excellent music player with powerful integrated speakers, easily accessible email, touch sensitive screen and a variety of nifty shortcuts.
BlackBerry has come a long way since the early days when these mobile phones were strictly for business use only. Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry, has increased its profits year on year, selling an impressive 45 million plus phones throughout 2010. What is BlackBerry? It is still a market leader in the business world, but also a product attempting to match the technological advances of the best in modern smartphones.
Android sat nav apps have enjoyed a boost in recent times and have climbed quickly to the top of the ‘must have’ app list. Now the consumer has a large choice of absolutely free, 30-day trial sat nav packages. The brilliant Google Maps works well for many users and comes as standard with Android sat navs. In addition, Google Maps now offer turn by turn navigation, and the app is updated on a regular basis. However, if a more precise and exacting navigation device is required then a more specific sat nav app can be installed.
There are a great variety of Android sat nav apps to choose from depending on what you need your app to do. For example, some apps store the sat nav maps on the SD card for the Android phone and this has the added bonus of allowing the user to plot a journey on the phone screen as well as in the car. Another plus point here is that the router will operate even when there is no mobile phone signal. On the down side, this type of app will take up a lot of space on the phone memory card.
Sat nav apps that download routes from the internet are of course guaranteed to be right up to date and contain current information on road closures, diversions and speed cameras, but these apps will only operate if a strong mobile signal is available.
The first smartphone in the world to be offered with a dual-core processor, the LG Optimus 2X is a highly impressive model. Coming complete with an inbuilt 8-megapixel camera and high quality HD video recording facility, the LG Optimus 2X is a sophisticated and sleek-looking phone supporting an Android 2.2 system (easily upgradeable to Android 2.3). Highly rated by experts, the LG Optimus 2X has an excellent touch screen and scores highly on its graphics, faster web browsing and multi-tasking abilities.
A brilliant quality camera with LED flash, and D video and music player technologies add to the fantastic experience offered by the LG Optimus 2X. It also comes with 8GB of inbuilt memory and the capacity to add more with a micro SD card. Well priced within the marketplace, the LG Optimus 2X has fabulous graphics and many apps from Google Maps to Angry Birds, all of which are simple and easy to access and use. It also offers a vast battery capacity of 1500mAh, which could last you up to several days without recharging, and there is great connectivity with Bluetooth, Wi-fi and USB as well as a bonus HDMI connector.
The LG Optimus 2X certainly matches many of the best smartphones currently available on the market, not least for its superb camera and HD recording features, multi-touch zooming and web-browsing capacity. Standard Android apps are also easily accessible and the LG Optimus 2X comes with its own inbuilt apps for Twitter and Facebook.
Offered to the market by Samsung mobile phones and one of two Google branded phones, Samsung’s Google Nexus S is an outstandingly rated phone. Powered by the latest Android 2.3, also known as Gingerbread, the Google Nexus S promises to deliver on many counts. Offering an incredible 100,000 apps to choose from, this is one of the new generation of smartphones and in many respects one of the best on the market.
The Google Nexus S contains vast amounts of inbuilt memory, and is powered by a super-fast processor, the 1GHz Hummingbird. Offering an improved keyboard and some popular Android features, such as Wi-fi hotspot and multi-tasking, the Google Nexus S is one of the fastest phones currently available. It is exceptionally smooth to run and includes cutting edge features, such as an integrated graphics processing unit.
As you would expect from Samsung mobile phones, the Google Nexus S is a good-looking handset and is beautifully designed with a curved glass screen. This has been specially designed to fit snugly into the palm of a hand, and also to follow the contours of your face when using the phone. A high contrast bright screen adds to the appeal of the Google Nexus S. This clever handset also supports Adobe Flash and has fast loading pages. It even has a noise reducing function, which is highly effective when using the phone in busy and noisy areas.
The HTC Desire HD is a follow-up to the HTC Desire, one of the most popular Android based handsets to enter the market.
The physical unit is 68mm wide by 123mm long by 11.8mm thick. The screen is 4.3inches, with four touch sensitive points located at the bottom. These take the place of the physical keys found on the original Desire.
While the front of the phone is taken up by screen, the back features an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash. Video can be recorded in 720 pixel high definition. While there is a speaker on the front of the handset, the one on the back seems to be the primary source of sound.
The HTC Desire HD uses Sense UI and features additional widgets and a series of home screens to play with. Navigation through the screens is made easy with a pinch motion, which brings up a screen overview page. The notification bar provides easy access to your most recently used icons. These are just a few of many new features.
For gamers, the HTC Desire HD comes with a built-in GPU, which means it can handle fairly heavy graphic processing.
Overall, the HTC Desire HD features a virtually flawless interface with superior web browsing capabilities; offering everything Android is best known for. The handset is let down by the battery life and some people will not like the size of the unit or the screen. However, for a latest and greatest phone that works well, HTC Desire HD is a good choice.
Android smartphones have become very popular over the last few years and are now the best-selling kind of smartphone available. Google and a consortium of other companies involved in the telecommunications market have developed the Android operating system.
Applications, or apps, have become a big market. Apple offers a huge range of apps for their mobile devices, which have not only enhanced the iPhone’s capabilities but have also provided companies with a new platform from which to sell their software. The companies involved with Android have not been slow to increase the amount of apps available for this system as well.
The Android Market is an online shop built by Google for the various software apps developed. An app called ‘Market’ is installed on nearly all Android phones. It enables users to download other apps created by a variety of third-party developers. By the end of 2010 there were around 200,000 apps, games and widgets available on the Android Market.
There are many different kinds of application available. Google has developed a number of different apps including; Google Voice, Google Finance, Sky Map; which is used for watching the stars, Google Translate, Listen; which is used to help users with podcasts, and many others.
One popular segment of the market is for Android sat nav apps. Many android phones come with an in-built GPS device. When combined with an app like Google Maps, the application transforms the phone into a sat nav device that can be used in a vehicle or just for directions when walking around. Google Locate is another Android app that enables you to share your location with friends.