5 important rules about your new smartphone

You can figure out a lot of the features just by fiddling, but there are a few general concepts that might not seem clear. Have no fear: I'm here to help you learn the important smartphone basics.

1. Battery life will disappoint
The hard truth: You'll be lucky to get a day or two of smartphone runtime before needing to recharge. Want to stretch battery life as far as possible? Start by dropping the screen brightness to around 50 percent. You'll hardly notice the difference.
Next, disable Bluetooth if you're not using it, and think very hard about turning off push e-mail (automated mail retrieval at regular intervals, and a major power-suck).
iPhone users should check out Sharon Vaknin's "How to give your iPhone's battery life a serious boost." I followed her tips, and my iPhone 4S runtime improved dramatically.
If you're an Android user, turn off those cool but battery-draining animated wallpapers, then install an app like JuiceDefender. It's free, and in my experience it works really well.
2. Tap the screen, don't stab it
I always see smartphone novices stabbing at their screens, or holding their finger down much longer than necessary. To launch an app, just lightly tap its icon with the pad of your finger. (A fingernail won't work, as touch screens require a capacitive--i.e. fingertip--touch.)
On an iPhone, tapping and holding on an icon will make all the icons start shaking. That's intentional: you can rearrange your icons (by dragging and dropping them) while in this mode. Press either the Home or Power button to stop the shaking.
On Android phones, you tap, hold, and drag icons to rearrange them; there's no special "mode" like on the iPhone.
But remember: when you want to run an app or swipe the screen, use a quick, light touch.
3. The difference between off and standby
When you're not actually using your phone, it stands to reason it should be off, right? Wrong: "off" means actually powering down the phone, much like you do with your computer. When it's off, you can't make calls, run apps, or do anything else. Because, well, it's off!
Instead, when you're not actually using your phone, you want it to retreat to standby mode--meaning only the screen shuts off. This happens one of two ways: automatically, after a set period of inactivity; or by pressing (but not holding!) the power button. You should get in the habit of doing the latter before sticking the phone back in your pocket or bag, if only to preserve battery life--but also to prevent accidental dialing or app launching.

Don't pay $20 for a basic bumper case when you can get one online for one-tenth the price.

(Credit: Meritline)

4. Avoid overpriced cases
A "naked" phone is susceptible to scuffs, scratches, and, should it have an untimely meeting with the pavement, shattered screens. That's why most folks wisely choose to wrap their phones in some kind of case.
Just one problem: the cases you find in most stores (especially Apple and carrier stores) cost a small fortune. If all you need is simple protection, look online.
For example, Meritline sells a basic black iPhone 4 bumper case for all of $1.99 shipped. And a quick search of eBay reveals all kinds of cases for all kinds of phones, most of them priced at $10 or less.
I'm not saying there's no place in the world for the $89.95 leather zip wallet, just that there are much more affordable alternatives available online. Worth a look.
5. Apps bring the 'smart'
Apps are what put the "smart" in "smartphone," so hit the app store to stock up. You'll find lots of good freebies, and plenty of other apps that cost only a buck or two.
Android phones come with Google's Android Market (which itself is an app), but you may want to consider installing Amazon's Appstore as well. Why bother? Amazon gives away a different paid app every single day.

Source:Internet

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Smartphone Battery Breakthrough Coming … In 3 to 5 Years

Although iPhone 4S battery drain was a real problem, it also brought up the need for a smartphone battery breakthrough--something so significant that you'll never have to worry about getting through the day on a single charge, even if the battery's not behaving properly.
The good news is that a true breakthrough is on the way, and promises week-long battery life and 15-minute recharge times. The bad news is that this technology is still three to five years away from the market.
Researchers at Northwestern University worked with the same lithium-ion batteries found in today's smartphones. But by layering clusters of silicon in between the graphene sheets that make up one side of the battery--known as the anode--the researchers were able to pack in a lot more lithium.
Scientists have already tried using silicon as a replacement for carbon-based graphene sheets but, in previous approaches, it expanded and contracted too dramatically, causing fragmentation that reduced capacity. Apparently the sandwiching of silicon between graphene solves that problem.
The researchers also poked tiny holes in the graphene, providing a shortcut for the lithium to travel through and be stored by a reaction with the silicon. Essentially, the unique use of silicon is solving two problems at once.
This breakthrough sounds particularly interesting to me because it's still based on lithium ion batteries. When I last ranted about smartphone battery life when the iPhone 4S faced problems, I pointed to new approaches like kinetic charging, photovoltaic cells or lithium-sulfur batteries. But Northwestern researchers aren't working on entirely new methods. They're just drastically improving the type of batteries that smartphones use already. Let's hope it gets to the real world in time for the iPhone 6S.

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Now an app that helps you save Android phone's battery

When there are software programs running in the background and the users are not aware of it, the process sucks away battery life.

Many of us want to extend our Android smartphone's battery life but are not comfortable going into the details. For such users, an app has been launched, named PowerMax which is created by a startup - Volt Up.
"Smartphones that carry the Google Android platform can rest assured their phones will not fail them when they need them most," said Joseph Yossi Weihs, an embedded devices engineer and head of Volt Up.
"Of course we can't make the battery last forever, but in most cases we can double battery life, which can make all the difference, especially during emergencies," Joseph added.
The technology developed by Volt Up monitors and manages the radios of Android handsets including 2G/3G/4G, WiFi, FM, GPS and Bluetooth. The app puts these radios to sleep according to the needs of the users.
The app analyses the usage patterns of the Android handset, and keeps an eye on the device if the battery is being drained faster. The user is also informed about how much battery power is being saved and used.
Google is definitely aware the Android phones are facing some battery problems. When Google co-founder Larry Page was asked about the weak battery life of Android handsets, he said ideally the users should get one day's battery life and if they were not getting it, something was wrong. He suggested it was probably due to third party apps and the way the users used them.
When there are software programs running in the background and the users are not aware of it, the process sucks away battery life.
In simpler terms, the users should simply turn off applications such as the GPS whenever they can. Similarly the background sync, or Twitter app, RSS apps should not be active all the time. The problem is, these are the features which bring people to Android in the first place, so they may not want to disable these apps for more battery life, they would rather charge their battery.

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Bluetooth 4.0 promises to be more successful than Bluetooth 3.0

Apparently the Bluetooth 3.0 has a problem that it consumes too much power so even though the specs have been available for quite some time, they haven't been rolled out.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has said that the new version, Bluetooth 4.0, could be launching in the 4th quarter of this year with devices such as headsets, phones and PC’s all getting the technology.

The latest specification allows devices with smaller batteries to utilise Bluetooth. Previous versions of BT required that a device had at lease a AAA or larger capacity battery to function. The new 4.0 specifications allow for smaller devices that require coin-cell batteries to run.

As well as utilising less power, the device also has higher speed data transfer. Version 3.0 was launched last year although it kind of fell flat on it’s face due to the power requirements needed. Version 4.0 fixes those problems.

The new specification will carry the high-speed Wi-Fi feature introduced with Bluetooth 3.0. That allows devices to jump onto Wi-Fi 802.11 networks, where it can transfer data at up to 25Mbits per second.

Hopefully with the lower power requirements and the options to switch to 802.11 networks we should start seeing more devices using the Bluetooth specification.

However, Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin believes the new standard nonetheless holds considerable appeal.

"These protocols are designed to be very efficient because they are delivering small bits of data," Golvin told PC World, adding that current technologies expended far too much energy to transmit data over short distances. “They'd be like pulling out a cannon to kill a mouse,” Golvin said.

Despite being certified nearly a year ago, the first Bluetooth 3.0+HS devices have yet to appear on the market.

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