Zenus Cover for the Samsung Galaxy Note

My wife absolutely loves her new Samsung Galaxy Note and she's using it for everything from reading emails to selling stuff on eBay. Before this, she had always gone for Nokia but after failing to get a good deal for the Nokia 900, finally went for the Note and now's she's suddenly a Samsung (and Android) fan. 


Anyway, she asked me to buy her a good cover for the note and I decided to get her a classy looking cover from my favourite mobile accessories site - Mobile Fun. They carry a huge range of phone covers for possibly almost every mobile phone in the market and even for those models no longer available in the shops.

It was quite hard to come to a decision as there were so many great choices but I finally decided on the Zenus Masstige Stripe Print Diary Series brown cover.







It's made of really high quality artificial leather with an embossed striped surface and really detailed stitching. The cover fits the Note perfectly with easy access to all the buttons.

It has some pockets inside for keeping your cards but it kind of ruins the slim look and feel when you do so. It also has a handy strap for holding the phone.

It's a bit on the pricey side at £34.95 but you can feel the quality of the product even without holding it in your palms and it really looks elegant as well.

My wife is really happy with the cover and when my wife is happy, I am happy as well.

Check out the video I found on the site:

Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy Note

My wife's mobile phone contract with 3 ended a couple of weeks back and we had been scanning the net for good deals. She initially had her eye on the Apple iPhone but one of our friends helped change her mind an she decided to go for the Samsung Galaxy Note.

Anyway to cut a long story short, we finally found some great deals on Phones4u.co.uk . She signed up for a 24 months contract with Orange for only £20.50 per month. She had to go for slightly lower network minutes and 500MB data allowance. Initially we thought that the data allowance would be enough but looking at the way she is using it right now, it looks like she might have to upgrade.

The phone is simply fantastic with a big 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreeen display. The Note is one of those, "either you hate it or love it" products. It's something between a mobile phone and a tablet and can't seem to make up it's mind.

Opening and using the various applications are really fast, thanks to the 1.4GHz dual core processor. Best of all is the 8 MP auto focus camera with 1080p HD video recording. She loves the fact that she can now Skype with video (using the front facing camera).

The phone initially came with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) but we have upgraded it to Android 4.0 (Ice cream Sandwich) and even though I cannot explain it, there was a clear difference - a definite improvement in the feel of the interface.

We are still playing around with the note and hope to have another full review later.

Top Smart Phones - spoilt for choice

My 24 month long contract with 3 is now finally up and I am looking for a replacement for my old Samsung Galaxy Portal.

I a really spoilt for choice because there is an amazing range of smart phones to choose from. After going through the various reviews on the net I have finally narrowed it down to four phones based on four main criteria:

1. The processor speed. Anything more than 800MHz processor.
2. Camera. At least 5MP.
3. Battery life.
4. Price. I guess this might be the deciding factor in the end and depends on whether I can get a good deal.

The phones are as listed below:

1. Samsung Galaxy SIII Just tried it out a couple of days ago - this phone is amazing.

1.4 GHz quad-core processor
Camera: 8MP rear and 1.9MP front
Battery life: Standby: 790 hours and Talk Time: 700 minutes

2. Nokia Lumia 800
Was a bit worried about some problems reported in a few reviews however, an expert friend informs me that Nokia has solved most of them via software updates. Though I am still a bit pissed that the guys from Nokia failed to send me one to review after promising to do so. (Update: I later received the Nokia Lumia 900 instead.Wooo Hooo!)

1.4GHz single core processor
Camera: 8 megapixel
Battery life: Standby: 380 hours Talk Time: 300 minutes

3. Apple iPhone 4S
No one who owns one seems to have a bad thing to say about the Apple iPhone 4S and I am definitely tempted to buy one. Trying to find a cheap monthly contract is proving to be quite tough and the iPhone 5 is on the way. Should I wait?

1.5 GHz Qualcomm dual-core A5 processor
Camera: 8 MP rear
Battery life.: Standby: 200 hours and Talk Time: 480 minutes

4. Samsung Galaxy S II
Yes, though the oldest of the lot, the specs are still impressive. Best of all the prices are falling (but not fast enough unfortunately).

1.2GHz Dual Core Application Processor
camera: 8 MP rear and 1.3 MP front
Battery life: Standby: 400 hours and Talk Time: 700 minutes

Watch this space.

Move over Instagram: Top Photo Apps You're Not Using

Guest post by Emily Green

In the beginning there was Instagram. It has set a pace, there’s no denying it. An app that is dedicated to simplicity is also one that accomplishes photosharing with great efficiency. By engaging in a few simple taps on your Smartphone you can have your photos posted instantly to your social media. But efficient simple ideas can’t help but inspire innovation along the same lines. Consider some of the top photo apps that offer some great advantages along with some competition for old Instagram.

EyeEm

Unlike Instagram, EyeEm is much more than a simple photo sharing app. It is an innovative, out of the box marvel. For starters this app will let you arrange your images by category. No wacky collection of images because the EyeEM comes with a full set of pre-set categories that will cover any and all descriptions.

The more popular categories include:
Black-and-White, Friends, Breakfast, and Self-Portraits. Be adventurous and experiment with the location function and witness the app display of those images taken around you. Manage images for your personal website and then if you’re using T-mobile cell phone plans you can pass images on to some photo sharing website like Snapfish or Mixbook.

Piictu

Piictu is the soul of simplicity with intuitive operations that allow users to communicate using images alone. It wastes no time with bells and whistles. Since it was designed as a photo sharing app for visual communication and nothing else, it purposely excluded any filters. For the truly creative who want to push their photo taking abilities to the next level, this is the app that will help them accomplish that dream.

Pixable

Pixable will do the thankless job that can really help you organize your images. It will review all the images you’ve posted to all your social media, whether it’s Facebook, Flickr, or Twitter, and then sort them by date or some other currently popular hashtag. Briefly put, this little beauty will organize all the images you’ve posted to all your social media sites. You can then save your images to completely different categories – “best of the best,” “top shots of the day,” “recent photos,” etc. That boring, time consuming task of organizing is done for you with Pixable.

Cinemagr.am

Okay, Cinemagram is truly cool. It’s not an app that will make a short movie, but it will create some really creative animated images. But how? How does it work? Good question. Here’s what you do, take a few seconds of video, then take your best moments in the form of a few images then engage this app. Soon your images will be a nifty animated gif image. Nice!

Most popular Facebook check-in landmarks Worldwide

Facebook has released two infographs of the most popular landmarks based on check-ins made Worldwide (actually in 25 cities). It is not surprising that shopping malls and outdoor markets are quite popular.

Check out the infographs:
 


 Read the post on Facebook.

Samsung SIII now available in the UK

In case you haven't heard, the Samsung SIII is available in the UK. You can get the phone without any upfront charges for £34 per month (no upfront charges) on the 3 network (2K UK minutes, 5K texts and unlimited data). The best tariff on O2 was £46 per month (unlimited UK minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB data usage ). It is slightly cheaper at £41 per month on Vodaphone (900 UK minutes, unlimited texts and 2 GB data). On the later two networks, you would have to pay some amount up front if you want lower monthly charges.

It is being called the iPhone killer - Where have we heard that before?

Apparently this has got Apple worried and they have moved to ban the Samsung III, in the US claiming that it infringes certain patents which they own.

I do not think it is going to kill the iPhone but it is an AMAZING phone. Features includes:

• A large 4.8" HD Super AMOLED display 
• Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Operating System running on a super-fast 1.4 GHz quad-core processor 
• Long lasting 2100mAh battery 
• 1.9 MP front camera with BSI 
• 8 MP low light camera with auto-focus and LED flash 
• Full HD video recording and playback 
• Up to 16GB internal memory 
• The phone just weights 133gms

Just watch this awesome video showing what you can do with the phone:

Nespresso Coffee machines

I am more of a tea drinker rather than a coffee drinker but I am not sure why, outside the house I would always go for a coffee. Anyway, I have always wanted to buy a coffee machine and had the opportunity to unpack and try out an Nespresso machine, thanks to my sis-in-law and her husband. As the name suggests, Nespresso is part of the Nestle group.



They have come up with several types of coffee machines and the one I tried out was the CITIZ TITANIUM (Krups XN7001). It has a retro yet sleek look that's really popular now. The machine is really simple to operate. You have to fill in water in the removable water tank. Place your cup on the drip tray. Then you pop the "coffee capsule" into the capsule container. The capsules are colour coded and there are 16 different types which they graded on aroma and intensity.

 

As it was the first time the machine was being used, we were supposed to let the hot water run without any capsule inside for a few times.Initially I thought that the machine was not working as nothing happened - I tried pressing the buttons for the expresso or lungo (double) sizes but nothing came out. My brother-in-law then took over and pressed the lungo button for a couple of minutes and the hot water finally came out.

Once you have the capsule in place, as mentioned earlier - you have the choice of either the expresso or lungo sizes.  I wondered whether the expresso would have a stronger intensity but I could not detect any difference - but then I am no coffee expert. I recommend using the lungo size always as you only get to use the capsules once and would just be a waste to choose expresso and throw away the capsule. If you only want a smaller portion, you just divide the coffee. The used capsule drops down into the holder below automatically once you open the lid to the capsule container.



Nestle has definitely hit upon on a fantastic idea - to get people to keep buying their products. You get to join the exclusive Nespresso club and can order the capsules any place, any time. You also get assistance if you have any problem with your machines. You also get access to the online Nespresso magazine.

Personally I prefer the bean-to-cup machines where you put in the roasted bean and you get freshly brewed coffee. I know they are costly but you get the freshest brewed coffee - straight from the bean. The DeLonghi ECAM 22.110 Magnificia S which costs around £400 is the cheapest among Which? Best Buys. What I like best about this machine is it's cappuccino system which can create the perfect creamy froth.

I guess others would prefer to buy coffee machines that use capsules as they are much more convenient and involves less maintenance. It's all a matter of choice and of course, your budget.

Google launches Chromebox

Google working together with Samsung has launched an upgraded laptop, called the Series 5 550 and the Chromebox, their vision of a desktop computer.
It is available for $329 on the Google website.

Tough phones from JCB

One of our friends recently got a new phone - an iPhone 4. She was really excited and spent hours downloading apps, listenign to music, taking pictures - you get the idea. Well, one day, like a lot of us, she was in the toilet doing her business when the phone suddenly rang and you might have guessed what is coming - it slipped and dropped into the toilet.

This is not a unique scenario - in fact, according to an article on the Phones 4 U website, "Majority Of Water Damaged Mobiles Dropped In The Loo".

Anyway, after a few moments of hesitation, she promptly rescued the phone from the loo, turned it off (it was still working), wrapped it in loads of toilet paper and prayed. She did not take insurance and it was a costly monthly contract.

She was fortunate, after a thorough cleaning and drying, the phone was working perfectly. Hopefully, she has learnt from this mistake and would not be taking further calls in the toilet in the future.

I have never dropped phone in the toilet but old Sony Ericsson K770i lost it's camera function after my wife dropped it.

I once had a really tough which was waterproof as well (the Siemens M35i) and though I am not into adventure sports or working in construction or any occupation that involves a lot of rough work, it would be great to have a phone you would not have to worry about constantly.

Yesterday, I noticed a billboard advertising JCB mobile phones -called the Toughphone range. I never knew that JCB made mobile phones as well and was intrigued. Going through their website, I found out that they have 7 phones ranging from the basic Tradesman,which is waterproof and dustproof and is said to be the World's first floating phone to the Pro-Smart, which is an Android powered handset with 800MHz processor and expandable memory up to 32GB.  With a 3.2 inch HVGA touchscreen, the phone also has a 5MP Camera plus front facing camera.

The Pro-Smart is water resistant and dust resistant (tested to IP67). It has a talk time of 550 mins and standby time of up to 360 hours. I am wondering how much the phone weighs as they have not provided the info on the site. It does look a bit bulky and not for everyone. But it would be great to stand out from the crowd of sleek iPhones and the like. The phone sells for £334.99 with free delivery.

Samung Galaxy SIII launched

One of the most eagerly awaited mobile phones is finally out and No! it's not an iPhone. It's the Samsung Galaxy SIII.
It will be available later in stores this month. No info about price though.
I haven't had the chance to get my hands on one as yet, so here are some reviews:

Using an Applicant Tracking System

Guest Post
by Toney Naorem

You have to agree with me when I say that life has become a lot easier with the internet. Businesses have several tools at their disposal to make their processes simpler. Highlighting one such function - HR managers and other recruiting professionals are also using various new tools to assist them in finding the right candidates.

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is one such tools that can help effectively manage and assist HR in hiring the right candidates. Some of the benefits include:
1. Saving time and money
2. Easy to implement
3. Archiving your hiring process for future reference.

Today many ATS are available and one of the simplest ones I have seen is Recruiterbox. It’s an online application that allows small companies to receive and manage job applications. It is currently the preferred applicant tracking system for companies such as Skyscanner, Groupon, Codecademy, Stripe and many more.

The app allows companies to receive resumes from multiple sources to its platform - from where they can be managed and sorted easily, and decisions can be made as a team. This includes auto-forwarding of emails and attachments to Recruiterbox, and sharing internal notes and scheduling interviews on its platform.

Using Recruiterbox, companies can promote their jobs to social networks and job search engines. The company also can have a dedicated careers micro-site where all your jobs are published. Imagine how useful it would be if all the recruitment was managed from one place, and the company wouldn't have to worry about its inbox being clogged by resumes, attachments flying back and forth, and useful information hidden beneath a pile of email.

Some of the other tools are Zoho Recruit, Simplicant, Unrabble, Jobscore, Theresumator and many more. Now it’s up to you to decide which one fits best with your company.