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Archive for August 2012

How to Check the Law With Your Android Phone

August 14, 2012 mobile phones No comments

If you travel around a lot and get up to lots of activities, then it can be hard to keep track of what the various laws are in different countries and states. For instance if you are driving between states then you may find that the traffic laws between them are somewhat different and that what was legal where you were is no longer legal in the new area. You may for instance find that while it was perfectly legal to talk on the phone when you were in home territory, that you can actually get pulled over for it in another state or country and find yourself in serious trouble.

In short then it is absolutely crucial to make sure that you are always familiar with the local laws whenever you head somewhere new in order to avoid this embarrassing and unfortunate situation. Of course you can’t always plan for this seeing as you might never have planned to go travelling as much as you did – but what you can do is to check the laws while you’re on the move if you happen to have a handy smart phone on you. Here we will look at how you can do this in several ways quickly so that you aren’t caught out again.

Apps

One way to check the law quickly is with a number of different apps that are on the Android store. You will find that there are many different apps that relate to penal law and to traffic law in particular countries that are basically searchable e-books designed largely for students. While these can be a little wordy they will be almost guaranteed to have the laws you need (and the official word rather than hearsay) as long as you can find them for your particular area and the law you’re looking for doesn’t pertain to marriage or custody rather than penal or traffic code. The best series of apps like this on the market are the Droid Law apps, but be warned you will have to pay for all of them.

Another app that promises great things is Law Buddy. The idea of Law Buddy is that you simply put in your area and you will then be directed to online information regarding the law in your current area. Unfortunately there are reports of it freezing on several phones, but it’s a nice idea in theory.

The Web

The other problem with Law Buddy is that all it really does is to send you to Wikipedia – something you can do without an app using your built in browser. And in fact this is pretty much the best way to search for a specific law in the majority of cases. While you might not want to head on over to Wikipedia which isn’t always up-to-date or accurate due to its collaborative nature, you can get good advice from many other sites such as justanswer.co.uk which has a separate section for the laws in pretty much every area. Chances are that you will be able to find a post related to your query, but if you can’t then you can always post a new one (and apparently a new question is answered every nine seconds according to the site).

Finally though if you are unsure then it is always safest to err on the side of caution. Have a little browse and if there’s a chance it’s illegal, you’re best off not doing it…

This guest post was written by Brian Taylor. Don’t expect to beat top criminal lawyers with these apps and your newfound knowledge, but you can always check basic facts with them.

5 Things To Consider Before Buying The Latest Release Of iPhone

August 13, 2012 iPhone, mobile phones No comments

As tech geeks know, Apple does not officially acknowledge the release of a new iPhone device until the last minute when it is about to hit the stores. However, consumers always get rumors and reviews of upcoming phones from various sources. The hype surrounding the iPhone compels many to consider getting a phone upgrade for their existing phones.

Other people, who want to buy the iPhone, think of waiting for the next release so that they have the best value for their money. If you are considering buying the latest iPhone, you must also put in mind the following issues so that you make your decision from an informed point of view.

1. The need to change accessories

When you want to buy a new iPhone, you must prepare to get also the corresponding components that will complete your phone. The new phone can come with a different dock connector. This means that your existing connector will not work. This is not a certainty as the manufacturer may also decide to retain the old connector. Nevertheless, if you are selling your existing phone to finance the upgrade, then you must budget for the cost of the dock connector.

A reprieve for many people is the availability of adaptors and connectors, immediately after a new iPhone hits the stores. Entrepreneurs will always find ways to deliver cheaper accessories. However, this may take long to appear in your market.

2. The new phone may only offer slight improvements

Sometimes getting a previous version of a product works best for your pocket, while still enabling you to enjoy similar services. For example, between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4s, the only major difference was a slight design tweak and the voice command tweaks. Nevertheless, for people still having iPhone 4, they enjoy the latest operating systems because their phone supports it.

Thus, it can be a clever thing to go the immediate former iPhone when all your colleagues are jumping for the new release. This could save you long waiting periods. Before making this choice, you must always confirm if a previous version of the product qualifies for future service upgrades.

3. The cost on new carrier contracts

Many network carrier contracts allow you to get a new phone at a cheap initial cost and you can cover the rest over the contract period. However, a new iPhone could come out when you are still tied to your current phone because of the contract. If you decide to get the second phone, you will have to part with a higher monthly expense for servicing two phones. Where the contract allows you to return the phone to the carrier, you may still suffer losses, as the trade-in value will have been depreciated.

4. What are you looking for in the new phone?

The new iPhone will always have improvements from the existing phone. However, not all this improvements will have an effect to you, based on your preference. For some people, their phone is simply for calling and playing games. They do little with the camera and rely on real cameras for taking images. For such people, a modest improvement of the camera on the new iPhone will not be quite an attraction.

Changes in resolution may also not be very attractive. At present, the resolution of the best iPhone is very good for every application. Video enthusiast will mostly welcome an upgrade of the resolution as well as support for new media formats. Nonetheless, for the rest of users, these will just be extras worth checking in a while. If you are on a tight budget, the extras may not be worth it.

5. Your data needs

Every release of a new iPhone has always brought up new support for data. The iPhone 3G allowed for 3G network support. Its successor had a better battery management and network management feature. Industry insiders now expect the next iPhone to support 4G networks. The LTE support will allow people to enjoy faster speeds on their devices, which translate to better download and streaming experience.

Nevertheless, for many people, even with a fast internet, they are still tied to the data allowance limit for their contract. Moreover, most apps will work fine with a basic broadband speed. Thus, the upgrade to improved data networks does not much impact on the person’s day-to-day dealings with the iPhone. If you do not anticipate the need for a faster connection than what you already have, then you could very well just settle to stick with the current iPhone.

Jen is a gadget lover and has upgraded to 2 of the 5 versions of iPhone in market. If you have ever thought, “how can I sell my iPhone before I buy a new one.”, her company AppleShark is your answer.

5 Apps Which Make SMS Lame

August 3, 2012 mobile phones No comments

SMS or short message service is a text messaging service used by billions of users the world over. In fact, two-thirds of all mobile phone users today use SMS to communicate with others.  It should come as no big surprise that texting is becoming obsolete as SMS messages have a character limit plus it’s rather difficult to hold an SMS conversation of any length.

Here are five apps which make SMS lame:

IMO

IMO is an app that’s available both on Android and iOS. This app is super easy to use, it looks great and best of all it’s free. IMO supports all the major players out there today including Facebook chat, Google Talk, AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo and more. IMO sends messages very quickly and gives you push notifications for free.

IMO also offers a group chat feature that allows you to set up and save groups of friends for group chat. The app sends the selected contacts invites and allows you to choose which service you want to use when contacting them. IMO allows you to save your chat history indefinitely plus it lets you record voice messages up to 30 seconds in length.

Google Voice

This app is easy to use and it’s probably already installed on your Android handset.  If it’s not, there is no need to worry because it’s free to download.

Google Voice lets you send cost-free messages. This app can be set up to take the place of your smartphone’s default SMS messaging app. A nice thing about Google Voice is that it syncs with Google Voice on the internet and on other devices, allowing you to access you messages on your PC, another Android device or on an Apple product.

eBuddy

The eBuddy web messenger app offers support for Facebook Chat, Gtalk, AIM, ICQ, MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Hyves and MySpace IM. This app works in iOS and on Android, it’s free, and it gathers all of your instant messaging accounts into one location so you can view who is online so you can message them.

eBuddy features a clean interface with an attractive chat window. The use of tabs helps to keep the screen free of clutter and makes everything easy to see. Unfortunately, the Android version of the app doesn’t give you a lot of chat options such as sending photos and files. And, eBuddy doesn’t support VoIP or Skype text chat. However, if you want an easy chat app that’s free and simple to use, eBuddy delivers.

Chomp SMS

This app is one of the fastest messaging apps out there. Chomp SMS is free and it’s available on iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android and Blackberry. Plus you pay nothing extra for all of it’s great features – making this a very popular replacement app for SMS. If you like personalization options as many of us do, you are going to love ChompSMS. There are all types of personalization features including signatures, templates, colors, fonts, wallpapers and more.

GoSMS Pro

Rounding out the list of top apps that make conventional SMS lame is GoSMS Pro. Although this is not the fastest messaging app on the market, it is highly customizable with many themes and settings.

GoSMS Pro uses pop-up windows which display messages as you receive them. You can respond to messages this way without having to switch to another app and disrupting what you were doing. GoSMS Pro also features a night mode which adjusts the hue, saturation and color of the app to optimize its use in the dark.

This article is written by Cynthia Rupp.twitterqa is to Ask or Answer on twitter.