I constantly hear people complaining about how fast their battery dies.  As the phones and their batteries get more and more expensive we need to take more care of them. 

I have gotten into the habit of plugging in m y phone whenever I go to bed.  I usually only have to do this every two days but I always like waking up with a full battery.

I was recently going to buy a car charger for my phone just in case and saw this article.  Very interesting reading.

To sum it up it basically says:

• Car chargers are the worst thing to use for your mobile battery.  It should only be the last resort.
• Get in the habit of charging the phone at home every night.
• The cheap $10 home chargers are even worse for the battery than the car charger.

Read the full article here to get more information.

[ Full Story ]

Labels: mobile

So the iPhone 3G is now out.  The Bold is on its way.  The guys over at BGR decided to put them head to head.

I really enjoyed the review.  They broke down the comparisons into parts and analyzed them in details. 

I was a little disappointed by the conclusion but understand why it ended up that way.

I won’t ruin it for you but go ahead and enjoy.

[ BlackBerry Bold vs. iPhone 3G: yeah, we definitely went there : Boy Genius Report ]

Labels: blackberry, iphone, mobile

I consider myself a heavy RSS user.  Whenever I come across a site with useful content I instantly look for an RSS feed and add it to my list.  If it does not have one chances are I may not visit it it in the future.

This also includes forums.  More and more forums these days have RSS feeds that report the new or updated posts.  Some forums work better than others but I’m just happy if a forum has one.

In the past I used a plug-in for Outlook (pre 2007) called NewsGator.  I loved it so much that after purchasing my copy it probably became the most used application on my computer.  Then along came Outlook 2007 with built in RSS feeds so I really saw no need for NewsGator and unfortunately the program I used so much was put aside.

Recently I got a BlackBerry and was looking for a RSS reader that I could load on it.  The only catch I had is that I wanted something that would sync with my desktop so I didn’t have to do the same work twice.  After a few Google searches along came NewsGator again.  I quickly surfed over the site and was excited at what I saw.

They have an online RSS management system where you can centralize all your RSS needs and all of your clients will sync to it so you don’t have to read the same feeds over and over again.  You can download clients for your PC/Mac or for your mobile devices to read news on the go.  I use this heavily and the clipping feature allows me to mark articles to read in more detail when I get to my PC.  The articles are added to a special folder that I can access later.  I LOVE THIS.

I have listed some of the pro’s and con’s I have noticed so far. 

Pros

• FREE
• Centralized management of feeds online.
• Sync all changes including read/unread, deleted, folder changes (rename/move) done on any of the clients.
• Online feed reader.
• NewsGator Inbox for Outlook.
• NetNewsWire for Mac.
• FeedDemon for PC.
• IE/Firefox plug-in.
• NewsGator Go for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Java Mobile
• Clipping feature to mark items to be read later.
• Much more …

Cons

• Require a data plan for NewsGator Go.
• The NewsGator Inbox for Outlook seems to cause my outlook to take longer to startup.  I remember this way back when I used it in the past but its a small price I pay for such a good program.
• Can’t think of much more as I am still getting use to this.

The best way to learn more about this program is to just give it a try.  Let me know what you think.  Did I say I LOVE IT already?

Labels: mobile, software, Technology, web sites

Apparently Blackberry will be.  Yet more rumors are coming out about how they are improving on the touchscreen keyboard with their Blackberry Thunder device.

The touch keyboard was one of the main reasons I did not like the iPhone in the first place but if this is as good as they are claiming this will be a HUGE selling feature.

[ Full Story ]

Labels: blackberry, iphone, mobile

SMS is currently heavily used by almost everybody that owns a cell phone these days.  Its a quick easy and somewhat cheap method to communicate with others.  However Bell and Telus are going to start charging for incoming SMS’s at a rate of 15 cents per message. 

I honestly can’t believe they will do this.  It is a dirty little trick to get a quick cash grab.  If they allow you to include those in your monthly SMS limits then your limits are basically cut in half.

The one thing I hate about this is that you never know who is sending you or where it is coming from.  I can start sending random messages to people I don’t like and run up their bills quickly.

On my Windows Mobile phone I was able to download a program that would block SMS messages from people I didn’t know.  However the problem with this is that it is handled at the phone level so the message still would go through.  I hope the service providers allow you to set something up on their servers to block them.

I really really hope Rogers doesn’t follow them as well. 

I will start utilizing my data plan more and using things like MSN mobile and blackberry messenger since I am already paying for my data.

[ More Info ]

Labels: mobile, rambling

Over at blackberrysync.com exclusive shots of the new Blackberry Thunder surfaced.  This new blackberry is the touch screen device that many users are excited about.  I have a feeling that this will be the only real iPhone competition out there.  The combination of the features and the OS is what will give it the extra push to compete.

I am pretty sure RIM will not disappoint with this one.

[ BlackBerry Thunder Exclusive Shots ]

Labels: blackberry, mobile

A lot of rumors have been flying around the net about the new iPhone being released by Rogers this Friday.

After seeing the data plans offered by Rogers for the new iPhone a lot of people are upset and some have even taken the fight into their own hands with hope that Rogers will lower the prices.

The latest rumor is that Apple is actually upset with Rogers and the bad publicity they are getting from this.  They may even go as far as reducing the number of units that will be in each Rogers store to about 20-30.  If this is the case the next set of headlines will be about how many people have gotten hurt (or even killed) in a stampede over the new iPhone's.  I hope they have security out at every store, its going to be a mess.

My views on the subject….

People are going to pay whatever they charge for it.  The demand for the iPhone is so strong that Rogers could charge $100 and still sell them.

Rogers has done their research.  They have obviously carefully selected this price point to maximize profits.  In the end its all about money.  If you are making billions but unhappy people are still paying for it, then keep it up.  Its working for gas prices.

If people only spent the same kind of energy on more important issues this world would be a better place.

Get a different phone.  Why must you have an iPhone?  The competition is stepping up its game.  I decided to skip the iPhone and get a Blackberry Curve.  I LOVE IT!!!! I'm happy I made that choice.  I don't think I can go back to the touch screen keyboard ever again.  My data plan currently is 300MB for 30$ and I am having a problem even reaching that right now.  I'm using 1MB a day doing everything I want with full email, all my RSS feeds and whatever surfing I am doing.  I don't think I will even touch the 300MB limit.  Why do you have to watch online videos on your phone.

I could go on and on but the only person in the end that will win is Rogers.  They could lower the prices and lock you in for 5 years.  But next year when the next generation iPhone comes out you will be screwed again as everyone will fight to get that one.  Take a look at the touch screen Blackberry that is rumored to come out later this year.  Serious competition.

Labels: iphone, mobile, rambling

Rogers finally officially announced their mobile plans for the iPhone that is being released next month and even though this link isn’t hosted on the Rogers site it is linked to from the site in the announcement section.  Its official.

To sum it up

Note… from my understanding these prices don’t include such features as voicemail, caller ID etc.. so all that is extra.  You also must sign on for a 3 year contract.

This is very disappointing.  For some reason I actually thought they would come up with a plan that would give unlimited everything.  But I guess it was just a dream.

If I take the cheapest plan, I am heavily restricted.  If you were only doing email then 400MB is a lot of email.  But once you start going into the Internet hungry applications you can easily go over 400 MB.  Forget about such things as YouTube.  And don’t download all those attachments that you get forwarded to your email.  You will quickly find yourself over the limit while trying to use your iPhone for what it was made for.  Just wait until all of those fancy applications start to get released and they require data as well.  Who will be first to blog about their $800 Rogers bill.

The text messaging numbers are a joke.  The iPhone will be used heavily for this.  Most people can pass the 75 in a week.  I have a plan that allows 125 and I don’t really text a lot and I still find myself getting really close to that number.  Last month I did 123. 

Get into the more expensive plans and you will be a bit more safe but who wants to pay those prices.

Now.. if you take the 60$ plan.  Add on the system access fee, the taxes, add on a few long distance calls/texts and viola!!! Your now close to $100 on your bill.  Who wants to pay $100 a month for the next 3 years?

I have a strong feeling a lot of people may not jump at it right away.  However I still think they are going to do good sales. 

I don’t know if at this point they will even offer these plans for those of us that went and got the original iPhone from the states.  Rumor has it they won’t.

I’m sticking with my BB Curve for now and not even going to bother with the Bold.  They are going to want an arm for that phone.  See my other rant about my just trying to upgrade to the Curve.

I think they dropped the ball with this one.. but to them its not about customer satisfaction.  Its about maximizing profits.

Labels: iphone, mobile, rambling

After lots of research I finally settled on upgrading my phone to a Blackberry and the plan as well.  I head on over to the Rogers web site and checkout the Blackberry’s they currently offer.  After deciding on the curve I compare the features to those of the new Bold coming out. 

I then weighed out my options of curve vs bold.  In the end it comes down to the price.  The site says $250 for the curve and I know the bold is going to cost me my first born.  So with this in mind I headed over to the local Rogers store to get it.

After a little bit of clicking around on the computer I was then informed that the phone will cost me close to $500!!!!!  This is all because I’m currently on a data plan for the next 3 years.  I was told to call customer service to see if they can do anything for me.

After a few minutes with customer servers I am told the same thing.  I asked and asked and asked and they would not reduce the price.  I currently have 2 cell phones, cable, Internet and two home phones with them and they would not cut me a break.

Do they really not want my money?  My current locked in plan wasn’t because of a previous phone I bought as my current phone I bought unlocked.  It was just for a data plan.  And I want to upgrade the plan so I would be spending more money with them to move to the new plan.  So what is the problem here?

I wasn’t too happy so I checked out eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji (first I’ve heard of this) and have found a few new curves with good prices on them.  I am still waiting on reply’s to my questions but it looks like I will get my phone this way. 

I don’t know why Rogers makes this so difficult sometimes.

Labels: blackberry, mobile, rambling

Rumor has it that the Blackberry Bold may be released as early as next week on Rogers.  I am still trying to decide on which one to drop some coin on.  Right now I thought I had my mind made up with the iPhone but then released that everybody and their dog is going to have one.  Gone are the days when you feel special pulling out a fancy phone that nobody else has.  Instead you will be picking at who has the new iPhone vs the old iPhone.

At least the Blackberry will give you a more “business ready” look.

I still haven’t finalized my decision but I found this really good comparison chart over on this lockergnome blog and thought it was really worthy of posting.  Take a look at it and see if it helps you decide.  Click on the image to open it up in another window.

Labels: blackberry, iphone, mobile

I am currently in the market for a new PDA to replace my current HTC TyTN.  And this time I'm doing a lot more research and trying to find the best phone for what I want it for.

I like my TyTN however I just don't like the battery life with my push email enabled.  I think any phone with push email enabled should last at least more than 24 hours easily.  This is not possible with the TyTN.  Its even worse when I have my push calendar enabled as well.  I don't even use the 3G on it.  I disabled that to help with the battery life.

So after hearing all my friend rave about their blackberry I am now starting to take that into consideration. 

I currently have it narrowed down to the iPhone 2 and the BlackBerry Bold.  I'm still measuring the features between the two and what I want it for.

However I recently saw this video of Google's new OS called the Android.  This is looking very promising and because its open source it is going to have a hell of a lot of cool applications for it.

Check out the video here.  At the end he demo's the compass mode which is really cool.

Also  you need to check out some of the new cool applications being developed here.

[ Google Android Applications ]

Rumour has it that this should be out in the last half of this year.  I may wait on it.  However I don't think it will have a lot of the features I'm looking for right away.  I'm leaning towards the Bold.

Labels: android, google, mobile