Rebate: A Cheap Ploy

Over the years smartphones and carriers a like have grown and evolved. Offering more power in the form of handsets, while offering better coverage and pricing from respective carriers. 

But there is one thing that hasn't changed: rebates. 

I'll be honest, I hate rebates. I prefer shopping at places like Best Buy where they do away with them. The reason I hate them is because carriers always seem to "lose" them, or they inform you that "you didn't provide the right info". 

Now you're probably asking yourself, Why do rebates still exist? Well in my opinion, they exist as an opportunity for carriers to make extra money handset you've already purchased. When you buy a device that's $200 after a $50 mail-in rebate, you're really paying $250 until you receive that rebate in the mail. More often than not, you never receive it. I've dealt with this so many times it's maddening. But carriers keep them in effect because they bank on the fact that you will either forget to fill it out, or you'll fill it out incorrectly, and after that is all said and done you are still required to wait at least 6 weeks before you receive compensation. By the time 6 weeks is up you've most likely forgot about the rebate in the first place, so you are oblivious to the fact that it never arrives. In my personal experience, these people never call you when there is an error in your forms. You have to call them to find out any information. Who would remember to do that after 6 weeks?

Now I'm not saying this happens to everyone, but this situation creates the opportunity for it to happen to anyone. So, why do have rebates again?

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T-Mobile Galaxy Note II: Missing The Best Feature

While I'm excited to finally see some awesome handsets hit T-Mo, I'm upset that one particular feature was stripped from the US variant of the Galaxy Note II. This feature being the multi-tasking that Samsung introduced with the Note 10.1, and perfected with the Galaxy Note II. 

Until this guy, Android has not had any type of true multi-tasking; it was more of just fast app switching. While you could come back to where you left off(in most cases), there was no way to run multiple apps. The international version of the Note II can handle it no problem, and the specs are the same on the US version. So why wasn't it included, Samsung?

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New Nexuses: The Rumors are Reality

Big news today in the world of Android! Despite Google's event being canceled due to the weather, a bevy of new Nexus devices were released today. Those devices were as follows:

The Nexus 10

The big news with Nexus 10 is that the rumors about it having a higher resolution than the latest generation iPad are true. This guy is rocking a 2560 x 1600 resolution, while the 4th gen iPad is 2048 x 1536. You can see the Nexus 10 shown off in this brand new ad of theirs:

Via Android Authority 

The Nexus 4

The Nexus 4 is everything we'd hoped it would be, and then some. It's absolutely stacked when it comes to specs with a 1.5ghz quad-core Snapdragon Pro cpu, 2gbs of RAM, Android 4.2 and more. You can read the full list of specs over at Android Authority. While you can get the unlocked 8gb version for just $300, this guy is coming to T-Mobile for $199 on contract! You can read that full story on TmoNews.

New Nexus 7s

All the speculation of larger capacity Nexus 7s has finally come to a head. The 8gb N7 is no more, it has been replaced by the 16gb version at $199, while a brand new 32gb will take over the $249 price point. Plus, you can now get an unlocked 32gb HSPA+ model for just $300. These are great values, but for people like me who bought the 16gb model for $249, it stings a little. Via Android Authority.

Google Wireless Charging Orb

Last but not least, we have this brand new Google Wireless Charging Orb. With this you can simply place your Nexus 4 atop it and it will charge. It is held magnetically, and for the right price, this could be a great little accessory. 

Well there you have it, that will conclude my wrap up of today's announcements. So, which are you most excited for?

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Android 4.2: Still Jelly Bean

Well folks, it's official! Android 4.2 has been announced and I'm happy to report that it's still Jelly Bean; just A New Flavor. Just like we thought, 4.2 includes new quick settings from the notification tray along with a slew of other useful features like a Swype-like style of text input. If you'd like to read the full list of features, click here!

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Nexus 10: The Good and Bad of The UI

Rumors of new Nexus 10 tablet have been sweeping the internet recently. The biggest differences with this guy are that the speakers are located on the front(which is awesome!) and the new 10" Android tablet UI. This post will discuss the latter. 

As pictured above, the new 10" tablet UI seems to be taking it's cues from it's little brother; the Nexus 7. But is that a good thing? Well, in my opinion, yes and no. Let's start with the pros:

Less of a Learning Curve

As you can see, Google is trying to unify their operating system across multiple devices. Much like iOS, you would be able to pick up any stock Android device and(if have any experience with Android) you'd know how to use it instantly. This is great for people that like to emerge themselves into an ecosystem, like myself. Basically, the differing factors would be size and specs when it comes to choosing a tablet. But I don't really like the new UI, and here's why:

Bigger Screen, Wasted Space

Thanks to these pictures from Android Police, you can see the new tablet UI vs. the old. I happen to prefer the old look and feel simply because a 10" tablet is not a one handed device. It's much more difficult to pull down a notification bar from the top, or reach over to the middle of the display to press an on screen button when laying bed or something of that nature. While I appreciate Google trying to make things easier for people to become accustomed to, the old layout is just easier to use in my opinion. Besides, I'm sure most Android consumers are intelligent enough to use a tablet.

So what do you guys think of the new UI? Is it much improved? Are you excited for the Nexus 10? Or would you opt out for some like the Transformer Pad Infinity, which runs Jelly Bean and mantains the current 10" standard?

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Google's Event: Canceled Due To Hurricane Sandy

Unfortunately Google's October 29th Event, where they were sure to announce new Nexuses, has been canceled due to Hurricane Sandy. Not much is known at this point, but this post will be updated when more info is available. Via TmoNews

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T-Mobile: LTE Is Coming

Brace yourselves, the LTE is coming! It has been confirmed that the newly announced Galaxy Note 2 has a dormant LTE radio. The fine folks over at AnandTech have discovered that the Note 2 is the same on AT&T and T-Mobile, say for the model number. This means that when T-Mobile eventually re-farms their network and launches LTE the Note 2 will be able to take full advantage of it. The guys and gals of The Verge  managed to contact T-Mobile directly, where T-Mo proceeded to confirm the findings and stated that the Note 2 will not automatically gain access to LTE when it's launched. This leads people to believe that LTE compatibility will be essentially unlocked with a future software update.

I don't know about you guys, but I think that this is great. Not only does this mean that T-Mobile will finally have LTE, but it also means that when buying the Note 2 you're buying a future-proof device. At least, as future-proof as it can get when buying an Android.

Via TmoNews

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