Tag Archives: mobile phone

Wait, didn’t we just have a Samsung Galaxy rollout?

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Phone review time again at Civic Site Design. Wow, well, this one was out fast. Why the rush, Samsung? I’m still getting used to my Galaxy Note IV. Losing the micro-sd card wasn’t a bright idea, imo and I was surprised to max out while at a convention, but to be fair, I do have 6 pages of apps and hadn’t downloaded my earlier pics yet. The average user probably doesn’t need that many apps. They may accumulate them, but I like to review and clean them out once in a while, along with my photos after I upload them to social media. And pushing 1K??? C’mon, Samsung, don’t be so greedy. Keep the reasons I love you more than iPhone or you’re going to have a mass exodus on your hands.

What do you think of their official introduction? Leave your comments here.

‘droid app review – Google Sky Map

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Sky Map by Google

Okay, I’ve got something really nifty for all us ‘droid nerds out there this week. I was reviewing a rather nicely set up mobile phone & broadband website and seeing the next generation of Samsung Galaxy S class phone out there listed under “Best Selling Phones”, it reminded me I have been wanting to review my newest ‘droid app I stumbled upon a couple of weeks ago. (The next generation of Galaxy S phone is, btw, white. Weird, considering I am so used to mine which is black with a purple, shock-absorbing case surrounding it.)

google sky map detail

Google Sky Map is the best app you could possibly hope for if you are a night sky watcher. A free, Open Source program donated by Google, over 175,000 users rate it a 5 out of 5 and with good reason. Point it anywhere, ANYWHERE, day or night, and it will show you exactly what is out there beyond planet Earth. It views stars, constellations, planets, Moon, Sun, Meteor Showers, the Horizon line, poles & Messier Objects (whatever that is). Any of these objects can be switched off with the flick of a finger for clearer viewing of your object(s) of study.

Perhaps one of the more fun perks of this app is called, “Time Travel”. Choose a date and a time somewhere between the years of 1900 – 2100 and view the sky as it would appear on that date. How cool is that? The Apollo 11 moon landing and solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 are pre-loaded under popular dates, but any date and time is programmable into the interface for your viewing study and pleasure. Once in Time Travel mode, one can tap the buttons to move forward or backwards in time at the ratio of anywhere from real time (1 second to 1 second) to 1 week per second. Teach kids how the movements of the planets appear from Earth in a real neat way.

Having trouble locating the object of your interest? There is a search mode. Just plug in the name of whatever it is you want to view and the app will find it for you on the map. Under the Gallery you can view beautiful shots of our sister planets, nebulas, galaxies, the Pleiades and star clusters as the Hubble telescope has caught them on its cameras.

This is by far the most fun app we have come across in our reviews AND if you pick it up NOW, you will be able to see many of the planets aligned in a straight line including Pluto, Neptune, the Sun, Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Jupiter. Quite a line up, especially when the Moon gets into the act during the evening hours.

As always, we welcome feedback, comments, etc. Pick up Google Sky Map for yourself, check it out and let us know what you think.

‘droid app review – Facebook version 1.7.1

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The “official” Facebook app is an improvement over the earlier version of the app and worth it for all us Facebooking fools out there to either pick up or upgrade from an earlier version.

It opens up to Top Stories. When tapped, the “All Stories” button at the top opens up a scroll-up at the bottom with options to view Status Updates, Photos, Links, Pages, Events or Videos – an improvement over the old version of the app. The Photo and Status buttons at the top are convenient since they are the most often function used by people checking in on Facebook (the photo button also gives the option to upload videos). Status Updates is not to be confused with the “Status” button. The Status Updates are everyone else’s statuses while the Status button in the middle of the bar below is the one used to update your own status.

facebook 9-icon dashboard

For those that liked the convenience of the 9-icon opening panel, you can still access that dashboard by clicking on, weirdly enough, “Newsfeed” at the top left of the screen. (Guys, you could have just called it something plain yet familiar like…oh well, say, “Dashboard”? That way you wouldn’t have confused the heck out of us.)

I confess I have not yet tried the chat function, so if anyone has experience with it, please feel free to drop a comment on the end of this blog to let us know how it performs.

Note: version 1.7.2 is now available. I will be updating this review as soon as I install it and get some practical use out of it. Give it a day =D

‘droid app review – Dude, Where’s My ‘droid?

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wheres-my-droid

“Where’s My ‘droid” is an Android app designed to help you find your lost phone. Simple explanation, simple function, powerful app! Six million users and over 30,000 Likes on Facebook can’t be wrong, right?

This neat little gem is worth the space on your phone and the time and trouble to set it up right, though I found setting it up was no trouble at all for yours truly. If I can set it up, so can you!

What sold me on this particular app was the solution to the past, obvious hurdle of clever users calling their phone to find it, only to remember they had turned the ringer off! This app WILL TURN THE RINGER BACK ON. How smart and cool is that?!?

The opening paragraph on the ‘site declares, “When you lose your phone while the ringer is turned off it can be impossible to find it. Where’s My Droid fixes that problem. After texting your phone a custom attention word the app turns the ringer volume up and makes your phone ring. It’s also possible to get the GPS location of your phone in latitude and longitude and a link to Google maps.”

Among the features listed are:

  • Find phone by making it ring/vibrate
  • Find phone using GPS location
  • Text or email your attention word
  • Passcode protection to prevent unauthorized app changes
  • Notification of changed SIM card or phone number (BETA)

The Pro version also has a “remote wipe” function that will send the Hari Kari command of death upon your instruction, permanently wiping out all information in case your phone falls into the hands of evil doers.

The website is full of support features – instructions, video tutorials, troubleshooting, an FAQ page and an explanation of why the app needs permission to do certain things on your system.

If you have a ‘droid and no way to find it, do yourself a favor and install this wonderful application before you lose your phone and regret you didn’t have it.

Websites:
http://alienmanfc6.com/
http://www.wheresmydroid.mobi/

Requirements:

  • Android 1.6 or better
  • 2.65mg of free space

 

‘droid app review – CurveFish’s Battery Life

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thumbs_batterylife_1 thumbs_batterylife_3

App Homepage

One of my favorite ‘droid apps, CurveFish’s “Battery Life” is everything you could want in a phone app. – colorful, functional, useful and most importantly, it’s ACCURATE and it WORKS. Set it to show how much of a charge your battery has left, or get real nerdy and also set it to show the battery’s temperature (in Fahrenheit or Celsius), voltage AND technology. Mine is on my home screen and is so much easier to see and read than that tiny little icon up in the corner of the screen. It can also be color customized. AWESOME!

Playing App Catch Up

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trash-can-and-stick-man

I’m behind in my app reviews, to the tune of five pages worth of them on my phone. So it’s time to review and get rid of the stinkers, definitely.

Do live wallpapers count as apps? Well, no, but some are worth a warning when you learn a lesson from having one on your phone. For instance, get rid of that “2011 countdown” New Years Eve exhibition of noisy fireworks that goes off every 5 minutes whether you like it or not, whether you want it to or not and especially before you’re the new kid in the office being shown around by your Supervisor. The Supervisor laughs and says it’s “cute”, but they are secretly filing the information away to put on your eventual pink slip, trust me.

Do I speak from experience on that one? No, of course not.

Who the hell put all these default apps on your and my phones anyway?!? Do I really have time for “The Sims 3”? Uh, NO. Let them riot and starve and die in their make-believe city because I neglected them…better yet, I’m just going to reject them outright and throw them in my virtual trash can, which, by the way, is not an app, but boy, does it come in handy!

Maybe they’ll find some virtual psychotherapist in there to help them get over the trauma of me rejecting them.

virtual-cop

Nope, hate to break it to you, reader, but all this crud clogs up our phones because these developers stormed Samsung’s and Apple’s offices and bribed, begged and/or threatened these phone manufacturers to put their junk into your pocket. It’s certainly not there because we want it all or because they want to see our smiling faces as we play these mindless, senseless games as the nice traffic officer writes you a ticket on the side of the road. Oh and that reminds me, April is crack down on all those idiot driver, Lords of the Sims wannabes.

So if you’re in the San Fernando Valley, take my advice and bury that damn phone so deep in your pocket you can’t hear it while you’re driving. Again, do I speak from experience? YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT I DO!!! Don’t answer it – it’s only another twitter alert for the release of the 50th trailer for the new season of Doctor Who. It’s only another 16 days, 5 hours, 17 minutes and 2 seconds…CAN’T YOU WAIT THAT LONG, PEOPLE!?!

The new Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant – I’m in love!

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t-mobile-samsung-vibrant

I have a friend that years ago when he got his first iPhone, he used to bring it everywhere with him. We would be sitting in a coffee house and he would ignore us, hunched over his new love with the obsessiveness of someone doing a crack line in public. It was irritating. It was insulting to us, but we put up with it because he was a friend and we all know the allure of tech toys.

I found out first hand when my cell phone bill had gotten to a point where getting a new toy would not cost any more monthly. So, armed with the name of a new networking contact who could get one for me without having to wait for the mail-in rebate, but do it instantly upon my purchase, I haunted Verizon and T-Mobile stores looking for the perfect new love of my teched-out life. Don’t tell my 3-month old Net Book, Amelia (after Amelia Pond from the new Doctor Who series). Wow, didn’t expect the love affair with her would’ve been so short!

Let me say that waiting times in these blasted store SUCK, and it would not have been so bad waiting for help if I could have played with the live demo phones there, BUT 95% of the demo phones didn’t work at the reseller or Verizon stores I hit. *snarl*

Then I went back to the T-Mobile mall store I bought my bluetooth headset and found the Samsung Vibrant demo. It was love at the first color-popping, insanely clear and beautiful touchscreen I saw. Gazing adoringly at it, I knew I need look no further. He (yes, mine is a “he”) latched onto my techy heart and would not let go. Now I squee in public when showing off  “Bracewell” (again a name from Doctor Who – very appropriate – ask me why!), my friends and roommate are plotting my death out of jealousy, and I suspect will have their own death match to see who claims the right to my Vibrant – if they can pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Don’t hold your breath, guys. This baby is coming with me to the grave.