The Sim Free Nokia Lumia 800 is arriving back in stock tomorrow. It’s a monster Nokia handset and is the first to feature Windows Mobile 7.5, but it’s proving to be a bit like marmite… some of you love it, but other people aren’t too impressed.
Looking stylish and being packed with People Hub, GPS, Windows 7.5 and 16GB of internal memory just to name a few features; the Lumia 800 has got great specs but if you’ve bought the handset and you’re not a fan we’ve got great news for you!
If you buy your Lumia 800 Sim Free from us and register it on Lovemekeepme within 10 days of purchasing, you’re entitled to claim your money back for your Lumia 800 if you decide within 40 days that you don’t like it! So why not give the Lumia 800 a try!
Love Me Keep Me
To be able to do this all you have to do is buy a Lumia 800 before the 29th February, luckily for you we’ll have them back in stock tomorrow!
All the terms as conditions can be found here, but remember that to be able to claim your money back you must register your Lumia 800 within 10 days of purchasing it.
We recently supplied The Gadget Show with some Krusell SEalABox cases to use for their Surprise Special which aired yesterday.
We had no idea what the team would do with these cases (my guess was putting them in a swimming pool) but it’s fair to say they were put through their paces.
The KrusellSEalABox cases are designed to provide waterproof protection to most modern mobile phones. The cases have a IPX7 standard which means that they have been approved at 1 metres depth for 30 minutes, giving you complete usability underwater.
However what’s great about the SEalABox is that it also provides unbeatable protection too, as was seen on the show last night.
The Krusell sailed through the constant spraying of dirt and water from the motorbikes; survived a spin in a washing machine tied to a brick (better than the machine itself) but sadly it couldn’t quite cope with being blown up!
Click on the image below to see the SEalABox being put through some serious testing:
Some smartphones these days are finally reaching levels of performance that they can play back full HD videos in crisp 1080p. What good is that if you have to watch it on a 4″ screen though? Enter the MHL adapter, a powerful A/V standard interface for connecting smartphones to HDTVs and other high resolution displays. The MHL connection allows for the transmission of uncompressed 1080p HD video, uncompressed 7.1 channel sound, and charging capabilities all through a single, slim cable.
If you’ve got one of the following smartphones or tablets, you’ve already got built-in MHL abilities:
Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone
HTC Sensation smartphone
HTC Evo 3D smartphone
HTC Flyer tablet
So all you need now is a television. The MHL consortium have just announced the first MHL-enabled TV, the Toshiba WL800A, but you don’t have to wait to use that one. The MHL cabling technology can also be used on older TVs by connecting the video and audio over HDMI, and charging over USB. While it’s not the single-cable solution that MHL will soon be, it’s still a perfect way to keep your phone charged and use your HDTV as a display.
Let’s have a look at the various options available.
MHL Adapters
The BizLink MHL to HDMI TV-Out Adapter is a universal connection, capable of supporting any MHL-enabled smartphone from the list above. The connector is essentially a micro USB to a joint USB and HDMI connection. This allows you to keep your smartphone charged while you’re watching HD content on your HDTV, or even just enjoying the increased screen size.
BizLink MHL to HDMI TV-Out Adapter - Black
If you’ve got the Samsung Galaxy S2, you can depend on this Genuine Samsung Galaxy S2 MHL TV-Out Adaptor. As it’s made by Samsung, you can be sure that it’s one hundred percent compatible. Like the Bizlink adapter, this MHL adapter uses an HDMI and USB connection to function, although the internal connection is all MHL.
If you’re an HTC fan and bought the Sensation, then this MHL adaptor is for you: The HTC Sensation MHL – HDMI TV-Out Cable. The form factor looks a lot nicer than the Samsung or Bizlink adapters, but the connection is ExtMicroUSB, which means the cable will only work on HTC products (like the HTC Sensation, HTC Flyer or HTC Evo 3D).
HTC Sensation MHL - HDMI TV-Out Cable
Finally, the Flyer can be connected with a specialised HTC Flyer AC M500 MHL HDMI TV-Out Cable. Like the HTC Sensation-specific connection, it comes with a long cable and HTC-specific ExtMicroUSB connection. If you’ve got the HTC Flyer, then this is the cable you want.
HTC Flyer AC M500 MHL HDMI TV-Out Cable
Conclusion
I hope you found this post useful! If you’ve any questions about MHL technology or mobile phone accessories, I’d be happy to answer them. You can get a hold of me via Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus at the links below. Of course, you can always leave a comment here on the blog too!
Smartphones are wonderful things, attracting our care and attention day in and day out, from reading your morning emails to ordering a pizza when you get off work.
As good as they are however, they can attract unwanted attention. In that vein, I present the top six apps that’ll get you mugged.
6. Alarm Free
A good (read: terrible) app to use once you’re actually being mugged is Alarm Free for iPhone. As you can see in the diagram provided below, you’re supposed to scare away muggers by holding up your smartphone and pressing the screen. This will make an alarm sound, and flash a light menacingly.
This’ll do precisely nothing to deter your attackers, but it does mean that they’ll definitely notice your expensive smartphone.
Note the incapacitating effect as the app hits the attacker at full force.
5. Flashlight
If you’re walking through a dark neighborhood at night, you might think that providing more light will make you safer. Unfortunately, pulling out your smartphone and then making it produce as much light as possible doesn’t provide protection so much as advertise your presence (and your phone) to any passers-by.
Some apps go further and provide a ‘police light’ setting. Unless you’re being beset by the bumbling thieves of Home Alone, I’m guessing this won’t be much help.
Imagine these appearing in sequence really fast. Scared?
4. Google Navigation
Another great way to get robbed is to let everyone know you’re from out of town. Although dressing oddly, mispronouncing local landmarks and asking for directions are all good starts, perhaps the best way is to walk through town listening to your smartphone mispronounce local landmarks and guide you effortlessly through crime-ridden areas to save you a few minutes.
"Turn LEFT into SHADY NEIGHBORHOOD. You are THREE HUNDRED MILES from home."
3. I Am Rich
The famous I Am Rich app, which cost curious buyers new to the iPhone market $1000 for an app that just showed a JPG of a computer-generated jewel and had no actual features, takes number three in our list. Although the app has long since been removed from the market, it remains a popular app for jail-breaking pirates.
An app to show people that I've got bags of cash *and* I'm an idiot... perfect!
Another expensive app is the only ‘app for millionaires’, iVIP Black. The $1000 app requires a manual check after purchased that you’re a well heeled individual, and afterwards offers a variety of extremely expensive services — race horse ownership, helicopter hire, penthouses, that kind of thing. I doubt you’d be walking if you owned this app, but consider yourself forewarned nonetheless.
If you've got this app, you probably aren't walking.
2. Google Sky Map
What’s more likely to get you mugged than walking through a bad neighborhood looking at your smartphone? How about walking through a bad neighbourhood staring at your smartphone as you hold it up to the sky?
Google Sky Map identifies constellations that you point it at, using your camera’s gyro to figure out where you’re looking. It also takes the prize for being the app that’ll make it most obvious that you’re not paying attention to your surroundings.
Allowing you to identify Saturn and get your wallet nicked all in one app!
1. Slasher
While you can get mugged by looking too rich, too out of place or too oblivious, sometimes it’s just a random thing. In this case, you might think it might be a good idea to be prepared. Enter the Slasher app, which ‘displays a common kitchen knife on the screen and plays a “horror” sound when you make a stabbing motion.’
I can’t think of a better way to keep yourself safe than a virtual knife, complete with inappropriate sound effect. Heck, with this thing you could go mugging yourself!
Picture above: A mugger's worst nightmare
Bonus: How Not To Get Mugged
Sometimes, the best way to not get mugged is the simplest:
Legendary.
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So you went ahead and bought a smartphone. Why? because it has so many functions that it’s like the Swiss Army Knife of the digital age. But what if these functions themselves are the reason why your handset can’t stand a full day on a single charge? Common answers around the web direct you to disable your GPS, change the network to 2G or GSM from 3G, stop listening to music on the loudspeaker, and avoid chatrooms and constant emailing. If that’s right then why would I buy a smartphone when there are plain vanilla phones available at half the price?
This led me to start a quest for workarounds that would let me enjoy a beautiful smartphone experience without any painful ‘Battery Empty’ notifications. Here are the fruits of that quest – wisdom to keep your smartphone juiced up.
1. Keep your cool phone cool
Never leave your phone is direct sunlight or near a heat source. Heat is the number one culprit when it comes to dying batteries.
2. Firmware Updates
Though the tip is universal it holds particularly for Symbian devices. Symbian firmware updates usually have battery performance as it’s number one priority – probably because there’s nothing much to work with that OS.
3. Love GPS modules
Get yourself a bluetooth GPS module like the Motorola MotoNav SIRF 3 gps module. Bluetooth only sips through battery power and when you use an external Bluetooth GPS module for lengthy navigation you actually shift a lot of processing strain from the phone to the module, thus making huge savings on battery life.
4. Get an alternative power source charger
You could go for a mobile phone car charger if you’re someone who carpools or have your own car. Otherwise you could go for a Nexus Battery Pack or a Solar charger depending on your lifestyle. The Nexus battery pack comes with a whopping 2 Amperes of storage cased in a slick black case. I recommend it.
5. Go hands-free
Again there may be nay-sayers who target the Bluetooth wasting power. But I have personally achieved much better uptime for my phone using a Bluetooth headset than without. Moreover, since you’re already using the technology for your GPS module you might as well make the most of it. Make sure to shop for good BT headsets as some are more power efficient than others. My personal favorite is the Sony Ericsson MW600 – it features the ability to pair with 3 devices at a time giving you a lot of flexibility if you’re a gadget freak like me.
6. Power User?
If you’re a power user who makes the most of everything that your phone offers, or if you’re a Nokia N900 user, then I’d suggest installing a battery monitor that tracks your power usage to specific apps so that you can use only the more efficient ones.
7. Transfer data through the USB
Most modern smartphones support charging through USB cables. If you need to transfer files to your computer use the the USB instead of WiFi or Bluetooth. Not only will the transfer be faster but you’ll gain charge instead of losing it.
Don’t just be a smartphone user, be a smart user.
Thanks to Dilin Anand of Shaasthra.com for this guest blog post.
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