Here are the key highlights on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1:

1. Better Specs. The Galaxy Tab 2 comes with improved specs to its earlier version, and comes with the latest Android operating system Android 4.0 “ice cream sandwich”. It has a dual core processor and comes with a 1,280 x 800 display.

Key specs:

a. Network: HSPA +21 Mbps 850/900/1900/2100
b. Processor: 1 GHz Dual Core Processor
c. Memory: 16/32 GB + 1 GB RAM with MicroSD up to 32GB
d. Display: 10.1″ WXGA (1280×800)
e. OS: Android 4.0
f. Camera: Rea5r 3MP, from regular VGA
g. Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi

2. Great price. The Tab 2 version is $100 less than the new iPad for the 16GB version coming in at a respectable $400.

3. New Features. With an infrared blaster build into the new Galaxy Tab you can use your tablet as a remote control and configure it to control your TV and other electronic gadgets.

Conclusion

This tablet isn’t bad, but its the not the best tablet out there and it certainly doesn’t stack up to the iPad in many ways. The OS is a bit buggie and doesn’t operate as smooth as the iPad, the screen display isn’t as good as the retina display on the iPad. The 3 MP camera is a low end version camera – this means no HD video recording. The web browsing experience could be improved, it seems to default to the mobile version of the websites you are browsing even though the 10 inch screen is large enough to view the desktop versions of every website.

The Tab 2 isn’t a bad tablet but in this space unfortunately everything is compared to standard bearer which is the iPad. If you are in the market for tablet plans then compare the best rates in the market place.

So if price is the objective with this smartphone, what are the features?

• 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM and 2GB of internal memory with 32GB expandable slot (processing speed is low by today’s standards but then again we shouldn’t be comparing this to high end smartphones, like the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy)
• The O/S is Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich but skinned to give it the LG Optimus User Interface background. Its all about branding the device as an “LG Android device”
• A 4.3 inch WVGA display (great size screen and viewing angles) with “Floating Mass” technology. This means that the screen is closer to the scratch-resistant glass. This also means the smartphone is thinner and brighter. The resolution is  400 x 800 pixels
• 5MP camera with auto-focus is somewhat average. Comes with continuous shot and panorama capabilities (also comes with Video recording but the resolution is low)
• Multi-touch capacitive touchscreen makes for easy and fast typing
• Square style form factor gives it the feel of most high end smartphones but thinner
• Functionality speaking, it is easy to navigate from one Home screen to another open but can be slow at times
• 5.5 hours of battery life is average

Now I know that most of our blogs on cell phone reviews highlight high-end, fully loaded smartphones, but there is still a large market of users that want a smartphone at a fraction of the cost. That being said, the LG Optimus L7 is good smartphone for those on a budget and those looking for the their first smartphone. I say this phone is a hit for entry level-cost conscious users.

In Canada, Rogers will be carrying the L7 for roughly $275 on NO CONTRACT or $0.01 on a 3 year contract and FIDO will charge $279 on NO CONTRACT and $0 on a 3 year contract. No word if any other carriers will carry this phone.

Since Samsung became the biggest cell phone manufacturer, surpasing Nokia last quarter, all eyes have been on their latest phone the Samsung Galaxy S III. Given the hype surrounding this phone and rumours of a pre-order list of over 10 million we have to ask ourselves – is this the greatest cell phone ever made? The Galaxy S III cell phone is expected to debut here in Canada on June 20th. Let’s take a closer look at this cellphone.

Why is it so great?

If you are wondering what’s all the hype about then allow me to highlight the key reasons this phone may be considered the greatest phone ever made:
1. Blazzing Performance. This phone comes with a 1.4GHz Quad-core Exynos processor, 2 GB of RAM and comes in 16/32/64 GB versions and also includes a microSD slot which can accomodate up to 64GB, which means that you can have a 128 GB storage device – the highest for any smartphone out there. It also supports blazing LTE speeds where available. Surfing, playing games and the general user experience on this device is great and lacks the stickiness common (you know when you are waiting for the phone to respond) to most cell phones and its all due to its quad-core processor. It also comes with the latest Android 4.0 Ice cream sandwich operating system.

2. Enhanced Display. The S3 comes with a 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 16 M colors and a ~306 ppi pixel density and HD quality (1280 x 720 pixels) which rivals the iPhone retina display.

3. New Experience based features. The Galaxy S III includes some adaptive features which improves the “human” interation.
- The Smart Stay feature leavages the front camera of the phone to identify eye motion to intelligently maintain the bright display while you are reading. You can set the “display sleep” feature (auto off feature) to the minimum settings and leverage the Smart Stay feature to know when you reading or using the phone to save on battery use.
- Samsung’s S Voice feature is the iPhone’s Siri’s rival which uses voice recognition to respond to user commands.
- Smart Alert feature, alerts a user by vibrating after the phone is picked up, if it has been left idle, to notify the user of missed calls, statuses or messages. Iif you are messaging someone and decide to call them you can do this just by putting the phone to your ear and the phone will do a direct call to the number.
- Pop up Play, allows users to play a video anywhere on the screen while doing other tasks like checking email or responding to a message.

4. Great sharing features. The S3 includes features which allow its users to share multimedia fairly easily:
- S Beam is Samsung’s extension of Android Beam allowing a 1 GB sized movie file to be shared within a few minutes by simply touching another S3 phone (see the video below)…..without Wi-Fi or a cell signal.
-The phone includes a Buddy photo share function which allows photos to be simultaneously shared with friends captured in a picture from the phone’s camera.
-There are other features like AllShare Play which allow you to share files between the S3 and your tablet or  your PC or your TV through DLNA enabled options
- Finally the phone comes preloaded with access to 50GB of free storage from DropBox.

5. Enhanced Camera. The phone also comes with 8 MP camera which can simultaneously shoot HD video and take images, includes images stablization, face and smile detection and can record in 720p HD video. It also comes with a 1.9 MP front facing camera.

Any Draw backs?

While the S3 is an impressive phone there are a few enhancements which would further improve the experience, here are a few:
1. The display kills the battery and its a constant battery hog, you will need an extra battery or charger around because this phone won’t last all day without the need to be recharged.

2. The phone is so cutomizable that it may be frustrating for newbies who simply just want a simple user experience and this is where the iPhone may have an edge.

3. Some of the cool new features don’t quite perform as promised the S voice feature isn’t quite as “cute” as Siri and requires some work to understand certain commands; then again I’m not a big fan of voice activated features.

Conclusion

I believe this is the best smartphone out there the performance of this phone is amazing and I expect it to be a hit when it hits selves here in Canada on June 20th. Samsung has pushed the boundary on this cell phone and we have to wait to see what Apple’s response will be, but until then give the top spot to Samsung.

The phone is expected to be listed at $150 on a contract term. Be sure that you get the best cell phone deal in market for the new Samsung S III.

Let’s take a look at the features :

• 4.7-inch Super LCD2 HTC Glorilla glass touchscreen (1280 x 720 pixel resolution)
• 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 / 1GB RAM
• Android 4.0 with HTC sense 4.0 for a great user interface
• Storage 16GB (no SD expansion slot)
• Camera: Back-8MP, Front- 1.3MP (No quick access camera button is minus for me)
• NFC technology ready
• Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, face and smile detection
• Superior audio quality with Beats audio (same technology as beatsbydre)

I like this smartphone for a host of reasons:

• Durable polycarbonate uni-body makes for a durable form factor
• Although not quad-core processing, the dual core processor makes it fast enough to do whatever you need to do. (Intense gamers would probably disagree)
• Huge display screen makes viewing webpages or video content amazing
• Beats Audio technology means that listening to music or videos enjoyable
• Great picture quality. One cool feature is being able to snap a pic while in the middle of HD video recording
• Easy to use voice controls
• Social media integration with Facebook, Twitter, Google+ is seamless and easy

The one thing that may annoy some is the battery is not removable. Not good for those that like to reset their smartphone by pulling out the battery (This ain’t a blackberry). No expansion slot means 16GB is the max you can go.  Multi-tasking may be an issue for some, according to recent consumer reviews.

What I’ve seen is this smartphone is fully-stocked device with features.

The HTC One X is available at Rogers for $575 without contract or $170 on a 3year contract. BELL and TELUS carry the HTC One S.

RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins unveiled the BlackBerry 10 operating system and a prototype phone for developers today in Orlando, Florida. With no launch date communicated as yet, the phone is still expected to be in our hands in time for the holiday season.

The good

The phone debuted didn’t have a keyboard and looked more like an Android device which is clearly a deviation from the regular BlackBerry Bold type cell phones. Check the video out below to get a sneak peak.

RIM adopted the BlackBerry Playbook interface and customized it for a cell phone, so customers who have used the Playbook may see a familiar interface.

Here are some of the sleak features demoed today:

1. A swipe based interface versus the old ball type style we are accustomed to with older BlackBerry cell phone models
2. A new predictive typing interface which seems rather cool, where the words appear on the next letter you are going to type
3. A camera application which captures a segment of time giving the user the option to go back in time (and forward) over a few seconds to get that perfect shot.

Overall this is a major leap forward for BlackBerry and it looks like they are headed in the right direction.

The bad

None of the features above are earth shattering, they are cool and sleak, similar to some of the features I’ve seen in the new Windows phone platform, and that hasn’t taken off as yet.  This just brings RIM into the current time and doesn’t leap frog Apple and Android.  It’s still early, but my fear is that by the time RIM finally gets the full BlackBerry 10 lineup out the door, Apple and Android would’ve moved on to the next generation of smart phones.

And finally, in order to make this work, BlackBerry needs apps, apps and more apps. Hopefully developers are excited about this new platform and make apps for the BlackBerry, or, maybe BlackBerry should consider allowing these phones to run android apps….just a thought.

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.