ViewSonic VB730 User Manual download pdf (Page 13)

   JANUARY 

COVER STORY smart phones

search Center. Yet the experiences of the

63,000 respondents to this year’s survey

offer glimmers of improvement.

As in years past, giant Verizon and

smaller Consumer Cellular and U.S. Cellu-

lar stood out from the pack for satisfying

customers with standard service. But

there was also good news for subscribers

to the other major carriers—AT&T, Sprint,

and T-Mobile. Customers of all three who

owned phones that connect to faster 4G

networks (as does almost every phone they

now sell under contract) were consistently

more satisfied than subscribers with 3G

who remain in the cellular slow lane.

Even the long-suffering patrons of

lower- rated AT&T had something positive

to report: ey had the fewest problems—

interrupted, downgraded, slow, or no ser-

vice—with 4G service of any carrier.

Plans cost the same for 4G- capable and

3G-capable phones, but faster phones

and faster connections can lead to higher

bills. e two biggest carriers, AT&T and

Verizon, have dropped their unlimited

data plans for new customers, just as more

people are buying smart phones and 4G

networks allow you to tear through the

megabytes. For example, in a 2011 study of

185,000 phone lines by Validas, a company

that tracks cell usage and recommends

plan savings, owners of the HTC under-

bolt, an older 4G smart phone, used an

average of 1GB of data per month. at’s

almost double the 565MB average usage by

owners of iPhones, all of which accessed

only 3G networks at the time of the study.

Many smart-phone owners may be un-

aware of all the ways their usage patterns

can run up data consumption. And it’s not

only data charges driving up costs. Carri-

ers continue to swell bills with pesky

charges such as a new-phone upgrade fee

of $30 at Verizon; AT&T has pushed its own

upgrade fee from $18 to $36.

It’s little wonder that for the first half of

2012, AT&T and Verizon were crowing to

investors about profit margins of 41 and

50 percent, respectively. e latter isn’t

just a Verizon record. “It’s one of the high-

est ever recorded for wireless carriers

around the world,” says Phil Cusick, the

telecom stock analyst for J.P.Morgan.

ere are few signs that consumers

won’t pay for better phones and better ser-

vice, but we offer ways to save—and be

more satisfied, too—no matter what

phone and plan you choose.

1 Phones get smarter

Although they’ve achieved a high stan-

dard, smart phones vary in performance

and price, even among the recommended

models in the Ratings.

Displays get better and bigger. Within

the past year, more phones have sharper

displays, with 720p resolution and higher

pixel counts per inch. ey’re also more

accurate with colors and easier to read in

bright light. And typical screen size is edg-

ing up, with a norm of at least 4.3 inches

for our recommended models.

Two new phones exemplify how manu-

facturers are making the extra real estate of

the biggest screens work better for the user:

the Samsung Galaxy Note II, whose

5.5-inch display is the new size champion

among phones, and the LG Intuition, a

5-incher. Both let you write with a finger or

stylus on top of photos, calendar appoint-

ments, e-mail messages, or other displayed

content and share the content and note as

an image via e-mail, messaging, or social

networks. In portrait mode, phones also al-

low you to shrink the keyboard and slide it

to either side of the screen to help smaller

thumbs reach the farthest keys.

Cameras improve. Despite having

much tinier lenses and image sensors, the

best smart-phone cameras challenge sub-

compact cameras and compact camcorders

in image quality. at said, smart-phone

cameras have limits. eir performance in

low light is generally worse than that of

stand-alone cameras, and they have a

slower maximum frame rate than cam-

corders (30 frames per second vs. 60 fps),

resulting in less fluidity in video images.

And so far no smart phone offers optical

zoom-lens capability, although rising res-

olution (8 megapixels or more on many

phones) should limit the degradation in

quality as images are enlarged.

More smart phones, fewer exclusives.

e basic cell phone isn’t dead, but its

smart sibling is edging it out. e major

carriers now offer only a handful of basic

phones, most of them sold by their pre-

paid subsidiaries or partners. And many

basic models sold with contracts cost al-

most as much as an entry-level smart

phone. Six of 10 basic phones from Veri-

zon, for example, cost $80 or more with a

two-year contract.

When to get a new smart phone

It might seem unnecessary to replace

a working smart phone at the end of the

customary month contract period for

most plans. But two factors make it smart

to consider spending  or so to get a

new phone when you’re eligible to do so:

You’ll pay for a new one, anyway.

Unless you opt to switch to a prepaid plan

once your contract obligations are fulfilled

see “Which Phone & Plan?” on page ,

your monthly bill will probably continue

at the same cost as before. That bill will

include the amount the carrier sets aside

to repay itself the difference usually at

least  between what you paid for

the smart phone and what the carrier

paid the manufacturer for it.

In other words, after your contract is up,

you’ll essentially be paying toward a new

phone whether you get one or not. So why

not get something for your money?

Your old phone will show its age.

Operating systems and apps are designed

and updated for the newest smart phones,

with their faster processors, expanded

memory, larger and sharper displays,

improved cameras, and more. Accepting

overtheair updates to your operating

system and apps when prompted to do so

helps stave off obsolescence, and deleting

apps you no longer use helps. But within

a few years, your phone could struggle to

muster the processing power, memory, or

features it needs to make the most of new

apps or an upgraded operating systemif

it can accept them at all.

AT&T, Sprint, and

T-Mobile 4G users

were happier

than 3G users.

1 DID YOU kNOW?

You can sell your old phone privately on

Craigslist or eBay or to a company such as

Gazelle, which in November was offering 

for a GB iPhone S, for example. Some phone

manufacturers have tradein programs. You

could donate it to an organization such as

Recycling for Charities or give it to someone.

Make sure you delete personal data. Or simply

keep the phone in case you lose or damage

a new one and don’t want to replace it until

your contract expires and you’re eligible for

a new discounted phone.

Sell, trade, or recycle

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