Battery Life with Smartphone

Battery Life with Smartphone

Type of smartphone you have, the device can serve as your MP3 player, digital camera, gaming system, and even your TV while you’re out and about — as long as you have battery power. If it seems like smarter phones are getting less life out of their batteries… you’re absolutely right. Smartphones can help you get a lot done while traveling, but if you’re doing a lot on one in a day, you’re apt to see your screen go dark long before the sun goes down.

Watching out for a few small things during your day, however, can help extend battery life on your trusty device and make sure you’ve got enough juice to make it all day and well into the night.

Nokia Lumia iPhone 5 Series Windows 8 vs. iOS

Following the recent the release of the latest and greatest Windows phone, Verizon's Nokia Lumia Icon, news continues to surface: Facebook Messenger for Windows phone arrived March 5 as covered on Tech Crunch. Now it's time to compare the Nokia Lumia Icon to Apple's iPhone 5 series. Here are the major differences we noticed.

Differentiator: Display: Nokia Lumia Icon has a 5-inch screen while the iPhone 5 series offers 4-inch screens. At first glance, it's obvious the Nokia Lumia Icon is larger with a significantly bigger screen than the iPhones 5, 5s and 5c. Icon is also a little heavier than the iPhone. The heaviness is caused by Icon's larger screen. iPhone 5s has 1136 by 640 pixels, or 326 pixels per inch, compared to Icon's 1080 by 1920 pixels.

Apps. As is usually the case, the apps you need dictate which phone you should buy. If you really want to use your phone to manipulate Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, then you will want to try the Nokia Lumia Icon. This is a good phone. It works. It's fast. It's a nice, handy size. Most of the other phone functions you need are probably here. And it definitely handles spreadsheets more like Excel on a PC, than Apple's Numbers app does. When it comes to apps, however, the iPhone has access to far apps than the Windows phone has. Developers naturally get their apps in place for iPhone and Android, with the vast majority of phone users, before they get them in place for the relatively small number of Windows phone users.

Battery life: In our unscientific testing the Nokia Lumia Icon went longer without a charge than the iPhone 5. Nokia Lumia Icon comes with a battery saver app and also gives you an estimate in days and hours of the amount of time before it will need charging, which was nice to see. Icon easily handled an average day of work after being charged up at night. The iPhone 5 requires charging during the day if it's used heavily.

Samsung Galaxy S5 vs HTC M8

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is coming to major U.S. and Canadian carriers for Spring 2014, and so is the HTC M8 (HTC One 2). These two smartphones will hit carriers and retailers at around the same time as rivals on the mobile market battlefield.

As PC Advisor reports (March 15), the final product name for the upcoming new HTC flagship phone is still unclear. Reports often refer to the upcoming device by it's codename, the HTC "M8" or the HTC One 2. HTC recently called it the “All New HTC One” and it's suggested that the phone maker could also opt for the moniker,“HTC One 2014”.

One month after the Samsung Unpacked 5 launch event for the Galaxy S5 during Mobile World Congress (MWC 2014) week, HTC will announce its next-gen HTC One on March 25. Leaks and rumors surrounding the HTC M8 (HTC One 2) have already revealed some of the key product specs (rumored specs).

If you’re in the market for a new phone this Spring, you might be curious to know how the HTC One 2 (HTC M8) specs and features compare to the Samsung Galaxy S5.

The Update to iOS 7

Allmost advanced mobile OS”. After six months of iOS 7 being released, iOS 7.1 released on March 10, 2014. So what does iOS 7.1 have that iOS 7.0 doesn’t?

iOS 7.1 has many new features and security updates that 7.0 didn’t. iOS has changed how Siri, the smart assistant, listens to you. You now have the option to hold down the home button while talking to Siri, and then simply release the home button after talking and Siri will stop listening. Before the 7.1 update, you would hold down the home button and when you released it, you would talk and Siri would have to guess when you were done talking, picking up background noise.

Siri wasn’t the only thing that was updated in the 7.1 update. There are also visual updates such as the option to turn on HDR for all photos on the iPhone 5s. There is also an updated feel for the phone app. There is a new button for calling and hanging up your phone call. Instead of the old “bar” you push, you now have a button the size of the numbers.

The new 7.1 update isn’t all just updates. iOS 7.1 now has maybe the safest feature is has ever released – Apple CarPlay. Apple’s CarPlay uses your Phone app, Music, Maps, and Messages apps to make ones driving while using your phone experience as hands free as possible. It uses your car’s screen to make calls, give you step-by-step directions, send and receive messages, and listen to your favorite music using Podcasts, Beats Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, and iTunes Radio as well as your music on your phone.

Unfortunately, Apple’s CarPlay isn’t available on all models of cars. CarPlay is currently available on Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo 2014 models. CarPlay will be available at a later time from their “committed partners” like Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, and BMW.

So what will the next update to iOS 7 come with? Undoubtedly more great features only Apple can give.