How to choose an MP3/MP4 player?

There are hundreds if not thousands of models out in the market by no less than a few dozen MP3 manufacturers in the world.

Every different model has their strength and weaknesses and was designed with different considerations. Here are some of the factors you should consider when selecting the player:Consideration Factors:

• Price
• Memory-size
• Looks
• Comprehensive features
• Video Playback
• User-interface
• Sports Design
• Audio Quality
• Recording features
• File Format supported
• Durability
• Expansion SD/MMC/miniSD/microSD slot
• Screen
• Lyrics Displaying
• Battery Life
• Weight
• Physical Dimensions / Comfortable to feel
• Ease of carrying
• Software bundled
• Earphones

Reasons to choose a mp4 player over a mp3 player

It is quite hard to make a decision when your in a dilemma over choosing between 2 gadgets that do the same thing, one is one level better than the other, and yet the price difference is minimal.

Trust me it’s a hard choice, and here are some reasons why you shouldn’t buy a MP3 player when you have the chance to buy a cool MP4 player for almost the same price and also avoid the mistake that i made. There’s a Hungarian saying that says:“if you throw something away today, you will definitely need it tomorrow” you can’t imagine how true this is, and yes it can refer to shopping also:

You can research 1-2 weeks and check items in lots of stores, and finally after you made up your mind and buy the desired item the next day you spot a better deal and then start swearing and saying:“why couldn’t it wait one more day?”

This happened to me last year. I did my homework(researched, went to lots of stores) and found the ideal product for myself(a buntz 1GB mp3 player). I went and bought it and the next day i went to a local hypermarket and spotted a special offer for a 2GB Mp4 player with 65k colors which cost like 10$ more than my mp3 player. At that point i taught i’ll smash the ground with my mp3 player but my friends chilled me down.

Reason 1: Song selection

At a mp3 player you can only switch from the current song to the song that was before it and the song that is next. This means that if you want to listen to a song that is in the middle of the list you will have to use the scroll button x times(x represents the number of the song you want to listen to) to get to the desired song.

At a mp4 player this is not an issue, because you have a bigger lcd display with a menu which allows you to select the song you want to listen.

Reason 2: Display

Mp3 players have only a tiny monochrome LCD display and allow you to only play songs.

If you have a MP4 player you can watch videos(exceptions are those which have monochrome display) because most of the mp4 players have at least a 65,000 color display.

Reason 3: Supported file types

Most of the MP3 players support .mp3, .ogg and .wma file types.

MP4 players usually support: .mp3, .wma, .wav, .MPEG 1,2,4, .MP4, .JPG, .AVI, .VOB, .ASF. Also some MP4 players have a video conversion application which converts any type of video file to a custom video type supported by the mp4 player.

Reason 4: Functions

MP3 players have the possibility to play songs,listen to radio,record or replay recordings along with some lcd color effects.

MP4 players feature a 65,000 or 256,000 color display(exceptions may occur) and let you replay audio/video/pictures/record/replay.

Reason 5: Reliability

MP3 players are powered by a 1.5V AAA battery. An alkaline battery lasts about 12-16 hours of usage time. If you want to extend this you need to buy NI-MH rechargeable batteries(1000 mAH would be a good choice) along with a battery charger -> extra expenses

MP4 players have a lithium ION or Polymer battery which you can recharge by connecting your mp4 player with your PC trough the USB port. The battery of a mp4 player has an autonomy of 16-24 hours and recharge time is 2-3 hours.

Reason 5: Price

The price difference between mp3 and mp4 players is really small, but if you calculate the expenses after buying a mp3 player(rechargeable batteries/battery charger) then you will realize that it’s better to buy a mp4 player which costs an extra 5-10 bucks and enjoy its extended features.

Reason 6: Accessories

The headphones supplied with mp3 players are low quality ones and you will most probably buy a headset that sounds better(i suggest philips ).

Mp4 players have a high-quality time-resistant headset which i guarantee that won’t sound distorted.

Reason 7: Trend

Its a fact. Mp4 players are more trendy than mp3 players. This means that you can show off your MP4 player to your friends and brag about it. You can’t really do this with your MP3 player.

Remember: both the mp3 and the mp4 players can be used as USB sticks to store and share data.The data transfer is almost the same as at USB sticks. Cool isn’t it?

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Client/Server Terminology

Client/server describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request from another program, the server, which fulfills the request. Although the client/server idea can be used by programs within a single computer, it is a more important idea in a network. In a network, the client/server model provides a convenient way to interconnect programs that are distributed efficiently across different locations. Computer transactions using the client/server model are very common. For example, to check your bank account from your computer, a client program in your computer forwards your request to a server program at the bank. That program may in turn forward the request to its own client program that sends a request to a database server at another bank computer to retrieve your account balance. The balance is returned back to the bank data client, which in turn serves it back to the client in your personal computer, which displays the information for you.The client/server model has become one of the central ideas of network computing. Most business applications being written today use the client/server model. So does the Internet's main program, TCP/IP. In marketing, the term has been used to distinguish distributed computing by smaller dispersed computers from the "monolithic" centralized computing of mainframe computers. But this distinction has largely disappeared as mainframes and their applications have also turned to the client/server model and become part of network computing.

In the usual client/server model, one server, sometimes called a daemon, is activated and awaits client requests. Typically, multiple client programs share the services of a common server program. Both client programs and server programs are often part of a larger program or application. Relative to the Internet, your Web browser is a client program that requests services (the sending of Web pages or files) from a Web server (which technically is called a Hypertext Transport Protocol or HTTP server) in another computer somewhere on the Internet. Similarly, your computer with TCP/IP installed allows you to make client requests for files from File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers in other computers on the Internet.Other program relationship models included master/slave, with one program being in charge of all other programs, and peer-to-peer, with either of two programs able to initiate a transaction.

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Get the Right Digital Camera

I’m not going to talk you through all the different features on a digital camera or tell you which models are best (something that is really quite individual and which changes regularly over time) however there are a few questions and factors to keep in mind when making the decision of which camera is best for you.When searching for a digital camera there are a few factors that I encourage people to keep in mind when they buy a digital camera (while there are some steps they are not necessarily a sequence you follow)

So lets get onto some tips for buying digital cameras:

1. Determine what you need

A mistake I see some digital camera buyers making is that they get sucked into buying cameras that are beyond what they really need. Some questions to ask yourself before you go shopping:

• What do you need the camera for?
• What type of photography will you be doing? (portraits, landscapes, macro, sports)
• What conditions will you be largely photographing in? (indoors, outdoors, low light, bright light)
• Will you largely stay in auto mode or do you want to learn the art of photography?
• What experience level do you have with cameras?
• What type of features are you looking for? (long zoom, image stabilization, large LCD display etc)
• How important is size and portability to you?
• What is your budget?

Ask yourself these questions before you go to buy a camera and you’ll be in a much better position to make a decision when you see what’s on offer. You’ll probably find the sales person asks you this question anyway – so to have thought about it before hand will help them help you get the right digital camera.

2. Megapixels are NOT everything

One of the features that you’ll see used to sell digital cameras is how many megapixels a digital camera has.

When I first got into digital photography, a few years back, the megapixel rating of cameras was actually quite important as most cameras were at the lower end of today’s modern day range and even a 1 megapixel increase was significant.

These days, with most new cameras coming out with at least 10 megapixels, it isn’t so crucial. In fact at the upper end of the range it can actually be a disadvantage to have images that are so large that they take up enormous amounts of space on memory cards and computers.

One of the main questions to ask when it comes to megapixels is ‘Will you be printing shots’? If so – how large will you be going with them? If you’re only printing images at a normal size then anything over 10 or so megapixels will be fine. If you’re going to start blowing your images up you might want to pay the extra money for something at the upper end of what’s on offer today.

3. Keep in mind the extras

Keep in mind as you look at cameras that the price quoted may not be the final outlay that you need to make as there are a variety of other extras that you might want (or need) to fork out for including:

• Camera Case
• Memory Cards
• Spare Batteries/Recharger
• Lenses (if you are getting a DSLR)
• Filters (and other lens attachments)
• Tripods/Monopods
• External Flashes
• Reflectors

Some retailers will bundle such extras with cameras or will at least give a discount when buying more than one item at once. Keep in mind though that what they offer in bundles might not meet you needs. For example it’s common to get a 1 or 2 gigabyte memory card with cameras – however these days you’ll probably want something at least of 4 gigabytes.

4. Do you already own any potentially compatible gear?

Talking of extra gear – one way to save yourself some cash is if you have accessories from previous digital cameras that are compatible with your new one.

For example memory cards, batteries, lenses (remember that many film camera lenses are actually compatible with digital SLRs from the same manufacturers), flashes, filters etc.

5. DSLR or Point and Shoot?

While digital SLRs are getting more affordable they are not for everyone. Keep in mind that they are usually bigger, heavier, harder to keep clean (if you’re changing lenses) and can be more complicated to operate than point and shoot. Of course there are some upsides also.

6. Optical Zooms are King

Not all ‘zooms’ are created equal.

When you’re looking at different models of digital cameras you’ll often hear their zooms talked about in two ways. Firstly there’s the ‘optical zoom’ and then there’s the ‘digital zoom’.

I would highly recommend that you only take into consideration the ‘optical zoom’ when making a decision about which camera to buy. Digital zooms simply enlarge the pixels in your shot which does make your subject look bigger, but it also makes it look more pixelated and your picture ‘noisier’ (like when you go up close to your TV).

If you’re looking for a zoom lens make sure it’s an optical zoom (most modern cameras have them of at least 4x in length – ie they’ll make your subject 9th times as big – with an increasing array of ‘super zooms’ coming onto the market at up to 36x Optical Zoom).

7. Read reviews

Before buying a digital camera take the time to do a little research. Don’t JUST rely upon the advice of the helpful sales person (who may or may not know anything about cameras and who may or may not have sales incentives for the camera they are recommending).

Read some reviews in digital camera magazines or online to help you narrow down the field. There are some great websites around that give expert and user reviews on virtually every camera on the market.

8. Hands On Experience

Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a handful of cameras head into your local digital camera shop and ask to see and play with them. There’s nothing like having the camera in your hands to work out whether it suits your needs.When I shop for a camera I generally use the web to find reviews, then I go from shop to shop asking for recommendations and seeing the cameras live in the flash. In doing this I generally find the same camera or two are recommended in most shops and I get to see them demonstrated by different people (this gives a more well rounded demo). I also get to play with it and get a feel for which one I could see myself using.

9. Negotiate

After you’ve selected the right digital camera for you it’s time to find the best price.

Don’t forget to ask for free or discounted bonuses including camera cases, memory cards, extra batteries, filters, free prints, cases etc. I even know of a couple of stores that offer camera lessons that you can ask to be included. Some stores will also consider giving you a trade in on older gear.

10. Your Tips

The above is my advice on buying a digital camera and comes from my own experience of buying a camera, but I’m sure others will have useful tips to add. Feel free to add your suggestions on Get the Right Digital Camera in comments below!

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How to Extend Laptop Battery Life

• Switch off the wireless card if you do not plan to access your network or Internet connection.
• Disable Bluetooth If you don't use this device.

1. Defrag regularly -  The faster your hard drive does its work – less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery.  Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.

2. Dim your screen – Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen.  Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance.  Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.

3. Cut down on programs running in the background -  ITunes, Desktop Search, etc.  All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life.  Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.

4. Cut down external devices – USB devices (including your mouse) & Wi-Fi drain down your laptop battery.  Remove or shut them down when not in use.  It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.

5. Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory.  Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.

6. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD - As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse.  Even having one in the drive can be power consuming.  They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used.  Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones.

7. Keep the battery contacts clean - Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol.  This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.

8. Take care of your battery - Exercise the Battery.  Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time.  Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharging is only for older batteries with memory effects)

9. Hibernate not standby – Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does.  Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.

10. Keep operating temperature down - Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler.  Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner.

11. Set up and optimize your power options – Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect).

12. Don’t multitask – Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery.  Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3′s, set your mind to one thing only.  If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!

13. Go easy on the PC demands – The more you demand from your PC.  Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD.  If you’ve got a single battery charge – pick your priorities wisely.

14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop -  Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries.  Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix.

15. Prevent the Memory Effect - If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ – Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect.

16. Turn off ports - Disabling unused ports and components, such as VGA, Ethernet, PCMCIA, USB, and yes, your wireless, too. You can do this through the Device Manager or by configuring a separate hardware profile

17. Kill the sounds - Mute the speakers and try avoiding the use of multimedia software to maximize the battery life. Installed sound schemes also drain a battery perceptibly.

18. Update software and drivers - This sounds a bit incongruous but then newer drivers and software are often designed to be more efficient (and hopefully less resource hungry).

19. Use the right adapter - Ensure that the adapter you use to charge the laptop battery is an original one or one with the correct specifications. A mismatch in the wattage could cause an overload thus damaging the laptop and the battery.

Does it harm the battery or reduce battery life, to use the AC adaptor for extended periods while the battery is fully charged?

Best Answer - I would have to disagree with the others who say that it hurts your battery & reduces battery life by keeping your AC adapter plugged in with a full battery.

Battery technology in the last 5 years has improved so much you don't need to worry about overcharge or anything. They have chips in the battery to know when to stop. I leave my laptop and cell phone plugged in at all times unless I cant and they are perfectly fine. I use my laptop for 15+ hours a day at home, work, and on the road, it gets plugged in and out constantly, and its 3 years old. The battery still charges to 100% just fine and lasts 2.5 hours on a charge just like it did when it was new.

Every time you use your batteries power you are adding to the amount of cycles your battery can cycle. If you continually charge your battery to 100% and then take it off the AC Power, and use it all the way down to 0% or even 50% you are taking away from the batteries lifespan. And eventually your battery will not be able to hold a full charge, and eventually will not hold a charge at all, and you will have to buy a new one!

I used to recommend to my customers that if they're going to be using their laptop for extended periods of time with no need for the battery, that they should remove it and just run it off AC power.

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D600 camera with video compression and weather sealed body

Nikon D600 is the latest camera from Nikon which is expected to hit the market soon. The specs that were rumored about this camera earlier proved to be false as Nikon announced their specs officially yesterday. However, camera enthusiasts can rejoice as new specs are really more interesting than the rumored ones. The camera has a full frame sensor of 24.7MP which promises impressive picture efficiency. It comes up flexible video compression options and also a weather protection cover.Nikon D600 weighs 760g exclusive of the weight of battery and memory cards and it may go up to 850g inclusive of them. It features a LCD display of 3.2 inch with 921K dot which has an ambient sensor control. You can view the captured pictures in TV with the help of HDMI output. This Nikon camera features video compression facilities, as well. It works with HD in 60p, 50p, 30p and 25p. For full HD, it works with 30p, 25p and 24p too.
 
Feature:

• 24.7MP full frame sensor
• Weight: 760g (850g with battery and memory cards),
• 3.2″ LCD with 921K dot with ambient sensor control
• HDMI output
• Video compression: H264/MPEG-4
• Full HD with 30p, 25p, 24p, HD with 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p
• Viewfinder coverage: 100% for FX , 97% for Dx
• The Nikon D600 will have built-in AF motor
• The body most probably will be weather sealed
• The D600 may not have built-in GPS as initially reported
• ISO range: 100-6400
• 39 AF points, 9 cross-type AF points
• AF face detection
• Exposure compensation: ±5 EV
• The D600 will probably use the EN-EL15 rechargeable Li-ion battery

The view finder coverage of Nikon D600 reaches 100% for FX and 97% for Dx. This camera comes with a built in AF motor. Other interesting specification Nikon camera is that it most probably comes with a weather sealed body making it convenient for use in all environment conditions. Though the earlier reports suggested the availability of GPS module, the new spec sheet doesn’t confirm that.

The picture efficiency is very well maintained by an ISO range of 100-6400. The camera can claim superior auto focusing capability. It seems to have 39 AF points along with an optional eleven AF points. In addition this, Nikon D600 will also have nine cross-type auto focus points. Face detection is another feature worth mentioning. The Exposure compensation of the new Nikon camera is ±5 EV adding to the imaging efficiency.
However, features like Built-in flash, In-camera editor, Auto DX crop mode, two user settings etc which was rumored earlier are not confirmed as of now.
Most probably, Nikon D600 will be featuring rechargeable EN-EL15 Li-ion battery which is expected to give good back up time. Nikon D600 will reach the Nikon camera market in standard black outfit. The price information of this new Nikon camera is not disclosed as of now.

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Mozilla's new add-on allow users to track who's spying

London: Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has unveiled a new add-on for the popular web browser that gives web users an instant view of which companies are “watching” them as they browse. 

The move comes the same week that Google pushed ahead with its controversial new privacy policy, built to provide even more data for Google’s 28-billion-dollar advertising business, despite concerns that the massive harvesting of private data might be illegal in many countries. 

According to Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs, the Collusion add-on will allow users to “pull back the curtain” on web advertising firms and other third parties that track people''s online movements. 

Mozilla’s Firefox is the world’s second most popular web browser, a position under threat from Google’s own Chrome browser. 

The Collusion add-on is an official Mozilla product, and was unveiled at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference this week by Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs. 

“Collusion is an experimental add-on for Firefox and allows you to see all the third parties that are tracking your movements across the Web,” the Daily Mail quoted Mozilla as saying. 

“It will show, in real time, how that data creates a spider-web of interaction between companies and other trackers,” it said. 

Mozilla aims to build up a database of the worst offenders and make the data available to privacy campaigners. 

“When we launch the full version of Collusion, it will allow you to opt-in to sharing your anonymous data in a global database of web tracker data. 

“We’ll combine all that information and make it available to help researchers, journalists, and others analyze and explain how data is tracked on the web,” it added. 

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Adventure of android

Android™ delivers a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications.
Open

Android was built from the ground-up to enable developers to create compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of all a handset has to offer. It was built to be truly open. For example, an application can call upon any of the phone’s core functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera, allowing developers to create richer and more cohesive experiences for users. Android is built on the open Linux Kernel. Furthermore, it utilizes a custom virtual machine that was designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment. Android is open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge technologies as they emerge. The platform will continue to evolve as the developer community works together to build innovative mobile applications.


Dessert Names for Google Android Versions ?

All applications are created equal
Android does not differentiate between the phone’s core applications and third-party applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone’s capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built on the Android Platform, users are able to fully tailor the phone to their interests. They can swap out the phone's homescreen, the style of the dialer, or any of the applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing application to handle the viewing of all photos.

Breaking down application boundaries
Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual’s mobile phone — such as the user’s contacts, calendar, or geographic location — to provide a more relevant user experience. With Android, a developer can build an application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted when they are in the vicinity giving them a chance to connect.


Fast & easy application development
Android provides access to a wide range of useful libraries and tools that can be used to build rich applications. For example, Android enables developers to obtain the location of the device, and allows devices to communicate with one another enabling rich peer–to–peer social applications. In addition, Android includes a full set of tools that have been built from the ground up alongside the platform providing developers with high productivity and deep insight into their applications.

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Lumia 900 latest Nokia phone

News about Nokia latest Windows phone has been flooding the net for so long. Finally during the Consumer electronics show held during the beginning of this month, the phone was introduced. The mobile is termed as Nokia Lumia 900. This is by far the latest and most expensive in the Nokia Lumia series.
The handset showcases during the CES 2012 was an LTE model. This makes it unsuitable for countries like India and aroused doubts whether this would be launched here. But these doubts have been cleared recently when UK based retailer UK Carphone has started accepting bookings for a non-LTE model of Nokia Lumia 900. This phone will be shipped by June.

The most attractive news for Indian customers is that Nokia has already started plans to launch the Non-LTE version of the phone in India. The mobile network providers in India is still planning to change to offer LTE network and it would at least take half an year to get the whole networks equipped with the required a circuitry and devices. It is in this scenario that the non LTE version is made especially for countries like India. If Nokia launch this device same like it did with Nokia Lumia 800 then we can expect Nokia Lumia 900 to be launched here by July.
When we first see the device we can definitely feel that some of the design cues of Lumia 900 are taken from Nokia N9 and Lumia 800. The phone is sufficiently big but will easily fit in your palms. The screen has a size of 4.3 inch and is of AMOLED type with clear ClearBlack display. This looks particularly brilliant and blends in with the overall look and feel of the device. The hardware specifications and the features of this phone are almost similar to that of Nokia Lumia 800 except for the large high resolution display.

This phone is powered by a single core APQ 8055 mobile processor that has a clock speed of 1.4GHz. This can be considered as a small draw back since most of the phones coming nowadays are powered by dual core and even Quadra core processors. This phone has a MDM9200 chip for 3G network support. There is lot of storage memory in the device and it has 14.5 GB of internal storage memory as well as 512 MB of RAM.
Nokia Lumia 900 price tag is not yet announced, we can expect an official press release from the company some time soon.

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Android vs iOS vs Windows Phone 7

If you’re a first-time smartphone shopper or a current smartphone shopper approaching an upgrade, you may be curious about the mobile platforms that are available. Everyone knows about the iPhone and iPad, and everyone knows about “Droids” (Android is the platform, Droid is one specific brand on Verizon). Often overlooked is the newcomer, Windows Phone. How do the three mobile operating systems stack up?


We broke down the three platforms into some of the most distinct categories so you can better understand the differences between them. Let’s take a look…


Total Devices

Before delving into the specifics of each operating system, one of the most important things to know is how many devices you’ll have to choose from. The freely distributed Android has the most devices by a wide margin, in fact there are so many that it’s impossible to get an accurate number.


At the time of publication, there are just under 100 Android devices from some of the biggest manufacturers: Samsung, Motorola, HTC, LG, Sony Ericsson, and Acer. But when you add Asus, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Toshiba, and a billion generic or near-generic manufacturers, that total is easily into the hundreds.


Meanwhile the younger Windows Phone currently tallies 20 devices, and less-is-more iOS is only available on the 11 models of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.


Total apps

iOS leads the way with apps. Not only are there more apps in the App Store than in the Android Market, but there is generally more quality and less junk on Apple’s platform (a highly unscientific observation). This could be changing, as the flood of Android devices has led to the lion’s share of the smartphone market. While analysts have been predicting that Android will catch up for over a year now, it hasn’t happened.


The Windows Phone Marketplace is the newest of the three platforms, and hasn’t yet found the mass adoption of iOS or Android. When viewed from that light, 43,000+ isn’t a bad number of apps for Microsoft’s mobile platform.


Tablet-optimized apps

It’s no coincidence that the market-dominating iPad has the most tablet-optimized apps. Android tablets have been stuck in a vicious Catch-22, where they aren’t selling because they don’t have as many apps, but developers aren’t making apps because they aren’t selling. That will likely change soon (thanks in no small part to the Kindle Fire), but right now the iPad’s app library is utterly dominant.


It’s worth noting that the iPad and Android tablets can all run smaller-screen phone apps, but they look better on Android than they do on iOS. The iPad doubles the pixels of iPhone apps, making them look as pixelated as an Atari game (not really, but they definitely don’t look great). While most Android phone apps don’t look so hot stretched to fit a large display, they still look much better than iPhone apps on the iPad. Taking this into consideration, Android tablets have a bit more software support than the above figures suggest.


Windows Phone doesn’t run on tablets, instead Microsoft is preparing Windows 8 for future tablets.


Unapproved 3rd party apps

Casual users may not worry about this stat, but if you want maximum freedom in the software you install, you’ll want to pay attention. Apple and Microsoft both employ the walled garden approach, with apps needing to go through an approval process before being made available for iOS or Windows Phone. The Android Market, meanwhile, allows most anything (aside from malicious content) and you can also install 3rd party apps by sideloading or downloading from the web.


iOS and Windows Phone devices require a jailbreak (hack) in order to install unapproved apps. Some Android apps that need core system permissions will require a rooted device, but Android is the obvious victor in terms of app freedom.


You can argue that Android’s psuedo-open approach also has downfalls, like a glut of crap apps and less protection from malware, but that’s a debate for another time.


4G

Android is the (present moment) king of 4G. It was first to 4G with Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G, first to LTE with Verizon’s HTC Thunderbolt, and has tons of phones available on all 4G networks.


It’s a stretch to say iOS has 4G, but the AT&T version of the iPhone 4S is capable of HSPA+ 14.4Mbps speeds, same as the Motorola Atrix, LG Thrill, and HTC Inspire on Android.


Windows Phone has three 4G devices, the Samsung Focus S 4G, Samsung Focus Flash 4G, and HTC Radar 4G. Each runs on either AT&T’s or T-Mobile’s HSPA+ networks.


This will change soon, as the next iPhone will probably adopt LTE, and Windows Phone will also eventually expand into that realm.


One downside to consider is that LTE devices aren’t, at this moment, particularly battery-friendly. It’s slowly improving, but runtime is a concern on every LTE device on the market.


Cloud integration

One of the buzzwords of 2011, the cloud lets you store your data on remote servers. It can save precious flash storage and help you to effortlessly keep multiple devices in sync. Google is no stranger to the cloud, with Gmail and its numerous free web-based services (Google Music, Google Docs, Google Voice). Aside from contact syncing and limited app backups, Android doesn’t have an integrated cloud service. Android users can, however, use third-party apps like Dropbox or Box.net to access cloud files.


Introduced in this Fall’s iOS 5 release, iCloud serves less as direct file storage and more as an invisible syncing of content. Photos, music, contacts, reminders, browser bookmarks, notes, documents, calendar events, and some third-party app content will all stay synced up between iOS devices and Macs. You can also backup your entire device via iCloud. Defined by the lack of effort it requires, iCloud is easily the most advanced — yet simple — cloud service for any device.


Microsoft’s SkyDrive is its cloud service, but it isn’t nearly as seamless as iCloud. It doesn’t even come preinstalled on Windows Phone, requiring a marketplace download. Like third-party service Dropbox, SkyDrive is more of a file locker than an invisible syncing service. It requires manual file transfers, so photos, documents, and other data won’t invisibly sync in the background like they do in iCloud.


Voice control

Android and Windows Phone have had limited voice control for ages, but Apple stole their thunder with the arrival of Siri.


Google is reportedly scrambling to come up with its own answer to Siri, but right now Apple’s assistant is in a different league than Android Voice Commands or Microsoft’s Tellme. While the other two platforms allow for dictation and specific voice commands, Siri lets you speak in natural language. It isn’t perfect, and it will improve over the next few years, but it’s more far-reaching, it creates the illusion of a conversation, and it rids you of the burden of memorizing specific commands.


The only catch with Siri is that, at this moment, it’s only available on the iPhone 4S. By this time next year, though, Siri will likely be on the iPad 3, iPhone 5, and possibly a new iPod touch. It’s unknown whether Apple will retroactively port Siri to the iPhone 4 and other older devices, but we wouldn’t bet on it.


Multitasking

While they use different methods, all three platforms now have multitasking. Power users will insist that only Android offers true multitasking, but for most of us, the app-switching experience will be the same on iOS and Windows Phone.


All offer switching between apps — playing music, GPS navigation, VoIP calls, email notifications, and many other tasks to happen in the background.


Navigation

All platforms offer a variety of voiced turn-by-turn GPS navigation options, but Android has a big advantage. Google Maps Navigation, which is excellent and integrated with Android Voice Commands, is free. There is a growing number of free and cheap navigation apps for all platforms, but few rival Google’s service.


Search

Being Google’s platform, Android is tied to Google search. Few people have a problem with that. Being Microsoft’s platform, Windows Phone is tied to Bing. Many people would have a problem with that.


While those platforms offer search that is integrated into the OS, iOS requires you to open the browser to search. The caveat to add is that iPhone 4S owners can search the web from anywhere by querying Siri to “search the web for ___.’ iOS defaults to Google, but also gives you the option to switch the default search engine to Yahoo! or Bing.


Dual-core devices

In addition to LTE and the cloud, 2011 also saw the advent of dual-core mobile devices. Much like 4G, Android’s greater volume of devices has it leading the charge here too. We could nail down the exact number of dual-core Android devices, but after a week or two the stat would be obsolete. Just know that Android has many more than iOS or Windows Phone.


Apple’s iPad 2 and iPhone 4S both have the dual-core A5 chip. Windows Phone is still waiting for its first dual-core device.


Custom firmware

Most casual users won’t care about custom firmware, but those who want to fiddle with custom ROMs will gravitate towards Android. There is an active development community with multiple amateur geniuses releasing their own custom versions of Android every day.


Jailbroken iOS devices simply run the same iOS with the Cydia jailbreak app store installed. Windows Phone hacking is still in its infancy, but is more similar to iOS’s jailbreak community than Android’s development scene.


Third-party keyboard apps

Typing on a virtual keyboard can be a pain. It’s easy to tap out the wrong word, and built-in autocorrect suggestions can sometimes do more harm than good. Having the option of using innovative new keyboards can be a perk.


Right now Android is the only platform that lets you customize the on-screen keyboard. In addition to the default Android keyboard (or default manufacturer keyboard), you can choose to install a trace keyboard like Swype or SlideIt, a prediction algorithm keyboard like Swiftkey, or even a bizarre gesture-based keyboard like 8pen.


NFC

While Near Field Communication (usually used for mobile payments) hasn’t quite taken off with retailers (yet), it’s a nice future-proofing feature to have on your phone. Android currently has a small handful of phones with NFC chips (including the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S), but it still trumps the number of NFC devices that the other platforms have: zero.


Showcase phones

Reading about the three platforms is one thing, but it always helps to see each in action. If you’re heading to a store to get some hands-on time, you’ll want to compare the best that each has to offer.


For Android, that’s the Galaxy Nexus. As Google’s latest flagship device, it runs the latest version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich), has a gorgeous 4.65 inch SuperAMOLED display, and it runs on Verizon’s speedy LTE network in the US.


The iPhone 4S is Apple’s showcase phone. While it wasn’t the revolutionary iPhone 5 that many were hoping for, it still offers significant upgrades, including Siri, a dual-core A5 processor, and an 8MP camera.


The Lumia 800 is the flagship phone that Windows Phone has been needing, but, unfortunately, it’s still only available in Europe. Microsoft and Nokia have shown tentativeness in entering the US market, with the Lumia 800′s inferior little brother, the Lumia 710, set to lead the way. If you can get your hands on the Lumia 800, it has solid specs and runs the latest version of Windows Phone, Mango.


Showcase tablets

While it isn’t officially endorsed by Google as a flagship tablet, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is, at this moment, the best tablet that runs Android. It packs a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, an impressive display, and it will run Ice Cream Sandwich sometime in January.


Until the iPad 3 arrives in a few months, the iPad 2 is obviously the Apple flagship tablet (aside from the original iPad, it’s the only Apple tablet). It has a slick (and thin) design, the dual-core A5 processor, and Apple’s unparalleled library of tablet apps.


Windows Phone isn’t designed for tablets; Windows 8 will eventually be Microsoft’s tablet OS.


Intangibles

What is that extra something that each platform offers? Each OS has its own unique identity, and these help to define what that is.


Android is often mocked for being “open-y” (basically not as open as Google would like you to believe), but it is unquestionably the most customizable and hacker-friendly mobile platform of these three. It’s the only one of the bunch that lets you install homebrewed versions of Android. You can install homescreen widgets, swap keyboards, use live (animated) wallpaper, upgrade outdated devices to the latest version of Android, and tinker with about a billion other things.


iOS, meanwhile, is on the polar opposite side of the spectrum. Walled Garden is a term you often hear when describing Apple products, and it’s appropriate. Step through the gates of the magic Apple kingdom, and enjoy the simple and intuitive experience that the company has excruciatingly crafted for you.


Apple doesn’t want you to tinker. This means that all third-party apps need Apple’s approval, the UI is congruous and tight, and your experience has been prepared for you. Jailbreaking breaks those walls and lets you tinker almost as much as with an Android phone, but that isn’t the way an Apple product comes out of the box.


Windows Phone, meanwhile, is still searching for an identity. Its stance on open vs. closed is much closer to Apple’s, but if it defines itself by only that it will always be in iOS’s shadow. It arguably has the most attractive UI of the three platforms, but that’s too subjective to be a true killer feature.


One thing that draws (some) users to Windows Phone is the Microsoft Office suite. While Microsoft is reportedly developing the apps for the iPad, Windows Phone already includes the suite for free. Unless you’re a hardcore Office user, we wouldn’t recommend basing a smartphone purchase on an office suite alone (the other platforms have quality suites too). But, at this point in its progression, it’s the biggest thing Windows Phone can advertise as being truly unique.


Summary
We aren’t here to crown a victor in the mobile OS wars. If anything, sales will determine that. From that perspective, Android handily leads in market share, but the iPhone and iPad are the hottest-selling individual devices. But — apart from sports, elections, and other competitions — we don’t live in a world of universal champions. The best platform is whichever OS works for you.


The two big dogs — Android and iOS — each offers its own clear take on the mobile OS experience. The rivalry closely resembles that of Windows vs. Macintosh: one is closed and tied to specific hardware, the other is licensed and available on everything under the sun. Apple is playing the same part, but Google’s OS has replaced Microsoft in the other role.


Whether Microsoft can rebound and make this a three-way race remains to be seen; it’s a steep hill to climb, and the company’s hesitance to enter the US market with its Nokia partnership doesn’t bode well. But smartphones aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and the company will have years to stage its attempted comeback.

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Lumia 800 vs iPhone 4S

It’s no secret that the world of high-end mobile phones is currently dominated by the iOS and Android operating systems. To help you get a perspective on their latest releases, we gave you head-to-head spec comparisons between the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus, and then between the Droid Razr next to the Galaxy Nexus.


While those two platforms are the kings of the hill right now, Nokia showed us what a Windows Phone 7.5 handset can look like this week, with the gorgeous Lumia 800. Why not put it next to the iPhone 4S, and see how they size up?


Of course you’d be wise to look beyond just specs when shopping for a new device. If technical specifications were the only thing that mattered, then Android tablets would likely be taking a much bigger piece of the iPad’s pie. With that said, you can learn a lot about a device’s capabilities by looking at the individual components that it’s made of.


Design and dimensions

Both phones are similarly proportioned, with one exception. The Lumia is slightly wider, and longer by a hair. The biggest difference in dimensions is that the Lumia is thicker than the 4S. As new devices like the Galaxy Nexus and Droid Razr are racing to see who can become the thinnest, it’s interesting that Nokia’s handset measures a little chunkier than the last two iPhones.


Both of these phones are quite the lookers. While you’ve likely grown accustomed to the look of the iPhone 4S by now (it’s identical to last year’s iPhone 4), it’s hard to find a slicker-looking device. An aluminum antenna is sandwiched between two panels of glass. Even if you prefer a more rounded, less angular device, it’s hard to argue that the iPhone 4S isn’t classic Apple design at its finest.


The Lumia 800, meanwhile, brings something that we haven’t seen a lot of in smartphone bodies – color. It will be available in cyan (above) and magenta, in addition to the familiar black. The body of the phone has a more unified build than many recent handsets, with its smooth one-piece body. If you saw pictures of the Meego-running Nokia N9, it’s virtually identical to the Lumia.


Display

The Lumia’s display is slightly larger than the iPhone’s, but has a lower resolution. The screen uses curved glass to create an effect of blending in with the body of the phone. In that regard, the greatest strength of the Lumia’s display may be that it lends itself to the illusion of no separation between display and body. Windows Phone’s heavy use of deep blacks, next to the black front bezel, will only accentuate this effect.
Pixel density tilts heavily in the iPhone’s favor, though 252ppi on the Lumia’s AMOLED display shouldn’t disappoint too many people.


Processor

Nokia went in an interesting direction here, foregoing a dual-core CPU, and instead opting for a single-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 chip. The iPhone 4S, meanwhile, carries Apple’s dual-core A5 system-on-a-chip, underclocked at 800MHz.


We’ll look forward to getting these two phones side-by-side for some performance testing, but we do already know that the iPhone 4S runs iOS 5 with no lag whatsoever. While some could be let down by the single-core CPU in the Lumia, the Windows Phone software library isn’t currently heavy on resource-intensive apps, so perhaps this single core chip, with a relatively high clock rate, will suffice.


Memory

Both phones are equals in the RAM department, coming in at 512MB. Some were surprised that Apple opted for half of the iPad 2′s 1GB in the 4S, but its performance doesn’t appear to be suffering without the extra memory. Perhaps Nokia and Microsoft came to the same conclusion regarding the Lumia and Mango.


Storage

While neither handset offers SD card support, the iPhone gives you more options for on-board storage. This is another area where Windows Phone’s much younger app library shows its face. Without the extensive library of huge games that the App Store has, there’s less of a need for the extra storage on the Lumia. Still, those who like to store their entire music library or several movies on their device may be disappointed with a maximum of 16GB.


Microsoft’s Skydrive service can help to make up for this, as owners of the phone will get 25GB of free cloud storage.


Battery life

I’d recommend taking the above estimates with many grains of salt. Apple is known for giving solid battery life estimates on both their iOS devices and MacBooks, while many other manufacturers’ claims are known for falling short. With that said, it looks like Nokia is promising longer talk time, and more standby, while the iPhone claims to have longer video playback.


For those more interested in the hardware, the Lumia 800 has a 3.7V 1450mAh battery. The iPhone’s, meanwhile, is a 3.7V 1420mAh model. As always, software and other hardware features can have at least as big of an effect on actual battery life.


Camera

While the iPhone 4S’ camera has been heralded as exceptional for a smartphone camera, the Lumia will also have a particularly high quality camera. We know this because it appears to be identical to the camera in the Nokia N9. The pictures that the N9 takes hold up fairly well next to the 4S (though the 4S still has an edge in terms of color vibrance and lighting).


One major difference in the camera department comes in terms of the front shooter. Namely, the iPhone 4S has one and the Lumia does not. Mobile video chat may not have caught on the way some expected it to, but if you want the option, the Lumia isn’t the phone for you.


Summary
Regardless of the hardware we compared above, the biggest spec may be that of availability. If you live in the US, you can get the iPhone 4S right now, while there is no information regarding an American launch for the Lumia. Nokia hasn’t had much of a presence in the states for some time, and it doesn’t look like they’re rushing to change that. Perhaps it’s part of a joint strategy with Microsoft to build an international presence, while easing into the US market. Either way, it will be available throughout most of Europe in November.


We excluded download speeds, as the Lumia obviously has no carrier info for a US release. The iPhone 4S, as you probably know, will get 3G speeds on Verizon and Sprint, and you may get HSPA 14.4 (“4G” according to AT&T) speeds on AT&T.


So while many won’t even have the choice between these two phones yet, the Lumia 800 is significant enough of an entry that it’s worth profiling. Microsoft needs their Nokia Windows Phones to be something special to have a hope of gaining some significant market share, and this phone has the ingredients (particularly in terms of design) to help them do that.

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