From new, used and refurbished cell phones updates seem to take ages when on an Android device. You hear about the lateast and greatest update only to find out your phone isn’t getting one for weeks, months or not at all. So what’s the deal? Why do Apple products get updates seemingly faster than all Android devices? Why does one phone get an update and dozens others either take months, or never get it? Well, we got the answers after the break!
Mar 22
Jan 28
Unlocking your used cell phone may be illegal thanks to a strict anti-hacking law called DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) passed last year, with folks online pretty upset with it’s broad stroke of power. This didn’t really hit the public’s eye until recently though, with the closing of a short window of legality allowed by the librarian of Congress. Back in October it was decided that, under the DMCA, unlocking your phone was illegal. The Librarian of Congress allowed a three month window for people to unlock as many phones as they wanted… that window closed this past Saturday.
Oct 28
Windows phones have been having a rough ride lately. It’s safe to say that most people choose iPhones, Androids or even Blackberrys over them. That’s not to say they weren’t good, they just weren’t as good as everyone else. But all of that is about to change. With the Mango release, all windows phones function much much better, and now Nokia has shown off what’s next. That’s right, much like Motorola was Googles phone company of choice with major advancements, Nokia is Windows phone company of choice. The Lumia series looks slick, fast and fashionable, more fashionable then droids anyway, maybe even iPhones. Most of the phones seem to come in different colors which really make the screen pop.
Dec 11
Photo via The New York Times
I’ve been reading a lot of articles lately about text messages sent from people’s new and refurbished cell phones being used as evidence in court, especially in divorce cases. Text messages can now be used to prove infidelity, which can lead to the loss of some serious cash so if you’re a cheater, watch what and to whom you text.
If you are sending incriminating texts, there are some things you should know about how your phone works, especially if your carrier uses GSM and SIM cards. Apparently, when you delete a text message, it doesn’t actually delete the message from your SIM. Instead, it frees up the space used to store the message so until that space is actually replaced with new data, the text message can still be retrieved from your SIM.
In addition to your SIM card, text messages (even if deleted from your phone) are stored with your carrier for up to a few weeks. An article from The New York Times shows that AT&T stores text messages for seventy-two hours and Verizon stores messages for five to ten days.
Nov 03
The term “unlocked” refers to GSM phones that have been universalized, or unlocked, so that they may be used on a variety of cellular phone companies that use GSM, as opposed to simply one. In areas like the United States where cellular carriers offer free or deeply discounted phones with cell plans, the phones are commonly locked so that they will not work with other carriers. Once unlocked, however, the phone should work with any GSM carrier once a SIM card has been inserted into phone.
Nov 03
GSM stands for Global Systems for Mobile Communication. GSM is the European standard, which has recently spread throughout the world. It is now the most popular system for mobile communication in the world. GSM technology also pioneered the SMS, or text message, which has changed the world of telecommunication as we know it.
For the average consumer, the key feature of GMS technology is its use of the SIM card. A detailed explanation of the SIM card is available in its own link on www.thebluedot.net; however, here is a brief explanation of the advantages of GSM Phones and SIM technology: The SIM card allows you to store your personal information and contact information on a removable card or “chip,” which can then be swapped from GSM phone to GSM phone. This meaning that you can transfer your account, your personal information, and all of your phone numbers to a different phone by simply removing your SIM card from one phone and placing it in another.
GSM uses a variation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. GSM networks operate in four different frequency ranges. Most GSM networks operate in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Some countries in the Americas (including Canada and the United States) use the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands because the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands were already allocated.
GSM is the wireless telephone standard in Europe. GSM has over one billion users worldwide and is available in 190 countries. Since many GSM network operators have roaming agreements with foreign operators, users can often continue to use their mobile phones when they travel to other countries. Many of today’s GSM cell phones are “tri-band” or “world phones,” which means they can operate on three or more types of GSM frequency (i.e. American and European), allowing consumers to take advantage of this ability to use their own phone throughout many of the countries in the world.
