Guest Post: Top Smartphones of 2011

Guest post by Chris Pentago. Find Chris on Twitter and Google+.

With every passing year, mobile phones become more advanced. With the current smartphone craze, a newer and more powerful device is always right around the corner. As the year begins to wind down, we take a look at the best new mobile phones available.

Motorola Droid RAZR

The Droid RAZR represents a merging of two of the most iconic brands in the history of mobile phones. Many will recall Motorola's 2004 RAZR, the thinnest phone of its era. The Droid RAZR follows in its footsteps, measuring an incredibly thin 7.1 millimeters.The Droid RAZR runs Android 3.0 Gingerbread and is powered by the latest hardware. It has specs that tech fans drool over. The device features a 4.3 Super AMOLED Advanced display and dual-core processor. The phone also has a front-facing camera for video chat, and can shoot HD video. On top of all of this, Motorola coated the Droid RAZR with Kevlar and a splash guard, making the Droid RAZR resistant to spills.

Samsung Galaxy S2

 The international version of the Galaxy S2 has been available for some time overseas, but it just recently made its way to US carriers. The specs vary between carrier, but the theme remains the same: A massive screen that's around 4.5 inches, a dual-core processor, front and back cameras, and a thin build that's extremely sleek. The phone runs Android 3.0 with Samsung's TouchWiz skin and custom widgets, making the experience of using the device just a bit more friendly for the casual crowd. For anyone who's not on Verizon and can't get the Droid RAZR, the Galaxy S2 is their best bet for a thin phone with a beautiful screen and slim build.

Google and Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Google and Samsung have teamed up once more for the latest Nexus device from Google. The Galaxy Nexus sports the features everyone would expect, such as a dual-core processor and front-facing and rear-facing cameras. A few things set it apart from the rest, though. For starters, it has a 4.6" Super AMOLED screen capable of displaying HD video. It has what Google calls a contour display, meaning the screen is slightly curved allowing for easier use. Perhaps most importantly, it is the first device to run what Google calls Ice Cream Sandwich, otherwise known as Android 4.0. Android 4.0 features an overhauled user experience that is faster and sleeker, and requires no physical buttons on the device. Because of this, the Galaxy Nexus is going to be on the cutting edge of both hardware and software.

Apple iPhone 4S


The latest iPhone continues to help set the standard when it comes to ease of use, speed and form factor. The device builds on the beautiful design standards established by the iPhone 4 but throws a faster, dual-core processor into the mix along with a much improved camera. The iPhone 4S also includes Apple's proprietary voice recognition software, Siri. Siri lets users operate the device with their voices instead of fingers. Those looking for a reliable and simple smartphone experience can't go wrong with the iPhone 4S.

There are new mobile phones being released constantly. None will last forever before the next great thing comes out, however, these devices are among those with specs that will last for the long haul. All of these devices are available now or will be by the end of November, making them a great pick for the holiday season. Which one would you pick? Tell us in the comments below.

Guest Post: Caring For your Smartphone

Guest post by Vanessa Burke

When you're ready to make the commitment to your first smartphone, it's a good idea to learn how to care for it properly to make your investment last as long as possible. Smartphones like the Galaxy S2 cell phone, for instance, may be crafted of different material than you're used to which can require a different type of care than a standard phone. 


Many cell phones are housed in traditional metal casings, but some like the Galaxy S2 are made of a more cost-effecient plastic, chosen for its light weight and thin size. Because of this difference in design, these phones require additional measures to keep them free from damage. Here are some tips to help ensure your phone lasts a long time and keeps looking good while you have it. 


Use a case or belt clip to prevent scratches and scuffs. While the material used for cell phones is much more resilient than it may look, it's still a good idea to protect the surface by placing your phone in a case or keeping it secure on your belt. Dropping it in a purse, or carrying it in a pocket along with keys, nail clippers, a knife and other gadgets, can cause unnecessary damage and mar the housing. 


To clean your smartphone, use a soft lint-free cloth like you would use to clean your eyeglasses. Never use household cleaners or harsh cleansers as they can scratch your phone. Instead, spritz some distilled water on your cloth, not directly on the phone, and gently wipe away the dirt. Use a Q-tip to get into the crevices and isopropyl alcohol, if needed, for the keyboard or casing. 


Guard your phone as you would your computer, your iPod, or any other device that can be easily damaged. Tossing it around, frequently dropping it, or abusing it in other ways can shorten the life of your phone and damage it beyond repair. 


Remember the Geico commercial that shows a Humphrey Bogart wannabe who asks the question, "Can switching to Geico really save you 15 percent or more on car insurance?" The actor then asks, "Do people use smartphones to do dumb things?" And of course, since the answer is yes, we see three guys who look like idiots doing just that in a variety of ways. 


While we can laugh at the commercial, there is a lesson to be learned. Be smart about protecting your smartphone. Protect it like you would any other investment you've made. 

Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Update, Calling it Mango

Earlier today, Microsoft held a press event, announcing some of the newest features that will be found in the latest edition of their mobile phone operating system, Windows Phone 7. This update to the operating system is code-named Mango.

Andy Lee, president of Microsoft's mobile division, took the stage today and announced some of the new features that will be found in Mango.


To start off, Twitter and LinkedIn will now be integrated into Windows Phone 7. Also, the homescreen will be updated slightly, so that notifications are pushed more.

Call history will be sorted by person, and you will be able to see all of the calls, texts, IMs, and visual voicemail (another new feature in Mango) all in one "list". Related to this, a new feature in Mango will be the ability to group friends into groups. Groups will show all of those friend's activity, be it calls, texting, or even social networking activity. One can also communicate with all of the members in a group.

Although the long awaited copy and paste has finally come in an update a while ago, Mango will also add predictive text while typing. These are both important features that seem standard on any phone. However, predictive text can either save you time, or become an extremely annoying part of texting.

The new "threads" feature allows users to carry on a conversation from Facebook to texting, etc.

Andy Lee, President of Microsoft's mobile devision

Also regarding communication, Mango will allow users to keep email inboxes separate or combined, or even both. For example, one might keep his work email separate from his personal email, but he/she could combine two separate personal inboxes, and have work and personal inboxes. Some new security features have also been added for enterprise email.

Voice activated technologies will also be integrated into Mango. Microsoft showed how one could have text messages read to them while in the car, one could also respond just using his/her voice.

Microsoft is also bringing smarter apps, along with the ability to run multiple apps at once. Another improvement that will come with Mango is faster web browsing. Bing, Microsoft's search engine, will be integrated into Windows Phone 7, and will provide a slightly "smarter" search. For example, searching for the name of a movie will bring you directly to showtimes.

Mango will be released in the fall as a free update, and, unlike the previous update, will just require users to plug their phones into their computers. Mango will first appear on Microsoft/Nokia devices, but will soon be available on other phones. Mango will also be available on a few new devices that will support 4G.

Overall, Mango seems like an exciting update. If, unlike the previous update, everything goes as planned, this should give consumers more of a reason to buy a Windows Phone. Even with great hardware and a great OS, the problem still remains: With only 18,000 apps available (compared to over 300,000 for the iPhone), the devices are still not compelling. Although Windows Phone 7 is not going to outsell the iPhone anytime soon, Mango is a good step in that direction. A little help from app developers, and Windows Phone 7 might find itself on top.

White iPhone 4 Finally out; Thicker? (UPDATE: Apple Responds)

     It has been nearly a year since Apple announced it's latest edition of it's smartphone device, the iPhone 4. Like every edition of the iPhone before this one, it was going to be available in both black or white colors. The white edition of the iPhone 4 was delayed for a few weeks, and then completely taken down from the Apple website.
     Rumors have been floating around pretty much ever since the white iPhone was delayed. There were both rumors about why it was delayed, and about when it would come out. Although we may never know the answer to why the white iPhone 4 was delayed for so long, we do know when it will come out. The answer: today.
     Apple posted a picture of the white iPhone 4 on it's website yesterday, along with a caption saying that the white iPhone 4 will be available tomorrow. That tomorrow is now today.
     The white iPhone 4 is available for purchase now, and many have already bought it. The ones who already have the device in their possession have started a buzz about the thickness of the white iPhone 4 compared to the black version.
     The picture below shows the slight difference in the thickness of the white iPhone compared to the black Model.

     Speculation is always possible as to what the reason for the thicker device is. However, I believe that this difference in thickness means next to nothing, and time should not be wasted guessing the reason for the thickness difference. One of the reasons that the white iPhone may be important, is that Apple wouldn't a new model of the same version phone if a newer version phone was just a few months away. This white iPhone launch seems to support the rumors that the iPhone 5 will not be coming out, as originally expected, in June 2011.

UPDATE: Apple responded to this claim by saying that, unlike what the picture above suggests, the white and black iPhone are actually the same size. Consumer Reports also did testing on this issue, and concluded that both models of the iPhone are the same thickness.

HTC Sensation Announced

     Early this morning, HTC held an announcement introducing their latest smartphone. Thanks to some early leaks, we knew a lot about the phone before the official announcement, but something official's always nice, because you don't have to rely on some leaked pictures.

The New HTC Sensation

     HTC had the tech press gather in some venue in London to hear the details about their new phone, the HTC Sensation. Peter Chou, HTC's CEO started the presentation.
     At the beginning of the announcement, just before Peter gave any details about the Sensation, he threw in a quick note that the HTC Flyer, their tablet device, will go on sale May 9th throughout Europe. Peter then went on to give the details about the new smartphone.
     The HTC Sensation will be the first phone with contoured glass along the entire edge of the screen, giving it a really slick and attractive look. It will also have an almost 35 percent higher screen resolution, due to the qHD technologies in the SuperLCD screen.
     The Sensation also comes with a new user interface (UI) on top of Android, which allows you to launch apps directly from the lock screen, just by dragging the icon into the unlock circle. Another nice thing with the new UI is the new animations for the weather widget.
     The new phone also includes a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which allows everything to be pretty much twice as fast as it would be in a single-core smartphone.
     HTC is competing with iTunes, as along with this announcement, they announced a new service called HtC Watch. Watch lets you rent and watch movies from any HTC device, and the HTC Sensation will be the first phone to support it.
     The Senstion will be available through European carriers from June. There is no word on US availability.
      This seems like a great phone for anyone who wants a sleek design along with some great features. The two major setbacks with this announcement are that there is no word on price or US availability.

Boost Mobile Leaks their own Phone: Samsung Galaxy Prevail

     Boost Mobile is a wireless carrier that provides contract-free wireless service for devices such as cell phones. There are a few Boost-like services around, including Cricket Wireless, Virgin Wireless, and MetroPCS. All of these companies have been rushing to get smartphones, because most of the phones were going to the big guys like AT&T or Verizon.
     Boost offers one BlackBerry phone and one two Android phones, one of which they just added today.
     Boost was supposed to hold a big announcement later today that would introduce it's latest phone. It seams they may have leaked the details early, as information about the new Samsung Galaxy Prevail appeared on the Boost website. Samsung makes pretty much one Galaxy phone which they give to all of the carriers with different names, for example Verizon calls their Galaxy phone the Samsung Fascinate.
     The Samsung Galaxy Prevail will be available for online purchase shortly, and will cost $179.99. Boost offers monthly plans for $50 per month, or a daily plan for $2 per month. Both plans come with unlimited talk, text, web, email, and IM. Boost also has an interesting program with it's $50 plan called Shrinkage. Shrinkage lowers your bill more and more the longer you stay with Boost. For example, if you pay on time every month for 18 months, your bill would only be $35 per month instead of $50.
     At $179.99, this is not the cheapest Android phone on the Market, but it is close. One of the major benefits of the Prevail and Boost Mobile is the lack of an annoying two year contract. Unlike Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint, you have no responsibility to keep on paying the $50 per month for two years.

HP Touchpad, Veer, and Pre3

     At an announcement recently, HP announced three new products that will run it's webOS mobile operating system. HP announced two phones and a tablet, all of which look slick and seem to be good products.

    WebOS is a mobile operating system created by Palm. Palm was then acquired by HP, who seems to be doing a good job keeping the operating system alive. 

The webOS Card UI

    WebOS's unique cards user interface gives it an appealing look. The apps it comes with catch your eye and make playing with the device fun. 

    The Messaging client combines all the messages from one person into one big flow, so a message can be sent as an instant message, and replied to as a text. 

    The web browser mostly disappears, letting you browse the entire web page without having to worry about the URL bar getting in your way. With a smart phone's small size, this can be very important.

    The email client gives you a unified inbox for multiple email accounts. With many of us getting emails at our work and personal email accounts, the unified inbox can be really helpful.

     A really interesting feature can be found in the contacts app. Many of us have spent hours entering our contacts information into the phone, all of which is available on Facebook or other social networks. WebOS's contact app just requires you to enter your friend's name. It will download info from Facebook, Google, Microsoft Exchange, and more. 

     WebOS also gives access to the Amazon Music Store. This gives access to thousands of songs, all DRM free, which means that once a song is downloaded, you can move it and copy it to any device, without any complicated copyright laws getting in your way.

     A really cool feature is HP's Touchstone. The Touchstone is dock for the phone that charges the phone wirelessly on contact. There are ways to do this with other phones like the iPhone, but these require bulky cases. The Touchstone also changes to nightstand mode when the phone is not in use. Nightstand mode displays the time and notifications. 

     The webOS operating system described above will be running on all of the devices that HP announced at the event. 

HP Veer

     The HP event started with the announcement of the HP Veer. The Veer is a small, touchscreen phone with a full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The Veer is only about the size of a credit card, has a 5 magapixel camera, and has a 2.6 inch touchscreen. 

     An interesting trend with the new smartphones is the lack of physical buttons. The Veer has no home button. The front is a plain, black surface. The home button is virtual. You just tap under the screen to go to the homescreen.

Palm Pre3

     The announcement then moved on to a slightly larger topic. The next product to be announced was the Pre3. It is basically a slightly bigger version of the Veer. The Pre3 adds a front facing camera, a 3.8 inch screen, and adds a 16 GB option. It has the same 5 megapixel camera as the Veer, but adds a flash.
     The last, and biggest (literally) thing of the event was the HP TouchPad announcement. The TouchPad is webOS's step into the tablet world. The TouchPad offers the same great webOS experience as the two smartphones, but makes it a bit bigger.
     An interesting thing about the TouchPad is that it straightens out the rounded corners of the webOS user interface. The card UI is gone, but the UI still looks slick.

HP TouchPad

     The TouchPad is pretty much a giant Pre3, but the extra screen real estate can sometimes really make the difference.
     The TouchPad has the same front facing camera as the Pre3, but offers a slightly higher resolution.
     Overall, these three devices look really compelling. They are missing just two slightly important things: price and release date. They give the general idea with summer or spring on the website, but no distinct date. I haven't yet played with any of the webOS devices, so I don't know how responsive they are, which could also be an issue. Another big issue is the app market. Apple has hundreds of thousands of apps in it's store, with android slowly creeping up behind it.
     With no price, a small app market, and no official release date, it's hard to know whether or not the devices will be worth it. We will have to wait for more info to come out before a decision is made.

To watch the actual event, click here.

     

Specs and Speculations: Blackberry Bold

     The email phone. The business phone. The first successful smart phone. The Blackberry. Is it really all that good? The Blackberry Bold came into my house, and I jumped at the opportunity to review it (Although I'm not so sure the phone's owner really wanted me to use it).
     At first glance, the Bold looked nice. Unlike many phones, it's straighter angles make this a sleek looking business smartphone. You get a full physical QWERTY keyboard under the 2.45 inch LCD screen. Being used to the big touchscreen smartphones common today, the Bold's small, "regular" screen seemed strange. The Bold's Bluetooth capabilities are also important for the business user.
    On my Samsung Intensity, I made a call to the Bold. The voice quality was okay, but when the caller was not talking, there was a lot of background white noise, even though they were in a completely quiet office. The Bolds ear-piece seems to work well.
    Using the mini trackpad on the phone was a lot harder than using the touchscreen on say, the iPhone. Having a physical keyboard can sometimes be nice, especially for heavy email users. The Bold sounds good so far, but the user experience on the OS is a real drawback. For instance, in the maps app, you have to click the trackpad to change the mode from "Pan" mode to "Zoom" mode, and then move your finger on the trackpad.
     The picture quality on the 3.2 MP is better than one you'll find on a feature phone, but doesn't come close to the iPhone 4's almost point and shoot like quality. It's nice to have a flash on the phone, but with this camera I would definitely bring along a point and shoot camera on a trip, because the Bold's Camera  doesn't really do the trick.
     Our Verizon phone came preloaded with icons for Skype, NFL Mobile, along with some games, but clicking on most of them just brought up a webpage for downloading them. Verizon also adds it's VCast and a few other programs, along with (annoyingly) making Bing the default search provider. The calendar app works fine, and is actually more advanced than the one on Android and iPhone, but has a very plain and old fashioned looking interface.
     Email setup was easy, and I set up my Gmail account on the phone in seconds. Blackberry users are crazy about how the email system is better than anything else, but I don't see how it outshines the iPhone or Android. The one drawback with email is  that it takes twenty minutes fo rthe mail to start coming into your inbox.
     Gamers, stick with an iPhone or Android device, because gaming isn't really going to work that well on the Blackberry Bold. The Bold comes preloaded with five games, including a not so well designed Brick-Breaker, a pretty fun casual game called Word Mole (so that's where the enter button is), and Sudoku, which seems okay. Medal of Honor and Assassin's Creed II, for $6.99 and $1.99, respectively. Although these are popular titles in the gaming console world, I don't know how good Assassin's Creed II could look on a 2.45 inch screen.
     Once you start to understand how the operating system works, everything becomes easier to understand, until then the OS really is not as self explanatory as iPhone's iOS or even Android. The whole Blackberry system works, but is almost completely any missing any eye candy you'll find on other phones.
     The Blackberry Bold seems to be for the business user who definitely does NOT use this as their primary computing device. For those, I would definitely recommend the iPhone, or maybe for a more sophisticated user, an Android device. As usual, you definitely should play with all your options before you make the decision.

Windows Phone 7

     Gone are the days of the ten pound, giant black hunks of plastic and metal they once called cell phones. Over the years, the cell phone has evolved all the way down to the small flip phone, or the "feature phone", and more recently, the smart phone.
     The smart phone, a slim device that makes phone calls. And does pretty much everything else out there. You can read and write email, surf the web, post pictures to Facebook, and even share your exact location with Foursquare or Gowalla.
    There's the iPhone running iOS, the many devices running Android, RIM's Blackberry, Window's Mobile, and now a new Microsoft Creation. Windows Phone 7.
    Microsoft had tried the smart phone business with Windows Mobile. It was used by some, but was mostly not usable and unpopular. Microsoft decided to rethink the smart phone. Their result? Windows Phone 7.
     iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and almost any other smart phone OS, is based on the grid of icons, or apps. Windows Phone 7 is not that.

  

iOS

Android

Blackberry   

Window Phone 7 incorporates the idea of hubs. For example, in the people hub, you get your contacts, and updates from them, and integration with Facebook, all in one "hub". With any other OS, you would have to go through many apps to do what you can do in Windows Phone with one tap.

Windows Phone 7

     Currently, Windows Phone 7 is available in 5 phones. The Samsung Focus, the LG Quantum, the HTC Surround, the HTC HD7, and the Dell Venue Pro. The carriers available are AT&T and T Mobile, but other carriers should come along eventually.

     Microsoft has really made a very nice looking product. Will it be successful? I don't know. I personally think the "hub" thing is a bit too complicated. But only time will tell.  

For more info visit microsoft.com/windowsphone