Saving Companies Thousands. Be One!

This weekend I had the pleasure of experiencing a 3-day swim meet with my daughter at the University of Incarnate Word. While I didn’t enjoy getting up at 5:30 AM every morning, I did enjoy people watching during the course of the long days. With hours and hours of down time, I, like many others, took to my smart phone to pass the time. As I look around, it seems that EVERYONE has a smart phone of some kind. I’ve seen Dad’s getting score updates on NFL playoff games, Mom’s taking pictures with their multi-pixel smart phones kids playing games and listening to music. I personally have pushed my Blackberry to the max…I’ve watched entire TV shows, listened to my music, streamed the UT Men’s basketball game, sent Blackberry Messenger updates on my daughter’s progress to friends and family, read my entire newspaper and other articles from my Viigo, browsed the Net, played online blackjack and poker, taken pictures/video, followed the weather AND used the stopwatch timer on my Tour (whew). Needless to say, my smart phone has had a workout this weekend. I’ve also done my best to “educate” others on applications or uses on their own smart phones that perhaps they were unaware of. If you’re still one of the few people that do not have a smart phone, perhaps it’s time that you look at one now. You too can do all of these things for just a few extra bucks a month. If you’d like to know how, call me…(800) GET-A-CELL. Don’t settle for another “dumb” phone when you could have the World at your finger tips! Oh, and did I mention that I even posted this blog from my phone?

Cell phones have been around for a relatively long time. Many people I know claim they used to have bag phones, I personally do not remember anybody having a bag phone. Then a while later we had those Nokia bar phones with the horrible screens and we all thought we were cool. So how much have phones changed since a few years ago?

We have always been able to make calls, some people debate the coverage and call quality. My favorite lines go something like “With my bag phone I could make calls underwater and they sounded perfect”. Then we started taking advantage of text messaging, web, e-mail, media. That is where we are now, we have devices available that do so much more.

I have a Blackberry, Blackberry and Palm have been in the smartphone market for some time. Blackberry has been constantly evolving, albeit a little slower than some other companies. Palm has basically reinvented themselves to use their new WebOS. With my Blackberry I send/receive text messages, I can update and read my Facebook, I update my Twitter, I read news and other RSS feeds with Viigo (which is super awesome). I do so many more things it is hard to list them.

As much as I love my Blackberry, Apple’s iPhone is, in my opinion, what changed the game. Apple made a device that has much more memory that RIM devices or Palm devices had. They released a fairly simple development kit to developers. The iPhone became more about the apps than the phone. People thought “Wow I never knew I would be able to do this with a phone”. Apple is very smart and they did a great job marketing and showing us some of the cool apps, they also give the feeling that there is an application for everything you could imagine.

Windows has been making their Windows Mobile platform evolve. I am really excited for Windows Mobile 6.5 to come out. I used to have a Motorola Q, which was my first smartphone, I liked it but did not love it. I liked Windows Mobile, I love Blackberry OS. I am keeping an eye on this one to see how it goes.

The next big contributor to the smartphone realm was Google. For me Google is just an awesome company, some people know them for their search engine only, but now they have thing Chrome browser and Google Voice which are cool products. Google initially had a good relationship with HTC, but now Motorola and LG are going to start making Android devices. It is open, so I think many manufacturers will start using the Android OS and tweaking it to fit lower end and higher end devices.

Our phones have always done what they have done, they have slowly added features and we have been familiar with the layout. The main things that change are what carrier you have. A Sprint phone’s menu may look different from an ATT phone. The first time you pick up a Blackberry you are lost, although once you get the hang of it YOU LOVE IT, at least I do.

Carriers know applications (apps) are what people are falling in love with, they are trying to cater to these apps a little more now (think LG enV3). A dumbphone will not let you cater to apps, at least not in the capacity that will make them successful. I see business users using Blackberry for years to come. Some business users I think will also use iPhone. Google Android and Palm WebOS are the operating systems to watch. With their abilities they can be tweaked to fit into a consumer or business customer device.

If you have any questions you can contact us. You can also reach me on Twitter @gizmoalex or Charlie @phonestore. We like to think we are smartphone experts, but we also love using our gadgets and devices and we want people to enjoy them too. If you have any questions or any suggestions let us know.

We usually post some industry news or new applications (mostly for Blackberry). Today I want our post to be another way to find help for your phone, instead of searching “The Googles” for forums. There is a huge community of people that belong to Twitter. The great thing is some of these people are tech oriented, and many of them seem to be very nice.

Now on Twitter it seems like there are some people out there to solely promote their business. There are also great people like @johnmccrea from Plaxo that reach out to their customer base and address questions or issues they have regarding their product.

One fairly common link is many people that are on Twitter usually Tweet from their phones, and many are tech oriented. Just the other day, I found a cool case for my wife’s Blackberry Storm just by asking, “Does anybody know any good cases for the Storm?” This simple question gave me many opinions. The same rule applies. There are people out there asking, which phone should I get, or how do I (fill in the phone question here). Sure enough, the Twitter community usually comes to the rescue and responds.

For my phone, the Curve, I use an application called Twitterberry to update. You can download at http://www.orangatame.com/products/twitterberry. There are other options as well for Blackberry. Gizmodo has provided a great battlemodo of Twitter apps for the iphone here. So if you have any questions you can contact us, or send me a message @gizmoalex, and I will respond as soon as I can.

That is a bold title, I know. When most people think of a phone right now they think iPhone. I have people walking into our stores asking for iPhones. They do not know what they do, they do not know how they would use them, but the know they want an iPhone. I can say the same thing for the Blackberry, just on a much smaller level, people ask for the Blueberry, or something along those lines, and do not really know what it does. They just know they want a Blackberry.

Well, there are die hard iPhone fans, and die hard Blackberry addicts. Both factions think their device is the best, although both also just dismiss all the good things the opposing device does. I think the iPhone is one of the coolest looking devices out there. It is very sleek looking and has a good “Apple” feel. It looks very modern and feel great in the hand. Blackberrys mostly are all a little different. You have the Storm, Curve, Bold, Pearl, World Series, and so on. I think the Curve is the most popular Blackberry and it looks nice, but not quite up to par with the iPhone.

The iPhone community is great, there are many innovative applications/games on there that I really like, some are JellyCar, Trace, Twitteriffic, and Spanish LE. There are hundreds more, and many of them are really cool. This is an area where the iPhone has pulled away from most makers. The applications developers have made for this really has made it a great device for most people. Both hardcore and casual users can appreciate many of the free and pay for applications. Blackberry has a ton of applications, but many of them are business driven. They are made to help improve operation costs for businesses, and Blackberrys (along with Palm and Windows phones) really help businesses run.

I use my phone a lot for e-mailing, texting, and talking. My good old 8830 aka “The Beast” was great, and my Blackberry Curve is just as good for that. A few things really make the Blackberry pull away from the iPhone in this category. For me the main thing is battery life. My 8830, 8330 Curve, and 9530 Storm have all had better battery life than the iPhone. The 3g iPhone is a little worse off, especially when you are using the WiFi. The other real major winner for me with Blackberry is the keyboard. The keyboards are great. I love my Curve and 8830, I have used the Pearl’s Suretype and it works well. Even though the Storm is touch screen I prefer it over the iPhone. It is much easier to not mess up on the Storm, and the keys are spaced a little further apart.

So do I hate the iPhone? The answer is no. I respect it, it is very cool, but I really need to have the best at e-mails and the best phone available, that is why I have a Blackberry. I have an iPod Touch because I do appreicate the applications, but until Apple steps up and improves a few things RIM is king of the hill. If you have any questions feel free to contact us.

We have written a few times about the Samsung Instinct (M-800). It has always been a phone we have anticipated and one I was really looking forward to coming out. It won a few best in shows at some tech conventions earlier this year and we had seen some videos on its performance. The question is did it deliver. The short answer is yes.

The Instinct has been out for some time, and being in the retail world I feel like I can assume it has stood the test of time. It has sold to many many people, and there are not any significant, or even small issues I have faced when dealing with this device. As we all know the iPhone is a media darling. The iPhone is cool, don’t get me wrong, but when you compare it to a more competent device it does not stand up.

In my opinion the biggest issues with the iPhone are the battery, “3g” network, and case fractures. The battery being removable is a bummer, but the real dagger in the heart is the battery life when you are in 3g mode or you have Wi-Fi on. The 3g network with ATT is not as large as Sprint or Verizon, and for such a beautiful device you will probably get small fractures in the plastic shell of your iPone soon after you purchase.

So yes, I think the Instinct is the winner. It is a great device, very responsive, and Sprint has this cool website for more comparisons (I like the music in the removable battery video). If you have not seen an Instinct yet check it out, or contact us and we will gladly set you up with one.

I know there are a lot of awesome ways many people customize their telephone. If you have a phone like all of your friends have it is a definite must. It is funny, I see a lot of friends come in our stores with phones like the Razor and they have the same color and the same phone.

There are several options like the standard leather case, skin, and hard plastic shell. On my phone I opt for the Otterbox, but some people send their phone to Colorware. Colorware is an awesome company that custom paints some smartphone devices. Naturally since I am writing about it, it is offered for Blackberry. The level of quality that Colorware provides is unmatched. They have great colors and offer a high gloss scratch resistant paint. Some celebrities like Mariah Carey and Jay-Z have their Blackberries customized by Colorware.

Colorware offers their services for some Sidekicks, iPhone, and Blackjack. So if you are not partial to Blackberry, send in your iPhone or Sidekick. They also paint computers, game consoles. music players, and HD Tvs. As always if you have any questions let us know.

I love my Blackberry and everything I can do on it. I can write and receive all of my e-mails in a very organized way, I can use a great phone, I can play games, and it seems with all the applications out there I can do a countless number of things. There are so many applications out there and one I am sure many business people have been waiting for is a Quickbooks application.

Now, I am not in charge of finances for our company, but I know that Quickbooks is a very important tool to make sure we are keeping track of all of our expenses and profits. Thanks to our good friends over at Blackberry Cool, they have let us know this is available for Blackberry and iPhone users.

So for those of you that manage your company’s expenses or those of you small or medium business owners that do it yourself, download this application now. On top of the hour a day Blackberry helps you save, this should make your life just a little easier. If you do not have a Blackberry TAKE THE CHALLENGE!

I came into work this morning and I saw some newer and clearer pictures of the Blackberry Thunder. We originally posted this article when there was early whispers and some speculation of this device. Here we are a few weeks later and this new phone is looking awesome. I have heard this will be a Verizon exclusive device using both CDMA and GSM technologies to make it a World Phone.

Now one of the really cool things it is rumored it will have a glass screen. This may not sound like much, but when you see it on a phone it looks extremely classy. It is a really great looking phone and Research In Motion makes a fantastic product. There are other great manufacturers out there, but I would have to say RIM is the most consistent.

Now the pictures that have been leaked are of the Media Player and it looks crazy awesome! It looks to have a very clean interface and the icons remind me of the Blackberry Bold’s icons. Of course it looks like you could turn it sideways to take advantage of the 360×480 widescreen to watch videos. We will have to keep an eye out for this device. We hear iPhone Killer almost daily now with new touchscreen phones becoming a dime a dozen, but RIM does not disappoint and I predict this will be the new Gold Standard for Consumer and Business TouchScreen devices.