If you installed any of the apps we’ve mentioned time and time again on this blog, the first thing you can do is try to see if you can locate the phone.  Apps like FindmyiPhone or Lookout Mobile allow you send a note to the phone (a reward perhaps), wipe the phone remotely, or possibly locate the the phone if you realize early enough.

1. Call your carrier to report your phone lost or stolen. Doing so is really about preventing someone else from running up additional charges on your bill and making a bad situation even worse.  Don’t delay on this, because quite a few customers have been saddled with enormous bills in this situation along with the stress of fighting with their carrier to reverse these type of charges.
2. The bad news, once someone takes the SIM card out of your device and plugs in their own SIM card they have a new phone to use – free and clear.  Although every device has a unique identifier called a IMEI number, there is no national or global database of IMEI numbers for the carriers to know if and when your device is reactivated on their network.   So in short, once your phone’s SIM card is removed your phone is gone, but make a note of your IMEI number now, none the less. You can obtain your IMEI number by entering the following 5-digit code in your dial pad (*#06#).

There has been a lot of talk recently in the US, where 40% of all robberies now involve cell phones and the FCC is trying to champion a law that will blacklist lost or stolen IMEI numbers, thereby rendering them useless. No such plan is in the works in Canada and the carriers here have been belly aching about the cost of maintaining that database. Go figure, a great opportunity for them to get on the side of consumers and they blow it again. But one thing’s for sure, the carriers love money and they may see this as an opportunity to rip Canadians off for this so called privilege.  So how does the L.O.S.E.R Fee sound? (Lost or Stolen Emergency Recovery Fee)  Would you pay this fee to help the carriers cover the cost of maintaining a national database of lost IMEI numbers?

PS – One more thing, never purchase electronic equipment (smartphone, tablets, camera, etc.) at a retail store, leave the bags in your car and return to shopping.  This apparently has been one of the easiest ways for thieves to target you and steal your brand new smartphone, tablet or whatever else they can get their hands on.

Of course, if you are in the market for the best cell phone deal you can find, give myCELLmyTERMS a shot.

Well here is a review of the new Windows Mobile flag ship phone, the Nokia Lumia 900, which was just launched this past weekend in the US and is available here in Canada on Rogers for $99.99 on a 3 years contract. If you are interested in getting this cell phone here are 5 reasons why you may want to take a look at the new Nokia Lumia 900.

1. Great Price

Microsoft and Nokia are both motivated to be relevant again in the cell phone space, so the entry price of just $99.99 is a very good price for this new phone. When other cell phones normally debut for at least $150 this phone is about $50 cheaper that similar phones just releasted.

2. Brand New Operating System, Windows Phone 7.5

If you are a big fan of the Microsoft and the Windows operating system then you will like this new release, it gives you access to genuine Microsft Office, XBOX Live, and familiar apps like Windows Live and Internet Explorer. The new tile layout is intuitive and a better design for the mobile phone. The customisable menus is a very cool feature which allows you to personalize your Windows Experience.

3. Great Specs

The phone comes with a 4.3″ AMOLED screen, larger than an iPhone, has LTE capability and has seen 10 MBps speeds in download tests. It comes with an 8MP camera with dual LED flash with autofocus.

4. It’s unique

With its blue polycarbonate unibody it has a distinct and unique feel to it which makes it stand out from its competitors. The very look of the device makes it look cool…maybe its me or just the cool blue body.

5. Its the best from Windows…so far

The phone is the best I’ve seen from Microsoft, so for those Microsoft / Windows fans out there you won’t be dissappointed with phone and the new 7.5 operating system. The general consensus and based on reviews coming in this phone is a great phone and deserves to be a part of the conversation of top phones.

My final word

While the Nokia Lumia 900 seems to be a very good phone, its a start on a path back from obsurity for Microsoft and Nokia. The Winodws Phone platform still has only a limited amount of apps about 70,000+ versus 600,000 for the iPhone and about 500,000 for Android so the app ecosystem is limited. I won’t quite call it an iPhone or Android killer but its a great value for this phone and worth considering. So if you are looking for the Nokia Lumia 900 be sure to check for the best cell phone plans.

In North America, there has been an explosion of prepaid plans over the last 2 years. This was mainly due to the launch of new wireless carriers in the market place, all advertising the benefits of no contracts and no fixed term contracts. This gives many customers the option to avoid the long term contracts promoted by the big wireless cell phone providers. But is prepaid actually better than postpaid? Let’s examine these two options.

Why Prepaid?

There are several reasons to get a prepaid plan and there are many benefits to do this. Here are a few reasons you may consider going with a prepaid plan:

Budget Conscious. Prepaid cell phone plans are bare bones and they provide a low cost and predictable payment schedule. You spend what you pay for, so you won’t end up with $1,000 monthly bills because you left your phone on downloading a movie or you had a longer than expected long distance call.

No commitments. If your job or lifestyle is transient in nature or you cannot commit to a long term contract then prepaid may be just right for you.  You can cancel at any time, get another phone or change plans without any restrictions.

No credit, no problem. Postpaid plans typically require a credit check, so if you are a new immigrant or going through some financial difficulties, then the prepaid may be the best option for you.

I have a phone already. One of the main reasons to take a term contract is to subsidize the cost of the phone, but if you already have a phone then you can get one of the prepaid plans by one of the new entrants or even one from the big three if coverage is a major concern.

Given that the market in  is GSM / HSPA dominant and that phones (when unlocked) from one carrier can be used on any other carrier (with a few exceptions) the number of prepaid customers have grown in North America and continue to grow each year.

Why Postpaid?

While the number of prepaid subscribers are growing, largely due to the large number of options for cell phones in the marketplace, postpaid plans still makeup about significant portion of the market. Let’s examine why this is the case:

Lower Phone costs. The main reason postpaid still dominates is the cost of the new cell phone aka the smartphone. Apple’s iPhone which dominates the market can cost as high as $1,000 (taxes included) for its top model, the iPhone 4S 64GB retails for about $850 (before taxes) without a contract. That’s a big commitment to make on a phone, but on a 3 year contract that costs falls to $369 before taxes saving about $500 on the cost of the phone. The same goes with Android and BlackBerry smartphones. Given that these cell phones makeup more that 50% of new phone purchases, many people will opt for a term contract to get these phones.

I travel a lot. If you travel to the US or overseas and you would like to use your phone, many (but not all) prepaid phones won’t work unfortunately. You will need a postpaid type contract to have uninterrupted cell phone coverage while you travel abroad – be wary however of those high roaming charges and explore roaming cell phone plans before travelling.

More options. Postpaid plans give customers many more options than their prepaid counterparts. The big three carriers have their promotions mainly around postpaid plans. So some features may be available on postpaid and not on their prepaid counterparts,  options like unlimited calling between family members or shared data plans to name a few.

Conclusion

So which is better? Well it depends on your circumstances, if you already have a phone but just need a simple plan then I would examine the prepaid option, but if you want the latest and greatest cell phone or you travel extensively then the postpaid option may be the better option for you. If you are looking for just the best cell phone plan, prepaid or postpaid then leverage a cell phone plan comparison website to help you make the right decision.

How to take quick pictures with iOS 5.1

With the new iOS update, the camera icon appears on the lock screen as shown below with the lines above and below the camera icon preventing you from just clicking on it like before to launch the camera.

In order to get the camera open you now have to swipe the camera icon upwards to enable the camera and with that one quick swipe, you are back into the camera app to take pictures.

You might be wondering what about my password lock and people being able to bypass it that way, but Apple also thought of that and here’s what happens.  If someone bypasses the passcode by swiping upwards and takes a few new pics they can’t view previously taken pictures in your camera roll without entering the passcode, but they can review any pics taken at that time.

BTW – If you’re in the market for an iPhone, compare iPhone plans and get the best cell phone deal on your terms.

I was walking through the train station and I saw an artist drawing sketches of people who were willing to pose for 5 minutes. Nothing strange here, except she was using a Samsung Galaxy Note to do it and she was emailing the picture afterwards. Isn’t that cool? And I must say she did an amazing job using the Galaxy’s Note’s S Pen to sketch. So let’s review this latest phone from Samsung and find out what else you can do with this phone……

The Good

Here’s the skinny on this device after playing with it for a while, these key features will impress you:

1. It’s 5.3 inch (that’s diagonal) HD screen with 1280 x 800 resolution. It’s impressive and its comes with Samsung’s HD Super Amoled Screens. Just to compare this resolution is higher that the current iPad2 and better than the retina display from Apple iPhone 4S. Add in the 1.4 GHz dual core processor and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage and you have a very capable device. Great job here!
2.  Add in the  “not a stylus” but S Pen functionality to do some really cool stuff, like markup presentation, drawing and sketching (as per the artist I saw) select images, cutting it and pasting it in another document or image. Check the video below for some need tricks from the 1 min Samsung commercial.
3. The Note comes with Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread which is the most stable version out there – what happened to Android 4.0 Honeycomb? But it includes some need tricks like the TouchWiz functionality which allows you quick access to notifications, wireless radio, weater from the notifications drop down bar. This phone also include drawers or folders for putting your apps in – this is missing in earlier version of the Galaxy. And the interface allows you to have up to 7 home screen versus the limited 4 that came with the Samsung Nexus S.
4. Multimedia is impressive – you can create your own with its 8 MP camera and HD video – watching movies or videos is amazing on this device. It also comes in a 4G LTE version which would allow you to make us of even better speeds than the usual 3G we are all accustomed to
5. And finally,  the large screen gives you a large virtual keyboard which feels closer to your actual keyboard than some of the smaller version cell phones.

The Bad

The Ugly or the Bottom line

Tablets are small lightweight portable devices for surfing the web, checking email, staying organized, listening to music and using apps.

So what are the advantages of a tablet computer at this stage:

1. Really intuitive to use – Whether you’re 5 years old or 95, everyone knows how to use his or her finger.
2. Portability – They’re much easier to carry with you than a laptop and it’s the same size as your standard notebook.
3. Much better experience for surfing the web, doing presentations and reading eBooks than smartphones, given the bigger screen and you also have access to unlimited books and information.
4. Instant ON – No waiting around for your tablet to boot up like your laptop
5. Better Battery Life as much as 3 times better (12 hours versus 4-6)
6. Apps – An infinite selection of apps to make your life easier in different ways. (i.e. Dropbox to access your files online, Skype, Voice to Text Dictation tools, etc.)

So what’s the case for not buying a tablet computer:

1. Costs – Apple’s iPad is still setting the pace and remains the gold standard for tablets. Today, however, we have many more options ranging in price from just over $100 to $900.

• RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, which, following the latest upgrade and reduction in price, is a great 7” option.
• Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, which is clearly the king of Android’s tablet offerings.
• Amazon’s Fire and Kindle devices are also lower costs alternatives to get in the game, without the big cash outlay and give you access to Amazon’s emerging eco-system.
• Soon to come Windows 8 tablets, which are, somewhat surprisingly, highly anticipated in market. Wireless carriers are now coming out with their own tablets. For example, you can get a T-Mobile 7" tablet for a reasonable price.

2. They are NOT as powerful and what you buy is what you get. Tablets are not laptop replacements and that really shouldn’t be the expectation. (i.e. No memory slots for added memory or the ability to upgrade anything)
3. Typing for any length of time on a tablet can be a painful exercise although you can buy a keyboard as an extension. Your trusted black notebook may still be 50 times faster than attempting to type on a tablet.

A few final thoughts

Many still make the argument that physical books offer a much better experience for reading, however, the writing is on the wall for physical books.   Tablets offer people from the poorest nations in the world to get connected – assuming the costs continue to come down like in India where the government recently subsidized and distributed a tablet for $60 – and become equally productive members of a growingly important online world.

The other development of late has been the emergence of smartphones with larger and larger screens (ex. Samsung Galaxy Note), as they blur the line between smartphone and tablet. The thinking, as per their research, is that people only want to have one device ideally that can do it all and with a 5.3″ screen it’s a good compromise at 1/2 the size of it’s Galaxy Tab.  The jury is still out on this form factor and in my opinion the larger screen seems somewhat awkward for a smartphone.   A smartphone has to fit in your pocket so where portability is concerned Samsung is really pushing the limits.

1. If you’ve ever searched for a memory stick to scan a document to email it to someone, or if you’ve ever driven to Staples to scan a document, save your gas and of course your time.  One thing is for sure, we always know where our mobile devices are and that’s the beauty of it, so using it as a scanner makes total sense.  Let’s say that you want to show off your cooking skills with one of your granny’s timeless recipes so you need to get a copy of the recipe, right.  Well lucky for you, there’s an app for that as well.  GeniusScan takes advantage of your smart phone camera to scan a document to PDF or JPEG and then you can email them as required. Genius right? Well, start scanning.
2. Learning a language is something that almost everyone has contemplated at some point in their life. Many of us have started and stopped, myself included, but the tools available today are incredible, so no more excuses.
   Enter, Google Translate, an app that can help you communicate when traveling to a foreign speaking country.  All you have to do is launch the app, touch the microphone and say whatever you want to say in your native tongue – English – and let Google Translate do the rest.  So impress the locals with your language skills and learn a new language at the same time. Google translate currently supports 58 languages and works across all smartphone platforms.
3. Comparing pricing is what’s it’s all about today.  Everyone with a smartphone, or not, has checked the price of a product at different online stores.  Today, however, things are so much easier with these two apps,  ShopSavvy and pic2screen.  Simply take a scan of the barcode on the product that you want to find the price of and let the app find the best prices available in market.  With books, this is especially useful because making an impulse purchase on the spot can cost you considerably more at times, so save your money download these apps and keep comparing prices.  So if you are in market for a new cell phone and plan take advantage of our  comparison service and find the best cell phone deal as well.
4. As smart phones become more and more important to our lives, so do the consequences of misplacing or losing them.  To guard yourself against this scare and at the very minimum protect your data, here are two apps that you should install today as well. For iPhone users it’s FindmyiPhone the app or iCloud on your computer and it can help you track that baby down.  For all the other platforms Lookout mobile is another good alternative.  These apps allow you to locate your mobile device first and foremost and in the event it’s really lost, you can send your device a message with a reward for returning it perhaps, remote lock it and if need be remote wipe the device to protect any personal information.

So there you have it, a few more creative ways to take advantage of your “smart” phone.  If you don’t have one as yet, then surely you want one, so be smart and compare cell phone plans to get the best deal.

What other creative ways have you found to use your smartphone?

1. Be careful of the silent “extension” – Here’s the scenario.  You call your carrier with the intent of upgrading and end up making a few minor adjustments to your existing plan.  (eg. Adding text messaging or increasing your voice mail or data plan) When doing so, make sure your carrier doesn’t extend your contract by another 2-3 years.  Customers usually get a rude awakening at a later date, when they discover that was the case and still have months if not years left on that extended contract.
2. Loyalty will only get you so much – Highlighting the fact that you have been a good client for 10 years doesn’t mean what you think it should.  From the carrier’s perspective what it really means, is that, you’re less likely to leave.  Statistically they know this and that’s why the deals for long time customers, never quite stack up to the deals being offered to newcomers, so, don’t lead with this as your trump card.
3. Don’t say no to a contract to spite the man and end up hurting yourself – Here’s a scenario we see much too often.   Client purchases an iPhone outright and then discovers it doesn’t work with one of the newer carriers.  Okay, no big deal, until they also realize that the plan only offerings aren’t as good as the offers on subsidized deals on a 3yr contract.   Making matters worse, they end on a cell phone plan that is horrible, with, less overall features and for example, 100MB of data.  100MB of data on an iPhone, is like winning a Ferrari with a limiter set to a max speed of 40KM an hour.  In the end, the client is out of pocket upfront by $500-$700 or more and with the higher monthly costs over the same period there is no benefit of giving up your hard earned cash.  Some will argue that their freedom was worth every penny and maybe they’re rich enough to do so, but you paid for that right.  So, that’s the reality of the cell phone game today, and of course, I hope it changes – soon -, but as they say, don’t bite off your nose to spite your face.
4. Bite your tongue and make good notes - Do NOT get into a pissing match with any carrier representatives, despite your frustrations. Put yourself in their shoes, would you budge if someone was calling you every name in the book to save $5 or get some feature for FREE?  Furthermore, once they make their notes in the system, it becomes exponentially harder to get them to go against each other so, stay cool and make good notes of all conversations.  In the end, you don’t want to have to rely on their word against yours, despite the fact that they can record calls.  So keep track of dates/times and representatives you spoke to, as well as get the details – confirmed and reconfirmed.
5. Make your business work for you - If you own a business you should never be paying for your cell phones personally. In addition to tax write offs and other benefits, business cell phone plans tend to have more incentives and more value overall.  Examples include, bill credits to cover existing termination fees, cheaper phones and other feature and promotional incentives that are richer than regular consumer cell phone deals.  The more devices you have in your business the more difficult it can be to make the comparisons and an informed decision, so let our team help you reduce your cell phone bill.

Lastly, do your homework.  This may seem obvious but we realize how confusing things can be and simplifying the whole cell phone experience was the main reasons we created myCELLmyTERMS.  So either get some help from our team, especially if you have a business with several users, or do the research first on our site before making that call.  Also remember, the iPhone and other market leading smartphones are really computers and they costs more than some big screen TV’s today, so either you buy it outright ($500+) and search for a good plan, or save your cash, get a better plan and take the subsidized pricing with the contract (sometimes as low as $50).  When it comes to plans and features, know your usage profile currently and if upgrading to a smart phone understand how much data you need.

Are you feeling like just a number?

The average smart phone customer plan looks similar to this – $55 per month for 150-200 mins, Evenings & Weekends @ 6pm, Unlimited Text Messaging and 500MB – 1GB Data.

There are three main elements of a wireless plan – Voice, Text and Data.

1. VOICE – Voice service is the backbone of cell phone service, but today you still only get 200 mins of talk time (i.e. calls made or received) per month. That’s an average of 10 mins a day of talk time during regular daytime/working hours. (i.e. Daytime Hours and Anytime Minutes are the same thing and with EW@6pm you have unlimited calling after 6PM).
2. TEXT – People forget, but the reason SMS really took off was to avoid making expensive calls during daytime hours. With only 200 mins that’s still the case, so texting is still a money saver, especially for parents with teenagers.
3. DATA – We’ve become insatiable data users and the whole world is becoming more and more plugged in, so, the more data you can get the better. That’s easier said than done, unfortunately, and the bigger the data plan, the bigger the chunk out of your wallet. With 500MB of data if you do the wrong things you can go over on your bill, but you pay for 500MB of data, whether you use it or not. The average cell phone user uses 150MB of data per month, a mere 30% of their data plan, so let’s get smarter.

Here are 5 apps that can help you save on your cell phone bills

#	Application	Description
5		Onavo This is this is the first app you need to install – now, and it’s also FREE – by the way. Onavo, compresses the data that you use on your cell phone, by lowering the amount of data that you receive, thereby shrinking the data that you would have used and therefore extending your usage.  So in other words, because of Onavo’s fancy data compression technology, you get to do more with your data plan.  From a technology standpoint, Onavo is a middle man taking any data requests I make, routing it through their servers and compressing it before sending it back to me. Assuming you went over on your data plan by 20% (i.e. 100MB) that would cost you an extra $5 per month if you are local or $300 if you used the same data while roaming. Based on my usage with Onavo, which I run at all times, I can save myself approximately 10MB-15MB per day or 300MB – 450MB per month, so you can see how valuable this app is already and who knows, with the reduced data usage it may also be saving you some battery as well. Onavo is available for the iPhone and Android at the moment with a Windows Version soon to come.
4		Zerofone Zerofone is an easy-to-use VOIP app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch that lets you make and receive calls over WiFi or 3G. Why this app makes the list, is because the quality is good, it’s fully integrated with iOS and most importantly you can save on your cell plan minutes. That’s the name of the game, right?   With ZeroFone you can make unlimited calls to anyone via Wi-Fi or 3G and ZeroFone to ZeroFone calls are free.  By using Wi-Fi you can avoid roaming charges when travelling and with a $10 subscription package you can make this part of your bill management strategy and call landlines for unlimited talk time per month. ZeroFone also offers online phone numbers, which means having a local phone number in 40 cities worldwide, which can be quite attractive if you need to have a local presence to save your friends or family dialing long distance. If you have overage charges due to using up your anytime minutes that exceed $10 per month this app, with an unlimited package, in conjunction with a minor change in behaviour, can help you better manage your overage charges. Zerofone is only available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
3		Skype iPhone & Android Skype is probably one of the best known desktop applications and millions of people use it everyday to stay in touch with family and friends all over the world, so why not for mobile, right. Skype is another one of the VOIP applications and that’s great, but the best part about it is that you already have your friends and family on Skype already. No new app to install and no invitations to send your peeps to join you anywhere new to make it work. In an exactly the same way as on your computer, Skype can always be on to make or receive calls anytime, via Wi-Fi or your carrier’s network and Skype-Skype calls are always free. You can also Instant Message your contacts and make global calls to land line numbers if you have some credits in your account (i.e. SkypeOut credits) You can also get an Online Local number with Skype and your friends without Skype can call you like a normal number.  On top of that you can select where you want that local number to be, that being the real value for many. Skype mobile is available on the iPhone and Android platform only at the moment.
2		BudPhone Bud Phone is another application for your smart phone that will give you free long distance in several cities across Canada and it just might be your new found buddy. Bud Phone offers free calling to various cities across Canada so make sure you review the list but here is how it works.  For example if you lived in Toronto and travel to Montreal for whatever reason. While there you decide you want to call your buddy in Vancouver, Bud Phone will allow you to do this for free. The Bud Phone app will recognize your new location and offer you a list of cities.  Once you select Montreal the application will dial out from that local access number. Also note the application relies on GPS in order to locate the appropriate local access number thereby allowing you to make local calls from wherever you are before your call can get out to its destination. BudPhone is available for iPhone, BlackBerry and select Android devices.
1		Viber Viber is an application for iPhone and Android phones that lets you make free phone calls and send text messages to anyone who also has the application installed.  There are a number of apps available in this space that do basically the same thing like Whatsapp, or PingChat and iMessage but Viber takes the cake because it’s slick, well designed and works well. With Viber you can call or text any Viber user, anywhere in the world, for FREE. Viber integrates seamlessly with your existing address book and does not require a PIN or username. With Viber being used as a Group chat solution to keep in touch with your friends and reduce the number of SMS text messages you send and possibly pay for on a per text message. Viber is available for iPhone & Android.

By using these apps the real aim is to better manage your bills or even reduce your bills in any of the three areas, voice, text or data and with a few changes to your usage style you can definitely save some money. So remember to take advantage of Wi-Fi whenever you can, make sure you understand how much data you use or need and start saving today on your cell phone bills.