Half of U.S. cell phones are now smartphones | 0 Comments
By brian on 05-16-2012 08:28 PM
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
May Accessory Spotlight: iPhone Cases | 0 Comments
By brian on 05-02-2012 05:42 PM
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 | 0 Comments
By brian on 04-25-2012 03:27 PM
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]
Instagram Moves with the Trends | 0 Comments
By brian on 04-11-2012 03:00 PM
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
How much smartphone data do I need? | 0 Comments
By brian on 03-28-2012 02:13 PM
If you have a smartphone, you have to buy a data plan as well, which could add around $360 a year or more to your bill. And recently, wireless carriers have implemented new pricing, data limits and “throttling” (cutting your data to a trickle if you use too much) that can make figuring out plans downright baffling.
You could be one of those people using a smartphone as you did your old phone — for calling and texting. In that case, you might need only a minimal plan. But discovering mobile movies, streaming music, apps and video chat is like opening a Pandora’s box (in fact, Pandora is one of the services you might get hooked on). Your data appetite could quickly grow.
If you like to email, download a few photos and post to Facebook, for example, you can possibly get by on a gigabyte per month, but if you want to stream music and watch the occasional TV show, you may need around 3 gigabytes. And if you’re a big video viewer, you’re looking at 5 gigabytes or more.
To get a sense of what you may want to do and how much data you’ll need, please see this handy chart:
Source: Technolog
How to travel with your iphone | 0 Comments
By evp on 03-06-2012 04:15 PM
There is no doubt that the iPhone is one of the hottest devices right now. Clients are scooping them up left and right on all 3 available carriers.
Almost every day we get a call back with the question “How do I use my new iPhone internationally?”.Good question and the answer will depend on the carrier that you have. USA today did a great article on the different carriers and how to unlock your phone on each one.
- ATT does not unlock iPhones (you can buy unlocked ATT iPhones directly from Apple at retail costs)
- Verizon can be unlocked after 60 days of good standing, must follow unlocking procedure first. If you buy a foreign SIM here, you can program before travel…if you buy a SIM upon your arrival, you must have a Wi-Fi connection to activate. A domestic SIM will not work.
- Sprint can be unlocked after 90 days of good standing, Sprint iPhone will recognize automatically if it is foreign or domestic SIM (cannot use domestic SIM)
Read the full article here and safe travels. - Article by Rob Pegoraro- USA Today
Boo! Halloween Apps for the iPhone! | 1 Comment
By brian on 10-26-2011 03:28 PM
Halloween apps can be a fun way to get into the spirit of the holiday. These five apps represent the variety of Halloween apps you can find on the market. All the basic versions are free and are available for both iPhone and iPad.
Scary Sounds: This app lets you play one scary sound or create a combination of sounds to loop over and over. You can attach your device to speakers and create spooky sound effects for your party or haunted house. Sounds include Growling, Laugh Howl, Screech, Wicked Witch Laugh, Wolves Howling and more. Rated 12+.
Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents Magazine: This app is great for kids who aren’t quite ready to wield a real pumpkin carving knife. Your kids can carve their own jack-o-lantern or pick from a library of crazy eyes, noses and mouths. It’s simple and fun and once they are finished they can add a message and share their creation with family and friends. Rated 4+.
Scary Camera Free – Create Halloween Spooky and Haunted Photos: Take a photo and then turn it into a spooky creation with this app’s scary photo effects. Photo effects include Zombie, Shocking, Horror and Black and White. You can also add frames to images to make them bloody, smokey, ghostly and more. Rated 9+.
Halloween Card Creator – Free: Use this app to create cute, fun and spooky Halloween cards to share with your family and friends. Cards are easy to customize with fun graphics and backgrounds. Please note that there is a deluxe version of this app for $0.99, that includes more clip art. Rated 4+.
Scene It? Horror Movies 2: This app is for adults who love horror movies. Similar to the board game, it has scary trivia, movie clips and puzzles from some of your favorite terrifying movies. The basic version is free, but if you want more you can add $0.99 Horror Trivia Packs. It also includes Airplay, HD videos for the iPad, and sharing with Facebook Connect and Game Center. You must be at least 17 years old to download app.
