TechNetSavvy

Comparing the content of Netflix, LOVEFILM

2013-01-31T14:43:00.000+05:30

One of the latest internet based businesses gaining momentum is online streaming. From the comfort of your own home, or on a journey, or while you wait for your girlfriend in the fitting room, you can select your favorite films and television programmes from a library of thousands of popular titles.

Perhaps it is the recession or the convenience of not having to visit a shop but websites such as Netflix and LOVEFiLM are accumulating subscribers that appreciate the affordable range of entertainment on offer.

These days a cozy night in with a good film or renting a DVD to save some money can actually set you back more than you would think; to buy a recent release expect to pay up to £20 or to rent from your local Blockbuster you will pay £1- £4 per film depending on when it was released but no-one ever really just rents one film do they?

If your household rents films on a regular basis then perhaps you should consider a subscription to an internet streaming site. LOVEFiLM and Netflix both offer a range of quality films and television programmes available for streaming for just £4.99 and £5.99 respectively. A fraction of the cost of renting a couple of films a week on DVD.

The main drawback of streaming is that these websites do not receive films during the first window of releasing so expect movies to be slightly older than from your DVD shop. The newest films are not always the best though it has to be said.

But if it is the recently released DVDs that you want LOVEFiLM offers a DVD and Blue-ray service in addition to streaming so subscribers can have the best of both worlds. Unfortunately Netflix UK do not offer this option to UK users.

It seems that in the battle of LOVEFiLM vs Netflix LOVEFiLM comes on top - offering free trials to customers and making it easy to cancel if you do not want to continue the subscription however, once you have tried it cancellation is very unlikely!

Best Smartphone Contract Deals

2012-08-13T18:42:00.002+05:30

Though advertising would have you believe that you can’t purchase any kind of mobile phone that isn’t a hi-tech smartphone, this simply isn’t the case. For many people, the top-end smartphones sold by retailers like www.dialaphone.co.uk are jammed with more technology than they’re ever likely to use, and a ‘smarter’ alternative would be to choose a handset that might have lower overall capability, but which comes with a cheaper contract attached. There are many of these kinds of deals available.

For example, the Samsung Galaxy Ace, which comes with a 5 megapixel camera and High Speed USB connectivity port, can be got on a 24month Talk contract for an impressive £7.50 per month – about £20 cheaper than some of the hi-spec Smartphone alternatives. For this, you get 250 minutes of free talktime, unlimited texts, and 500MB data-usage allowance. Brilliantly, this deal also includes free line-rental for 8 months – definitely one for the tighter budgets.

If it’s a Nokia you’re after, the N97 Black is the perfect handset for internet-savvy consumers who don’t want to break the bank, and comes with a 5Megapixel camera and 3.5” screen, plus a qwerty keyboard for those looking to make easy blog posts and social media updates on the move. For £15.50p/m with an initial £9.99 payment, T Mobile offers the N97 on a 24month contract that comes with only 50 minutes of free talktime, but 750MB of data-usage allowance – perfect for those for whom surfing the net from their phone is a priority.

For fans of HTC, the Desire HD, one of the best-selling Android phones ever, can now be found on pretty cheap contracts. With a 3.7inch LCD touchscreen, it looks the business, and on Talk with an initial £49.99 payment, you can get a 24 month contract at £7.50p/m that comes with unlimited texts, 250 free minutes and 500MB data-usage allowance.

Pimp Your Life: Technology Must Have’s

2012-07-11T01:38:00.000+05:30

Thought gadgets were the domain of men? Think again. Whilst you may not be fixated with buying a bigger HD TV just to watch a ball being kicked around, there are several items of technology that a modern woman just shouldn’t be without.

1. Smartphone

There’s no getting around it - a smartphone is a modern day essential. Providing email on the go, condensing all your social media accounts into one place and helping you to never get lost again – our handy pocket-size devices are real lifesavers.

2. Laptop

Whether you use it to browse Facebook, shop online or chat to you friends abroad, most girls need some form of laptop in their life. If you travel for work, a netbook or a tablet might be a better option than a heavy model packed with exciting features. Whatever your needs, try brands such as Zoostorm from Very.co.uk or Asus for reliable and affordable technology.

3. MP3 Player

An MP3 player makes listening to music on the go or at the gym much easier than lugging around a bulky CD player. If you listen to music on a regular basis, noise-cancelling headphones are a great investment. This new technology limits the embarrassing possibility of being told to turn your music down on the bus and will help you to enjoy to your music undisturbed.

4. Digital camera

Digital cameras are essential for capturing life’s special moments and there are loads of tiny models available that will easily fit into your purse easily for a night out.

5. E-reader

If you commute to work or travel a lot, an e-reader is a practical way to carry your reading material with you - no more lugging heavy hard-backs or stacks of glossy magazines around in your handbag!

6. Sat-nav

Why make life more difficult for yourself? A GPS satellite navigation system will make sure you get from A to B in the quickest time possible, without any need to pull over and get out the map (or ask for directions).

The choice when it comes to gadgets is endless - some of them will make you wonder how you ever coped without them!

SellMyMobile: Get the Best Deal On Your Old Mobile

2012-05-08T10:13:00.000+05:30

Ever thought what you would do with your old mobile phone after you bought a new one? Now you don’t need to do anything to sell your old mobile phone or tablet, SellMyMobile does everything for you and the best part is it gives you the best price for your device.

New smartphones are launched regularly in the market and if you occasionally switch phones then you got to try SellMyMobile which can immediately get you the best price for your handset.

SellMyMobile is a great platform to get the best deal for your used mobile phone and recycle it efficiently.

What is SellMyMobile and How Does It Work?

SellMyMobile is a UK based phone recycling price comparison site which compares mobiles and tablet prices from all the top trade in companies for the mobile phone or tablet you are looking to sell.

You can then post your device to your chosen trade in company by filling all your details there, once your mobile phone/tablet has been received and checked by the trade in company they send you the payment.

SellMyMobile compares prices from various recyclers like:

Orange Recycle
Fonebank
Mobile Phone Xchange
Money For Your Phone
T-Mobile Recycling
O2 Recycle
Mazuma Mobile and many more….

How to Sell Your Old/Used Mobile on SellMyMobile?

Search for the device model in the search box on SellMyMobile.com.
Select the deal which suits you by comparing the prices and other options visible on the website. Click on “Sell Now” and you will be redirected to the recycler’s website.
Now you have to post about your mobile and its features. You will get instructions for posting an ad for your phone by the recycler.
Send your mobile phone to the recycler so that they can check and sell it accordingly.
You will receive your cash once the recycler has checked your phone and all other formalities are completed.

Very simple, isn’t it? SellMyMobile will always get you the best deal for your old mobile or tablet device and the best service.

Do let us know about your experience with SellMyMobile in comments below.

Sony Xperia S Review

2012-05-06T08:49:00.000+05:30

We all have been waiting for the first true ‘Sony’ smartphone ever since Sony took over Ericsson. The wait is finally over. The first outcome of the ‘Sony’ brand is the Xperia S. The Xperia S is the first smartphone from Sony. Let’s see what the Xperia S has in store for us.

Introduction:

The Xperia S has very high specifications to support it and some of those are a super-fast 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and an impressive 1GB of RAM. But mere specifications don’t make the phone the best in the world. It is the real life performance which does. What we are interested in is how a device performs every task in real life and that’s pretty much all that matters. So without further ado, let’s see whether the Xperia S offers some brilliant real life performance or not. Check Xperia S Specifications

Design:

The Xperia S is unlike any phone we have ever seen before from Sony a.k.a. Sony Ericsson. With a clean slab like design and rounded edges, this phone looks great and feels great in hands thanks to the human curvature design on the back. This design allows your palm and fingers to fit perfectly to the phone back so that you can hold the phone with a firm gripping. Below the big 4.3 inch screen, you can see the transparent strip which goes 360 degree around the phone and believe us, it’s really transparent. The capacitive home, back and menu buttons are places just above the transparent strip and are marked by 3 illuminating white dots.

All in all, we loved the Xperia S design and build quality and are pleased to say it easily stand apart from the rest of the crowd due to its transparent strip and bold looks. The only minor problem we had with the Xperia S are the capacitive keys which took a little time getting used to because the position of the icons and the actual position where the keys are located are different! OH, and the back cover of the Xperia S has an anti-stain coating due to which any dust, dirt, liquids that fall on it can be removed easily with a single swipe of your hand! Permanent markers can also be erased by using an eraser.

Display:

The Xperia S has a LED-backlit LCD display powered by Sony's mobile Bravia Engine. The display has an amazingly high resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. This makes the display unlike anything we have ever seen before. The display is absolutely gorgeous. As soon you turn on the phone, the screen is all that you will love! The Xperia S has the highest pixel density ever found on a mobile phone. The PPI (pixel per inch) ratio of Xperia S is 342 which is even higher than the iPhone 4S. Higher PPI generally means a display of better quality. The viewing angles and the sunlight legibility of the Xperia S are very good.

The display of the Xperia S has a very high contrast, amazing level of sharpness and natural color reproduction. Watching movies and viewing pictures on the Xperia S is an unmatched experience. We absolutely love the display and so will you. Just watch this video comparing the Xperia S display with the one on the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and see for yourself why the Xperia S has the best display in the world as of now.

Xperia S vs. iPhone 4S vs. Samsung Galaxy Nexus Display Comparison

User Interface & Performance:

Sony has developed its own custom user interface over Android 2.3 Gingerbread. And we have to admit, the User Interface (UI) on the Xperia S is one of the best available in the market. The new interface is sleek, sexy and a joy to use. It’s also as smooth as silk thanks to the blazing fast 1.5GHz dual core processor and 1GB of RAM. There are plenty of functional and good looking widgets included by Sony. The phone comes with 32GB of inbuilt memory which should be enough for any user. Sony’s User Interface adds some cool and very useful functionality while spicing it up with some cool looking animations and sexy live wallpaper. Games on the Xperia S run super smooth and there is absolutely no problem running anything on the Xperia S. While some might argue that the new quad-core armies of phones are faster than the Xperia S, it is important to note the real life performance of the phone. And real life performance says that the Xperia S will never make you unhappy. The battery life of the Xperia S is good for a phone with such high specs. Also, when compared to its competitors, the battery lasts longer.

Apps, Browser and Connectivity:

The Xperia S comes with a whole bunch of pre-installed apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Google apps like Gmail, Google maps, etc. Sony has also included Timescape, a social feed aggregator which collects feeds from your favorite social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. The phonebook in the Xperia S has a very deep social networking integration and excels at integrating Facebook contacts information in the contact view. All other basics apps are also present of course and have good amount of features. The virtual keyboard on the Xperia S is a joy to use. Sony also gives 50GB of free online Box storage to all Xperia S users. The Office Suite app is also included for viewing document files. Call quality on the Xperia S was good with the secondary microphone working very well in cancelling out external noises. The loudspeaker is equally sound.

Browsing on the Xperia S was as fast as you can imagine and the browser UI was minimal and functional at best. All sites opened swiftly and navigating around was fun. Flash websites were also handled with ease and the Xperia S never depressed us. Xperia S comes with almost all types of connectivity options like 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DLNA wireless media streaming to HD TVs. NFC support is also included in the Xperia S. Due to this, two NFC enabled phones can share images, videos, links, etc. with each other by just a touch and data is shared at speeds more than 10 times faster than Bluetooth. Sony has included 2 NFS tags in the box which enhance the functionality of the Xperia S by allowing users to customize it. See how NFC tags work.

All in all, the Xperia S offers one the best experiences to users. The few problems with the Xperia S are as follow: It runs on an older version on Android i.e.Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update is on its way so that shouldn’t really be a problem. The battery is non-removable which might not satisfy some users. The battery life of the Xperia S is good but it isn’t better than the iPhone 4S.

Check Xperia S UI Screenshots

Check out a video of the User Interface (UI) on the Xperia S and don’t forget to turn on 720p mode for better viewing.

Sony Xperia S User Interface

Camera:

The Xperia S has a whopping 12MP with LED flash and has various functions like auto-focus, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection. The camera has an Exmor R sensor from Sony due to which the Xperia S can shoot and capture very well even in low light where practically almost all the camera phones in the world fail. The Xperia S also has panorama, 3D panorama, sweep multi angle mode for capturing different types of images. The Xperia S also has a Quick Launch mode in which lets you start your camera and capture an image even when the device is locked! And all this in just 1.5 seconds! Fast! The Xperia S has fast capture technology which enables it to capture shots with practically no lag in the shutter press and the shot pic! Videos can be captured at Full HD resolution i.e. at 1080p at 30 frames per second (fps). The UI of the camera is excellent.

The quality of images captured by the Xperia S was amazing. Very high level of detail, good contrast and rich looking natural colors, low noise levels. Everything looks perfect on the Xperia S. Videos also share the same cool qualities of high detail and are very smooth and the frame rate never drops below 30fps thus leading to better videos. Videos shot in low light also come out very good. The only minor problem we has with the camera was that the panorama mode didn’t work properly sometimes and kept o showing error messages. Hopefully, Sony fixes this with an update. Overall, we are convinced that the Xperia S camera is one of the best camera’s in the world. If you’re not convinced have a look at the links below where Xperia S camera and video samples are given. Also, the Xperia S has been compared with other potential camera phones on the market like the HTC One X and the iPhone 4S.

So we guess, it’s easy to conclude that the Xperia S can easily be crowned as the best camera phone on the earth.

Multimedia:

The music player on the Xperia S looks very cool and has decent amount of eye-candy included with features like 3D Cover-Flow. The UI of the Music Player is very good with tabbed interface and plenty of sorting options, SensMe channels, Qriocity music unlimited service etc. There are plenty of sound enhancement options like Preset EQs, Custom EQ, Clear Bass technology from Sony Walkman, Headset Surround, etc. the Xperia S also has Sony’s xLOUD technology which enhances speaker volume without losing quality.

The Xperia S also has a good FM Radio app. TrackID is also included. Track ID is a ‘Shazam’ like service from Sony which listens to the song being played or sung by anyone and within seconds gives you the artist name and info and also gives an option to download the songs from an official online store. Neat! The default gallery app has cool 3D animations and also has Facebook and Picasa photo albums integration. The app is capable of playing 1080p i.e. Full HD videos flawlessly. A video editor is also present. There is a cool looking 3D photo and video widget with sexy looking animation available to place it on your home screen for fast access.

The audio quality of the Xperia S is very good and loud. Clean crisp voice, deep and punchy bass, good amount of treble and excellent noise suppression make the Xperia S one of the best music phones in the market with excellent audio quality on both the speaker and through the headset as well.

The only 2 problems we found with the Xperia S was that the video player does not support subtitles. You can download a good video player from the market though. The gallery app on the Xperia S is not as functional as the one in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). This isn’t a big problem as Android 4.0 ICS update is coming to the Xperia S.

Conclusion:

The Xperia S is an absolutely awesome smartphone to have. It is a phone representing a high level of personality with power and performance. There are a very few alternatives in the market to the Xperia S like the HTC One X and the iPhone 4S. The Xperia S is one of the best smartphone available right now. The screen is drop dead gorgeous and so is the camera and pretty much everything. Only suffering by the lack of Android 4.0 ICS, the Xperia S has everything it takes to become the king of the hill. Also, a price tag lower that the rest of the competition simply leaves no doubt that the Xperia is the smartphone to buy. Go ahead and grab a Xperia S now. It won’t underestimate you.

Fix For Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini ST15i Overheating Issue

2012-04-02T19:24:00.000+05:30

Okay, so you bought a SE Xperia Mini and you have overheating issues with the phone. This is a known issue, but there is no fix in the latest update by Sony. I’ve read they have a calibration fix at the authorized service center, but on visiting they asked me to wait for a week. Sorry I love my phone and can’t stay away from it for a week because I didn't have a backup at that moment. So here’s how I did it myself with the help of a small script from XDA.

Send Free SMS to India from Your Android Device

2012-03-31T00:50:00.000+05:30

There are plenty of websites through which you can easily send free SMS to India; I’ve reviewed many apps for Windows which let you send free SMS directly from your desktop but now you can easily send free SMS to anyone in India using your Android device with this cool application developed by my friend Ayush Pateria.

hReview Markup for Blogger

2012-03-29T19:08:00.000+05:30

A review markup helps you to set up rating and review for posts on your blog which would be visible in Google search results. You can rate applications, gadgets, movies, games, hotels, etc. This rating markup is very useful for those running a review blog.

Fix Rich Snippets Testing Tool Warnings on Blogger

2012-03-28T17:10:00.000+05:30

When I was implementing Google authorship for my blog I noticed some “Warning” messages in the rich snippets testing tool. After researching and debugging for a couple of hours what each field meant I found a solution to completely remove all errors from my blog.

Setup Blogger Custom Domain on Bigrock

2012-03-25T17:55:00.000+05:30

BigRock is one of the biggest domain registrars in India. If you are willing to buy a domain for your blog or business you can easily buy it from Bigrock which has a wide variety of payment options. The advantage of buying an domain from Bigrock is the wide variety of payment options offered by the company and off course great support and quality service.

BlogSpot Advanced SEO Search Preferences Settings

2012-03-23T18:28:00.000+05:30

The Blogger team has finally come up with SEO options within Blogger itself, now you don’t need to rely on dynamic meta tags which generated search description for individual posts, you don’t need to add the ALT and Image tags by tricky methods which involved adding codes to each image.

MySmartPrice: Compare and Get the Best Deals Online

2012-03-16T00:34:00.000+05:30

MySmartPrice is an online price comparison website which compares gets you the best deals from various e-commerce websites in India. MySmartPrice can get you the best deals and coupons with which shop smarter and you don’t have to dig all online shopping websites for the best deal. The site regularly updates prices of books, cameras and mobile phones.

DuckDuckGo: An Impressive Search Engine

2012-03-13T19:48:00.001+05:30

DuckDuckGo is a relatively new search engine on the web which pulls results from over 50 sources. DuckDuckGo is a better search engine if you’re looking for an alternative to Google. Moreover DuckDuckGo promises over user’s privacy and does not track users nor does it personalize user’s search results.

The History of Dongles

2012-03-08T21:55:00.000+05:30

Piracy has always been an issue for commercial software. Accordingly, programmers have made it a priority to protect their products. Oftentimes, various forms of digital rights management systems are utilized to encrypt the data and make it more difficult for hackers and the general public to copy and distribute. Unfortunately, DRM can always be cracked by any hacker with sufficient skill and persistence.

Apple Unveils the 'New iPad'

2012-03-08T02:55:00.001+05:30

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook showed off the new iPad at an media event in San Francisco. Apple unveiled the “New iPad”, yes it’s called the New iPad or the third generation iPad and not the iPad HD as the rumors suggested. However, leaving the name almost everything else matches the specs of the new iPad.

Best Dual SIM Android Smartphones

2012-03-05T21:27:00.000+05:30

Many people today opt for a dual SIM smartphone rather than carrying multiple phones. Android is growing rapidly with over 8,50,000 activations per day. Motorola was the first company to come up with a dual SIM Android handset in the market but today almost all manufacturers have come up with a wide range of dual SIM Android smartphones.

BlogSpot SEO Tips and Tricks for Bloggers

2012-03-02T08:56:00.000+05:30

Blogger is undoubtedly the best free Blogging platform for everyone with a wide range of features but when it comes to SEO, the Blogger platform lacks features when compared to WordPress. We cannot modify/edit some parts of our blog like permalink structure etc., but there is no doubt you can overcome these limitations using some advanced techniques and customizations for better BlogSpot SEO.

Download Windows 8 Beta 32-bit and 64-bit ISO

2012-02-29T23:16:00.000+05:30

Microsoft has unveiled the beta version of the next operating system codenamed Windows 8 in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 event. The Windows 8 developer preview was released back in September which gave a sneak peak of the new operating system Microsoft is betting on.

Opera Mobile 12 and Opera Mini Next Released

2012-02-27T20:25:00.000+05:30

Opera has just announced Opera Mobile 12 for Android and Symbian devices and Opera Mini next. The browser is hugely popular for mobile devices and is very widely used on all phones. The difference between the two versions of the browser for mobile phones is the engine they use to render web pages to the device. Opera Mobile renders the webpage on the device itself whereas the servers at Opera compress data and then the data is sent to device.

Nimbuzz - All in One IM Client for all Devices

2012-02-25T12:59:00.000+05:30

Nimbuzz is an all in one messenger for all your devices which connects you to Facebook, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger-MSN, Google Talk and SIP/VoIP accounts. With Nimbuzz you can chat with people across all networks within a single application. You can chat and make free calls to Nimbuzz users with your phone contacts.

Sticky Bar With Share Buttons for Blogger

2012-02-23T23:48:00.000+05:30

A sticky bar is a fixed bar which is visible at the top of the header or at the footer. This sticky bar looks similar to the "Hello Bar" for WordPress blogs. A sticky bar is widely used by all blogs today and hence I’ve created this sticky bar embedded with share buttons for Blogger with which visitors can easily share posts directly from the bar.

Orbit Downloader - Free Download Manager for Windows

2012-02-22T01:19:00.000+05:30

Orbit downloader is a free download manager for Windows which manages almost all downloads for you on your computer and guarantees faster downloads by 500%. The download manager integrates with your browser and automatically fetches all downloads. All major browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Maxthon are supported by this application.

Trick to Stop Blogger from Redirecting Visitors to ccTLDs

2012-02-19T20:01:00.000+05:30

Blogger has recently started re-directing all BlogSpot visitors to country specific TLDs (ccTLDs), which has become a major concern for all BlogSpot users and SEO related problems which may negatively impact the traffic of a blog. The .in/.au/.us and 15 other ccTLDs of your blog at the moment will not get a PR and hence backlinks to those URLs won’t be counted and taken into consideration.

[Giveaway] IObit Advanced SystemCare 5 PRO

2012-02-17T19:42:00.000+05:30

Hello folks, TechNetSavvy has just completed 8 months and I'm very thankful to all our loyal readers. We're giving away 3 licenses of IObit Advanced System Care 5 absolutely free.

Chrome Browser For Android Officially Out

2012-02-08T11:38:00.000+05:30

Finally, Chrome for Android is released by Google. The popular Chrome browser is now available for Android smartphone's running Ice Cream Sandwich. Chrome for Android was highly anticipated and awaited by everyone as it is very light weight and has a minimal design which is loved by all.