ViewSonic VB730 User Manual download pdf (Page 14)

Even many cell phones from prepaid

carriers such as Virgin Mobile and Trac-

fone are now less basic, adding features

such as Web browsers and app stores that

require data service. And the simple smart

phones that prepaid carriers mostly offer

are increasingly supplemented by some

marquee models.

ere’s also less exclusivity. Carriers still

have some phones that are theirs alone—

Motorola’s top-of-the-line Droid Razrs are

sold only by Verizon, for example—but

fewer than in the past. e days when

iPhones, for example, were available only

from AT&T are long gone. e iPhone 5 is

now available from three of the four ma-

jor carriers as well as prepaid carrier

Cricket. e highly rated Samsung Galaxy

S III is offered with a contract by the big

four carriers as well as Credo Mobile and

U.S. Cellular, smaller carriers that got

high marks in our Ratings. You can also

get it prepaid from MetroPCS.

1 Data plans are changing

Satisfaction scores with cell-phone service

may be unchanged overall, but the follow-

ing developments are addressing some old

gripes while creating a few new ones.

Data plans get metered. e shift to

selling data in measured tiers may actually

have benefited some smart-phone owners.

Among respondents to our survey who

switched to a metered data plan, 21 percent

saved up to $20 a month and 16 percent said

they saved more than $20. ose savings

may result from subscribers fine-tuning

their purchases by buying as little as

300MB for their smart phone for $20 a

month at AT&T, for example, rather than

the previous $30 charge for overbuying un-

limited data. On the downside, 10 percent

of respondents who switched said they

paid up to $20 more per month on a me-

tered plan, and 9 percent saw their bill rise

You now have three flavors of smart phone to choose from: Android phones, iPhones, and Windows Phones. (BlackBerry is still around

but is geared mostly toward business use, so we won’t cover it here.) Here’s how they compare, with examples of available phones:

Android phone, iPhone, or Windows Phone? How they compare

Android OS

The phones If you want a wide choice of

phones, you’ve come to the right place. There

are half a dozen brands offering scads of

phones that run on the Android operating

system. Displays are the biggest around, as

large as . inches, and this platform is the

only one other than BlackBerry that has

phones with a physical keyboard. Android

phones stand out for innovative features

such as WiFi Direct, facial recognition, NFC

for wireless sharing and mobile payments.

Apps and more Google Play carries a wide

selection of music, apps, ebooks, and other

content from phone carriers, phone

manufacturers, and providers such as

Amazon.com. Payments through your

Google account are easy, but sometimes you

have to pay the carrier or app provider.

The interface The Android OS is as

customizable as they come, thanks to a wide

variety of widgets and other builtin tools for

tweaking phone controls, as well as its look

and feel. You can organize apps into folders,

and you don’t have to clutter your home

screens with every app you own. Littleused

apps can remain in a separate app drawer until

you need them. But the interface and features

can vary significantly from phone to phone,

and OS updates can radically change features.

Apple iOS

The phones There’s only one product line

to choose from, and only one new model is

introduced each year. These models

complement their sleek, trendsetting

designs and intuitively simple operation with

topnotch displays, cameras, and music

players. iPhone , the first iPhone with a

inch display and support for fast G LTE

data networks, is the best one yet. But these

LTE phones can’t simultaneously support a

phone call and an Internetbased connection

over the cellular network.

Apps and more If it’s apps you want, Apple

is the handsdown winner. The selection of

music, video, games, and apps from iTunes

and the App Store is simply unrivaled. And it’s

easy and safe to buy via your iTunes account.

You’ll also find accessories galorecases,

compatible devices, and more.

The interface The simple iOS interface is

ultraeasy to master. Consistency is another

plus: iOS, which hasn’t changed much in years,

is the same from carrier to carrier and almost

identical to that of the iPad. You can create

folders to organize apps, but you can

customize the interface only minimally,

and the screen can become cluttered.

Windows Phone

The phones Windows Phone is still playing

catchup, and there’s only a small selection

of phones from HTC, Nokia, and Samsung.

Many of them have screens  inches or larger,

and all let you launch the camera from a

locked screen, even when it’s protected by a

personal identification number. The newest

models support NFC technology for wireless

sharing and mobile payments.

Apps and more You’ll find a fairly small

selection of music, video, apps, games

including Xbox, and other content from

Microsoft, phone carriers, and phone

manufacturers, nothing yet to compare with

Android or Apple. You can pay via a Microsoft

account in many cases, though sometimes you

have to pay the carrier or app provider directly.

The interface Windows Phone is simple yet

flexible, residing on two scrollable main

panels. One panel houses apps, and the

other has resizable Live Tiles that can

display updates from socialnetwork feeds

and other sources. Large, colorful fonts

provide a clear, distinctive presentation of

email, calendars, and other phone content.

It has a similar look and feel to Windows 

computers and tablets. But you can’t create

folders to organize apps, and panels can

get unmanageably long.

Apple iPhone 5

Price range  to 

with twoyear contract,

including rebates. The

innovative iPhone  is

a major step up from earlier

models, including the

recommended S. It retains

its simple, familiar interface

while boosting the IQ of Siri,

the savvy voice assistant,

and making the topnotch

iPhone camera even better.

Samsung Galaxy S III

Price range  to

 with twoyear

contract, including

rebates. A brilliant

.inch display, clever

HD cameras, and

ingenious options

for sharing make the

Galaxy S III ideal for

social networkers.

Nokia Lumia 920

Price  from AT&T

with a twoyear contract.

It has unique advanced

features such as wireless

charging based on

magnetic induction.

One cool feature: You

can erase people from

photos, say, when

shooting a landscape.

JANUARY  CR.org 

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