Choosing a smartphone Tips

Previously when we heard about smartphone, we imagined an advanced mobile phones with an expensive price. But not anymore! Because currently smartphones increasingly affordable with selection of brands and types are becoming more varied.

Starting from series of well-established brands such as Apple iPhone, BlackBerry, Sony, Samsung, to China and local brands, which generally have dared to offer smart phones with pretty good specs with a fairly friendly price. That is why, according to IDC, smartphone shipments over the past year to Indonesia nearly 8 million units, an increase of 25% from 2011. With this move, we can be confused with the increasing number of choices on the market.

Here are the tips for choosing a smartphone:

Recognize the Operating System

The main difference the smartphone with ordinary cellphone lies on the Operating system, the type of software that perform the mobile phone function. In Indonesia, the most popular operating systems today is the BlackBerry, Android, and iOS after that, there's Symbian and Windows Phone.

BlackBerry is widely known with a powerful operating system in instant messaging (read: BlackBerry Messenger/BBM) and is widely used Indonesian people lately. Its ecosystem is strong that more people frequently asked BB PIN number rather than a mobile number. However, a centralized server system in Canada, making it is often too late when using the BBM, so the satisfaction to be somewhat reduced.

Android is an operating system created by Google, the world's internet giant. Since last year continues to rise and in Indonesia an Android phone sold at an affordable price with the present application chatting, gaming, and the wider internet. This is supported by the Google Play services that exist in the smartphone, which allows the owner to download the application at any time and sometimes it's free. This concept is also offered by Apple over its iPhone, but it sold at a high price (the most expensive among the existing smartphone).

If you have a limited budget, but want a powerful smartphone on the internet surfing, then Android, BlackBerry, and Symbian eligible. Conversely if you want an exclusive feature with a high budget, choose Apple, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry.

Do not confuse about the price!

The offering is very intense at this time, which making smartphone can be sold at cheap price. However, do not be fooled! With reference to the processor and components in it, simply define the smartphone price. In Indonesia, the lowest range of a smart phone starts from Rp. 800,000 to Rp. 1.5 million.

If you want more affordable but safe, you can choose the smartphone sold by the mobile network operator. Sometimes the price is related to warranty service (after-sales service). The new brand usually offer its smartphone at low prices, but there is not reparation center in your region. However, the established brands typically, they comes complete with after-sales service point on your region.

Observe the processor, battery, and memory

Processor on a smartphone like a brain. The higher processor ( such as dualcore, quadcore), for better performance. For an affordable price, choose the smartphone already use processors from the well-established manufacturers like Qualcomm and Mediatek. You can see this data on the back of smartphone box.

For memory, the same size as the processor, the higher the capacity the better. While on battery, select smartphone is already using 1200 mAh-1500 mAh of capacity. At the lower of this capacity, the battery could quickly drop.

Select Design-Feature as needed

Everyone has different tastes. Some are happy to see the video then you should choose widescreen smartphone with robust features in the video. If you likes the music, you can take the strong of the sound side. So, first identify your needs and carefully before buying. *** [EKA | MUHAMMAD SUFYAN | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 12042013]

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Long lasting Battery Technology

Regular Li-ion battery.

The development of mobile phone and tablet technology is extraordinary in the last three years. Both of them seem able to do all things. Unfortunately, the ability of both limited by battery power source alias as "life" for the digital devices.

Sadly, the development of battery technology is not as fast as the technology of digital devices themselves. As a result, many people who have to carry a charger or power bank so as not to run out of power when using the digital equipment.

More recently, a group of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign managed to create a prototype lithium-ion battery that allows to power on a tablet or smart phone that is recharges 1,000 times faster and is 2,000 times more powerful than other lithium-ion batteries on the market.

A technical diagram of how a lithium-ion battery works and how the new 3D structure of the battery developed at UI Urbana-Champaign will function. (Picture from: http://www.extremetech.com/)

Combining both power and longevity in a light battery is something engineers have been trying to solve for decades. You can either have a very powerful battery that discharges a lot of power for a few seconds or a battery that provides a low source of power for an extended period of time. The lithium-ion battery that is commonplace in cell phones, laptops, and electric cars  is the best balance scientists have developed thus far that balances these two concerns.

"A battery can deliver far more power than anybody ever thought. In recent decades, electronics have gotten small. The thinking parts of computers have gotten small. And the battery has lagged far behind. This is a microtechnology that could change all of that. Now the power source is as high-performance as the rest of it," said Lead researcher, William P. King.

High-power battery technology from the University of Illinois. Ions flow between three-dimensional micro-electrodes in a lithium ion battery. (Picture from: http://inhabitat.com/)

According to King, today is the micro-technology era that can transform all into reality. "Now the energy source that has high performance as other components. Thanks in part to the fact that they are 30 times smaller, the battery charging does not take long time," said King. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | THE EXTREME TECH | FOX NEWS | FIRMAN | KORAN TEMPO 4209]

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Smartphone for Outdoor Enthusiasts

KYOCERA TORQUE

Rugged smartphones meant for the trailblazer and the survivalist in all of us certainly aren’t rare, Kyocera recently announced the Torque, a mid-range smartphone that’s encased in a thick hard plastic shell that can absorb energy when dropped. The 4-inch IPS display with a 800×480 resolution smartphone could be your cell phone who like the outdoors activities.

The first thing you’ll notice with the Torque is its rugged look. It has a textured hard plastic Dura-Grip casing that protects it from drops, and every port is covered with a flap to keep water and dust out. The battery cover can come off, however, and it’s held on with a rather large screw that only requires a quarter turn to “unlock” it, so to speak. The cover is made out of a slightly-flexible rubber material to make it easy to pop off.

It’s also water resistant and impervious to dust, and while the average hiker could easily take advantage of the device, the company also targets it towards construction workers and even parents who have small kids that can be more than a little rough with toys. The device meets Military Standard 810G, which applies to protection from dust, shock, vibration, temperature, rain, low pressure, solar radiation, and immersion in water for up to 30 minutes in up to 1 meter of water.

Its operating system uses Android Ice Cream Sandwich and able to connect to the 4G network. The processor installed on this phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz accompanied with 1GB of RAM. The phone has a microSD card slot that accepts up to 32GB of additional storage. The Torque sports a 5MP camera on the back, with a 1.3MP front-facing camera.

Underneath the rear plate is a 2,500 mAh battery that powers the show, and it’s a slightly larger battery than we initially expected, but seeing how the Torque is meant for the adventurer, it’s critical to have a phone that can last all day. The battery is able to serve up to 19 hours of talks.

As for ports and buttons, the Torque doesn’t rely on touch-based soft buttons. The phone consists of all physical buttons, including the three navigation buttons on the front. On the right side, there’s a dedicated camera button that acts as a shutter button, but it won’t open up the camera app itself. On the right side, there’s a volume rocker and a big yellow button for push-to-talk communication. On the top is the power button and a toggle button for turning the push-to-talk speaker on and off. Also on the top is the headphone jack in the middle. Then, on the bottom you have the microUSB port and the microphone.

As for the earpiece, it’s actually built into the glass display, and it relies on vibrations to deliver sound to your ear. For the clarity matters, this vibration technology which directly transmits the sound waves to the eardrum. This makes the user able to listen clearly even in noisy atmosphere. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SLASH GEAR | BUDI | KORAN TEMPO 4184] 
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What Next After Blackberry 10 Officially Launched?

Maybe some say that this news is a bit late, but there is no harm if we show the news on this blog. After being suspended twice and filled with many doubts, BlackBerry 10 finally officially launched on Wednesday (January 30th 2013). This is the last attempt by Research In Motion the same day renamed the BlackBerry, to return to the world smartphone market competition.

When CEO of Blackberry Thorsten Heins went on stage, the warm welcome given the invitation that meets building in Manhattan, New York, United States. In his speech, Heins said BlackBerry 10 will bring consumers to another experience in communicating.

Thorsten Heins, CEO of BlackBerry at the launch event of BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. (Picture from: http://teknologi.kompasiana.com/)

In that day, Heins introduced two smart phones based on BlackBerry 10 operating system. The first is the BlackBerry with touch screen Z10. And the other is the BlackBerry Q10, which still retains physical buttons QWERTY which is characteristic of the BlackBerry phones.

Blackberry Q10 and Z10. (Picture from: http://strategimanajemen.net/)

BlackBerry has also introduced a new Global Creative Director, namely Alicia Keys. Despite the extraordinary acclaim and positive comments, but the floor of the U.S. had another opinion. Coinciding with the launch day, even BlackBerry shares fell 2 percent.

The investors found that competition in the smart phone industry is too tight and the BlackBerry will be difficult to compete with the two vendors market dominating Apple Inc.. and Samsung Electronics Co., which together controlled 92 percent of the smartphone market in the fourth quarter of last year.

It should be noted, though launched in New York, the United States, the availability of BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S. will be there in March 2013. While in other markets, such as the UK, most likely will be available on February 5, 2013. This indicates that the United States is only used as a place to release a smartphone, while the BlackBerry is more focused on other markets. This is quite reasonable because BlackBerry users in the U.S. continued to show a decline. Not only the individual user or consumer, but also corporations and federal government agencies that have been the largest user of BlackBerry handsets. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | WIRED | FIRMAN | KORAN TEMPO 4130]

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Health Monitoring Wristband

Manufacturer of health and fitness devices, Fitbit, introduces its newest product, Fitbit Wireless Activity + Sleep Flex Wristband at the Consumer Elecironies Show 2O13, called the Fitbit Flex, the wristband is designed to compete with the Nike+ FuelBand as well as the Jawbone Up fitness wristband. Bracelet that can monitor how far the user step, mileage, and what level of calories burned, Fitbit said in a statement ahead of CES in Las Vegas, USA.

Furthermore, the Fitbit Flex tracks how long you sleep during the night in addition to the amount of times you wake up in bed. The Fitbit Flex also includes a silent wake alarm that vibrates in order to avoid waking up your partner in the morning. Built into a section of the wristband, Fitbit product developers have included five LED lights that turn on during the day as a specific fitness goal is being reached. For instance, someone with a goal of 20,000 steps per day will see three lights on the wristband after hitting 12,000 steps.

The Fitbit Flex wristband. (Picture from: http://www.digitaltrends.com/)

Fitbit device claims it offers the flexibility to connect to the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices via Bluetooth 4.0, so that the device can be synchronized with your iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, or computers. iPad, iPhone, and Android devices as well as can be Fitbit dashboard to access charts and activity monitoring tool users.

"People are becoming more aware of the significant health benefits due to move more throughout the day. Fitbit has proven expertise in delivering a great experience that really encourages people to move more every day," said James Park, CEO and Co-founder of Fitbit . This bracelet can be worn when we were in the shower and sold for around 100 dollars (or approximately Rp. 960 thousand). Flex Bracelet is available in the market starting in the spring of this year. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DIGITAL TRENDS | RIF | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 31012013]

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The Amazing Sales of Windows Phone 8 Gadget

NOKIA LUMIA 920

Nokia Lumia 920 that running Windows Phone 8 turns extraordinary worldwide acclaim. In the last quarter of last year, this smart phone with bright colors that sold approximately 4.4 million units. The number is far enough when compared with sales of the another Nokia Lumia in the same period in the prior year. According to Nokia, the previous Lumia series, such as 900 series, only 1 million units sold.

Skyrocketing sales of Nokia Lumia 920 is good news for Windows Phone 8 is made by Microsoft, which is trying to compete with Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS.

But unfortunately, many requests Nokia Lumia 920 will not always be good news for the Finnish manufacturers. Therefore, the number of requests that are out of allegations that can not be offset by the of the cell phone production capacity. According to the Nokia's chief of executive, Stephen Elop, Nokia should be able to sell phones Lumia 920 more if increased production capacity to meet the demand that continues to flow. 

Nokia Lumia 920 are considered to have an important role for the survival of the company Nokia, has just announced using the OS Windows Phone 8. The handset is well be opening for WP8 Nokia handsets such as the Nokia Lumia 820. Maintaining a beautiful design of the Nokia Lumia 900 made from Polycarbonate but given a glossy polish. Nokia Lumia 920 offers a high specification. 4.5 inches wide of screen, with a 8.7 mega-pixel PureView camera, 32 gigabytes of storage capacity, and wireless battery charger.

Nokia Lumia 920. (Picture from: http://www.nokia.com/)

This phone feels slightly bigger hands than its predecessor, despite the glossy coated, not easy to slip while digenggaman. 4.5 inch screen is perfect for displaying user interface Metro UI. So it looks more alive, let alone we can set the tiles ranging from small, medium to large size.

Nokia Lumia 920. (Picture from: http://sofreakingcool.com/)

Nokia Lumia 920 has Nokia PureMotion HD Plus technology which makes it better than other HD technologies. HD technology is commonly used in other smartphones but did not result in broken images while panning.

The layout of the buttons, headphone jack, and a micro speaker holes on the Nokia Lumia 920 very good looks. Put a headphone jack right in the middle makes it easy to listen to music when it bagged on the streets. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | NOKIA | THE TECH JOURNAL | FIRMAN | KORAN TEMPO 4116]
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