EVP Discount

Half of U.S. cell phones are now smartphones

brian — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:28:31 +0000

For the first time, more than half of all American mobile customers own a smartphone, according to a report released Wednesday by Nielsen. That’s up from 38% a year ago.

As smartphones eclipse “feature” phones — the industry’s term for phones without touchscreens — the way Americans are using their handsets is changing. The number of apps downloaded to Apple iPhone and Google Android devices grew 28% over the past year to an average of 41 apps per phone. Smartphone users are spending 39 minutes per day using their apps, up 10% from a year ago. A Google study also released Wednesday found that 26% of U.S. smartphone owners would rather give up their computer than their smartphone — a sign that the devices are truly becoming mini-PCs.

Facebook, YouTube, the Android market, Google and Gmail remain the top five most-used apps, according to Nielsen. That isn’t particularly surprising, since all of those apps except for Facebook are pre-loaded onto most Android devices, which remain the most popular smartphones.

Android makes up 51% of all smartphones in the United States, compared to the iPhone, which has a 30.7% share, according to comScore.

That trend has held up globally as well, with Android devices making up 56% of first-quarter smartphone sales. Just 23% were iPhones, Gartner reported on Wednesday.

It’s becoming evident that Google and Apple are running away with the smartphone market. They were the only major mobile operating systems to gain share over the past year — and those that lost share fell hard, Gartner reported.

Nokia’s discontinued Symbian fell through the floor. It represented 8.6% of overall sales, down from nearly 28% a year earlier. But the Finnish mobile company’s replacement, Microsoft’s Windows Phone, also lost share. Microsoft’s phones made up just 1.9% of sales last quarter, down from 2.6% a year earlier.

Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion’s smartphone market share was sliced in half, commanding just 7% of sales this past quarter.

Meanwhile, Nielsen found that the number of iPhone and Android users doubled in the United States over the past year. Globally, Apple and Google smartphones grew their market share by nearly 26 percentage points. They now control 79% of the market.

Source: CNN

Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot – coming May 18

brian — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:45:44 +0000

Sprint announced a pretty interesting device today – the Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot – which, as the name suggests, supports 4G LTE, WiMAX and 3G.

While Sprint’s LTE network is not expected until mid-year in select markets, you can hook up to the existing WiMAX network, or use plain old 3G speeds with the Tri-Fi Hotspot, while waiting.

The gizmo is powered by a 3600mAh battery, providing your devices with up to 8 hours of Wi-Fi , and will be available May 18 for $99.99, after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two year contract, and plans starting from $34.99 a month for 3GB of data, $49.99 for 6GB of data or $79.99 for 12GB.

Contact an EVP associate for details or to place an order.

The LG Optimus Elite will arrive 5/18

evp — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:53:25 +0000

In recent years there has been a push to be environmentally friendly or “go green” and Sprint has made huge strides towards this. The LG Optimus Elite is yet another device to add to the already impressive line-up of eco-friendly devices. The Optimus Elite casting is made of 50% recycled material and RoHS compliant- meaning it’s free from many potentially hazardous materials, such as PVC, phthalates, halogens and mercury. Additional specs include:

Processor: 800 MHz processor
Memory: 4GB ROM/512 MB RAM
Battery: 1520 mAh
OS: Android 2.3
Display: 3.5″ capacitive touch-screen

At launch the Elite will retail for $49.99 and will be available on the EVP portal. Contact EVP for more info.

May Accessory Spotlight: iPhone Cases

brian — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:42:26 +0000

EVP knows how important it is to personalize and protect your phone, which is why we offer a large assortment of cell phone accessories. Click here to shop online. Here are some of our more popular items available for the highly popular iPhone 4/4S:

National Geographic launches National Park guide app for iPhone

brian — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:27:43 +0000

Just in time for all those summer travels, here’s an app that you’d better get on the way there – National Parks by National Geographic. The application is available for free on the App Store, but packs plenty of useful information. Along with it comes one free guide for a park of your choice, and additional guides will cost you from $0.99 to $1.99. Even without the guide, you get a set of basic features – Park info, camping and lodging information, maps, weather, stats, and a few photos. The guide brings much more details such as tips on what to do and see, park secrets, and plenty of additional photos.

The photographs are needless to say of great quality and annotated, and back in the main page of a park you get to see the weather conditions and stats that will tell you the number of visitors, size of the park and the local time.

But the most fascinating part of the application is the photo tips section. There, the photographer who snapped the picture shares all the details of how he shot, and exact GPS coordinates of the place.

The parks included in National Parks are Acadia, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Death Valley, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Great Smoky Mountains, Haleakala, Hawaii Volcanoes, Joshua Tree, Mount Rainier, Olympic, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Shenanadoah, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion. Check out the free application at the link below and let us know how you like it.

Download National Parks by National Geographic on the App Store [iTunes link]

What would you do if you got a $200,000 cell phone bill?

evp — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:28:48 +0000

EVP always has clients contacting us and looking for ways to lower their cell phone bill. This day in age cell phones are almost as important as food or water for some people so the prices for service can get high. What if your bill came in the mail and it was for $200,000? Would you be mad? Cry? Faint? One woman in Florida received that very bill for over $200,000 for texting and data charges used by her brothers when they were out of the country. The carrier did confirm that the charges were correct, but later lowered her bill to $2,500 and gave her 6 months to pay according to Yahoo News.

What can you do to prevent this from happening to your family? Various carriers have applied spending limits to client’s accounts in hopes of preventing just this kind of mistake. Also a variety of apps are available to track your usage and make sure you stay within the range of your plan. Lastly, Make sure that if you are going out of the country with your phone you always call the carrier first and get set up on the correct plan.

Sprint to launch a slew of new LTE phones in the coming weeks

brian — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:36:06 +0000

Sprint, the only national wireless carrier offering truly unlimited data for all phones while on the Sprint network1, continues its 4G LTE launch momentum with the launch of several new devices, including its first Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone with 4G LTE capability. Sprint recently announced Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio are expected to have 4G LTE and enhanced 3G service in mid-year 2012. The anticipated launch of these large metropolitan areas demonstrates the continued commitment by Sprint to invest in its network through Network Vision. Sprint customers in these areas will soon enjoy ultra-fast data speeds and improved 3G voice quality.

Galaxy Nexus by Samsung, its first Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, smartphone with 4G LTE capability. It boasts a Pure Google experience, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED™ contour display and dual cameras enabling video chat.

The eco-friendly LG Viper features ULE Platinum Certification, a casing comprised of 50% recycled plastics, and a 100% recyclable packaging. Specs wise, this Android Gingerbread device features a 4-inch 800×480 WVGA display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB ROM, 4GB microSD card, Gorilla Glass, a 5MP rear-facing camera, and 4G LTE capabilities.

HTC EVO 4G LTE, a 1.5 dual-core processor, a giant 4.7-inch 720p Super LCD display, and a high-end 8-megapixel camera. It also has NFC (Near Field Communications), which allows one to pay for something by tapping against a terminal or friend’s phone, using an application like Google Wallet. And by the way, it makes phone calls.

See what’s blooming in EVP

evp — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:48:50 +0000

April is a great month for new handsets and we have 3 new devices coming out April 15th. Visit your EVP portal to see the most up to date devices and all the special pricing. As always EVP offers an additional $25 rebate on select smartphones, check out our newest phones.

Rumor Reflex in white By LG: $29.99
Sprint 3G/4G Plug-in-connect USB: Free
Lenovo Idedpad : $199.99

Coming Soon: HTC EVO 4G LTE and the LG Viper 4G LTE.

Instagram Moves with the Trends

brian — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:37 +0000

Once again, Mark Zuckerberg is taking the reins with his Facebook and conquering all social media. Monday he announced that Facebook will acquire Instagram for $1 billion. Facebook stands as the number one social networker, and now the site is headed towards an even higher victory after the purchase of this trendy and hip smartphone app.

Instagram is a photo app allowing users to select vintage and rare photo filters and apply those esthetics to their personal photography. With its Twitter-esque type of following and unfollowing, your followers can like, comment and share photos. Even the amateur photographer can turn photos into a professional image. Since Instagram currently has over 30 million users, will the app lose some of them? Or, gain millions more since Zuckerberg is now in full control?

If you’re one to steer away from the socials of Facebook media, Business Review USA has scouted out and tried two smartphone photo apps that are similar in appeal and taste to that of Instagram’s likeness.

Hipstamatic: Probably the first app to release vintage photography on smart phones. One can experience photo filters and followers as well as being able to share, send and like all images. With Hipstamatic you can swap lenses, filters and cameras before taking your photo so one experiences the full faux-vintage film camera straight from the iPhone.

PicYou: Similar to Instragram’s interface. There are numerous filters to edit images. Users share, send and save all photos within the app. The main perk of PicYou is the concept of downloading all personal images from the web on PicYou’s website. The app is easy to use and allows one to edit each photo to that of a professional and artistic feel.

The downfall and difference to these “similar to Instragram apps” is one must pay a price to play. Hipstamtic requires its users to fork up a buck for more film and its array of antique cameras. PicYou is quite similar in that one pays a fee ($1) for its different artistic filters. And, Zuckerberg states, the free app of Instagram will not change its esthetics and it will be entirely separate from Facebook’s domain. The question remains, how long will Instagram continue as its own unique photo sharer?

Source: businessreviewusa

Sprint’s Latest EVO from HTC Adds 4G LTE, Brings Back Kickstand

brian — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:14:42 +0000

Sprint and HTC yesterday announced the EVO 4G LTE Android 4.0 smartphone. The EVO 4G LTE is a variant of the One X, but substitutes an aluminum frame and casing for the polycarbonate found on the One X. In addition to the aluminum, the EVO 4G LTE also has a bi-directional kickstand so it can be propped up two different ways for watching video content. The EVO 4G LTE supports HD calling, which Sprint says offers drastically higher call quality over the cellular network (this feature will become available later this year, and is network-dependent). Other specs of the device line up with the rest of the One X line. It has a 4.7-inch 720p HD Super LCD display, dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video capture and continuous shot, and NFC with Google Wallet. The EVO 4G LTE has CDMA in the 800/1900MHz bands, and LTE in the 1900MHz band. It also includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a user-accessible microSD slot. The device will be available for pre-sale in early May, and will ship by the end of June. It will cost $199.99 with a new agreement for eligible upgrades & new lines of service.