Apple has put plenty of restrictions on the iPhone and this certainly hasn’t gone well with people who yearn for freedom. They have made software called Jailbreak iPhone. Jailbreaking an iPhone lets you run third party applications on the handset that were otherwise blocked by Apple. There are two big application installers right now – Cydia and Icy. I prefer the former and through this, you can download and install tons of 3rd party applications which you won’t find anywhere on the App Store. Jailbreaking an iPhone has a few drawbacks but it is nothing risky. If things get out of control you can always use iTunes to restore the handset to its factory settings. This will make the device as good as new. Jailbreaking the iPhone gives you lots of things that you didn’t get in the first place. For example, you can put any custom wallpaper on the display. The firmware also gives you a great way to  [...]

Have you bought a screen protector or screen guard for your phone before? I bet you have just walked in to store and took the one that the dealer offered you. I too used to do the same thing. I was in the market buying HTC Desire screen protector and realized that there are a lot of counterfeit ones out there. Stay away from the fake screen guards even though they are very cheap. These cheapos die out quickly and don’t protect the screen as well as the original ones. Your phone is precious right? So don’t hesitate if you have to spend the extra buck. I would recommend buying original ones; they are a bit costly but the glue on them is really good and they hold on to the screen really well. The fakes ones tend to peel out easily. When I went to buy my HTC Desire screen protector, I found a lot of cheap china products. The glue on them is really weak and the sheets are very thin. This makes the screen vulnerable to damages. I bought my set with  [...]

LG Octane is quite similar to the LG Envy line of messaging phones also from Verizon Wireless. It is a flip style phone and on the front, you get a external display along with a number keypad. Flip it open and you will see an internal display with a full QWERTY keyboard beneath. The external 1.2 inch display shows you a limited menu and you can also use it as a camera view finder. Underneath the screen, there is a navigation array which consists of contacts, clear, send and end button. In the middle, there is a four way navigation button with OK button in the center. The numeric keypad underneath is very roomy and you can easily type small text messages or phone numbers. On the back, the LG Octane has a 3.2 megapixel camera along with flash. You have five options for resolutions and there are plenty of other settings too. They include self-timer, white balance modes, flash, shutter sounds (along with a silent option),  [...]

ZTE Agent from Metro PCS is an entry level phone and unfortunately this is one of those devices which don’t have much to recommend. It is slim and tall with a soft touch back cover which makes the phone comfortable to hold in the hand. The phone will also slip in to the tightest of jeans pockets. The screen is nice and large considering this is an basic entry level phone. It is fairly sharp and looks clear too. However, I was disappointed with the navigation buttons located below the display. For instance, the circle toggle is too small for my tastes and I often went in the down direction when I pressed right. The Talk and End keys are tall and narrow which makes them difficult to press. The toggle button is flanked by two soft touch buttons and underneath them; there is the back and dedicated music player button. I must praise the manufacturer for the music button since it is rare in such phones. The numeric keypad  [...]

This phone was first seen in February at GSMA 2008 and just like most Nokia high end phones, this device took some time to come in the US. There are have been new products coming in the market since then and they have stole the N96’s thunder including Nokia’s own N97. I would still say that the Nokia N96 is a very impressive all-in-one handset and it deserves recognition for the huge 16 GB internal storage that it has. There are also tons of multimedia features and this device is a good replacement for any music/video players. Just like all N series phones, this phone is targeted at multimedia enthusiasts but it has all business features too. I was impressed by the various wireless connections and the onboard productivity suite. Apart from the increased memory and a few design tweaks, the N96 is quite similar to N95, its predecessor. I won’t recommend an upgrade if you already have the N95 especially with a price tag of $776 (unlocked). Nokia N96 phone  [...]

Looking at the phone made me think that Nokia must have worked really hard on the phone in order to make it look attractive. Nokia 7205 Intrigue is different from other phones. It doesn’t have the standard candy bar design; the device has a flap interface. The external display is quite unique, it takes full advantage of the real estate that is available here. One thing I didn’t like about the body is that it is very glossy and hence attracts a lot of fingerprints. If you are a hygiene freak or if you love to keep your gadgets clean, I will recommend keeping a cleaning cloth close. The phone looks really ugly with all the fingerprints and smudges on it. Nokia 7205 Intrigue looks really pretty. Open it and see it from the sides, it will look like a thin plastic sheet. There is a silver rim around the phone which contrasts very well with the black theme of the phone. It adds to the phone’s aesthetic appeal. Internal display of the phone is really bright and colorful,  [...]

Samsung Gravity 3 is a successor to the Gravity 2 and this phone too is made for messaging enthusiasts. It has a slide out full QWERTY keyboard with a blue electric rim and buttons. This is much better than the previous model which had square and small buttons. The QWERTY keyboard is really spacious and it has the sci-fi look. The space bar reminds me of spaceship and the oblong buttons are tilted. There are dedicated soft buttons for landscape mode but it feels a bit awkward to use these buttons to navigate through the menu. The navigation button is located on the bottom right and they keyboard also has a dedicated OK key, Symbol/Shift button and www/.com key for entering URLs quickly. The emoticon button gives you a standard smiley. The keys are raised but only slightly. It was a bit wide for my hands and the buttons depressed easily enough to keep my messages flowing. The contact book of the Samsung Gravity 3 can take up to 1,000 contacts. A single entry can take four phone numbers,  [...]

Samsung Pixon M8800 is one of the highest end phones from this manufacturer and the best feature about it is the eight megapixel camera which takes superb quality images. The video quality too is really good. The phone comes with accelerometer which lets you view the photos and videos in wide screen mode by just tilting the device. The photos are neatly sorted and you will have no problem locating the ones that you want even if you have a huge collection. I was disappointed to see that the motion sensor sensitivity cannot be configured. This would have made the feature better. For browsing through the photos, you just have to flick your fingers across the screen. The accelerometer also changes the phone orientation automatically from landscape to portrait mode. The onscreen alphanumeric keypad changes into a full QWERTY keyboard when you tilt the phone. There is also haptic feedback when the keys are touched. Samsung Pixon M8800 camera also lets you record videos.  [...]

From the name, I thought this was a high end smartphone but latter I was disappointed to know that it is a basic low end phone made just for calling and sending text messages. The best part about it is that the phone costs just $19.99 with a rebate and is free with a rebate if purchased online. This handset is recommended for senior citizens or for people who are using a cell phone for the first time. You can also buy it if you don’t have much interest in cell phones and are looking to save some money. Samsung Gusto has an attractive design and is very slim. You won’t even notice the weight of the phone when you put it in your pocket. But this is not unexpected in low end phones. The features are all low end and hence you don’t have to there is nothing contributing to the bulk. The phone has a glossy body which easily attracts a lot of fingerprints. If you are a hygiene freak, I would recommend you to carry a cleaning cloth along with you all the time or else the  [...]

There is a lot of buzz around whenever a Samsung phone is announced and this shows how popular this manufacturer has now become in the gadget market. And it surely will remain popular if it makes phones like the Samsung Galaxy S i9000. The best part about this phone is the gorgeous four inch screen which dominates the front face of the phone. It was a great treat for my eyes watching movies. The phone has AMOLED display which gives you a crisp picture quality. AMOLED screens are also known to consume less power so you get plenty of battery power as well. The only draw back is that these screens are a bit costly and hence are included only in high end phones. But people who value quality above price will certainly not mind it much. I got the GSM version of the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 in my labs for testing. The phone is based on Android 2.1 and it is quite good. This device sports built in accelerometer which gives you a spacious QWERTY keyboard in the landscape mode.  [...]