Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts

6 great smartphones that won’t cost you a unitary penny

6 great smartphones that won’t cost you one single penny

Smartphones are here to stay, and it's no real surprise why. They connect us to Facebook, help us find guidelines to the office, take pictures, and may even why don't we connect our laptops to the internet from the side of the road. But they are just so darned expensive... roughly you think.

You don't need to spend $300 or even more just to get a great phone. We've come up with a summary of six great free smartphone options — they don't cost you not your signature (and, needless to say, a fresh contract). These to aren't one-day-only deals, plus they aren't refurbished models that someone's already had their fingerprints around. They are absolutely free, absolutely new phones.

You don't need to know somebody who knows somebody to obtain these to for free, nevertheless, you do have to buy these online. Most carriers have special, online-only pricing. And if you're upgrading a vintage phone, be cautious. Some carriers will ask you for an upgrade fee if you're still under a vintage contract. What fun is a free phone if you have to pay a fee to obtain it?

1 . AT&T: iphone 3gs
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 3GS
Think an Apple iphone costs big money? Wrong — the iphone 3gs could be yours from AT&T, absolutely free. Sure, you don't get all the top features of the brand new $199 iPhone 4S as well as the $99 apple iphone 4, nevertheless, you still obtain the iPhone essentials: access to the app store, wifi, a good 3-megapixel camera that may record video, GPS, and 8GB worth of storage. You can even upgrade the telephone to iOS 5, Apple's latest operating-system.

The iphone 3gs isn't the brand new kid on the Apple block anymore. Nevertheless, you still get a great phone for your money — which, in this case, is zero dollars and zero cents.

2 . AT&T: LG Phoenix

LG Phoenix
LG Phoenix
At times, it looks like you can find two different kinds of people on the planet: those that love Apple products, and those who revile them. If you're in the latter category, then you're absolutely going to be in the marketplace for an Android-powered smartphone. And while we're not sure why you had need to get an Android phone on the restrictive AT&T network (you may be trapped by your contract, or possibly your dad is president of the company), if you're dead set on it, browse the LG Phoenix.

This smartphone isn't perfect — it does lack the ability to access the high-speed 4G LTE network. Nevertheless, you get plenty of phone otherwise. Its OS is upgradable to Android 2 . 3 (Gingerbread), you obtain access to the ever-growing Android market, the phone's 3. 2-megapixel camera shoots video, it's wifi-capable, and it's bluetooth-ready. You can even increase the option to tether the telephone to your laptop or other devices for anywhere access to the internet. Not bad.

3. Verizon: Droid Pro

Droid Pro
Droid Pro
Most keyboards are virtual nowadays, and that's a shame, because there's something very satisfying about having to press real buttons. Verizon's Droid Pro includes a prominent keypad on the front — a throwback to the era of phones when BlackBerry was king.

However the keyboard isn't all you get. Behind it hides a powerful — dated, but powerful — Android device that may be updated to perform the Gingerbread OS. You obtain 3G mobile hotspot support, wifi, 2GB of internal memory plus 2GB of (expandable) preinstalled microSD memory, and all those great games and utilities in the Android Market. You even get a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, which is better hardware than you obtain with most free phones nowadays.

4. Verizon: LG Enlighten

LG Enlighten
LG Enlighten
So you've sold yourself on the idea of a phone with a physical keyboard. But what if you don't want those bulky keys getting in just how, getting mashed in your purse and taking on valuable phone real estate? Split up the difference with the LG Enlighten, a sexy smartphone with a hidden, slide-out keyboard.

The LG Enlighten offers you most of everything you get with the Droid Pro: a 3G mobile hotspot, spoken turn-by-turn Navigation from Google, and Android Gingerbread OS right from the box. Plus, you obtain a full 3. 2" capacitive touchscreen — one area where bigger most certainly is better.

The primary downside to the phone may be the insufficient internal memory. The Enlighten doesn't offer a large amount of built-in storage (only 150MB), and that may be considered a deal breaker. Nevertheless, you can simply expand the storage with the addition of your own microSD card.

5. Sprint: LG Rumor Touch

LG Rumor Touch
LG Rumor Touch
Are you or somebody you love a text-aholic? If so, you're the precise sort of customer LG had in mind when it created the Rumor Touch, a 3" touchscreen smartphone.

Like the Enlighten, the LG Rumor Touch includes a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with big enough buttons to type with quick precision. The Rumor Touch even runs its messaging-friendly operating-system. And, needless to say, any phone built around messaging has to have Facebook and Twitter built in. The camera is weak at only 2 megapixels, however the Rumor assumes you will most probably be too busy texting to take any pictures.

Oh, and on top of that? The Rumor Touch also doubles as a phone. Can you believe any such thing?

6. T-Mobile: Nokia Lumia 710

Nokia Lumia 710
Nokia Lumia 710
If there's one thing that the previously mentioned phones have in common, it's that they are all good, solid 3G phones. But let's be honest — 3G is yesterday's technology. Blazing-fast 4G wireless is where it's at. And T-Mobile's Nokia Lumia 710 offers you access to luscious 4G speed without having to pay a single penny in advance.

The Lumia uses the less popular Windows Phone 7 operating-system, but don't let the numbers fool you. Windows Phone 7 is a solid, seamless OS, especially for novices to the smartphone game.

The phone's hardware is great. You obtain a sharp, 3. 7", 800 x 480 LCD screen, a 5-megapixel camera, a powerful 1 . 4GHz processor, and all that wifi and GPS goodness you'd are expecting. And you also probably tuned all that out because you were too busy thinking about how cool it really is that free phone has 4G. Completely understandable.

Note: Before you order one of these brilliant free phones, be sure to check the pricing and make certain it's free. Carrier pricing can transform with the wind, and for no good reason.

Sell Your iPad 2 Now and Get an iPad 3?

Want an iPad 3? Sell Your iPad 2 Now

iPad 3
iPad 3
Pay attention, Apple fans: save yourself your individual files to your iCloud in the sky, and delete your apps – because the time is nigh to market your iPad 2 .

Re-sale charges for the iPad 2 will fall because the official launch date for the iPad 3 — widely expected to be March 7 — edges closer, experts say. Consumers can are expecting to see a steep decline in value in the 2-3 weeks before the unveiling of the newer device, says Mark LoCastro, spokesman for sale aggregator site DealNews. com. “You’ll receive a higher resale value for your used device if you spend the it now, instead of looking forward to the newer generation to be announced, ” he says.

The re-sale price follows exactly the same trajectory because the iPhone, experts say. As SmartMoney. com reported, the apple iphone 4 declined 20% to 25% in value on re-sale sites during the immediate launch amount of the iPhone 4S, but this leveled out because the excitement on the launch subsided. The iPad 2 will probably experience a similar percentage decline after the iPad 3 is announced, says Ashley Halberstadt, a spokeswoman for re-sale site Nextworth. com. That said, LoCastro says re-sale sites desire to offer aggressive pricing now in order to buy up as much units as you possibly can while folks are looking to sell — so he doesn’t eliminate an uptick in cost on the day the iPad 3 is announced.

But if Apple decides to keep on trying to sell the iPad 2 at a discount along with the spanking new iPad 3, the re-sale market for old tablets will experience an even bigger hit, LoCastro says. “This is a rumor and several are skeptical, but if it proves true the trade-in value for your used iPad 2 will immediately plummet, ” he says. (Apple did not respond to requests for comment. ) That said, the worthiness of Wi-Fi only iPads an average of endure better on the re-sale market since they don’t involve buyers taking out a two-year data plan, Halberstadt says.

Prices vary on re-sale sites, too. NextWorth. com can pay $272 for a 16-gigabyte iPad 2 in “good” condition– a 45% depreciation on the price of a new $499 iPad 2 . Gazelle. com, a competing re-sale site, will buy a similar iPad 2 for $260. Both sites offer “lock-in” charges for an agreed time frame before the tablet sells. Nextworth includes a lock-in amount of 21 days, while Gazelle pledges a slightly more generous 30-day lock-in period.

More adventurous consumers may prefer holding onto their iPad 2 before last minute and trying to sell it on ebay themselves, says Yung Trang, president of TechBargains. com. Currently, the iPad 2 is trying to sell on ebay for about $300, a far more attractive price for sellers than both Netxtworth and Gazelle, he says. Plus, Trang says people may be reluctant to spend the their iPad 2 now — if only since they will be left empty handed before spring, once the new iPad is expected to actually continue sale. “That’s my dilemma, ” he says. “The question is really this: May be the incremental $50 to 100 you get now worth not having an iPad for nearly a month? ” The choice, he says, is supply the used iPad to your children.