Being a SmartPhone? 14 Great Things that Apple iPhone and BlackBerry can do!

Smartphones are intelligent, but with the 14 tips and tricks in this story, they could approach genius territory. We'll show you how to run seven separate devices from your iPhone, how to play Internet radio (mostly for free) on your BlackBerry, how to make free phone calls from an iPod Touch, and how to revive a dead cell phone battery (if it's detachable) while you're in winter weather.

Control 7 Different Devices From an iPhone

Perhaps you didn't know that your iPhone or iPod Touch can act as a Wi-Fi remote for many hardware devices. You simply connect the iPhone through Wi-Fi to the same local network, though in many cases you'll also have to install a PC utility (provided by the app developer) that listens for instructions from your iPhone over the Wi-Fi network. Here are my favorite tools to control PCs and other devices.

DVR Remote ($3) lets the iPhone drive a Series 3 TiVo, with access to all of the buttons and features of the innovative DVR. Best of all, you can tap text in with the regular iPhone keyboard instead of pecking at the on-screen alphabet with the arrow buttons.

i-Clickr PowerPoint Remote ($10) manages presentations, even showing your talking notes or upcoming slides on the iPhone. It's a great counterpoint to the remote available for Apple's Mac-only Keynote tool in iWork.

You can control many music devices, too. Sonos owners should get the free Sonos Controller for iPhone for slick remote functionality. Roku Soundbridge fans with should try the $3 RokuRemote. And if you have a Logitech Squeezebox device, try running it with the $10 iPeng.

Switching to PC controllers, Air Mouse Pro ($6) acts as a PC keyboard and mouse, so you can control a computer from across the room. Air Mouse Pro's clean design and application-specific functions make it stand out among a crowd of App Store competitors.

The App Store also sells many VNC (virtual network computing) clients, which let your iPhone see the PC screen and control it. Look to those if you already have VNC server software running on your PC. Otherwise, I like the $30 LogMeIn Ignition for its easy setup and interface with LogMeIn remote-access software.

Use Your Smartphone to Sync Files Among Your PCs

You know that you can play music on your smartphone, or even on many generic handsets. But did you know that if a phone has a storage area for music, you can likely use that memory to stow PC files too? If your phone has a microSD slot--included on nearly all music-playing devices--and a mini-USB port, this trick should work.

First, install a flash-memory microSD card; the slot may be hidden behind the battery or in another hard-to-access place. Then connect the phone to a PC with a mini-USB cable. The phone might prompt you to enter the USB disk mode; approve that prompt, and the memory card will show up on the PC as a new drive. Some devices, such as RIM BlackBerry phones with built-in memory, will mount as two drives if such a card is installed; otherwise the device memory will mount as the only drive.

Just copy over your files to the new drive. Unplug the phone, and when you get to work or to another PC, repeat the connection process to move your files to the destination.

Play Internet Radio on a BlackBerry, 4 Different Ways

Apple iPhones don't need to have all the fun. Your RIM BlackBerry can tune in to many sources of Internet radio, giving you the perfect background music--or talk programs--for a commute or some R&R at the airport. Just be sure you have an unlimited data plan before indulging in any of these four streamers.

XM Radio Mobile on BlackBerry: Take advantage of the mobile version of XM satellite radio on your BlackBerry. It serves up 18 music and 2 comedy channels, for which you'll have to pay a monthly $8 subscription fee. Note that not all BlackBerry models are supported.

Pandora Radio: The free version of Pandora for BlackBerry gently introduces you to unfamiliar music with similarities to your favorite songs. You can rate favorites and skip disappointing picks to help the service fine-tune its recommendations. When you find an unknown band that becomes your new favorite, bookmark it in the service to return later.

FlyCast: The wide range of music genres and talk stations on the freeFlyCast for BlackBerry echo what you'd get with a regular radio--if your radio could tune in to stations from around the world. Internet-streaming genres, such as '80s and club hits, complete the vast selection.

Slacker Portable Radio App: A hybrid of streaming and caching, the free Slacker Portable Radio app can, in addition to streaming tunes, let you save gigabytes of music to a microSD card in your BlackBerry. Slacker allows you to store favorite stations on the card so that you still have music in areas where a network connection is limited or nonexistent, such as on airplanes or in tunnels. Enter a favorite musician or song, and the app will spin a personal station based on your preferences.

Make Free Phone Calls From an iPod Touch

Headphones with a built-in mic, necessary if you want to make calls from an iPod Touch, are available from the Apple store or from RadioShack.You're now able to make free phone calls via the Internet on Apple's iPhone using the new Skype for the iPhone app. But if you own a second-generation iPod Touch, you can also make free calls, even though the Touch technically isn't a phone.

Skype's iPhone app will work with any second-gen Touch as long as you use headphones with a microphone built into the earphone cord. (Unfortunately, the original Touch has no audio-in capability.) On top of that, you'll need just a Wi-Fi network. The app allows you to make free calls to other Skype users and paid calls to non-Skype users. I like Skype's ubiquity and audio quality, but it has competitors; you might want to try Truphone instead. 

Induce a Cold, Dead Phone Battery to Send One Last Text

Since many ski and snowboard mountains are covered by mobile networks, your phone can be a handy communications tool on the slopes. I especially like sending text messages to coordinate plans with friends unobtrusively. But if you forget to charge your handset and it runs out of juice, you still might be able to revive it and send one last text.

Cold weather reduces a battery's charge. If your phone shut itself off due to the cold, warm it up. Pop off the battery and put it next to any warm part of your skin (against your head, under your arm). Once the battery is warmer, try powering the phone back up; there's a good chance it'll have just enough juice for you to send a quick text.

This post is sponsored by: Dr Mobiles Limited

1 Huron Street, Takapuna, North Shore 0622Tel: (09) 551-5344 and Mob: (021) 264-0000
Web - FaceBook - Localist - Posterous - Twitter - Blogger - Flicker  - Map - Email 

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Why Dr Mobiles Limited?

The only professional repair centre who DOES NOT charge inspection fees on faulty phones.
> No inspection fee at all!

> 1 hour iPhone 4 repair

> Repair while you wait

> Free 30 min parking

> Free loan phone 

 

2011 Mobile Phone Review - HTC EVO 3D: The added Dimension

As 3D is taking over theaters and living rooms around the world, the craze is hitting handheld too. The next thing to shake up the business or on the way to irrelevance: geeks will geek about it either way. Now that the HTC EVO 3D has grown a GSM radio, they get ready to enjoy a real 3D clash of the flagships. It doesn’t get any better than two heavyweight fighters battling it out, and someone’s got the 3D video to prove it.

  
HTC EVO 3D official photos

The best part is the HTC EVO 3D, like the LG Optimus 3D, is not placing all its chips on the stereoscopic screen and pair of cameras. No sir, each of those smartphones claims to have the best there is for power and speed. We are talking mighty dual-core CPUs, loads of RAM and superb connectivity. The EVO 3D can be your kind of smartphone even if you don’t care about 3D stills and videos.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual/tri-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color stereoscopic capacitive LCD touchscreen of qHD resolution (540 x 960); Gorilla glass
• Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.0
• 1.2 GHz dual Scorpion CPUs, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM and 1 GB of storage for apps
• Dual 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, massively comfortable shutter key; face detection and geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 30fps in both 2D and 3D mode
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (8GB card included)
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
• Front facing camera with video calls
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• MHL TV-out (requires MHL-to-HDMI adapter)
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)
• Office document editor

Main disadvantages

• Less than impressive screen performance outdoors
• Speed and productivity not on par with other dual-cores
• Rather heavy
• Low resolution 3D stills
• The two cameras are too far apart for good stereoscopic close-ups

Things are certainly looking promising here, but smartphones are past the my-spec-sheet-is-longer-than-yours stage as of a few years. It’s all about the user experience now and, while powerful hardware is the first step towards providing it, you need equally good software if you are to challenge the best on the market.

   
The HTC EVO 3D in the comfort of our office

A massive high-res screen certainly looks good on paper, but it takes inspiration and clever design to beat those Super AMOLEDs and those Retinas. A new Adreno GPU with a major speed boost might seem more than anyone will ever need, but competitors have not been sitting around either so it’s always going to be close. And you cannot say whether the EVO 3D has the spark by just looking at the specs.

Retail package is good, but not perfect

The HTC EVO 3D is a high-end phone and as such you’d expect it to come with a pretty well stuffed box. It does deliver to a point: you get adequate storage in the form of an 8GB microSD card, there’s a microUSB cable to use for computer connections and with the charger head.

A single-piece headset completes what is by all standards a decent list. Yet, given the MHL connectivity of the EVO 3D, an HDMI cable would have certainly made sense. A carrying pouch would’ve also come in handy, in helping you protect your precious new smartphone.

 
The EVO 3D retail package contents

In fairness though, none of the competitors offers a better package so we won’t be taking any points away from the HTC EVO 3D.

HTC EVO 3D 360-degree spin

The glasses-free 3D screens are obviously still quite a bit of a stretch for smartphones at this point. The EVO 3D is nearly a millimeter thicker than the Sensation. In fact, at 126 x 65 x 12.1 mm, the 3D smartphone is the thickest of all dual-core smartphones currently on the market. The 170 grams of weight are quite a load compared to some of the competitors.

Design is impressive

The HTC EVO 3D is quite an imposing handset, and not without some distinct design accents. The huge screen is usually enough to make a smartphone a looker, but we have a black metal frame here to maximize the “wow” effect.

And even though the handset be quite large and heavy it is only 2 grams heavier than the Optimus 3D, which should be the first and most important point of reference. The LG smartphone is also just 0.2mm slimmer and a bit taller and wider than the HTC flagship so it’s pretty much a tie.

   
The EVO 3D and the Optimus 3D side by side

And the back of the EVO 3D is pretty cool too. It might be all plastic, but the pattern of fine diagonal lines gives it texture and looks good. Even the faux gold-painted frame surrounding the dual camera deck somehow fits in here. By the way, the pair of camera lenses curiously makes the whole thing look like a compact tape-recorder.

The exposed USB port on the left is probably the only design solution that we’re not particularly fond of, Overall though, we quite like the EVO 3D exterior. Had it been as slim as the Galaxy S II, the HTC new flagship would have been close to perfection.

3D screen left to do the talking

We now turn our attention to the HTC EVO 3D’s key feature, the stereoscopic LCD screen of qHD resolution (960 x 560 pixels). Just like with the LG Optimus 3D, you get the glasses-free stereoscopic effect using the parallax-barrier technology. That’s an extra screen layer that makes sure each eye sees a different set of pixels, giving a sense of depth.

The technology however does have a few downsides worth mentioning. For one, it only works in landscape mode and each eye gets only half of the screen’s horizontal resolution. Also, to be able to enjoy it fully you will need to find the sweet spot between your eyes and the handset's screen, which is different for everyone.

 
The 3D display is really what the EVO 3D is all about

Our subjective impression of the HTC EVO 3D screen is that the stereoscopic effect is slightly less dramatic than on the LG Optimus 3D. It’s just not as sharp, with less prominent depth. The difference is small and the HTC phone has a wider sweet spot: finding the ideal viewing position is easier. It might even be possible for two people to watch 3D content on the EVO 3D screen simultaneously – unthinkable on the LG Optimus 3D.

Still, even if a tad dampened, the 3D imaging is impressive. The downside is that it’s only enabled in the EVO 3D camera app and gallery. The Optimus 3D had a larger number of preinstalled apps optimized to use its 3D screen, which is quite important given the next-to-non-existent supply of third-party offerings at this stage.

It does 2D too

That said, 2D performance is actually the more important aspect of the EVO 3D’s screen. True, it will be the stereoscopic part that will be drawing crowds, but users will be stuck in two dimensions 90% of the time.

The good news is that the EVO 3D has a large and bright high-res screen. The bad news is the same could be said for most of its competitors. The qHD resolution and the ample 4.3” diagonal certainly give it an advantage, but its contrast is no match for the AMOLEDs or even the Reality and Retina displays out there.

Viewing angles aren’t perfect either – the EVO 3D does a lot better than the previous generation of HTC devices (Desire HD, Desire Z etc.), but it’s losing way more contrast when looked at an angle than an Incredible S, for example. It’s not bad enough to be a burden in everyday use. But it won’t produce the stunning effect of the icons appearing as if they’re painted on top of the screen that some of the competitors have.

Then again, most of those competitors aren’t doing 3D in their spare time and the only one that does is not doing that much better either. The LG Optimus 3D might have a bit better contrast and viewing angles, but the EVO 3D resolution advantage more than makes up for that.

And here come the HTC EVO 3D display test results so you can see how that one compares to its peers.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
HTC EVO 3D	0.26	184	719	0.65	495	761
LG Optimus 3D	0.22	226	1019	0.49	520	1068
LG Optimus 2X	0.23	228	982	0.35	347	1001
Motorola Atrix 4G	0.48	314	652	0.60	598	991
HTC Sensation	0.21	173	809	0.61	438	720
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II	0	231	∞	0	362	∞

Controls

Starting with the front-panel controls, the typical capacitive foursome includes Home, Menu, Back and Search keys – without being too big, they’re well spaced to avoid mispresses.

 
The four capacitive keys under the screen

The home and search keys have the usual extra functionality upon a longer press: task switcher and voice search, respectively.

Above the EVO 3D’s display we find the earpiece, the ambient light sensor, the status LED and the video-call camera. The automatic screen brightness is optional and can be turned off. A proximity sensor takes care of disabling the display during calls.

 
A bunch of sensors are placed next to the earpiece

On the left side of the smartphone is the microUSB port. Obviously, HTC felt placing a protective cap over it would’ve compromised its usability.

  
The uncovered microUSB port

The bottom of the EVO 3D is quite plain: there’s a mouthpiece and a slit to use when you need to release the back cover.

  
There's not much to see at the bottom

On top we find the power/screen lock key and the 3.5mm audio jack, which too is exposed. However the metal rim that surrounds it is a nifty accent. There's also another microphone here, which enables stereo sound recording for those 720p videos that you are going to be making.

  
The audio jack and the power key come on top

The HTC EVO 3D’s right-hand side is where one of our favorite controls is placed. And that’s neither the long and thin volume rocker, nor the slider that toggles 2D and 3D mode (those are both decently ergonomic, too). No, it’s the massive super comfortable shutter key with excellent response and solid press.

   
We really dig the fat camera key on the EVO 3D right side

That button alone takes the usability of the EVO 3D camera to a new level – it easily beats most of the smartphones we’ve seen.

Finally, we find the pair of 5 megapixel camera lenses at the back, with the dual-LED flash in between. The loudspeaker grill is here too, placed on the frame around all that photo equipment.

  
There are two 5 megapixel cameras at the back this time

Removing the back cover is quite tricky actually, as it always gets stuck around the camera key so you need to move your fingernail up the side of the device until it opens enough for you not to worry that it will break.

  
The SIM and microSD slots are under the battery cover

Below the back cover you find the hot-swappable microSD card slot, the SIM compartment and the 1730 mAh Li-Ion battery that HTC claim should last for up to 420 hours of stand-by or up to 9 hours and 20 minutes of talk time. We managed to squeeze almost two days of moderate to heavy usage by disabling the auto-sync option. It is a pretty solid achievement we think. With auto-sync on and/or heavier use you get a day’s worth of battery – par for the course for modern-day smartphones.

Before we move on to the software part of the review, we’d like to praise HTC for the excellent build quality of the EVO 3D. Last-gen HTC smartphones tended to exhibit minor issues with the finish and the way they were put together. None of those is to be seen here – the EVO 3D is solid as a rock and looks fit to last in the long run. It’s quite the looker too.

  
Handling the rather heavy EVO 3D

This post is sponsored by: Dr Mobiles Limited

1 Huron Street, Takapuna, North Shore 0622Tel: (09) 551-5344 and Mob: (021) 264-0000
Web - FaceBook - Localist - Posterous - Twitter - Blogger - Flicker  - Map - Email 

Uploaded via Apple iPhone 4!
Why Dr Mobiles Limited?

The only professional repair centre who DOES NOT charge inspection fees on faulty phones.
> No inspection fee at all!

> 1 hour iPhone 4 repair

> Repair while you wait

> Free 30 min parking

> Free loan phone 

 

Apple iTune Hidden Secret (Easter Eggs): Best five (5) keyboard shortcuts

Regular Hassle-Free PC (HFPC) readers know that I love keyboard shortcuts. Not, not love: lurve. (Quick trivia quiz: Name the movie in which that word was coined.) So today let's talk about the five best ways to zip around iTunes without ever taking your hands off the ol' QWERTY.

• Ctrl-N: Create a new playlist
• Ctrl-Up Arrow/Ctrl-Down Arrow: Raises and lowers the volume, respectively.
• Ctrl-Left Arrow/Ctrl-Right Arrow: Skip back a song and skip ahead a song, respectively.
• Ctrl-Shift-H: Takes you directly to the iTunes Store home page.
• Space Bar: Play/pause the current song. (In other words, hit Space once to pause the song, again to resume, and so on.)

1 Huron Street, Takapuna, North Shore 0622
Tel: (09) 551-5344 and Mob: (021) 264-0000

This post is sponsored by: Dr Mobiles Limited

Web - FaceBook - Localist - Posterous - Twitter - Blogger - Flicker  - Map - Email 

Uploaded via Apple iPhone 4!
Why Dr Mobiles Limited?

The only professional repair centre who DOES NOT charge inspection fees on faulty phones.
> No inspection fee at all!

> 1 hour iPhone 4 repair

> Repair while you wait

> Free 30 min parking

> Free loan phone 

Power user tips for Laptop users: How maximize your laptop battery?

Laptop batteries are like people--eventually and inevitably, they die. And like people, they don't obey Moore's Law--You can't expect next year's batteries to last twice as long as this year's. Battery technology may improve a bit over time (after all, there's plenty of financial incentive for better batteries), but, while interesting possibilities may pop up, don't expect major battery breakthroughs in the near future.

Although your battery will eventually die, proper care can put off the inevitable. Here's how to keep your laptop battery working for as long as possible. With luck, it could last until you need to replace that aging notebook (perhaps with a laptop having a longer battery life).

I've also included a few tips on keeping the battery going longer between charges, so you can work longer without AC power.

Don't Run It Down to Empty

Despite what our screen shows, most laptops probably won't allow you to set the critical battery level at 0 percent--and you shouldn't try.Squeezing every drop of juice out of a lithium ion battery (the type used in today's laptops) strains and weakens it. Doing this once or twice won't kill the battery, but the cumulative effect of frequently emptying your battery will shorten its lifespan.

(There's actually an exception to this rule--a circumstance where you should run down the battery all the way. I'll get to that later.)

The good news: You probably can't run down the battery, anyway--at least not without going to a lot of trouble to do so. Most modern laptops are designed to shut down before the battery is empty.

In fact, Vista and Windows 7 come with a setting for just this purpose. To see it, click Start, type power, and select Power Options. Click any one of the Change plan settings links, then the Change advanced power settings link. In the resulting dialog box, scroll down to and expand the Battery option. Then expand Critical battery level. The setting will probably be about 5 percent, which is a good place to leave it.

XP has no such native setting, although your laptop may have a vendor-supplied tool that does the same job.

Myth: You should never recharge your battery all the way.

There's considerable controversy on this point, and in researching this article I interviewed experts both for and against. But I've come down on the side of recharging all the way. The advantages of leaving home with a fully-charged battery--you can use your PC longer without AC power--are worth the slight risk of doing damage.

Keep It Cool

Heat breaks down the battery, and reduces its overall life.

When you use your laptop, make sure the vents are unblocked. Never work with the laptop on pillows or cushions. If possible, put it on a raised stand that allows for plenty of airflow.

Also, clean the vents every so often with a can of compressed air. You can buy this for a few dollars at any computer store. Be sure to follow the directions on the can, and do this only when the notebook is off.

Give It a Rest

If you're going to be working exclusively on AC power for a week or more, remove the battery first.

Otherwise, you'll be wearing out the battery--constantly charging and discharging it--at a time when you don't need to use it at all. You're also heating it up (see "Keep It Cool," above).

You don't want it too empty when you take it out. An unused battery loses power over time, and you don't want all the power to drain away, so remove it when it's at least half-charged.

Never remove the battery while the computer is on, or even in standby or sleep mode; doing so will crash your system and possibly damage your hardware. Even inserting a battery into a running laptop can damage the system. So only remove or reinsert the battery when the laptop is completely off or hibernating.

If you've never removed your laptop's battery and don't know how, check your documentation. (If you don't have it, you can probably find it online.) The instructions generally involve turning the laptop upside-down and holding down a button while you slide out the battery.

Myth: Refrigerate your battery.

Some people recommend you store it in the refrigerator, inside a plastic bag. While you should keep a battery cool, the last thing you want is a wet battery, and condensation is a real danger in the fridge. Instead, store it in a dry place at room temperature. A filing cabinet works fine.

You don't want the battery to go too long without exercise or let it empty out entirely. If you go without the battery for more than two months, put it in the PC and use it for a few hours, then remove it again.

Also, before you take the laptop on the road, reinsert the battery and let it charge for a few hours before unplugging the machine. Allow the battery time to get a full charge before you remove the AC power.

 

Heal a Sick Battery

Myth: You can rejuvenate a worn-out battery.

This isn't, strictly speaking, the case. You can't make old lithium hold more electrons than it can currently manage.

But if the battery is running out unexpectedly fast, or if your laptop is having trouble figuring out how much power it has left, you might be able to fix the battery's "gas gauge," so it at least gives a more accurate reading.

If you suspect the battery can't tell if it's charged or not, run it through a couple of cycles. Drain it of all its power (yes, this is the exception to the "don't drain the battery" rule mentioned above), recharge it to 100 percent, and then repeat.

But how do you drain the battery when Windows won't let you do just that? Don't bother with the settings described above. They're not safe (you might forget to change them back), they may not be getting an accurate reading, and they quite possibly won't let you set the critical battery level to 0 percent. (If they did, it would crash Windows.)

Instead, unplug your AC power and keep your laptop running (you can work on it if you like) until it automatically hibernates. Then reboot your PC back and go directly to the system setup program.

I can't tell you exactly how to get there; each computer is different. Turn on your PC and look for an onscreen message (one of the first you'll see) that says something like "Press the X key for setup." Immediately press the designated key.

It may take a couple of times to get the timing right. If there isn't enough power to let it boot, plug in AC until you're at the setup program, then unplug it.

Leave the notebook on until it shuts off. This can take some time (45 minutes on my laptop); setup uses a lot less power than Windows.

Once the PC is off, plug in the AC power, then wait a few hours before rebooting to Windows and making sure you've got a full recharge.

Repeat the process once or twice.

With luck and proper care, your battery will still be useful when you're looking for a new laptop.

Longer Life Between Charges

The tips above should lengthen the time before you need to replace your laptop's battery. But on a daily basis, we're far more concerned with another type of battery life: how long we can keep our laptop running without AC power. You may know most of the following tips already, but it never hurts to refresh (or recharge) your memory.

Dim your screenYour laptop's backlight requires a lot of juice. Keep it as dim as you can comfortably read it.

Shut off unneeded hardwareTurn off your Bluetooth, and if you're not using the Internet, turn off your Wi-Fi receiver, as well. Don't use an external mouse or other device. And muting the PC's sound system not only saves power, it avoids annoying everyone else in the café.

Avoid multitaskingRun as few programs as you can get away with. If possible, stick to the one application (word processor, browser, or whatever) you're currently using, plus your antivirus and firewall in the background.

And if you're not on the Internet, you don't need those two.

Avoid multimedia 
Save chores like photo editing and watching old Daily Show videos for when you have AC power. And if you must listen to music, use your iPod (or similar device).

Know when to sleep and when to hibernate 
You need to think about when you want to save power by sending your laptop into Standby or Sleep mode, and when you want to hibernate it.

There's a difference. XP's Standby and Vista and Windows 7's Sleep modes keep your PC on, using some power, but less of it than in normal use. Hibernate saves the PC's state to the hard drive, then shuts it off entirely, so that no power is used.

On the other hand, Windows takes much longer--sometimes minutes--to go into and come out of hibernation. And those are minutes that the battery is draining heavily and you can't work.

XP's Standby mode isn't really all that efficient. If your laptop will be inactive for more than about half an hour, hibernate it. Otherwise, use Standby.

But Vista and Windows 7 do a much better job with their Sleep mode. Don't bother hibernating your PC unless you think you're going to go more than two or three hours without using it.

Myth: Adding RAM saves battery life.

True, more RAM means less hard drive access, and the hard drive uses a lot of electricity. But RAM uses electricity as well, and unless you're doing a lot of multitasking (not a good idea when you're on battery power), more RAM won't reduce hard drive use.

1 Huron Street, Takapuna, North Shore 0622Tel: (09) 551-5344 and Mob: (021) 264-0000

This post is sponsored by: Dr Mobiles Limited

Web - FaceBook - Localist - Posterous - Twitter - Blogger - Flicker  - Map - Email 

Uploaded via Apple iPhone 4!
Why Dr Mobiles Limited?

The only professional repair centre who DOES NOT charge inspection fees on faulty phones.
> No inspection fee at all!

> 1 hour iPhone 4 repair

> Repair while you wait

> Free 30 min parking

> Free loan phone