A Look At The iPhone 4
For awhile, no smartphone manufacturers held a candle to Apple and its iPhone. As time went on, companies realized that their existence would depend on keeping up with smartphone technology and spent time and money improving their own models. As the gap has closed, Apple felt the pressure to remain ahead of the competition, and has answered their competitors’ handsets with the iPhone 4.
One of the changes found in the iPhone 4 is on the inside of the phone. The iPhone 4’s predecessor, the 3GS contained a Samsung-based Cortex CPU. This has been replaced by Apple’s own A4 chip, the same one used by the iPad. The iPhone 4 does not quite speed along at the same rate as the 1GHz available to the iPad, but it is still more than fast enough. It brings up graphics quickly and navigates seamlessly. Those who find it too slow are likely looking for something to complain about.
Those quickly-rendered graphics are displayed on a 3.5 inch screen with 960 x 640 pixel resolution. Combine that with a mind-numbing 326 ppi pixel density and you have a display that is absolutely second to none. The incredible resolution makes up for any shortcomings in size, and it has even earned the name of Retina Display. It is so named due to the claim that it presents graphics in more detail than the human eye is able to distinguish. It may seem like overkill to present clarity that the user can’t see anyway, but at least consumers need not worry about a less than stellar display. In fact, many testes of the iPhone 4 have stated that the Retina Display easily provides the sharpest images they’ve yet seen.
It almost wouldn’t be worth having the Retina Display if the iPhone 4 possessed the 3 megapixel camera of past models. There are no worries here, because it doesn’t. The iPhone 4 has upgraded to a 5 megapixel camera that includes a backside-illuminated sensor with improved sensitivity to light. Also featured is an LED flash, although it can blow out some photos, a symptom not uncommon in flashes of this kind. It really is not that big of a deal, because the camera takes great pictures in low light and without a flash.
Perhaps the biggest addition to the iPhone 4 is the ability to multitask. Some critics have voiced their displeasure that the handset doesn’t offer true backgrounding (the iPhone lets a few APIs that approximate backgrounding to operate at a time), but it is close enough that most users won’t have a problem at all. Apple’s claim was that they didn’t apply multitasking to their smartphones due to battery drain. Now that this is not an issue, the iPhone 4 has been noted for its battery life, approaching nearly 40 hours of normal use in some tests.
Apple has once again set the bar in smartphone technology with the iPhone 4. With its unmatched Retina Display and high performance, the iPhone has placed Apple first in many consumers’ minds. Customers will be more than pleased with what the iPhone 4 has to offer.
Categories: General, Mobile Tags: apple, cell phones, communications, iphone, iphone 4, mobile phones, phones, smartphones, technology
Information On Windows Phone 7
Microsoft, as everyone knows by now, is a major player in technological pursuits. The company has made its presence felt in the realm of smartphones with the Windows Phone operating system. Found on several models of handsets, Windows Phone is an operating system and experience all of its own. The latest version is Windows Phone 7, and here are some things to expect from it.
Several regions of the world experienced the launch of Windows Phone 7 in November of 2010. The user interface found on 7 is known as Metro. Microsoft has dubbed the home screen the Start screen, a title familiar to those who have Windows on their PC. On the Start screen is a series of Tiles, buttons that act almost like thumbnailed widgets. They provide links to applications, email clients, and many other customizable functions and features. Tiles experience real time updates, making for instantaneous email flags and stock quotes among other alerts. Tiles can be added, deleted, and rearranged according to the user’s needs.
On Windows Phone 7, organizational tools known as Hubs combine functions and features with similar traits into groups. Content found both locally and online are integrated with social network sites like Facebook and Windows Live. Contacts found on Gmail, Facebook, and Windows Live are gathered together by what is known as the People Hub, creating a single place from which to update and organize all of these contacts. Another hub is the Video and Music Hub and it integrates with Zune to accommodate multimedia activities. The style and operation of the Hub is reminiscent of Zune itself. For gaming, the Games Hub integrates with Xbox LIVE. Windows Phone 7 also features Windows Phone Marketplace and Microsoft Office.
The browser on Windows Phone 7 is a version of Internet Explorer Mobile that has been described as a hybrid of IE7 and IE8. Specific sites can be placed on the Start screen in the form of a Tile and six tabs running parallel to one another are supported by the browser. Pages are shared with others using email and the browser can perform inline searching tasks. Flash Player 10.1 will soon be offered by Adobe on Windows Phone 7 phones. Users of Windows Phone 7 handsets can steam YouTube video, and the Video and Music Hub can store them.
Windows Phone 7 is an operating system designed to streamline all of the features afforded by smartphones and smoothly integrate them with online activities. It is unique and is built according to the trends and tastes of current smartphone customers. Windows Phone 7 is a large and competent statement from the developers at Microsoft.
Categories: General, Mobile Tags: cell phones, communications, computers, microsoft, mobile phones, smartphones, software, technology, windows phone, windows phone 7
The Blackberry Storm 3 – Information & Advice
Blackberry’s Storm was released as a follow up to the Torch 9800, which had a slide out keyboard and touch-screen capabilities. The Storm brought Blackberry fully into the touch-screen market. After the Storm came the Storm 2, with fuller features and more memory and the Storm 3 is said to have even more memory, as well as an upgraded camera. All indications are that the size and weight will be about the same as the Storm 2 with its 3.25” touch-screen, but there are rumors (and images on the web) suggesting that the new Storm 3 will utilize a larger 3.7” screen.
At time of this writing the Storm 3 has not yet been released so it is difficult to make a detailed comparison, but initial reports indicate that the storm may be smaller and lighter than previous Torch models, and will likely be on par with the current Storm 2 model. As with the Storm 2, the Storm 3 will undoubtedly have a virtual keyboard. The Torch 9800 utilizes a slide out QWERTY keypad as well as a virtual keypad.
Some of the mobile connectivity options associated with the Storm 3 will make it more functional than the Torch 9800. The Storm 3 will likely be a world edition smartphone that will make it more useful across a range of networks. There is also talk that the Storm 3 will function as a mobile hotspot allowing other devices to connect to the Internet through the phone. If this is the case, 4G functionality will be an important feature for the Storm 3. The Storm 3 will have 802.11n Wi-Fi functionality.
The Storm 3 may use the Blackberry OS 6.0 just as its Storm brethren and the Torch 9800 do, or as rumors suggest there may be an upgrade to Blackberry OS 7.0. There will be some specific customization in place for the Storms capabilities however. There will not be any other operating system available for the Storm 3. The Storm units and the Torch 9800 will take advantage of a native Webkit from Research in Motion, and this is considered the best web enabling software for these units. There is talk of a 5 mega-pixel camera to be offered with the Storm 3, and there are also rumblings of an 8 mega-pixel camera.
The Storm and Storm 2 already have plenty of features to convince a Torch user that an upgrade is necessary, and with the features touted by the Storm 3, there is a good chance that Torch users may hold out until its release.
Continue : Blackberry Storm 3 Deals
Categories: General, Mobile Tags: blackberry, blackberry storm 3, cell phones, communications, mobile phones, phones, product reviews, smartphones, technology
Mobile Broadband : A Short Guide
Mobile broadband is defined as broadband access (e.g. cable and DSL) in the cellular environment. Wireless internet has been around for a number of years but mobile broadband has only recently (within the last few years) become popular due to the costs involved. Mobile broadband is a step up from local wireless data applications such as WiFi which gets rid of the wire, but not the confinement. A user must be stationary and in a WiFi hotspot (generally inside) when using WiFi technology. WiFi could be considered as the data transfer counterpart of the cordless telephone, whereas mobile broadband corresponds to the cellular phone, which enables access to high speed data almost anywhere in the world. Wireless communication has become the standard for the business world. Remote wireless internet connection is becoming more and more popular each day and has changed the way businesses communicate internally and externally. It truly has become a wireless world.
Mobile broadband technology such as 3g is powered by the same technology that makes cell phones work. It is all down to radio waves and their frequencies. Mobile phones and the mobile-phone radio towers communicate with each other by sending packets of digital information to each other through radio waves. With standard telephone calls, the packets of information carry only voice or audio data. For mobile broadband, the packets of information would be other types of data such as e-mails, web pages, streaming video and music files.
Mobile broadband was initially quite slow compared to a WiFi connection, though constant improvements have meant that speeds have increased dramatically, listed below are the chronological order of mobile broadband advancements:
-2.5g, or EDGE as it is more widely known, was the first form of mobile broadband, though take up was low as the packet transfer speeds were so low.
-The second format that was introduced was 3g, known on GSM formats as UMTS. Though transfer speeds were also quite slow, it began to offer users an alternative to using WiFi.
-Following 3g was HSDPA. It is quite fast, though not as fast as WiFi.
-The current format of HSUPA. With speeds similar to WiFi connections, it is offering users a very good alternative to WiFi.
A new format that is currently being developed is called WIMAX. WIMAX, or 4g, will be able to give users broadband connection speeds faster than the WiFi speeds currently offered in popular hotspots. It will also have a very wide network coverage ratio, which means more people being able to access the internet from more places. It is becoming commonplace for laptop manufacturers to incorporate mobile broadband receivers into the design of new notebooks, and with the huge increase in speeds of mobile broadband over the last few years; internet via cable may become a thing of the past.
Categories: General, Hardware, Mobile Tags: broadband, communications, computers, mobile broadband, technology
