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Thursday, December 9, 2010

A Smart Phone in your future?

I never intended this blog to be exclusively religious discussions, so we’ll take a break from that and discuss something hopefully interesting to those of you considering getting a smart-phone. I was recently comparing two Samsung phones: the new “Focus” (running Windows7 on AT&T) and the soon to be released “Samsung Nexus S” (of which I am uncertain but hopeful will be on AT&T).

Specifically, at the time, I was interested in understanding video specs. I’ve never understood frame rates and interlaced verses progressive. Both the phones shoot progressive. The Nexus is WVGA 480p whereas the Focus is 720p HD. The Focus has a higher resolution. However, I would buy the Nexus (if offered by my carrier when it is released) for a few reasons:
It runs Android
It has a front-facing camera which I would use for wifi video calls (which the Focus doesn’t have)

As of today, the Nexus does NOT have expandable memory, but comes with 16 gigabytes of space, which is plenty for me. The Focus only comes with 6.9G but DOES have expandable memory. Another “plus” for the Focus is that it has a built-in FM radio, which the Nexus doesn’t. But I rarely listen to radio anyway.

What does all this mean to you? It means you need to decide what is important to you. Which features are more important? (Yes, I know in time there may be yet another new phone that has all the features I want, but as of Dec.2010, these are the two options that I am considering.) For me, 480p is sufficient for my video capture needs and won’t hog up my memory as much as 720p. I already have another device that shoots 1080p, so if I need anything that demanding, I’ll use it. But for everyday shooting, this is plenty.

I recommend using http://www.phonescoop.com for comparing phone features side-by-side when you are ready to upgrade.

Here is an excellent video to understand frame rates and such:

Other sources for phone reviews:

And, if you want to see concept phones that are being proposed:
Hope you find this helpful.

3 comments:

  1. Just found out (from http://www.google.com/nexus) that the phone will be sold "unlocked" at Best Buy stores and accept any GSM carrier's SIM card. I have a feeling that will mean the buyer will not receive any carrier-discount on the product seeing as it is not being directly carried by any carrier.

    This thing has enhanced voice recognition. So say you want to send a text msg to someone that can't take a phone call because they're in a mtg or something. You can merely dictate the msg and it will be converted to txt which you can then send. You gotta watch the videos provided on the above link to google!

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  2. I was not an early adopter of cell phones. I still don't have a smart phone. For the longest time, I would do a 'What Would Jesus Do?'

    "I'll tell you what Jesus would do. Jesus would use a phone with a wire attached to the wall! He would never use a cell phone, and especially one with apps!" This is before I knew what apps were and imagined them like bugs.

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    1. I hope you were joking about asking "what would Jesus do"? Using technology is not a moral issue. Making the universe called for technology that we humans can't even begin to imagine

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