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Archive for the ‘Gadgets’ Category

Smart phones nowadays have replaced almost every portable device we used to carry separately just a decade ago. Besides the phone part itself, they now include mp3 and video players, a lot of storage space, full web browsers, GPS navigators which can even replace the dedicated in-car models, cameras and a lot of other stuff.

But the technology is not yet as good as to replicate all the features and quality of those devices separately. So, if you need 200GB of space, a big display or a GPS receiver with a higher transmission power, a smart phone that has all of that integrated into it won’t be of much use to you, and you’ll pretty much have to use separate devices.

The same goes for cameras. Even the best smart phones today barely reach the still and video quality of the cheapest point and shoot dedicated cameras. It’s just impossible right now to cram a good quality camera along with all other devices into a slim smart phone, so the manufacturers aren’t even trying to do that.

There are a lot of photographers that like to always be prepared but do not carry their professional dSLR with them at all times (to cafes, parks, parties and other places, which sometimes may inspire them to take good shots). What they do is take their cheaper and much smaller point and shoot camera. Phone manufacturers noticed this and created a special device for them: a phone with a good integrated camera, at the expense of other features like a GPS receiver and Wifi, and sometimes size and weight.

These phones are an excellent replacement for a photographer’s go-everywhere point and shoot digital camera. With one of these, instead of carrying both the phone and a camera, they carry only the phone, which also consumes less energy and is easier to charge (from a computer’s USB port or using a small travel charger).

Here are some of the best camera phones available on the market:

Sony Ericsson C905. You could say Sony Ericsson is the leading manufacturer of camera phones. They actually came up with the concept with their first Cybershot phone. The C905 continues the good tradition and is packed with camera features (remember, the phone is secondary in these devices). It’s got a 8 megapixels digital camera with a Xenon flash (the one that is used on many compact point and shoot cameras) that shoot high resolution photos and videos at a great quality, with a lot of advanced features like an image stabilizer, burst shooting of 7 frames per second, face detection (useful for focusing), 16x digital zoon, automatic red-eye reduction, and much more. A very fun and interesting feature is the Smile Shooter that uses face recognition to automatically take a snap when the subject is smiling. How many point and shoot cameras have you seen with this feature? Other than that, the phone has a M2 card slot for Sony memory sticks (up to 8GB), a 240×320 screen (like a lot of compact P&S cameras), an integrated mp3/aac player with stereo Bluetooth, and support for 3G networks for fast data transfer.

Samsung Pixon 12 (M8910). This is Samsung’s new camera phone, which was released at the end of 2009, and has a 12 megapixels, wide angle camera with a Xenon + Power LED flash, which is quite impressive. It has a lot of effects and shot modes (including fast shoot of 5 frames per second). On top of that, the phone itself is very slim and light (a bit thicker than the iPhone and weights 119 grams), supports 3G networks, up to 16GB microSD cards (which are pretty cheap nowadays), has Bluetooth, Wifi, aGPS and TV out (to view your shots and videos on any TV set), a great web browser (Dolphin) and a beautiful 3.1 inch AMOLED 480×800 display. Yes, it’s pretty much the best camera phone (or even smart phone) ever.

LG Renoir (KC910). This phone is one of LG’s camera phones, and is replacing the ageing Viewty. It was launched in 2008 (when it was one of the best camera phones available) an is still a good device with a lower price tag than the others on this list. The camera is a 8 megapixels one with Schneider-Kreuznach optics (the good stuff) and Xenon flash shooting 3264×2448 stills and 640×480@30fps videos, which is pretty standard for most point and shoot cameras. It’s got a lot of features, including special effects, manual/auto focus, image stabilization and smile detection (like the Sony Ericsson C905). Other than that, the phone is equipped with everything else you might need, from 3g network support, Wifi and Bluetooth adapters to an FM Radio, GPS navigator and TV out. At this time it sells for about $200, which you could say is a steal for a camera phone with these specs. An excellent choice if you want to save some money while getting the most features possible.

Nokia N86. Nokia is also known for its good camera phones, and the N86 is not an exception. The phone has a wide angle 8 megapixels camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Tessar lens (very good quality), 20x digital zoom, auto/manual focus, dual LED flash (weaker than a Xenon, but still good enough), variable aperture (F2.4, F3.2, F4.8), high speed 1/1000sec shutter, a lot of special effects and modes, red eye reduction, and a lot of other features. It also has a photo editor (useful for quick edits), PAL TV out and direct to printer printing support with compatible printers. The phone also has any other features you might need: Bluetooth and Wifi adapters, 3G networks support, a microSD slot for up to 16GB cards, a great web browser, FM radio, and much more. As if that’s not enough, it also runs on Series 60 Symbian, which means you can find a lot of third party apps for various tasks, from video and music playing to viewing Word files and managing your contacts. At about $250 retail price, this is also an escellent cheap camera phone.

Samsung Innov8 (I8510). This is another of Samsung’s camera phones that made it on this list mainly because it runs on Symbian Series 60 (unlike the Pixon, which runs a custom OS) that give the user access to a lot of useful third party apps for anything from managing contacts to watching videos and using Facebook. This, coupled with the good camera, makes this phone a good all-around choice for anyone. The specs are pretty standard: an 8MP camera with Dual Power LED, a 2.8 inch display, a microSD slot for up to 16GB cards, Bluetooth, Wifi and a lot of other features. The price is a bit higher than, for example, the N86 or the Renoir, but the Symbian OS might be worth the price to some people.

If you are an amateur or professional photographer and carry a point and shoot everywhere you go, you may easily benefit from one of these phones. Why carry 2 devices when you can carry only 1, which also has enough storage space and a music/video player?

Apple’s iPhone has the largest collection of applications written for it. That’s a fact and it will take a long time before any other platform gets close to their numbers, especially with new apps added everyday. And the recent crackdown on cookie-cutter apps that just copy others and don’t provide anything valuable to the users will help ensure that the quality of the marketplace stays high.

The iPad and the much-rumored iPhone 4G will play an important role in growing the apps market even more, as the applications will be cross-compatible on all these devices, including the first-generation iPhone and and iPhone 3G.

If you plan on buying an iPhone, you can be assured that it will definitely not get old in the next few years. One thing I’d recommend though is to wait until the next generation iPhone comes out. There are 2 good reasons for that: one, the new device will likely have  a lot more features and power and you might like it more; two, the current performance champion, iPhone 3GS, will definitely get cheaper, possibly by a high margin, and you, as a buyer, will only benefit from saving a few tens or hundreds of dollars.

Having said that let me show you a few of the coolest and most amazing apps you can get and install on an iPhone.

Photoshop Mobile. Yes, the most popular and functional photo editing software for desktop computers, used by many professionals around the world has a mobile edition, both for the iPhone and Android devices (although it’s a bit more limited on the latter). It certainly isn’t as advanced as the full version, but it’s more than enough to quickly edit any of the pictures you take, for sending them via email or posting them on a site, forum or social network. You can crop, resize, modify and apply various effects (like black and white, sepia, old, mosaic, etc.) to any of the images you have on your phone.

Skype. This is a great app for making cheap calls and sending cheap SMS messages all over the world, using VoIP (which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol) via your operator’s 3G network or any available Wi-Fi hotspot (which makes it even cheaper). You can also have a special Skype number which will be cheaper to call from the country you register it in, no matter where in the world you are. I can be redirected to any other mobile or fixed telephone number, which makes it even better. You should definitely check it out. A better choice would be Google Voice, which offers all of the above plus more (like automatic voice messages transcription and receiving calls to multiple numbers at once) for free, but unfortunately Apple decided not to allow their app in the marketplace. There is a mobile edition though, but it’d cost more to use than Skype.

Layar Reality Browser. This is an amazing Augmented Reality app for the iPhone and Android, and it allows you to find places of interest near you. For example, you could search for the best café and it’ll give you a map of all the café’s near you with user reviews, so you can choose one. Then you could travel to it using your GPS and compass. You could also hold the phone in front of you and Layar will display a mark right above the building where you need to go to (using your phone’s camera as a real-time view). The app also integrates with Facebook and Twitter, so you can see the tweets and messages of any people around you that have an account (which is practically everybody these days . The app is perfect if you’re in a new town and don’t know what to do or where to go.

ModGuitars.com Tuner. This simple web application will help you tune your guitar. It isn’t an automated system that would tell you when the tune is right using the phone’s microphone (although that would be awesome). Instead, it provides you with the sounds of perfectly tuned guitar strings, and you can use them to tune yours (you gotta have an ear for music though). The interface is simple, just visit the link and prepare to tune your guitar.

Need for Speed Shift. This is one of the best games on the desktop and on any mobile platform, including the iPhone. The effects, controls and graphics are simply outstanding, and you can play it over and over again and never get tired of it. Definitely a must have game if you use your phone for entertainment and like car racing simulators.

If you already own an iPhone or plan to buy one, definitely try the above apps, to see how your phone can do for you something you never thought was possible on such a small device.

Just a decade ago, Palm was practically the only serious competitor to Microsoft’s Pocket PC operating system and devices running on it. They made a few great PDA’s (and a lot of mediocre ones) and licensed their operating system to other manufacturers, which resulted in very good devices like the Sony Clie.

But when smartphones started appearing, Palm lost the ball. They didn’t roll along with the times and didn’t understand what the users wanted. That’s why today, most consumers will tell you that they don’t know about Palm or at least that they had any smartphones.

And they do have some very nice devices. Their new redesigned operating system called Palm WebOS has a lot of features that rival those of the iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile, and the currently available Palm Pre and Palm Pixi smartphones can easily replace any other phone.

But the launch of the Pre didn’t cause as much excitement as it was anticipated, and that’s because, while the whole thing (the OS, apps, devices, features, etc.) was new for Palm, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking for everyone else. We’ve already gotten used to the calendar, web browser, camera, the apps and extensions that make up our smartphone experience with the iPhone, Android and even the older Windows Mobile. Basically, in a world where all the mobile devices can, Palm now can, too .

But there are people who really like the new devices and WebOS, and the Pre does sell pretty well, so not everything is lost. If Palm will manage to increase the number and quality of apps in their store, they will surely be able to hold their own against the other players.

Right now, their marketplace contains only a few thousand apps, as opposed to the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands for Android and iPhone, respectively. That is really a small number, but as the first iPhone showed us, you don’t need numbers; you can do pretty well with quality alone. Let’s hope that Palm applies that strategy for their marketplace.

For now, let’s take a look at some of the best apps available on the Palm WebOS marketplace, which will help you work faster and make your life easier.

Super Contacts. The new WebOS default contact manager is disappointingly lacking a very important feature – categories. It only allows you to view all of your contacts in an alphabetical order list, which gets tiring when you’ve got hundreds of them. Super Contacts allows you to categorize you contacts however you want and assign custom gestures for a few useful things like sending an SMS or email. The free version has ads (like a lot of free WebOS apps do) and allows only allows 3 groups and only 12 contacts per group, which may be enough for some people, but those who don’t like ads and/or store a lot of contacts (like entrepreneurs and businessmen) might need to shell out $1.99 for the full version.

Evernote. This is an excellent tool to have for taking any kind of notes and storing any sort of information. You can save emails, notes and documents, web pages in catalogs and with tags that will help you find them later. The application can sync with your online Evernote account if you have one, which is very useful. The main difference between this WebOS app and its iPhone and Android counterparts is the lack of a voice recording feature, which is very useful when taking quick notes.

TweeFree. There are a lot of Twitter clients for Palm WebOS, but this one has the most features for a free application. TweeFree has a very nice interface and offers all the standard Twitter features – @ mentions, timeline, direct messages, search and favorites – which are more than enough for most users. There is a $2.99 upgrade that gives you a location-based “Nearby” stream and the ability to read and add to Twitter lists.

My Databank. A very simple, yet useful WebOS applications that will help you store and manage any type of data you want. It allows you to create simple list databases using text fields, check boxes and numeric fields. The app comes with a few lists pre-installed and you can download more by selecting “Share Categories” from the drop-down menu. You can also copy and modify lists on the fly and send information to other apps on the device. In a real world example, you can use this app to make a list of email addresses, then send a message to all of them (your personal pocket mass mailer) or open a few web browser windows (or “cards”) with one click.

Outline Tracker. This is a very useful application for entrepreneurs or people who like to plan their tasks and keep their time in check. It uses the Getting Things Done system, which allows you to break a bigger project into smaller tasks and schedule them at specific times every day. The app also has the ability to sync with Basecamp, which makes it practically a must have if you use it. The free version is limited to 50 entries, which may be enough for personal or small business use, while the paid version is $23.50, quit a bit more than the other apps on this list.

Pandora. This application allows you to stream any Pandora stations onto your Palm device. As you may know, Pandora is a great music streaming service, where you create your own channels (or “stations”) with your own artists and can stream it anywhere, anytime and share it with anyone. The Android application has become very popular, and this WebOS version is also very nice. You can buy and download any songs very quickly using the “Buy this song” button, which leads to Amazon, and the controls are in the phone’s notification area, so you can access them anytime, even while using other apps.

AccuWeather. This is a great application to keep track of the weather around the world. The main page shows you the local temperature, wind speed and humidity (based on the ZIP code you entered or your GPS location). There are other pages for 24-hour forecasts, satellite view over your location and a list of prospects for planning any events (you wouldn’t want have an open barbeque or run in the rain . The free version is supported by ads, and there’s a $1.29 fee for removing them, but if you don’t check the weather every half an hour or so, chances are they won’t annoy you.

As you can see, there are a lot of apps for the Palm WebOS that can do whatever you need. If you already own or plan on buying a Palm smartphone, do a search on the marketplace. Chances are you will find a solution for any of your problems.