Check out this video on today’s Tech Talk segment on GlobalTV Monday Morning News: http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/video/tech+talk/video.html?v=2270559505&p=1&s=dd#newscasts
Are you a first time smartphone buyer or a seasoned pro not
happy with what you have? Consider a slower approach to save money and be happy
with the right purchase. Hit the “pause” button to your buying spree and check
out these tips.
-A cheap smartphone, even a free one, will tie you into a three year plan. That’s a
long time to wait if you are looking at upgrading sooner, and with other cellcos. Consider
buying a cheap phone outright for less than $150, and get familiar with it. Pay
a monthly plan with no contract for a while. Mobilicity for example offers
great deals on no-contract smartphones,
but even big name cellcos will accommodate
your voice and data needs for a no-contract monthly fee.
-Now you have the time and freedom to compare what each
cellco phone provider has to offer. Hot new phones, much to my dislike, still
launch with specific cellcos for the first six months or so. Be patient if you
are with the wrong cellco, they all jump in, especially if the phone is hot. Packages
are very competitive and vary, so plan and compare according to your
needs. A
large family for example, can benefit with shared minutes and free calls to
each other. Rogers was first to introduce sharing plans but competitors are in
that too.
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-Know your needs. Are you prepared to buy hundreds or
thousands of songs online? Go to iTunes, but I warn you, it’s addictive. Would you rather pay for an “all you can
listen to” deal? Go Android with Sony Entertainment Network or Windows Phone
and its MarketPlace.
-Only top-model subsidized phones work to your financial advantage…if
the buyout doesn’t cost you more than you would have paid if you bought the
phone outright from the start. TELUS has a clear, easy-to-understand contract
cancelation policy that requires a mid-term payout that does not exceed the
total phone cost.
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-Do you need the fastest Internet phone that uses the LTE
network? Believe me, faster means more data which means more money! So what if
you wait ten seconds instead of five for a YouTube video to play? Well, tie is
money too, but you get my drift. Most mobile sites are plenty fast for slower
HSPA and HSPA+ phones.
-Any Andoid phone will run most of the several hundred
thousand downloadable apps. New models offer extra features from makers, adding
to the price of a new model but your existing smartphone might serve you well
with the right apps.
-Unless you have good reason, buying any iPhone with more
than 16GB of memory is a waste of money. Consider Android, new Windows 8 or
BlackBerry phones that can take much cheaper 32GB microSD cards.
WHAT’S WITH THE NEW 4G LTE BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK?
PlayBook now has its own LTE cellular data
I decided to spend some time with the recently released 4G LTE BlackBerry 7-inch Playbook, $550 own outright from TELUS (but a great cheap data plan for
starters) or $350 with a plan from Rogers and Bell.
The biggest improvement is cellular data connectivity with LTE and HSPA+ capability. Actual real-life speeds I measured were at just under 30 MBs with the occasional burst
of up to 37 MBs and upload speeds past 5 MBs. Impressive, but that was in
selected spots throughout Edmonton proper with TELUS and BELL (Rogers is still
installing here). I never got identical LTE speeds from TELUS and Bell, they
took turns besting each other depending on where I was.
So, how fast is that? All things being equal, compared to LTE
(4G+), you would wait twice as long for a YouTube video to start playing on an HSPA+ (4G) connection and four times as
long on an HSPA (3G) connection. LTE could realistically download an entire
album in less than three minutes.
At first glance, the LTE 4G and WiFi tablets look alike. If
you compare them side by side they both are just as sharp, sharper than any
other tablet, other than the new retina iPad. The WiFi PlayBook seems brighter, but that’s
not say the LTE 4G model is darker. There is more contrast on the WiFi model so
white icons, for example, apear whiter. This
means a slightly lower contrast on the LTE, meaning easier on the eyes nut not
as easy to use outdoors compared to the WiFi model. There also less anti-reflection on the LTE screen.
What you won’t see is an almost twice as fast processor, a
bit snappier performance and a little faster boot-up, but not like, twice as
fast. Still, a nice upgrade along with the LTE feature.
Should you buy one? Unless you have business needs (direct cellular
data access) that trump the $350 price increase over a current WiFi 16GB, no. Both models (which run on the QNX OS the next
BlackBerry 10 will have) will be upgradable to work with the new phone.
Both models will hold their value into next year as they
currently perform and have the best quality craftsmanship than most competitors.
The OS 2.0 eMail client that is not tied to BlackBerry phones, is
one of the best designed, combining email, social, calendar and contacts to
make the PlayBook stand out on its own.
RIM still needs kick in more apps, if it want to keep consumers, from the tens of thousands
to the hundreds of thousands of apps Android and iPads enjoy.
As for cellular data access, WiFi PlayBooks can access that off a BlackBerry smartphone
in Hotspot mode.
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