smartphone Archives

The New LG G4 on The T-Mobile Network: Your Dream Phone #LGG4

June 9, 2015 by Beeb 1 Comment

Phone & service provided.

The brand new LG G4 phone was released last Thursday, and this is one slick phone. With its amazing 16 MP camera, and beautiful 5.5″ IPS Quantum QHD display, it’s an awesome, cutting-edge phone for anyone who snaps a lot of photos and does a lot on the go…like, say, a blogger! Even better, the LG G4 is part of the T-Mobile network, which Jai and I already use. In fact, T-Mobile is the only cell network I’ve ever subscribed to, starting way back with my first cell phone in 2005. Living in a somewhat rural area as we do, it can be a challenge to get reception on many major cell networks, so T-Mobile is a winner for us because it works at home as well as when I’m traveling, along with being the most affordable option. A few other benefits to using T-Mobile include Simple Global International calling plans, Wi-Fi Calling, Data Stash, Music Freedom and At Bat for MLB fans!

Since Jai is our household’s resident Android fan, I couldn’t keep this phone all to myself. He has been testing it out pretty thoroughly, and this is what he had to say about it:

I’ve had several days to check out the new LG G4 and I’ve barely set it down this whole time. So far I love it. Every feature that I care about in a smart phone has been met or exceeded. At first glance, the leather back and rear navigation buttons certainly makes the phone stand out and both have a nice feel, but the first three features that got my attention were the display, the camera, and the built-in speaker. The display is large, sharp, and bright. So far, I haven’t had to turn the screen to over 60% brightness even out in the sun. Photos are vibrant and video playback is perfectly smooth. The 16 Megapixel rear camera has clarity and features that you normally associate with DSLR cameras rather than a smart phone. The fact that you can save pictures in .raw format and take 30 second exposures should say a lot. If that’s not your thing, then you can just keep it in auto-mode to have a very nice point-and-shoot camera. I can say for certain that I won’t be needing to bring my phone *and* a separate camera to events from now on. When I would show family and friends videos one thing that people noticed was how clear and full the sound was coming from the built-in speaker. The sound is clear and carries more like one of the external Bluetooth speakers I normally use with my other phones.

As I learned my way around the LG G4, I found several more features that I really appreciated. One of these is that the G4 has an infrared port at the top of the phone that, with he help of the “Quick Remote” app, can communicate with pretty much every device around your house that uses a remote control. I have not found a TV yet that couldn’t be controlled by this phone. It also has remote control support for projectors, stereos, cable boxes, and of all things, air conditioners. I’d also like to mention how much I grew to like the physical volume and lock buttons being on the back of the phone. This frees up real estate on the front of the phone for more screen space and the recessed buttons are easy to find by feel. The hand holding the phone can use these buttons, allowing your typing hand just that much more freedom of movement. Never once were any of them inadvertently pressed.

The battery life is pretty good. Even under heavy use it can last a full day, and moderate use will get you into a good part of a second day. The phone also features a “Battery Saver” mode. As I understand it, this kicks in when the battery level drops below 15%. However, I never saw my battery level drop below 20%. The thing I like most about the battery is how easy it is to access and change. Taking the back cover off to change the battery isn’t much harder than changing the battery in your TV remote. Once you have the back cover off you quickly see that there is a Micro-SD slot to expand the memory beyond the 32GB that comes built in. This is a great feature that you don’t see often enough and my first question was how large of a Micro-SD card can it handle. 64GB would be good and 128GB would be awesome. When I checked the specs I saw that it could handle a 2Tb (aka 2000GB) card! I thought that must be an error at first but sure enough it’s true. I’m not aware of any Micro-SD cards of that size existing at the moment but when the technology reaches that point it will find a home in my LG G4. That’s fine by me as I see myself using this as my primary phone for a long time.

Learn more about the new LG G4 and T-Mobile’s different plans by visiting T-Mobile.com!

The New Moto E: A Great Smartphone For Android Fans

May 8, 2015 by Beeb Leave a Comment

Loaner unit provided for assessment.

Motorola recently unveiled the 2nd Generation Moto E, a followup to the first edition that was one of their best-selling smartphones last year. We received a unit to test out for a month, and since Jai is our household’s resident Android fan, I thought he’d have fun playing around with it. Here’s what he had to say about using the Moto E:

They battery life on the Moto E was the first thing that stood out for me. I’m not one to spend much time talking, but I did leave it on for 3 days at a time without it needing a charge. I like the minimalist design as it is thin while the large face is justified by the fact that it’s almost all screen. The touch screen has the feel of glass, unlike the plastic feel of my previous Android devices. I was also able to get good cell reception throughout the house, which is an issue when you live on the edge of civilization as we do. The camera is pretty average. It’s fast and works well as a nice convenience if you have a camera already but there’s no flash and I wouldn’t expect anyone to use it if you’re going for nice photos.

Not only do I like the Motorola Moto E smartphone, but it’s reminded me why I like the Android operating system so much. My first smartphone was an Android – it was the HTC Dream which happened to be the first commercially released Android device. I loved everything about it (apart from the battery life) and used it for a long time. In fact, I still use it to this day: Not as a phone, but for its extremely accurate GPS which helps me keep track of my running. Since about 2010 I have gone back and forth between iOS and Android, but leaning toward iOS for the most part. No other phone on either platform has had the same GPS precision as my HTC Dream until trying the Moto E. The Moto E is also sooo much faster with opening apps than I’m used to and getting a chance to use it has made me realize how important it is to have a fast, quality phone as an Android user. There is just such a variety of hardware out there for Android that it’s easy to get stuck with something sub-par.”

In all, we were both impressed with the Moto E, which can impress longtime Android fans like Jai while still being budget-friendly, starting at $119.99. You can click here to pick up a 2nd Generation Moto E by visiting Motorola.com.

Father’s Day Gift Pick: Garmin HUD+

March 21, 2014 by Beeb 4 Comments

Garmin HUD+ provided for review.

A few years back, Jai and I were on vacation in England, and we were looking for souvenirs to take back home. Jai was having a hard time finding anything that his father would like, and my dad said, “Yeah, dads are hard to shop for!”. If even dads don’t know what to get for other dads, what hope do the rest of us have for finding the right gift?! 😉 Luckily, I am here to help with a gift that is guy-tested: The new Garmin HUD+.

The HUD+ – Head-Up Display – is a new innovation from Garmin that utilizes your smartphone’s built-in GPS to more closely replicate a standalone GPS setup. When I heard about this product, I immediately knew it was something that would be put to use in our car. You see, a few years ago I bought a GPS system during a Black Friday sale; it was great while it lasted, but sadly, it ended up getting stolen. In more recent times, we’ve simply used our respective iPhones to navigate while driving. This works pretty well, but is not without its drawbacks; since we are very strongly against texting while driving, we’ll either prop the phone in the dash or have the passenger hold it up for the driver. Since phones have such a small screen, this can make it hard for the driver to see the map. Not to mention, if you hit a dead spot in cell phone coverage, you are out of luck for navigating any further!

Garmin’s HUD+ aims to address some of these issues. There are two parts to this system: The first is a free Garmin HUD navigation app that you download to your bluetooth-enabled phone; the second is a small box with a screen which affixes to your dashboard. The device projects data wirelessly from the app onto its removable screen or on the windshield, if you prefer. Personally, we prefer projecting onto the small screen, as we find it more readable than reflecting off the windshield; however, it’s nice to have the option, especially since visibility will change depending on the time of day.

Here’s what the readout looks like when pointed on the windshield – I’ve circled it in the photo, since it’s harder to see when shrunk down into a small image:

This is how it looks when projected onto the removable plastic screen:

The readout includes arrows directing you as to where to turn, how many feet until the turn, how long until you reach your destination, the speed limit, and your actual speed. This is accompanied by a voice that reads out the directions. The window display is very simple, but that’s a good thing, since it’s not cluttered and gives you the necessary details as you need them. And when you need more detailed information, all you have to do is glance down at your phone, as the accompanying app has a full, detailed map navigation in real-time. One neat detail that we noticed is that the app will display Google Earth street view images when it finds them – that’s certainly a helpful feature, since we all know different street layouts can look in real life as opposed to a map.

One way that the Garmin HUD navigation app differs from other GPS navigation apps is that it requires you to download the full series of maps before heading to your location. The downside is that this takes up space on your phone; the upside is that your maps will continue to work if you are outside a cell coverage area – that is my #1 problem with using smartphones as our sole GPS, and I definitely think it’s an awesome feature, since we’ve taken screenshots of maps in the past to be safe just in case we lost the connection while driving!

The app lets you either navigate directly to the address in question, or pull up suggested destinations based on category; for example, if I hit “Points of Interest-Shopping-Grocery”, it pull up a list of all the stores in my town. The app also has some fun features, like Foursquare integration – I’ll definitely make use of that during our travels!

As for the functionality of the GPS itself, we haven’t had to drive any long distances this last week – it’s a miracle! – so we’ve only given it test runs in our hometown, which is very small and easy to get around. We did notice the navigation pointing us the wrong way once, which happens with all GPS apps; I’ve had much worse happen, like the time that a different GPS advised us to make a u-turn in the middle of the freeway. 😉 It also seems to be a little slow to update if you miss a turn or choose a different street than what it suggests. We think both of these things are due to the GPS in the phone itself, rather than the app; it’s doing the best it can working with the data it’s receiving from the phone.

In all, I think the Garmin HUD+ will be a big improvement on our previous smartphone setup and save us some real hair-pulling and hassle the next time we have to navigate through the labyrinths of Portland. I’m also looking forward to using some of the other features in the HUD+, such as traffic delay info and lane change advisories – things we haven’t really been able to test just driving around the corner to the grocery store. 😉

So how do I know that this would make the perfect Father’s Day gift? Because coincidentally, the Garmin HUD+ happened to arrive on Jai’s birthday, and he was so happy about it! If the dad on your list loves gadgets and/or drives a lot, then this is a great gift for him!

Garmin HUD+ – perfect for navigating down to the beach on sunny days!

Garmin HUD+ is compatible with iPhone 3GS or later, iPad 2 and up, Windows 8 Phone, and some Android devices; it retails for $179.99. Get yours today at Garmin.com!