Top 10 Ways to Save Money with Your Smartphone

Your smartphone might be an expensive pocket computer, but it can help make up for its high price tag by cutting costs in other ways. Here are our top 10 ways to save money with your smartphone.

10. Find Fee-Free ATMs

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ATM fees are ridiculously high, with many charging around $3 for a transaction outside of your bank. This is easily avoidable by simply checking for the nearest fee-free ATM using your bank's smartphone app. Most large banks have them for both iPhone and Android, and if not you can always save a bookmark for your bank's ATM locator page. Either way you'll be able to check in a pinch and avoid that hefty fee.

9. Always Have Your Coupons

Coupons are an obvious way to save some cash, but you don't always have them with you. That's where coupon apps come in. They provide you with a large database of coupons for various stores so you always have them when you need them. There are tons of options, but Coupon Sherpa for iPhone and The Coupons for Android will get the job done. You may also want to download store-specific apps for access to exclusive deals.

8. Use an App to Compare Prices When Shopping

When at a brick and mortar store, prices tend to be higher. If you've got a smartphone you can quickly check to see if any online prices are better than what you're seeing locally. You do this by scanning the barcode on the back of a product with your smartphone's camera and a price comparison app. For iPhone, we like RedLaser and Google Shopper (or Amazon Mobile, if all you need is Amazon). For Android, Google Shopper is the way to go (or Amazon Mobile if that's your thing).

7. Keep Digital Copies of Discount Cards

Discount cards are really handy when you're shopping, but once they start to accumulate they become pretty much unmanageable—at least in the real world. Your smartphone, however, can store these cards for quick retrieval. While you could just take pictures of them and store them on your phone, a free app called CardStar (for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry) will help you manage them all. It'll also give you relevant coupons, too, which is a nice added bonus.

6. Actually Use Your Phone to Save Money

If you're trying to save, it helps to put together a budget and track your spending. These are both things your smartphone can handle pretty well with just the right app. We like the free Jumsoft Money app for iPhone, but BillMinder is also a good option as it tries to keep you from forgetting your bills so you don't end up paying late fees. On Android, check out Moneywise, Pageonce, or EasyMoney (if you've got $10 to spend on an app).

5. Save Money on Groceries

We're very fond of Grocery IQ, which is an all-around great app for managing all of your grocery shopping needs. When you run out of something at home, you can just use Grocery IQ to scan the barcode and immediately add it to your groceries list. What's particularly helpful, however, is Grocery IQ's excellent abilities to keep track of your grocery store discount cards and any current deals/coupons so you never miss out. It's really handy and a free download for both Android and iPhone.

4. Get Cheap Gas

It's easy to just go out and pick the closest gas station, but generally one of the gas stations a bit our of the way is going to be your best bet. You don't want to venture off to a farther gas station just because it'll save you money, as often times the transport costs will eat up your savings, so a gas price finder app us really helpful to have in your pocket. We like GasBuddy on both iPhone and Android.

3. Make Calls Using VOIP

Maybe you've got unlimited data. Maybe you're on Wi-Fi a lot. So long as you have a good means of keeping your phone connected you can start making VOIP calls to save your minutes. The simplest way to go about this is to just use Skype (for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry). Alternatively, Talkatone lets you make free Google Voice VOIP calls on your iPhone and GrooVe IP does that same for Android.

2. Don't Pay for Text Messages

Text messages are a pricey add-on to your service plan but there are tons of apps that let you do it for free. Most notable is the free Google Voice, which provides free SMS text messages and a free phone number. TextFree for iPhone and Android also gets the job done, but you can't have a single, unified phone number like Google Voice can provide.

1. Tether at Little to No Cost

Cellphone carriers love to gouge you on tethering, but if you're paying a specific price for a data connection you should be able to use that connection however you want—especially if you're paying for a finite amount. To tether without the monthly fee on your iPhone you'll need to jailbreak and purchase MyWi. Yeah, it'll cost you $20 but you're only paying it once. On Android, just grab PdaNet. Both should have you tethering freely in no time.

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Best Antivirus 2011

Antivirus is necessary to protect our computers from virus attacks the computer, where the new virus today's increasingly harmful to computer users. The virus has evolved to be attacked in our hardware and software systems. So from that choice the best antivirus which is believed capable of protecting your computer from virus attacks.

To rank the best antivirus 2011 when it was still occupied five of the world rankings:
1. Bitdefender Antivirus

PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS:
• Price: $ 29.95
• Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
• Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities , cookies, scripts, full web protection, usb auto detect.
• Protection Technology: Virus signatures, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time.
• Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)


2. Kaspersky Antivirus

PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS:
• Price: $ 59.95
• Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
• Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities , cookies, scripts, full web protection, usb auto detect.
• Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security.
• Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)

3. Webroot Antivirus

PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS:
• Price: $ 29.95
• Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
• Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, cookies, scripts, spam .
• Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security.
• Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)


4. Norton Antivirus

PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS:
• Price: $ 39.99
• Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
• Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, scripts, full web protection, auto usb detect.
• Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security.
• Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)


5. AVG Antivirus

PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS:
• Price: $ 34.99
• Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
• Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p / file sharing protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, full web protection, spam, usb auto detect.
• Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security.
• Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit

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MOnster Pinball Review

As with Nokia's own Mile High Pinball, many years ago, one of the unique selling points here is that the tables are inter-connected. So shoot the ball (or let it fall) into one of the various gullies and hey presto, it falls into a different table, keeping the visuals, gameplay and goals as fresh as possible. There aren't as many tables as Mile High Pinball, but then there's far more attention to detail here and a lot more going on.
I do have a confession to make, though. Even on real pinball tables, my strategy would be, as often as not, to simply keep the ball in play and fired off up the table - as opposed to the 'better' strategy of analysing each table, working out what to hit in order to trigger the so and so, which then opens up the other goal thingamajig, and so on....
In the  case of Monster Pinball, the rapid succession of totally different tables and the sheer number of things happening at the same time mean that the first strategy is probably best for most people - so you're dependent on realistic physics and a degree of (ahem) cheating here and there to succeed. You see, not only does Monster Pinball have impeccable (and super smooth) physics and graphics, it also responds to you 'tilting' your phone, as you would a real table, gently nudging the playing surface if the ball looks like heading down between the flippers. This is all done with the accelerometer and the table responds just as a real one would - right down to the 'TILT' error (and lock down) that occurs if you 'tilt' too violently.
The sound effects are immersive too, as you'll hear in the video above. There's a volume control on the opening screen, though the hardware volume controls on each phone also work, as you'd expect. Also selectable is a difficulty level, which simply sets the physics speed lower ("Beginner") or higher ("Expert") - but "Medium" is about perfect for most people so best not to fiddle from this default.
On the 4"-screened X7 and E7, the game plays tremendously well, though I'd imagine it a little fiddly on the 3.2"-screened C6-01. Monster Pinball also respects Symbian OS and plays perfectly with being put into the background or interrupted (e.g. with a phone call), simply putting itself into a hibernate state and then taking a few seconds to restore this state exactly when you want to resume.
Finally, a word about the price - £1. Monster Pinball is priced as a budget game but don't be fooled, this is full commercial quality and a steal at a quid (or your local equivalent). Go buy it now if there's an ounce of the arcade loumger in you!

Buy Link | Download / Information Link

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Avast's virus lab relies on robust community

Seemingly random names are embossed on the interior glass walls of the Avast offices and conference rooms in its Prague headquarters, and the June morning light shines illuminates them from behind. Written in black, these names and the orange-colored names of cities below them are in fact the forum nicknames of the people who use Avast and the cities they originate from. It appears there are Avast users on every continent on Earth, and that, said the company's CEO Vincent Steckler, is by design.
"Two-thirds of new users come from personal recommendations," he said. "Trying to get 35 million users from direct marketing is nearly impossible, so we have to rely on the community." Originally from the United States but living in Prague since he took over as Avast's chief officer in July 2009, Steckler is a numbers man. He touts the raw numbers of Avast's achievements with a pride that most parents reserve for a straight-A report card from their kids.
He gleefully told CNET that Avast can boast 29 countries with at least 1 million active users each. He pointed to Brazil having just passed France as the country with the most Avast active users, both with 12 percent. The United States is in third with 8 percent, but that Americans lead with the most Avast paid-upgrade installs. Five percent of its actives are in Russia, which Steckler said puts the country fourth on Avast's list and gives the company more active users there than the Moscow-based Kaspersky.
"We have about 1 million users per employee," Steckler noted. Avast's Brand Manager Miroslav Jirku quipped. "This is the first marketing job in my career that I don't have a marketing budget."
A former senior vice president of sales for Symantec, the makers of Norton, Steckler said that Avast has about 20 million more active users than its nearest competitor, AVG, because "there is no difference in malware protection between free and paid."
How Avast builds protection
More so than any third-party efficacy test, Avast relies on its reputation with users to fuel its growth. On CNET's Download.com, the free version of Avast is the only program with a 4.5-star rating from readers with more than 10,000 votes. Jindrich Kubec, Avast's director of antivirus research, said that to keep individuals safe Avast must deal with the same problem that all antivirus vendors struggle with. "The one single biggest challenge is the number of samples every day. This is the biggest challenge for everyone in the industry."
Also like its competitors, Avast's detection starts with gathering threat samples. Kubec said that the company sees about 50,000 to 60,000 new virus samples per day, while Steckler added that about 15,000 of those are actually unique. The difference is that the former number is the raw raw number of virus threats detected, while the later is the number of polymorphic virus families. As the name implies, these virus families behave or look similar with only slight variations, so they are considered of the same group.
Kubec also pointed out that the "bad guys" are extremely responsive. "They have very fast reactions. It takes about three hours after a threat has been stopped for the virus maker to put out a new one," which he clarified to mean a new variant.
Avast has built about 5 million "honeypots" around the Web for picking up on threats early, and it also relies heavily on its CommunityIQ database, said Kubec. "We see hundreds of gigabytes per week in our own feeds, so we have lots of metadata and heuristics over the metadata. We have the automated way of detecting something, and we have the manual power to decide quickly," he explained in English, which is not his first language.
The honeypot attracts threats and stops them before they reach people. For example, Kubec, said, "we know that some domains are really bad, [they're] just for malware. So we have some honeypots that know the binary from that domain, and then it gets killed." He cited the CZ.CC, CO.BE, and VB.CC domains, as well as old Soviet domains .SU as notoriously sources of malware.
Most if not all major consumer security vendors manage a database like Avast's CommunityIQ, which gets its anonymously contributed security data from its users. Within the program itself, CommunityIQ uses automated processes to gather its data, mostly from the program's behavior shield and anti-rootkit modules. "Rootkits are considered the most dangerous kinds of malware and the most difficult to remove," said Ondrej Vlcek, Avast's chief technical officer. "So we struck a deal with the maker of the popular GMER to integrate it into Avast. We've developed it further," to both integrate it and make it more powerful at rootkit detection, he said.

Avast CEO Vincent Steckler. ""It's not just the community, it's the influencers with the community," he said. "If they see that you're annoying their mother or their friends, they're going to stop recommending you."

(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

The data that CommunityIQ gathers includes "safe" programs as well as malicious ones, Kubec said, and provides Avast with a broad base of data in exchange for securing your computer. While the "Little Brother" implications may worry some, it's clearly a trade people are willing to make. "About 60 [percent] to 80 percent [of active users] opt in to the community reporting, said Steckler, who added that CommunityIQ is an opt-out choice when you install Avast. That means that during the install, users must actively choose to remove themselves from CommunityIQ, although doing so does not decrease the level of protection that Avast provides.
Pre-processing helps Kubec's team manage the virus samples that come in. By the time that one of his analysts starts working on a sample, he said, they already know its filename and metadata. Not unlike competitor AVG, Avast's virus lab runs the sample in a virtual machine through the company's proprietary tools to get a graphical layout and entropy map of the file. From there, "we search for something rare in files," said Michal Trs, a senior virus analyst at Avast.
One of 30 analysts the company employs, all based from their Prague office, he explained his comment further by saying that he and his colleagues look for code in a file that shouldn't be there, like an executable command hidden in an image file. "It's not perfect, but it does look for the file signature for metamorphic viruses and polymorphic viruses. We know that our tool is a program that the virus is not prepared for."
After generating the entropy map and determining that a file is indeed a threat, the analyst generates a checksum for it and pushes the update to Avast's users. A checksum is a fixed number generated by a tool that essentially "fingerprints" the file. If the data inside the file changes, whether by a virus or by authorized means, the checksum changes. Similar to how the police might compare fingerprints, the checksum has proven to be an effective tool for verifying a file's contents.

Related links
• Avast to go mobile, get VPN
• How AVG keeps your computer safe

The last step, Vlcek added, is making sure the new rule is risk-free. "Before we push a rule out we test it so it doesn't hurt the user. We have seen few complaints," he commented.
The changing threatscape
Defining what constitutes a threat to a person's computer security may appear on its face to be an easy task. Perhaps it once was. Today, however, Kubec said we face a much more challenging task in figuring out what is a threat that a traditional antivirus company ought to handle. "The border of where we should interfere is very difficult, some users want more security. Some want less. It's harder to define what is a virus," he said.
The bad guys, he continued, can simply buy their way into being bad guys. "They can buy server hosting, exploit kits, hire interface designers, hire accountants...I believe that the number of people writing the malware is very low, but the number of clients buying it is very high."
Worse than that, he added, are the way that social engineering is driving creativity in newer threats. "There was a very strange kind of fraud in Slovakia, where [the people committing the fraud] were getting people to register a user name on what looked like a normal site. So you tick [the box] that you accept, and then in the TOS, in the small print it said you owe them $90 per year," he said. "They were not charging you for the software, they're charging you for the link to the software."

Jindrich Kubec, Avast's Director of Antivirus Research: "The bad guys are adopting new techniques like caching servers, and they are downloading the malware constantly so it looks it's a new version--but it's really nearly the same."

(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

But, Kubec says, the burden of protection should not rely on the Internet service provider. "ISPs should not alter your results, they should just deliver the data. That's what they're paid for." And search engines, like Google, he said are "good" but "too slow."
"When you see a Web-based infection, it's a chain. So should Google block the original site that has a bad iFrame on a good site? I don't know," he said, shaking his head. Kubec laid a lot of the blame on unscrupulous ad agencies that he says don't care where the ads come from, even though they are being used to deliver malware and exploit people's computers.
Vlcek explained how that works. "The JavaScript doesn't usually contain the malicious payload. Instead, it scans the computer for vulnerabilities. It looks at Java, PDFs, Flash, and it only takes one to infect the computer."
Kubec also said that, at least in Europe, people have been getting malware just from listening to music. "You can run a stand-alone music application, which displays an ad. If it hits a Java exploit, you get infected." He also criticized the blogging tool WordPress for its shared theme plug-ins, because they're often written with backdoors installed, creating yet another vector by which hackers can access your Web site.
Whatever the nature of the threat, the bottom line for Steckler is reduced to Avast's reputation. "It's not just the community, it's the influencers with the community," he said. "If they see that you're annoying their mother or their friends, they're going to stop recommending you. If we've got the choice between near-term revenue or long-term user happiness, we'll go with long-term.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20074379-83/avasts-virus-lab-relies-on-robust-community/#ixzz1QUC12xpU

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Samsung Galaxy S II review (Vodafone network)

Wow. Even if you've used a dual-core smartphone before, it's difficult not to be blown away by the sheer speed of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Whatever we threw at it during our couple of weeks of testing, it just kept on going, stubbornly refusing to show even the slightest sign of slowdown. The combination of Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread and Samsung's dual-core Exynos processor makes the Galaxy S II one of the fastest Android phones we've tested. And the thin and light chassis means you don't have to sacrifice portability to get this level of performance. Couple that with a large SuperAMOLED+ display, and you've got yourself a seriously advanced smartphone.

We tested the Vodafone UK-branded version of the Galaxy S II, which the network is offering for free on contracts of £30 or more per month. Join us after the break to find out what impressed us so much about Samsung's latest and greatest, and also where there's some room for improvement in this flagship product.

YouTube link for mobile viewing

Hardware

Physically, the Samsung Galaxy S II is a sleek, understated black slab. Like all Samsung smartphones, it's constructed of plastic, though thankfully it doesn't feel quite as plasticky (and, dare we say, cheap) as the original Galaxy S, or even the Nexus S. This is partly due to the textured back panel, which also makes the phone nice and easy to hold. The design reminds us of a cross between the Xperia Arc and iPhone 4, although the build quality definitely felt superior to the former, and unlike the latter, you needn't fear shattering anything if you drop it onto a hardwood floor (yes, we tried; no, it wasn't intentional).
It's also incredibly thin and light, almost unnaturally so for a device with a 4.3-inch display. It's 8.49mm thick, and weighs in at 116 grams. That's 2 grams lighter than the original HTC Wildfire, a phone with a 3.2-inch screen. So we're impressed, and rightly so -- Samsung has packed a heck of a lot of smartphone into an extremely portable package.

 

Being a Samsung phone, you get the latest in AMOLED display technology on the Galaxy S II. The phone's 4.3-inch screen is a SuperAMOLED+ panel running at 480x800 (WVGA) resolution, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. Colors are bright and vivid, viewing angles are excellent, as you'd expect, and daylight visibility is pretty good too. In very bright sunlight, a modern Super LCD display will serve you better, but AMOLED has still come a long way since we first saw it in phones like the Nexus One.
Under the screen there are two capacitive buttons -- back and menu -- alongside a larger, central home button of the old-fashioned, clicky variety. Honestly, we would've preferred either all capacitive or all physical buttons, but this is a minor complaint.
Hidden away in the top left corner of the phone is its 2-megapixel front-facing camera, which also records video at 640x480 resolution. The rear camera is a more substantial 8-megapixel sensor with LED flash which is almost flush with the back panel. Other buttons and ports can be found in the usual places -- the volume rocker and power button live on the left and right sides respectively, the headphone jack can be found up top, while the micro-USB port lies at the bottom of the device. The Galaxy S II can be connected to a HDTV using a MHD (micro-USB to HDMI) connector, but unfortunately the phone doesn't ship with one.

 

Moving onto the internals, the Galaxy S II boasts Samsung's new dual-core Exynos chip, which runs at 1.2GHz, and as we said in our flattering introduction, this thing is fast. The Galaxy S II is probably the first dual-core phone that actually feels an order of magnitude faster than earlier, single-core devices. We'll go into detail about precisely how fast in the "software" section, but suffice it to say we encountered no lag or slowdown at all during two weeks of using the Galaxy S II as our main smartphone. None whatsoever. Everything we did on the phone was buttery-smooth. We couldn't slow it down, and trust us, we tried.
The Galaxy S II's stupidly fast CPU is backed up by a generous 1GB of RAM, of which around 833MB is available for apps to use. In terms of physical storage, you've got 16GB built-in, which is split into 2GB for apps and 11.5GB for USB storage, with some reserved for the OS. On top of that there's a microSD card port, which allows you to add up to 32GB more. So it's fair to say you probably won't be short of space on the Galaxy S II.

 

Software

The Galaxy S II includes version 4.0 of Samsung's TouchWiz UI, which runs on top of Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. With Froyo now approaching its first birthday, we're glad manufacturers like Samsung are opting to ship their flagship devices with the latest version of Android for phones. Y'hear that, Motorola?

TouchWiz is still something of a bright, multi-colored hotch-potch, and this is accentuated by the vividness of the Galaxy S II's SuperAMOLED+ display. Icons and widgets alike are big, bold and bright, in contrast to the muted tones of vanilla Android. If primary colors aren't your thing, then the right combination of widgets and wallpaper will give your homescreens a less busy appearance. The included "Microbes" and "Nexus" live wallpapers from the Nexus S do a good job of calming things down a little.

Performance-wise, the whole UI glides along effortlessly. Even with the aforementioned Nexus S live wallpapers doing their thing in the background, and with seven home screens packed with widgets, there was no slowdown at all. And you get this level of silky-smooth performance across the whole user experience, making the phone a great showcase for Samsung's new Exynos chip.

We do have a couple of gripes to report with the Galaxy S II's launcher though, and this starts with the app drawer. Apps can be freely arranged on pages, however there's no way to auto-arrange based on install date or app name. The Galaxy S II comes pre-loaded with a fair few apps, and once you've added some of your own, you may struggle to find them in a grid that's not arranged in any particular order.
Next up, we noticed a strange delay when using the home button on our review unit. Many users have been reporting similar issues on their Galaxy S II's, so it doesn't seem to be an isolated problem. We suspect it's more likely to be a software bug than a hardware issue, but it still unnecessarily degrades the user experience on what is otherwise an extremely responsive phone.
Many areas of the Galaxy S II's social and multimedia functionality are based around "hub" apps. There's a Music Hub, a Readers Hub and a Games Hub, where all three can be purchased via separate online stores. The Social Hub brings together text messaging, email and IM messages into one single app, however we found social networking integration was a little basic compared to what's offered in HTC Sense 3.0.
Samsung has also provided photo and video-editing apps on the Galaxy S II, allowing users to touch up content without hooking the phone up to a PC and messing around with programs like Photoshop and Adobe Premiere. Of course, they're not intended to replace your desktop image and video manipulation apps, but regardless, the ability to crop images and videos and apply various effects right there on the phone remains a great addition.

Another notable app is Kies Air, which works just like the Kies desktop app, but over a wireless network through your browser. This is a great new feature which we'd like to see other manufacturers steal take note of. It eliminates the need to dig out your micro-USB cable if you want to transfer a quick photo to your computer. You can use it to manage bookmarks and multimedia content too, and even view call logs and text messages.
The Galaxy S II's browser deserves a mention, too. We're not sure what kind of sorcery (or maybe hardware acceleration) Samsung has channelled to get it up to speed, but it renders pages faster than any device we've seen so far. Scrolling and zooming too, were both flawlessly smooth. And Flash video played without any lag, at near-PC speeds. So we can safely say that the Galaxy S II offers the best browsing experience on any Android smartphone. Check out our hands-on video above to see just how fast it is.
Swype is included as standard, which is great, as we're big fans of the trace-based keyboard. Swype isn't everyone's cup of tea, though, so you'll find a standard Samsung keyboard included too.
DLNA streaming functionality is becoming more and more common on Android devices, and this is present on the Galaxy S II in the form of the "AllShare" app, which lets you stream music, video or photo content to any DLNA-compliant device.

  

The notification dropdown has been tricked out with a quick settings panel, allowing you to control Wifi, Bluetooth and other features without switching apps. If you're listening to music, you'll also notice that music player controls pop up in the notification area too.
The Galaxy S II includes voice command technology based on Vlingo, which we found worked pretty well most of the time, although more complex requests seemed to get a little lost in translation. It's a great concept though, and one we hope will improve with time.
Being a Vodafone-branded device, our review unit came pre-loaded with "Vodafone 360" apps, including Vodafone Music and the 360 Shop for apps and games. We're in favor of giving users more choice in how they get content onto their phones, but one thing we don't like is intrusive carrier-mandated software. Fortunately the 360 apps don't fall into this category. If you don't want to use them, they're easily ignored, and many can even be uninstalled entirely from the Applications menu.

Galaxy S II on Vodafone UK

We're in something of a black spot for Vodafone coverage here, but taking a quick stroll further towards civilization, we found our Vodafone-branded Galaxy S II gave us pretty impressive 3G data speeds. We got up to 5 megabits per second downstream and up to 2.5 megabits per second upstream -- definitely towards the top end of real-world HSPA speeds. This evened out to around 2.5 down and 1.5 up in more crowded urban areas.
As far as call quality goes, it was smooth sailing on the Galaxy S II on Vodafone. Even in areas where data coverage was patchy, call quality was always clear, and we experienced nothing in the way of dropped calls or other cellular weirdness.

 

Battery Life

The Galaxy S II comes equipped with an ample 1650 mAh battery, and we found that with normal usage patterns we got around a day out of the phone without too many problems. With heavy, heavy use involving lots of 3G data, music playback, video streaming, browsing and photography, we managed to run down the battery in around 13 hours.
The biggest battery hog seems to be the (admittedly very pretty) SuperAMOLED+ display. When used outdoors, with automatic brightness enabled, these panels demand more juice than their Super LCD counterparts. As ever, the trade-off for having a great-looking AMOLED-based screen is slightly reduced battery life.
That's not to say the phone's battery life is poor -- under normal circumstances you won't need to worry about it dying on you before the end of the working day. On the whole, we consider Galaxy S II's battery performance to be typical for an Android smartphone, though we have been spoiled of late by more efficient devices like the Desire S and Sensation from HTC.

 

Camera

The Galaxy S II's rear camera takes stills at up to 8 megapixels and video at up to 1080p resolution, with 30 frames per second. Generally, we found that the phone produced excellent still photos and videos, and coped particularly well with transitioning between bright and dark areas compared to most other smartphone cameras.
The Samsung camera app offers a host of options for fiddling with the usual things like ISO settings, white balance and metering, along with more unique features like blink detection and a macro focus mode.
Video camera performance in daylight was excellent, resulting in high-quality, smooth footage at 1920x1080 resolution with 30 frames per second. In lower light, the frame rate dropped down to around 24 fps when recording at 1080p, though switching down to 720p, it remained stable at 30 fps. We found that the Galaxy S II's low light recordings weren't quite as smooth as the footage taken with Xperia Arc's Exmor R sensor. However, the Galaxy's camera retained more fine detail, whereas the Arc produced video that had a softer, filtered look.

    

As well as the main 8-megapixel sensor, there's also a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, which takes surprisingly good pictures, as you'll see in the final sample video below. If you're using it for video calling, you'll get great looking VGA video footage from the front-facing camera on the Galaxy S II.

YouTube link for mobile viewing

YouTube link for mobile viewing

YouTube link for mobile viewing

Hackability

The Galaxy S II ships with an open bootloader, and has already spawned an active development and hacking community. Samsung has given a very public thumbs-up to the Android development community, even sending out a complimentary Galaxy S II to a leading CyanogenMod developer. It's always great to see manufacturers actively opening up their devices, as opposed to locking them down with ever more complex security measures.
So if you buy a Galaxy S II, you can do so knowing you'll have the option of running custom ROMs in the future, if you fancy a change from TouchWiz. Of course, doing so will probably void your warranty, meaning you could be on your own if anything goes wrong.

Wrap-up

The Samsung Galaxy S II is a supremely impressive device, and almost certainly the fastest Android smartphone money can buy right now. With prices hovering between £400 and £500 in the UK, it isn't cheap, but Samsung justifies the cost by delivering a phone that excels in just about every area. Aside from the ridiculously high performance, you get an outstanding camera, a bright, vivid display, tons of storage space and an easy rooting path. And you get all this in a device that's still slim enough to be easily pocketable.
If you're a power user and have the cash to blow on an Android smartphone of this caliber, we can't really think of many reasons not to recommend the Galaxy S II. TouchWiz might be one, if you're among the crowd that just plain doesn't like Samsung's custom UI. The plastic chassis won't be to everyone's taste, but that's the price you pay for having such a light 4.3-inch device. Battery life may be a concern for some, but in exchange you get what's probably the best-looking display on any smartphone. There are always compromises to be made, even on a phone as good as this. But in our opinion, the choices Samsung has made with its new flagship phone are almost universally the right ones.
The Vodafone-branded Samsung Galaxy S II we tested is available for free from Vodafone UK on 24-month contracts of £30 or more per month.

    

READ MORE - Samsung Galaxy S II review (Vodafone network)

Top 5 Reasons to Buy the Samsung Infuse 4G

Samsung Infuse 4G: There are a lot of nice phones out there to choose from, so how do you know which one to pick? You could probably pick any of the 4G phones out there with a big screen and be semi-happy, but why not let me steer you toward a phone that is quietly climbing up best-selling smartphone list like Amazon’s? It currently ranks as the 8^th bestselling phone out of hundreds, and carries the second highest Customer Satisfaction rating. The wonder-phone of which we speak is the Samsung Infuse 4G, and below we list the Top 5 reasons you should consider buying it over other phones if you are smartphone shopping.   

1 – Best and Biggest Display in Smartphone Technology

The Samsung-created 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus display is no doubt the best visual experience in all the smartphone world. And it is the largest. That is not just my opinion. Read analyst’s reviews and customer’s thoughts, and get one in your hand and you’ll see what I mean. Samsung spent a lot of time perfecting this display, and it shows. Gaming, surfing and watching movies is absolutely stunning.
Buy the Samsung Infuse 4G smartphone starting at only $89.99 and get $25 Samsung Media Hub credit for the first 500,000 purchase.

2 – Powerful, Speedy Processor

The Samsung single core Hummingbird 1.2 GHz chipset is a full 20% more effective than the 1 GHz models out there, and it shows. Multitasking never slows it down, and all multimedia is processed quickly and efficiently. A strong processor is the cornerstone of every smartphone’s performance, and this one guarantees you will always be happy.

3 – Great Camera Set

The 8 mp rear camera is tied for the smartphone lead in resolution, and comes equipped with LED Flash, auto-focus, smile detector, digital zoom, quick multi-shoot feature and more. And you can record in 720p High Def for viewing on the big display, or send it to your HDTV via the HDMI port. There is also a 1.3 mp Video Chat cam that rocks.

4 – Free Exclusive Angry Birds

Every Samsung Infuse 4G comes loaded with a special limited edition of Angry Birds, the maddeningly addictive flash game that looks incredible on that 4.5 inch display. And, when you complete this special version, you are eligible to win Samsung prizes that on Infuse users qualify for.

5 – Samsung Compatibility

Samsung built the big screened Infuse 4G. Samsung built the powerful Hummingbird 1.2 GHz processor. And Samsung also built and designed the Super AMOLED Plus display that is unrivaled for visual excellence. When the same company builds many components in a smartphone, you know you are getting a perfectly meshing performance, as these parts were made with each other’s talents in mind.

READ MORE - Top 5 Reasons to Buy the Samsung Infuse 4G

How To Remove Black Bars On YouTube Videos

I have been dabbling in the video recording, editing and publishing field lately. One of the latest things that I had to get my head around was a black bar problem on YouTube. Depending on the original video that you upload, you may see black bars horizontally or vertically. That’s pretty bad for the viewing experience in my opinion. Problem is: Since you have already uploaded the video, you might not want to re-reprocess it locally to update it again. Especially not if the current video has already received comments, views or links.
YouTube has added commands to the video hosting platform to correct the aspect ratio of already uploaded videos. While the end result won’t be as pretty as re-processing the video, it will save the director the troubles of doing that.
Take a look at the following two screenshots. The first shows a video that I have recently uploaded to YouTube. It has black bars on the right and left. The second screenshot shows the same video after making the changes on YouTube. It is now stretched. The bars are gone.


YouTube some time ago has added commands that are executed when added to a video’s tags. Commands are available to get rid of black bars on videos. Here are all commands that you can utilize.

• yt:crop=16:9 – This tag crops the video. It basically means that the player zooms in on the video so that contents at the borders may be not visible anymore.
• yt:stretch=16:9 – Stretches the video into a 16:9 format. This is the tag I have used for the video. Depending on the size of the black bars, it may make the video look distorted.
• yt:stretch=4:3 – Another stretch command. This stretches the video into a 4:3 format instead.
• yt:quality=high – Sets the video to play in high quality, if a hq version of the video has been uploaded by the owner.

You can apply tags by clicking on the Edit button next to the video in your YouTube videos listing.

Just copy and paste the commands into the tags text box and click Save Changes afterwards. Re-open the video on YouTube and watch how the tag modified the aspect ratio. You may need to reload it once or twice for that. If you are not happy with the result go back and use another tag or remove the existing one.
The options to crop or stretch videos will usually not result in optimal videos. Videos may look to stretched or important parts of the video may be missing if you have selected to crop it. In that case, you may have no other choice but to process it again on your local computer.
The main advantage of those video tags is the fact that you do not have to process and upload the video again to YouTube.

READ MORE - How To Remove Black Bars On YouTube Videos

The Best Photo Management App for Windows

Windows has its fair share of photo management programs, but we've chosen Picasa as the best for its impressive feature set and relative ease of use.

Picasa

Platform: Windows/Mac/Linux
Price: Free
Download Page

• Easily import photos from your camera, flash drive, or hard drive
• Scan specific folders on your hard drive and automatically add new photos to your library
• Automatically sort photos by date and event
• Facial recognition that allows sorting by person
• Geotag photos and view albums on a global map
• Fix issues like red eye, color, and lighting with a simple, easy-to-use photo editor
• Design and create photo collages, video slideshows, screensavers, and more
• Share photos via email or through Picasa Web Albums

Picasa's main strengths come in the form of organizational power and simplicity in editing. If you want an advanced photo editor, go somewhere else, but Picasa is perfect for the regular home user that just wants to organize their photos and make them look a little better without doing much work (or knowing a whole lot about photo editing). You can organize photos from all over your hard drive, sync them with Picasa's web albums, sort your photos by the people in them, and make all sorts of fancy slideshows to show your friends. You can also perform a few edits on things like lighting and color, most of which are automated by Picasa. You can perform a few manual edits, but not a lot—perfect for those that don't want to be overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, Picasa's biggest strengths are also its biggest weaknesses. Its organizational powers are great, but a little confusing at first. When you start up Picasa, it will search your entire hard drive for images and put them into your library. This is great for the disorganized, but will leave you with a huge amount of image (wallpapers, icons, and whatever else) that you certainly don't want in your photo editor. You can edit this from Picasa's Folder Manager, but it isn't obvious or easy to find, which can cause a lot of stress on new users.
Similarly, it gives you barely any control over editing your photos. For the most part, you either get the photo you took, or you get the photo you took that Picasa corrected for you. You have a few manual sliders available like highlights, shadows, and color temperature, but that's about it. That said, its auto-correct features do a really good job at correcting your photos, so you won't be disappointed unless maybe you're a photography nut.
Picasa also only syncs to Picasa Web Albums, which is annoying. If you want to upload to any other non-Google service, like Facebook or Flickr, you'll need a plugin or two to do so.

Most basic photo editors are pretty similar to Picasa. Windows Live Photo Gallery is a popular option that integrates well with Windows, allows uploading to SkyDrive, Facebook, and Flickr, and even has a handy panoramic stitch feature that Picasa is missing. It doesn't, however, have Picasa's video editing features, Picasa Web Albums support, nor is it quite as pretty or easy to use. Another thing people like about it, though is its ability to actually save changes—like names of people or geotag information—to the metadata of the file, which Picasa does not do (though that may be preferable to some). The free version of Zoner is a good option if you don't like Picasa or Windows Live Photo Gallery, and its $45 Home version or $65 Pro version are a nice step up to more intermediate and advanced editing features.
More seasoned photography buffs will want to check out Adobe Lightroom, which is going to give you many more advanced editing options.
Lastly, as Adam mentioned in his App Directory entry for the Mac, you can always just keep your photos in a series of folders on your hard drive. You don't have to deal with bloated organization programs with features you don't need, you can organize your photos however you want, and even sync them up to the web with Dropbox. It isn't for everyone, but if photo management apps just tend to get in your way, there's no shame in cultivating a very organized My Pictures folder.

READ MORE - The Best Photo Management App for Windows

Turn your smartphone into a universal remote

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Universal remotes cut down on electronic clutter.

(Money Magazine) -- Universal remotes cut down on electronic clutter, but can be clumsy to use. A new device that lets you turn your smartphone into a remote is a better solution.

Logitech Harmony 650

Price: $100

The setup: As with most universal remotes, you go to a website, tell it what kinds of devices you have, then attach a cable to your PC to sync it with the remote.
What's great: The Logitech (LOGI)Harmony is one of the best of its breed. Buttons are easy to press and customize; there's a handy help knob for the all-too-familiar situation in which the buttons aren't talking to the right device.
What's not: The 650 can control only five gadgets; when the connection goes awry, the help button can't always solve the problem.

Top pick: Griffin Beacon

Price: $80
The setup: Put the Beacon device within 30 feet of your gadgets, and control it via an app you download onto your smartphone. The Beacon sends commands to your electronic devices using a infrared signal.
What's great: Configuring the app on your smartphone is easy and can be customized to display, say, your favorite channels. You can still answer calls while channel-surfing.
What's not: When your smartphone leaves the house, your universal remote goes with it. The Android app isn't available until September.

The bottom line

Both remotes are compatible with more than 200,000 devices and can be customized. However, the Beacon is the best choice, thanks to its sensible app interface -- as long as you've got multiple smartphones in the family.

READ MORE - Turn your smartphone into a universal remote