Technology Guides

If you have been reading this website, you will realize that I finally bulked up (or bulked down, depending on how you view it) from my Blackberry 8820 to a superphone, the Samsung Galaxy S II. When I was walking to the store to pick it up, I had butterflies in my stomach and I could not wait till it was in my hands. I did a lot of work to acquire this phone and so I was overjoyed to finally have it. With that being said, here’s my review and I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible .

The Device

When people first saw my new phone, the first thing that people said was “Isn’t that phone big?” or something along those lines. I was completely blown away as to how many people said that. In retrospect, yes it is big but isn’t size relative? I mean, when the first iPod Touch came out, wasn’t that a big mp3 player compared to the norm? Yes it has a 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus screen that provides amazing clarity but to me, it’s not big. In fact, this phone is the thinnest and lightest in the Canadian market coming in at 8.49mm and 117g which in my opinion, makes up for the “bigness” of the phone. To put that into perspective, the iPhone has a 3.5″ screen and weighs in at 137g with its thinnest point being 9.3mm. To the casual observer this may not be a striking difference but compare it side-by-side and you’re looking at apples and oranges. They’re both fruit but strikingly different qualities.

I’ll admit that at first it was a little awkward to handle, but like transitioning from a physical keyboard to a virtual one, the end result has left me with no regrets. The ironic thing is, when I go back to my iPod Touch, it feels incredibly small but when I go from my iPad to my Samsung Galaxy S II, I don’t get that same feeling.

Another major difference between the Samsung Galaxy S II are the buttons on the bottom. Most Android smartphones have 4 buttons compared to the SGSII’s 3 which usually goes Menu, Home, Search and Return. I prefer the 3 button scheme that Samsung used on the GS2 because it’s less cluttered and there’s a definable center to it.

Software

I haven’t used the first iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S, but supposedly the new interface, TouchWIZ 4, is a drastic improvement from its predecessor. Most notably, the aesthetics and performance have been improved. I can’t speak much to this because I don’t use the default interface as I have installed an application called GoLauncher EX to replace it. I am currently fiddling with it and finding it quite versatile so I will keep you up to date on that one. Just recently though I updated my SGS2 from the stock 2.3.3 that Bell provides to a custom ROM called Sensation ROM 1.9 that has upgraded me to 2.3.5. The most notable improvements are the battery life (very significant) and when you scroll to the top and bottom, it flashes to let you know it’s reached the end. The call screen is more refined and allows for easier access to contact information. Overall, I’m in love with the software and thus the interface.

Battery Life

As I mentioned above, I’ve upgraded my phone and with that upgrade has come significant battery improvements. Before it would last me from about 10am-2am and the battery would be in critical mode. Thus when I would be heading out that night without my power cord I would recharge it before hitting the town. Now with the upgrade I have no worries as to whether it will last the day or not. On a power hungry day I’ll be down to 25% and on regular days it’ll be closer to 50% battery life left.

Features

Building on the software aspect of this phone, I was surprised to learn with the release of ICS, that a lot of the features that were innovative on it, were already a part of the SGS2. One feature was the “Reject a call with a text message”. This is a really cool feature and was already on my phone when I got it. It comes in handy for sure. I also enjoy the screen after the end of a call where it gives you the option of sending a message or calling again to that same contact. Another “cool” feature in ICS is being able to uninstall apps from the launcher. On my SGS2 I can do hold the apps and click uninstall. I can also drag apps from my home screen up to the top to remove it from the home screen.

Conclusion

Overall I am very happy with my SGS2. The only problem I had with it was the battery life but since that’s been resolved it’s been a dream to have. I still use my iPod Touch as it’s a great music player which I do believe Google still needs to improve on but since I like having two devices anyways I’m happy. Google is making strides with this, with the introduction of Google Music and so it will be interesting to see how it shapes up in the future.

If you have any questions about the SGS2 please don’t hesitate to ask and if any of you have comments about your experience with the SGS2 add them here. Until next time…

Popularity: 8% [?]

This is the final installment in this series. The moment you have ALL been waiting for is finally here. As you can probably tell, I have made my choice. The following is a list of steps that I did to get the best deal in my opinion.

Step 1

I basically decided that to get the possible deal I would need to take over someones contract. To do this, I went onto Cellswapper, Kijiji and Craigslist in search of someone who had a free HUP and was willing to do a contract takeover. This can be an arduous process but in the end it worked out. i got a new phone, a great contract and some more buying power that I wouldn’t have received if I was a brand new customer.

Step 2

Next you need to get into contact with a seller that fits your needs as some offer a longer contract but a free phone. From there, many things can happen because exchanging a contract can be a very tricky process since the new party wants to verify some details about the contract and the current contract holder doesn’t want to get screwed over. In my case, he added my name to the account, I negotiated for a retention plan. Once i was satisfied with my plan, I confirmed and then we did the account transfer. The next day I did my free hardware upgrade to my current, beautiful phone which I will do a review on later.

Step 3

Enjoy your new contract and phone! The details on what I got myself into are:

• Samsung Galaxy S 2 with Bell Mobility

Plan Details ($49.50/month + taxes)

• 200 Anytime
• Unlimited E/W at 7pm
• Nationwide Fab 10
• Caller ID and Messaging Centre
• Unlimited MMS/SMS…
• 1gb data

Overall I am extremely happy and when the school term starts I’m going to try and add some long distance minutes for free onto it. If I am successful I will add it on here.

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For this phase I’m trying to gain an understanding of what exactly I’m looking for. Since I’ll be sticking with my choice for up to 3 years I’ll need to put some thought into what phone I get, what type of plan I’m looking for and what carrier I’ll be going with.

Phone

I traditionally keep my phones for 2 years and make a switch to something new and although my current phone is a Blackberry 8820 and might be older than me, I’ve had it in my hands for 2 years so it’s time for something new. In this day and time, technology moves so fast that I’ll definitely need to buy a top of the line phone such as the HTC Sensation 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II. I am also heavily leaning towards an Android device and I can get into the reasons in a whole other post but I’ll leave that for another time. The basic premise for me jumping from Blackberry to Android is because it’s super fast, upgraded hardware and very easy to customize.

Plan

My cousin recently signed with Bell and her sister is probably going to do the exact same thing. Her plan is absolutely amazing and I am going to try and mold my plan after theirs. It consists of the following:

• 200 Anytime Minutes
• Unlimited messaging
• Unlimited E/W at 7pm
• 1GB Data
• CID/Message Centre
• 100 LD minutes
• Nationwide Fab10

This is all for $49.50+tax CDN. Hopefully I can get a plan that resembles this fairly closely and I would be satisfied. Due to my cousin already getting this I am leaning towards trying to get this out of Bell. It also doesn’t help that Bell currently sells four Superphones including the Samsung Galaxy S II.

Carrier

As mentioned above I am leaning towards Bell because of the potential opportunity with the plan and their lineup of superphones. My backup is going to be Telus because of their customer service but I may have to wait to land a decent phone from them.

Update: I knew it would be hard to land a decent plan being a new customer so I’ve developed an alternate strategy. As previously mentioned in my post about landing a better cellphone plan, I am going to use Cellswaper as well as Kijiji/Craigslist to try and take over a contract. This can take time as people back out and don’t respond sometimes and it can be frustrating but in the end you can get the plan you’re looking for.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I came up with this series mainly to document my struggles and joys with switching from one carrier to another. I am learning many things including what options to exercise and really how cutthroat the wireless industry is. I had initial idea of what I wanted to do when I set on this learning experience. That initial idea involved just going to Wind Mobile and picking a top-end phone that was compatible with their network. Like everything in life, it wasn’t so easy.

Why I Didn’t Go This Path

Wind Mobile is expanding at a rapid rate but has still left voids in its current coverage area leaving me skeptic about a brand new coverage area in KW. Although I am a student and I really should have low needs and a low budget, I am also constantly looking for a new job for the next co-op term or communicating with my current employer. It wouldn’t be the best situation if I had a potential employer on the line and the call gets dropped or they place a call to me and I’m in a dead zone so they can’t get a hold of me. Sure it’s probably going to be fairly rare but at the end of the day I’m not going to go with a more robust network which the Big Three can offer me in the Kitchener/Waterloo region.

The price (and new smartphones) keep on enticing me but with network quality so important I decided it wasn’t in my best interest for now. Hopefully down the road they’ll still be there with competitive prices and updated phones so I can give them another shot.

My New Options

With Wind Mobile out of the picture (keep in mind I’m not considering Mobilicity & Public Mobile due to their lack of coverage in KW), I was left with the Big Three and their side brands. Outlined below is my current opinion on the carriers I have to choose from.

Fido – My current carrier has done fairly well for me but because it’s a discount brand, the phones do lack in quality (they’ve added the LG O2x and Nexus S which are two great phones). I have a decent plan but what really threw me off was a horrible mishap that they handled even worse and a call into the CSR to upgrade. Not everyone will experience this so take the following with a grain of salt.

• Mishap -I basically lost my SIM and so I needed to replace it. I went in to purchase one; got home and put it in. Called Fido; they did some stuff and then they told me to power down and restart. I did as I was told and hung up. My Blackberry took a long time to load up but when it did, I had someones account with their number. I called Fido back and they had no clue how it happened and I was just going to have to wait. They also told me I was free to use the account however I pleased. The next day, I’m calling Fido to figure out the status of my situation and lo and behold, I can’t make a phone call because they’ve cut my service off. Luckily I’m in a mall with a Fido store so I go in and the guy sells me a SIM card and I’m finally back to my old account after a call in to Fido. Best I get for my troubles in unlimited local calling for the month.
• CSR – I was able to let go of the above situation because other than that, Fido was pretty good to me. My friend recently got a contract renewal so I decided I’d try the same. The guy I talked to laughed at me when I mentioned it and told me I’d never get it. The way he acted actually disgusted me and from that point I vowed not to go back. I felt hugely mistreated for making such a simple call that usually gets a yes or no answer.

Rogers - Although they are a powerhouse, I have never enjoyed dealing with them and our family (among others) has had considerable problems with them. Granted most other wireless companies do, I have had first hand experience with them. With that being said, there’s little chance I will choose them especially considering the above experiences as well.

Bell – I had never heard a good thing about Bell in regards to customer service support and as you can tell I’m not a big fan of poor customer service. The restructuring of BCE, Bell’s parent company, in 2008 marked a turn for the better with a focus on better customer and tech support. I have still heard stories but it didn’t seem as bad and what wireless company doesn’t have a bad story or two?

Telus – This is actually probably the only wireless company I have not heard a bad thing about so far but then again the only person I know who’s on Telus is my Dad and he doesn’t have many issues as he’s on prepaid and barely uses the phone. The reason though I will not be considering these guys is because they don’t offer some of the top phones (although they will probably be releasing the Samsung Galaxy S II variant, Hercules).

From here, I’ll have to decide where I want to go and there will be sacrifices on the way. The factors playing into my choice are:

• Hardware Choices (i.e. what types of cell phones they offer)
• Plan Choice (i.e. what kind of a package can I get)
• Price (i.e. pretty self-explanatory )

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Cellphone plans are tricky and half of us don’t even look at our bill. We just pay it, not knowing they are over charging us or that it was possible to get Caller ID for free. This post details some sure fire ways to get a deal on your current plan or a future plan. I myself am trying to wring out a new plan from one of the carriers and I have learned some lessons along the way and I am still learning new information.

Current Plan Owners

• Ask to Cancel – Even though you do not have the slightest inclination to cancel, call in to your respective carrier and just ask how much it will cost to cancel. I did that just to figure out the cost because I was curious, knowing full well that the price tag was going to be outrageous ($350) but as soon as they quote you, they’ll ask if you want to speak to a Customer Service Representative (herein referred to as CSR). Say yes and then just wait till they offer you concessions. Mine was free Caller ID for a year (worth $7) because I was such a loyal customer (almost 3 years).
• Retention Plan – When you are ready for an upgrade or your contract is up for renewal, a lot of carriers are willing to cut you a deal for staying along for the ride. This can be in the form of a price discount or more features. Whatever the case may be, wait until the last week or so for them to call you. If they don’t call, they may not love you enough or they forgot, so give them a shout and try to get an idea of what they’re willing to offer. Usually the first time may not garner you the best offer so try again later. One tip I have heard is to almost play dumb and pray for a woman to pick up (they’re usually more willing to offer you something). When I say play dumb, I mean act like you do not know the features out there but say you call your parents a lot so it would be nice not to worry about cost. From there they’ll offer you a discounted LD plan. This advice is very arbitrary and it all depends on what you’re looking for but hopefully it’s a starting point.

New Activations

• Compare to a Comparable Carrier – That’s a lot of C’s in that phrase but you get the point. In Canada at least, none of the Big 3 will flinch if you mention you’re moving to one of the new carriers because they know they can’t match it. Mention that another one of the Big 3 carriers is offering Caller ID/VM in their plan. Half the time they’ll match it and half the time they won’t. If they don’t, call back and try again. Once you get the plan you’re looking for, take down the CSR’s name, extension and the final plan details because when you go to activate the phone you may not get the same person so it’s nice to have proof. I have heard countless stories of people getting a good deal through a CSR, going in-store and getting burned.
• Wait – Many people jump at the newest phone and just sign a new contract but half the time, a better plan is waiting around the corner. The two best times to get a plan is during the Back-to-School and Christmas season.

Using Websites

• MyCellMyTerms- I’m putting this at the top because it is turning out to be an amazing website. It’s absolutely free to the consumer and you lose nothing. I first heard about this type of business model in regards to car buying but it can be applied anywhere else. Basically how the site works is, a prospective buyer outlines their desired plan with either one of their pre-made plans or a plan you design yourself. This includes the minutes, data, texting and any other features. The website then submits your proposal to its network of dealers and you just wait for offers to come your way. I signed up last night, got an offer within two hours (which I countered) and then a counter offer the next morning. If you decide to close on a deal, the customer doesn’t pay a cent; the dealer who connected the wireless carrier with you, will pay a commission to the website. CANADA ONLY (Select provinces for now)

Update: I have now received four offers as of August 4th, 2011 which is less than 3 days since I posted my ideal cellphone plan. The best offer I’ve gotten is from a dealer associated with Bell. The offer is at the bottom and I have just countered it so we’ll see what comes back. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 5% [?]

This year has been marked with some huge advancements in the wireless industry. The Android OS has finally taken off, dual-core processors have been released with quad-core processors in the works, 4G networks are slowly making their way to your community as well as many more things. The big thing for me is, as of September 24, 2011, my 3 year contract expires. Up to this point, I have contemplated what to do about this situation. This series will chronicle all the mishaps, joys and thoughts about this personal experience that I am about to go through.

All of the posts related to this series will be linked on here as well as a snippet of upcoming posts. The first post in this series is going to highlight how you, the consumer, can get a better deal on your current plan or upcoming one.

How to get the Best Cell Phone Plan

The Carrier Switch: Phase One

The Carrier Switch: Phase Two

The Carrier Switch: Phase Three

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The Sony-Ericsson Xperia PLAY smart phone has been welcomed as a girl-magnet, not the least
because of its unbelievable PlayStation capabilities, and also because of its fully featured smart
phone uses which are built on and enhanced from the older Samsung Galaxy S.

For anybody looking for a smart phone which is super efficient in giving you fully featured access
to Facebook, Gmail and Twitter as well as in built game controls, then the Xperia PLAY will let you
bury yourself in entertainment all day. All the while living a fantasy come true with its proven smart
phone features and its PlayStation capabilities which rival its nearest competitor, the Samsung
Galaxy S.

Some of the PlayStation phone’s ingenious features include the following:

•Games All game players will realise that no games load instantly. This is also true of the
Sony-Ericsson Xperia PLAY smart phone, but the time taken is quite acceptable. The game’s
operational speed is also quite fast with continuous smooth frame rates. It has all the basics
right for a pleasant PlayStation experience. The PlayStation phone’s slide out gamepad is
no doubt its figurative and literal centrepiece, and it performs well when compared with
a console. The directional keys are quite firm as are the face buttons. Between these two
keys you will find the two analogue pads. The biggest benefit when using these pads, instead
of a touch screen on a phone like the Samsung Galaxy S, comes when you find you are not
obscuring the screen. This allows you to continually follow all the action. Each pad contains
an indent you can feel with your thumb, meaning you never have to look down to see what
you are doing.

•Inside The Sony-Ericsson Xperia PLAY smart phone contains a solid 1500mAh cell battery,
which lasts around 22 hours before it needs recharging, when usage is confined to normal
phone usage, and between five and six hours on full-on game play.

•Camera The still imaging is quite sharp and crisp in the camera department where you can
adjust for focusing, white balance and exposure. A main feature is the phone’s macro mode
which allows you to reproduce good photographs up close.

Many smart phone users will be leaning towards the Samsung Galaxy S’s four inch super AMOLED
screen for viewing videos and playing games, with its vivid and vibrant colours, even when out in the
sunlight, especially when compared with the Xperia PLAY’s lesser detail in this area. However, you
will get the added advantage of an effective PlayStation in the palm of your hand wherever you go.

For other Sony-Ericsson mobile phones and deals, visit Mobile Phone Finder.

Popularity: 3% [?]

With news today that Facebook is now valued at a small chunk of change (aka $70 billion), I thought I’d take a look at it again.

My opinion of Facebook used to be very radical and I stubbornly refused to sign up. Then a couple years ago I decided to sign up and I have not looked back. Now I’m starting to revisit my opinion on it as Facebook starts to introduce more invasive features such as “Auto-tagging” which is based on facial recognition software. Why am I mentioning this you ask. I, like a growing number of Facebook users are starting to wean ourselves off Facebook because of this. It has been a trivial battle thus far and when I think I make progress I run into new ways to use this dominant service. It also doesn’t help that Twitter is becoming really popular and I’ve integrated the two, as well as Google is taking another swing with its recently announced social network called Google Plus (I will review this shortly). So without further ado, here are some useful Facebook tips and tricks to make your Facebook experience more useful, efficient and fun.

1. Download Facebook Photo Albums

There are some great photo albums out there that your friends have but it’s a pain to click on each photo and save it separately. That’s where Fotobounce comes in. It is a desktop application that allows you to download the photo albums. The great thing is it supports facial recognition so that saves time with the tagging. The difference between this and the Facebook feature is it does not have access to every other Facebook user so some random person who looks like your best friend will not be tagged in these photos.

2. Featured Friends

An underutilized feature on Facebook is the Friends tab on the left sidebar. You can customize this to only show certain friends (i.e. best friends, family…). To do this, click edit right by the Friends box. Under the Featured Friends tab, click “Create a new list”. Select all the friends you want on the list, and name it. Then click “Add an existing list or group” to add to it to your profile.

3. Remove Facebook Ads

This really should have been number one but I was too lazy to switch things around. This only works on Firefox and if you have the add-on Greasemonkey. Then you use that and install a script called Facebook Cleaner. Once it’s installed, and this takes seconds, go to Facebook and all the ads will have vanished. It reduces the clutter by a lot and makes the user interface a lot more pleasing although deep down inside I feel like something is missing.

4. Auto-Share Blog Posts

This one is only really for people like me, who own a website of some sort and would like to auto-share their posts. I just downloaded a plug-in called BlogUpp, and after following their instructions, my auto-sharing went on without a hitch. They also auto-share to all your Twitter followers which is great.

5. Access Facebook Chat on your Desktop

A lot of people have switched completely from MSN to Facebook chat (me included). Even though it is bare bones, it somehow has taken over a feature rich application such as MSN which is not something that usually happens in this world. Maybe simple is really better. In any case, if you are solely going onto your web browser just for Facebook chat, I highly suggest using a program called Gabtastik which is a desktop application that allows you to chat to your Facebook friends without opening a browser.

I will update the list as I continue to unearth the gems of Facebook but if you readers out there have any you’d like to share, comment away.

Popularity: 6% [?]