You probably use the address bar in userr browser to search web pages. Now learn how to use the address bar to capture screenshots, send emails, get videos or even shorten the URLs.You are already familiar with quite a few browser address bar shortcuts. For instance, type some text in the address bar of userr browser (e.g. apple) , press Ctrl + Enter and the browser will automatically send user to the corresponding .com website (in this case, www.apple.com).
The search and address bar of Google Chrome
Or type in some complex search query (e.g., site:firefox.com internet explorer) in the address bar, hit go and the browser will show results from userr default search engine*. The address bar of Google Chrome is even smarter as it can offer live suggestions while user are typing the search query.
Other than these built-in shortcuts, user may also want to know about a couple of URL hacks (a better term would be “address bar commands“) that let user do stuff from the address bar itself – they are pretty easy to remember and don’t require user to install any bookmarklets or add-ons (so user can use them on any computer and even some mobile phones).
1. Capture a screenshot – Go to userr browser’s address bar, type aviary.com before the http:// part of the URL and hit Enter. Aviary will immediately capture a full screenshot image of the web page that’s currently open in userr browser – here’s an example.
2. Download videos – If user are like to get a YouTube video, just add deturl.comto the URL (see example) and user’ll be able to save the video in either Flash or Quicktime format. This is a pretty useful option for mobile phones that don’t support the flash player but can play Quicktime.
3. Shrink the address – There are about a million URL shortening services out there but if user want to quickly shrink the URL from the address bar itself, try this – just type bit.ly before the URL and it give user the short form on the next screen.
4. Email a web page – If user want to email a link of the current web page to a contact or to userr own self, here’s a trick. Just type the mailto command in the address bar and this will compose a new message in userr default email program – user can have the URL of the page in either the body of the message or in the subject line itself.
mailto:a@b.com?body=http://google.com/ (a@b.com is the email of userr contact)
5. Share or bookmark a web page - If user find the above email command a bit scary, here’s something more simple. Go the address bar of userr browser and type smub.it/ just before the URL as in this example. You can then share that page on any social site or even send the link to userr friends via email. A perfect option for mobile phones.
6. Who owns that website – If user want to know the email address and other contact details of the owner of a site, the whois record of that site can sometimes help. To view the whois details of the current site, type whois.domaintools.com/ in the address bar (just before the http:// part) and there user have all the information – see example.
7. Send userrself notes – Futz.me is a free service that lets user email text notes, hyperlinks and even images from the right the address bar of userr browser.
Go to the address bar, type futzme.com/xyz followed by a space (xyz is userr unique username) and anything that’s after the space will be sent to userr email address. If user use Futz.me with a URL that points to an image, the image will be sent user via an email attachment or even through MMS (if user are in the US).
8. Mobile friendly web – If user are reading web pages on a mobile phone, user can easily convert the current page into a mobile friendly version by adding http://mopwn.com/ in front of the URL in userr address bar. Internally, the mopwn service will simply forward userr request to Google Transcoder but it’s still very handy.
9. When the default is not Google – When user type a search phrase in the address bar of userr browser, the query gets executed using the default search engine which is Google in both Firefox and Google Chrome (factory settings).
Now if user are using IE with Bing or have manually changed the default to something else, here’s how user can still query Google from the address bar without changing any of the current settings. Go to the address bar and type gog.is followed by the search terms. For instance, gog.is/free,techno will show Google pages for “Free-Techno”.
Update: If userr address bar search queries are getting redirected to OpenDNS, here’s a quick fix.
Whats hot: Large, high res display, fast and slim, latest Google OS.
Whats not: Multimedia syncing still not there, must remove battery to access microSD card.
Editors Note: Want a smaller Android phone without a keyboard? Read our HTC Eris news.
Motorolas in big need of a smashing success and Verizon needs to prop up its line of smartphones: is the Droid by Motorola the answer? Verizons huge marketing campaign claims so, with the usual anti-iPhone rhetoric (which we could do without) and mysterious bites of the Droids high end features. Indeed the Droid is a phone to be reckoned with and adds that special sauce to Verizons recently much improved smartphone lineup. The Droid runs Android OS 2.0 hot off the press, and this adds more syncing options such as MS Exchange, Google Maps 2.0 beta with spoken turn-by-turn directions and a few other tweaks. This is a vanilla Android phone with none of the customizations that HTC has done with the HTC Hero or Samsung has done with their upcoming TouchWiz-ified Behold 2. So the phone must stand on its hardware strengths, and those are good: a large 3.7" capacitive touch screen sporting the highest resolution yet on Android: 854 x 480, a hardware QWERTY keyboard, slim design, ARM Cortex A8 CPU (the same CPU found in the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre), GPS, EV-DO Rev. A, WiFi, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera and Bluetooth. Not bad, particularly the large display and ARM Cortex A8.
Design and Ergonomics
The Droid is a modern minimalist phone, lacking the trademark styling of HTCs Hero or the slim stone look of the Palm Pre. Its a basic rectangle, but its very slim for a QWERTY slider and it looks like a high class piece. Its solid and well made, and the slider moves with a smooth motion that clicks when opened or closed fully. The battery cover is made of metal with a grippy soft touch finish. The Droid is a phone for sophisticated types and business people, while the Motorola Cliq on T-Mobile is more of a plastic youth messaging device that happens to run Android OS (ver. 1.5). At 6 ounces the phone feels weighty in a good way, and its in the same size class as the iPhone, HTC Imagio and Samsung Moment Android phone on Sprint (though the Droid is thinner than the Moment). Its infinitely more pocketable than the HTC Touch Pro2 on Verizon since its gobs thinner, though its wide and tall enough that youll want to be careful when sitting down.
The 3.7" capacitive touch screen dominates the front face with just a small bezel and touch sensitive haptic buttons below. These buttons are: back, menu, home and search. Sorry, there are no hardware call send and end buttons-- youll need to use the on-screen phone shortcut for that. . . a dangerous proposition if youre on the move and need to keep your eyes ahead of you rather than on your phone. The display is responsive and a pleasure to use, which is true of most Android phones, and it wont leave you longing for an iPhone. Though the resolution is very high at 854 x 480, the OS scales well so text isnt painfully small and images are reasonably sized. The display is very sharp and clear but not as bright and color-rich as the Palm Pre or Samsungs AMOLED display phones like the Moment. It has an auto brightness setting that keeps things on the dim side-- turn it off and manually adjust brightness for a better experience unless battery life is an issue for you. The Droid has an accelerometer thats responsive without being too twitchy and a proximity sensor for calling without cheek-dialing.
The keyboard is surprisingly small since Moto left plenty of room for a not terribly needed d-pad on the right. The size didnt bother us as much as the incredibly short key travel-- the price we pay for a thin phone. Thus typing isnt an absolute joy and the keyboard isnt as useful as the Samsung Moments, but its better than on-screen pecking using the default Android keyboard. The black keys are backlit with white masking and are easy to see in the dark, and there are shortcut keys for search and menu and the @ symbol requires no Alt key press.
Video Review
Heres our 10 minute video news of the Droid that includes comparisons with the Samsung Moment and Motorola Cliq Android phones as well as the HTC Imagio Windows Mobile 6.5 touch screen smartphone on Verizon.
Phone and Data
The Motorola Droid is a dual band digital CDMA phone that works with Verizon Wireless in the US. It has EV-DO Rev. A for fast data and fallback to 1xRTT. Wifi 802.11b/g is on board when youre not in a good EV-DO coverage area, but keep in mind you must get a data plan with this phone. Googles webkit-based browser (Safari on the iPhone and the Palm Pre browser are also webkit-based) does an excellent job of rendering full HTML sites in desktop fashion. Its also fast at rendering, and thanks to the Droids very fast CPU, its as fast as the iPhone 3GS. Flash support should come sometime early next year, but for now the integrated YouTube player that serves mobile versions of YouTube videos does the trick. Videos embedded in web pages such as the one youre reading right now show up in the Android browser, and when you click on the video it opens in the Droids YouTube player (similar to the iPhones handling of Flash video). The dedicated YouTube application is standard on all Android phones and offers standard (meh) and high quality (very good) playback options. We had no trouble streaming YouTube video at the high quality setting over Verizons EVDO Rev. A network with half signal strength (-101 db).
Speaking of signal strength, like many Moto phones, the Droid has excellent reception. Our office is in a Verizon black hole and most phones barely hold onto a bar of 1x and EV. The Droid never dropped EV, always had good data throughput and 1x stayed steady at about 50 to 60% signal strength. If youre in a marginal coverage area, this is the smartphone to get.
Call quality, even with a good signal was OK but not great. Callers said our voice sounded nasal but not underwater. On our end calls were loud and clear but sounded mechanical and digitized. We wouldnt call it bad, just artificial sounding. The speakerphone is uncannily loud. Unless youre at Yankee Stadium during the World Series just after Hideki Matsui hit a homer, youll have no trouble hearing calls, music and video on this phone. The large speaker grille lives on the back, but we didnt have to turn the phone over to improve volume or quality. The Droid works with Google Voice, Googles calling service that works over data networks rather than Verizons voice network. You must have a Google Voice account to use this feature, and the service is still running in invite-only mode.
Software and Android OS 2.0
The Droid is a full "with Google" phone which means it hasnt been heavily customized like the "powered by Android" HTC Hero and Moto Cliq. In theory this means the smartphone should be eligible for Google OS updates that are managed by Google and the carrier rather than requiring a customized new OS version created by the manufacturer (Motorola in the Droids case). It also means vanilla Android, and thats not a bad thing given the operating systems freshness and pleasant UI, but we do long for a bit of that special sauce as with HTCs Sense UI. Theres no MOTOBLUR here, and thats likely a good thing for the older and more business-oriented market the phone targets. That doesnt mean you cant social network your heart out. Facebook is pre-installed and in fact integrates with contacts beautifully without creating duplicates. It has a home screen widget so you can keep track of your friends. You can download Twitter clients with and without widgets and a variety of IM clients. Googles own Google Talk is the only pre-installed IM client.
Android OS 2.0 syncs with MS Exchange as well as Google. Theres support for syncing to other sources, for example Facebook. MS Exchange syncs calendar and contacts and picks up Exchange email. Android 2.0 still has that strange separation between Gmail and other email; theres a Gmail icon and an Email icon. Likewise SMS/MMS Messaging lives in the Messaging application. If you sync your MS Exchange calendar, that data goes into a separate Corporate Calendar application. HTCs integration on the Hero is tighter and they added syncing over the cable to Outlook in Windows in their customized Android build-- sorry Droid, youre second best.
Media syncing is still nonexistent. Want music or video? Load them onto a microSD card yourself-- theres no mollycoddling iTunes treatment here. The Droid has a decent music player that supports MP3 and non-DRM iTunes AAC format tunes. The Gallery handles video playback with limited format support: basically MPEG4 encoded in H.264 format. Fortunately thats a popular format and the same commonly used to rip content for the iPod and iPhone. Again, thanks to that Cortex A8 CPU, the Droid handled video playback from the microSD card very well. We tested it with a 720 x 360 pixel video encoded at 1,050 kbps and it played perfectly. Thats better than the HTC Hero and MyTouch 3G, both of which use and old and dreary 528MHz Qualcomm CPU.
As a business phone, the Droid does a decent job thanks to MS Exchange support but it falls behind Windows Mobile since it lacks an integrated Office suite that can edit and create MS Office documents. You can buy Documents To Go for Android for $15 via the Market if you need to edit and create MS Office documents. Quickoffice 2.0 is included and it can view MS Word, Excel and PDF documents (but not Office 2007 format files ending with .docx or .xlsx). it renders documents beautifully, including those saved as email attachments. PDF documents look great with full support for images. If you want to carry documents on a card for reference, youll need to install a free file manager from the Market since Quickoffice doesnt have an icon and thus theres no way to access documents.
The Motorola Droid and the Motorola Cliq (T-Mobile) Android phones.
Camera and GPS
The Moto has a very good 5 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash. It takes sharp shots, particularly in well lit settings since the flash is overwhelming in dim settings. The camera UI is intuitive and fresh: theres a slider to switch between photo and video mode and a grab handle (a common Android convention) to pull out the drawer of settings. Images and video are saved to the microSD card and there are a wide variety of exposure, effect and quality settings. Our only complaint: autofocus is a tad sluggish.
Video recording is the star and the Droid can record 720 x 480 pixel video at 25fps (theres a lower quality MMS setting too). Video quality very good as long as the lighting is adequate. Dark settings equal blocky video but well lit scenes are natural.
Rare for a Verizon phone, theres no VZ Navigator; in fact the only pre-installed solution is free! Google Maps 2.0 beta is on board and it adds turn-by-turn spoken directions. Google Maps on Android has always been one of the best mapping and POI solutions on the mobile platform, but it lacked spoken directions and for that you had to use a paid service like VZ Navigator or Telenav. Since this is beta, we expect improvements over time, but as per usual with Google, its a great start. The guidance voice is a speech synthesized female who sounds robotic (somehow appropriate) but intelligible. Though Googles splash screen warns you the service is in beta and it might tell you to turn left into a creek or hop on a ferry, we found its directions logical and sane (and the same as what VZ Navigator would offer). It handled re-routing well but suffered a mini-meltdown when we chose the back entrance to a big box store (the kind thats so big it has entrances on 3 streets). Google Maps wanted us to circle around an adjacent block to get to the front entrance even though it knew we were on a street that formed the perimeter of the store and that we could have simply turned right to enter the parking lot or taken a right turn 100 feet down to reach the main entrance. Bad robot.
Battery
The Droid ships with a 1400 mAh Lithium Ion battery thats user replaceable. For a very large screen EVDO phone with a fast CPU, the Droid had very good battery life, easily lasting a day of moderate to heavy use. In addition to Google cloud services sync we had it check other email accounts at a 15 minute interval during business hours, took a 5 mile trip with the GPS, watched several YouTube videos, surfed the web for an hour total, talked on the phone for 30 minutes total and played music for an hour.
Conclusion
Its hard not to like Motos new robot. The Droid is a smashing smartphone that gives Verizons lineup a serious lift. The hardwares look might be polarizing-- folks seem to either love it or hate it, but its got a clean, modern and slim design. Its well made with one of the nicer slider mechanisms on a phone and that huge display makes you feel like youve got a mini computer disguised as a phone. Reception is excellent and data speeds and web page load times are likewise tops. Android could use some help in the friendly multimedia department with desktop media syncing and more supported video playback formats, but with a little effort the Droid is a very good music player and portable video player (drag them to a card yourself and convert videos to MPEG4 H.264 format first). Unless you have serious business needs that require BlackBerry push email or strong MS Exchange and Office support, the Droid is a top pick among Verizons smartphones.
Price: $199 after rebates with a 2 year contract. $559 with no contract.
Specs:
Display: 3.7" capacitive 16 million color touch screen. Resolution: 480 x 854, supports both portrait and landscape mode, has accelerometer, haptic feedback and a proximity sensor. Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1400 mA. Claimed talk time: 6.4 hours. Performance: 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU (TI OMAP 3430). 256 megs RAM, 512 megs flash ROM with 250 megs available as internal storage. Size: 4.56 x 2.36 x 0.54 inches. Weight: 5.96 ounces. Phone: CDMA dual band digital with EV-DO Rev. A for fast data with fallback to 1xRTT. Camera: 5 megapixel with autofocus lens and dual LED flash. Shoots video with audio up to 720 x 480 pixels at 24 fps in .3GP format (MMS size video option also available). Max photo resolution: 2592 x 1936 pixels. Has 4x digital zoom. GPS: Built in aGPS that works with Google Maps. Audio: Built in stereo speakers, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR supporting headset, handsfree and A2DP stereo. Tethering not yet supported. Software: Android OS 2.0 (Eclair). Google apps: Gmail, Google Maps, Google Voice Search, Webkit-based web browser, YouTube player and voice dialing. Verizon applications: Visual Voicemail. Expansion: 1 SDHC microSD card slot, 16 gig card included. ( Author : Lisa Gade , Source : mobiletechnews )
Learn more about AROUND, an undocumented Google Search operator that will help user find web pages where the distance between two search terms is n.
Search operators in Google (see Google cheat sheet) help user refine and improve search results.
For instance, a query like “Taj Mahal AND Hotel” will search for pages related to the Hotel Taj and not the Mughal monument. Similarly, “kindle -site:amazon.com” will find all Kindle related resources outside the Amazon website.
AROUND Search Operator
Google Search supports an undocumented search operator called AROUND(n) that will help user find documents where the distance between two search terms is around ‘n.’ Here’s an example:
Google Around Search Operator for Proximity Searches
A search query like “CNN Obama” will mostly show CNN pages that are related to Obama. However, if we modify the query to look like “CNN AROUND(2) Obama,” user get results where the two terms are written on the page in close proximity.
The higher the number, the less the proximity.
Daniel Russell, who first wrote about the AROUND operator, says that AROUND is especially useful when the documents are rather long (think book-length articles) while a comment points out that it could be also be useful “when searching for quotes, speeches or a song that’s stuck in userr head, but user can only think of a few words from it.”
Google’s wildcard search operator, represented by Asterisk (Obama * CNN), may achieve similar results but with AROUND, user even get to specify the distance between the two search terms. Do remember to write AROUND in all CAPS else it won’t work.
Review posted February 25, 2009 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief
2009
Party time, photography buffs! The Samsung Memoir t929 is the first 8 megapixel camera phone offered by a US carrier. T-Mobile has scored this impressive camera phone, and the only downside is it makes the 5 megapixel Samsung Behold released just 3 months ago on T-Mobile look like a second class citizen. Like the Behold and the Samsung Eternity on AT&T, the Memoir is a slate-design touch screen phone running Samsungs pleasing TouchWiz UI. Unlike the TouchWizzified Samsung Omnia i910 on Verizon, the Memoir is a high end feature phone and not a smartphone.
The Memoir looks ever so convincingly like a camera, with design cues from retro Leica models. Its just a tiny bit bigger than the Behold (its thicker) and is smaller than the iPhone, though again, thicker. It features a 3" resistive touch screen with haptic (vibration) feedback, 3G HSDPA, a GPS that works with TeleNav, Bluetooth, an HTML browser, and music and video players. Theres an SDHC high capacity microSD card slot on the phones side (no need to open the back cover or remove the battery as with the Behold and Eternity). Youll need that to store lots of high resolution photos and video!
Under doors: the USB sync port and microSD card slot. The left end is raised because the lens housing protrudes.
The phones sides are completely straight, which makes it easier to handle but also makes it look thicker since tapered sides are slimming. The right side (when held in camera position) is textured, similar to a camera grip while the rest of the phone is matte black. The Memoir is more attractive and novel looking that the overseas Samsung Pixon and looks better than more standard slate-designed phones like the Behold and Eternity (assuming you like the looks of cameras). The front is dominated by the large display which acts as a viewfinder for the camera and as your window to all phone functions. Since the lens housing protrudes a bit, the phone doesnt lay flat on a table.
Though by no means slow, the Memoir isnt as super-snappy as the Behold and Eternity. Tap the Menu button at the bottom of the home screen and theres a 1 second delay before the programs menu opens up (it opens instantly on the Eternity and Behold). This is surprising since the CPU and RAM specs must be quite good to process 8 megapixel images, show them in the photo app and record/playback high resolution video. The phone handles video and photo playback well, and the camera application is fast in all respects.
The Samsung Memoir and Behold
The Memoirs haptic feedback makes text entry on screen seem more natural, and the on-screen QWERTY keyboard is large and easy to use (its the same as the Behold and Eternitys). If you prefer text entry via number pad, simply hold the phone in portrait mode; the QWERTY only appears when you rotate the phone to landscape mode. The phones accelerometer handles automatic rotation in supported applications (web browser, photo viewer but not the home screen or in Java applications). The photo viewer application moves to the next and previous photo when you tilt the phone right or left, and we found this very difficult to control.
The large QWERTY on-screen keyboard appears in landscape mode. It has handy shortcut keys for www. and .com.
Video Review
Heres our 10 minute video news of the Samsung Memoir t929, covering design, interface, video playback, web browsing and a very detailed look at the camera application:
Phone and Internet
The Samsung Memoir is a quad band GSM world phone with 3G HSDPA on T-Mobiles 1700/2100MHz bands. It will not operate on AT&Ts 3G network, though it can utilize AT&Ts GSM/EDGE bands when roaming. As with the Behold, T-Mobile wants you to get their $24.99/month T-Mobile Smartphone Unlimited data plan with the Memoir if you wish to use the web browser, email and other Internet services. This plan includes 400 text/MMS messages and theres a Smartphone plan with unlimited messages for $34.99/month. Since this isnt a smartphone, were once again not thrilled; T-Mobiles competitors offer 3G feature phone plans for considerably less than their smartphone plans. As a consolation, you need not purchase a data plan if you dont wish to access the Internet or photo upload services bundled on the phone.
The phone supports T-Mobiles MyFaves service along with standard calling services like call waiting, speakerphone and voice dialing. Voice dialing is handled by Nuances excellent VSuite 3.1 voice command application which handles voice dialing, digit dialing and basic commands like "open calendar". To launch voice command, tap the VSuite icon on the widget bar of the home screen. Unfortunately, theres no hardware button for voice dialing so youll have to interact with the screen to start voice dialing or use a Bluetooth headset.
The programs menu.
The home screen with the camera widget open.
Even over 3G which supports higher quality voice codecs, voice quality was good but not great. Incoming voice isnt super clear and sharp, though you can easily understand what the caller is saying. The same is true of outgoing voice: its intelligible but not extremely clear and full. The phone actually sounds better with Bluetooth headsets like Samsungs own WEP200, Plantronics Discovery 925 and others. Call quality over Bluetooth stereo headsets isnt fantastic (the same is true of most phones), but music quality is very good.
T-Mobile lauds the Memoirs full HTML browser, and we suspect that full HTML browser and 3G data connection are the reason for the more expensive data plan. The Memoir upgrades to Netfront 3.5 from the Beholds 3.4 (the Eternity also runs 3.5), though the software controls and settings resemble the Beholds rather than the Eternitys. We really like the finger scrolling, easy zooming and hide-able on-screen controls, but found that bookmarking the current page took too many steps (tap the star icon to bring up bookmarks, tap add bookmark, tap the more button at the bottom of the screen, then select "add current" from the pop-up menu. In contrast, on the Samsung Eternity theres an add bookmark icon on the main control palette. For a feature phone web browser, the Memoir and Netfront do a very good job of rendering HTML sites: layout is largely intact, text is readable and we didnt crash the browser when visiting heavy pages though we did run into the limitations imposed by T-Mobiles web proxy. If we have to pay for a full smartphone data plan, why do we have to put up with feature phone style gateways?
The Memoir comes with a basic Java email client that supports AOL, Yahoo mail, Comcast, Compuserve, Earthlink, Gmail, HotPOP, Juno, .mac, SBC Yahoo and Verizon email accounts (other email accounts arent supported, sorry). As with other T-Mobile phones, loading Google Maps flopped since Google doesnt offer a signed version of their application (the Memoir rejected it upon download). We managed to install and run Opera Mini, a very good free web browser, by not going with the default version on the opera.com/mini website and instead selecting the version with multiple certificates. Unfortunately, the accelerometer doesnt work in most Java applications, so theres no way to browse in landscape mode. The on-screen QWERTY keyboard (only available in landscape mode) does work if you tap in a text field then rotate the phone to landscape mode-- go figure.
Multimedia
The music player handles MP3, AAC (unprotected iTunes format), WMA and Real Player. The phone supports both Mass Storage mode and MTP (Media Transport Protocol) for copying music files to the phones microSD card (the Behold lacks MTP, so the Memoir is a step up for those who wish to use this Windows transfer method). T-Mobile and Samsung include a stereo earbud headset which is fortunate since the phone uses Samsungs proprietary blade connector rather than a 3.5mm stereo jack. The headsets audio is OK for music playback, but if youre serious about using this as your portable music player youll want to buy a blade to 3.5mm stereo jack adapter so you can use better headphones or otherwise use Bluetooth A2DP stereo headphones.
The Memoir plays mobile YouTube content via its media player. This is the lower quality mobile YouTube optimized for smaller screened phones with less multimedia power, and the videos fill only a portion of the Memoirs 240 x 400 display. Quality isnt bad though, and the media player automatically rotates YouTube videos to landscape mode for playback. It can also play locally stored content (copy movies to a microSD card and youve got a decent iPod substitute thanks to the large and bright display). We tested it with some 240 x 320 MPEG4 files formatted for the iPod and iPhone, and they played very smoothly as long as the bitrate was below 650kbps.
Syncing and PIM applications
The Memoir has a calendar, address book, memo application and tasks. The address book is finger-friendly and scrolling is easy thanks to a draggable tab that moves quickly through each letter of the alphabet. As a lefty, Im thrilled that Samsung added a "one handed operation" setting for the address book that allows you to set it to left handed mode (the scroll control relocates to the left side of the screen so your left hand isnt blocking your view of the contacts list). There are fields for first name, last name, nickname, mobile phone, home phone, work phone, other number, group, 4 email addresses, 4 IM addresses, URL, birthday, anniversary, street address (street, city, state, country and zip), notes and a custom ringtone. The address book can store up to 2,000 contacts.
Samsungs "New PC Studio" Windows desktop syncing software supports their TouchWiz feature phones. Its a very cool desktop app that mimics a virtual desktop with user interfaces that are similar to the phones for address, calendar and more. As of this writing, that doesnt include the Memoir, though once the phone is released Samsung will post a driver update to support the phone. We tried to connect using the latest downloadable version of the Behold syncing software and it told us the phone wasnt supported, so we werent able to test syncing.
Camera
One word: nice! The Memoirs 8 megapixel camera with autofocus lens and Xenon flash takes excellent photos. It also has the fastest focus of any autofocus camera phone weve tested. Though not as fast as a dedicated digital camera its fast enough to catch a crazy kitten in action with just a smidgen of luck. At max resolution, the camera saves photos to a microSD card quickly as well, and images average 2.2 megs each. Not only that, it takes excellent videos up to an impressive 720 x 480 pixel resolution at near 30 fps (actual averages 27 fps). Thats higher resolution than the top dog Nokia N95 and N96, though the 2 Nokia smartphones video quality is superior.
Maximum photo resolution is 3264 x 2448 with a variety of lower resolutions as small as 400 x 240. The camera uses the entire touch screen as its viewfinder, with a control strip on the left and right sides and a zoom bar at the bottom. These auto-hide but a tap of the screen brings them back.
Click on a sample photo to see a larger version in a new window. Sample photos were taken at max resolution, highest image quality, center-weighted metering and auto scene and white balance settings.
Above: The viewfinder with controls visible. Below: the options screen for focus modes (left) and shooting modes (right).
There are a wide variety of photo settings that rival a point and shoot cameras: focus (auto, macro, face detection), shooting modes (single, continuous, panorama, smile shot and mosaic), brightness compensation, flash (on, off, auto), self-timer, resolution, save location (internal memory or microSD card), scene (none, portrait, landscape, action, night, incandescent and more), effects, quality and metering (center, average, matrix), white balance, contrast, saturation and sharpness.
How are the images? Theyre definitely better than any other phone offered by a US carrier, including the 5 megapixel autofocus Samsung Behold and Moto Zine ZN5 on T-Mobile. Theyre natural, well-saturated, well-exposed and look as good as the average 5 megapixel point and shoot cameras images. The default sharpness is a little soft, though one can change this. Most camera phones oversharpen, so were not complaining-- better to add a little sharpening in Photoshop if needed. In outdoor shots, we give the Nokia N95 and N96 better marks even though theyre lower resolution. Its not just the number of pixels that counts-- the Nokia phones are a little sharper with better metering (less white out) and loss of definition on glossy subjects (see the berries photo above where the shiny fruit loses definition). As a serious photo buff Im being picky, and the average person would likely be thrilled at the results. But this camera phone will likely attract avid photographers, who are picky. For indoor shots, the Samsung beats the Nokia N95 and N96, whose indoor shots are weak given their lack of a Xenon flash. But clearly its more than just Xenon vs. LED flash, 1) the Samsungs Xenon flash isnt blindingly effective like high end Sony Ericsson camera phones, 2) even in indoor shots where none of the phones fired their flashes, the Memoirs had less chromatic aberration, less noise and more life-like colors.
Video quality is again better than any other US carrier camera phone, but not as good as the Nokia N95 and N96. While photo quality is a close race, the Nokia phones easily win for video recording. The Memoir can shoot up to 720 x 480 video with lesser resolutions including VGA (same as the Nokia phones max resolution) down to MMS size. The Memoirs video is decent but theres plenty of chromatic aberration, color noise and a lack of smoothness even though video is recorded at an average of 27 to 28 fps. But then, these two Nokia smartphones take impossibly good video thats smooth as butter. The Samsung can record audio with video, but the audio track sounds as if there were a thin sock over the mic, while the Nokia audio is clear and loud.
GPS
The Memoir has an internal GPS that works with TeleNav, a $9.99/month service that provides turn-by-turn spoken and on-screen directions, traffic information, POIs and maps which are downloaded over the wireless connection as needed. The GPS worked well in our tests, even getting a fix indoors near a window, and a cold start (just after a reboot) took 20 seconds while warm starts took 5 to 10 seconds. Thats much better performance than our Samsung Behold, which took a long time to get a fix and had trouble indoors. As mentioned, we couldnt use Google Maps since the Memoir wouldnt accept unsigned Java applications.
Battery Life
If you use the phone heavily, especially the camera, 3G and GPS, youll need to charge it nightly. Once the shiny newness wears off and youre not photographing everything that you see and surfing the web over 3G like mad, the Memoir will likely last 2 to 3 days on a charge. Standby times are good and the phone charges quickly (ours charged from 25% to full in an hour).
Conclusion
The Samsung Memoir should be one of the hottest phones of 2009. It has a wonderful touch screen interface courtesy of Samsungs TouchWiz user interface and the large haptic display. The camera is superb and its the fastest autofocus weve seen on a high resolution camera phone. The Memoir has a very good web browser by touch screen standards, an excellent on-screen keyboard, an accelerometer and proximity sensor-- all the right features to combat iPhoneitus. While it might not have iTunes, it does have a very good video player and a decent music player along with expandable storage to carry that media. This is an easy phone to recommend to those who like touch screens and are into photography.
Pro: Very good touch screen experience, attractive camera-like design, looks high quality. Has 3G and a good web browser by feature phone standards. The TouchWiz software includes a large selection of widgets (more than the Behold) and theyre actually useful (TeleNav, photo viewer, voice dialing and more). Super camera with fast autofocus. Easily accessible microSD card slot.
Con: Call voice quality through handset is mediocre. T-Mobiles data plan is expensive if you wish to access the Net and the data connection is proxied through a gateway. Limited email account support.
Price: $249 with a 2 year contract after $50 mail-in rebate. $499 retail with no contract extension.
Specs:
Display: 262,000 color TFT resistive touch screen with haptic feedback. Screen size diagonally: 3". Resolution: 240 x 400, supports both portrait and landscape modes via accelerometer. Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1000 mA. Claimed talk time: up to 5.5 hours. Claimed standby: up to 300 hours. Performance: 100 megs internal storage, can store up to 2,000 contacts. Size: 4.17 x 2.11 x 0.55 inches. Weight: 4.4 ounces. Phone: GSM quad band 850/900/1800/1900MHz with EDGE and 3G HSDPA on T-Mobiles 1700/2100MHz bands. Camera: 8 megapixel with autofocus lens and Xenon flash. 16x digital zoom, can shoot video with audio up to 720 x 480 resolution at 30fps. Audio: Built in speaker, mic and Samsung blade stereo headphone jack (stereo headset included). Voice Recorder and Windows Pocket Media Player 10 included for your MP3 pleasure. Networking: Integrated Bluetooth 2.0. Software: Samsung TouchWiz UI. Nuance VSuite voice dialing (launched from on-screen widget). Netfront 3.5 web browser, Java-based email client, SMS/MMS messaging, Instant Messaging (AIM, Windows Live, ICQ and Yahoo), calendar, contacts, tasks, notes, voice recorder, music player, video player, world clock, stopwatch, timer, file manager, TeleNav Navigator, alarm clock, calculator and unit converter. Expansion: 1 SDHC microSD card slot. In the box: Phone, battery, charger, USB cable, printed manual, stereo headset and 1 gig MicroSD card. ( Author : Lisa Gade, Source : mobiletechnews )
This disciplined oscillator should have accurate satellite signals for better navigation. Within the GPSDO kit, you will find dual satellite navigation system and speed camera detectors. This combination helps in easy navigation while controlling speed as well.
You are able to get voice alerts as a result of functionality of the system. Since graphical coordinates can be stored, this helps in identifying black spots and the dangerous areas during navigation. At the point when signals become unavailable, this system will go into holdover state so that accuracy in timing can be maintained.
This technology is designed in such a way that it can prevent loss and in turn help out in such areas as navigation. With wireless technology in place, this system performs even better. They are not prone to break or even pause and that is the reason why they have become important in orbiting satellites.
You need a certain device called the tracking device which is vital for satellite services. This is used for data transmission as well as for receiving purposes. It has some logic controller, chips and a transceiver to aid in its services.
You will be saved the agony of relying on batteries because a power circuit which connects to the ignition is for powering purposes. This is what detects the machines status whether it is on or off. Since it is small in nature, you can easily install it without much hassle.
At present, it is the cellular network that has dominated unlike previously when the device used an up-link so that connection can occur to the satellite. This proved to be expensive in the long run because of the extra necessities. But since technology is continuing to advance, many improvements have been made so far.
By steering a high quality rubidium oscillator is how this system works. This brings about locking of the output to the required signal via a tracking loop. There is also compensation for the oscillator phase and frequency changes.
As it is possible to combine other signals and loop mechanism, it proves to have excellent long term stability as well. It is known that limitations of internal pulse resolution can degrade their short term stability. This however cannot be the case with this system because it utilizes both sources and puts together short term stability performance which the oscillator gives, together with the signals long term one.
Effective sensor functionality requires uninterrupted signal access from satellites. Proper information relaying needs this to be effected. This also improves accurate readings because of the better reception techniques between the satellite and the device.
It is possible to amplify the signal density by using these devices to enable you obtain the exact results you need. You can also incorporate the use of external antennas to aid in picking up signals in a much better way. These devices can be mounted on multiple surfaces and platforms for better navigation. They have lately been advanced in terms of their designs for flexibility purposes.
About the Author:
If you are looking for information about a GPSDO kit, check out the web pages here today. You can see details at http://synreference.com now.
Have you ever fulfilled somebody that you had an odd sensation in your gut about? That feeling that perhaps you should not trust them? Everyone has it, and some individualss digestive tract impulses are relatively precise. You can put yours to the test and understand how right you are by making use of a criminal background check. It will give you the essential need to follow your instincts by offering you truths.
You can discover who in your life has a criminal record. Learn whether they were ever pronounced guilty of a major criminal activity prior to you let them into your home. Lawfully you can shield your family and understanding is an excellent method to start securing those you like. Nevertheless, most bad guys will not tell you what they were guilty of so you need to discover for yourself. It is 100 % legal to do so.
Often individuals who have served time in prison for a major crime do not talk about the truth that they were accuseded of killing someone. They will not discuss the truth that they were in trouble for selling medicines. Typically you find out the hard way, when they bring difficulty to your door. Why take the possibility that they are not being honest with you? You can learn whether your next-door neighbor might offer drugs right outside your house.
If you discover your little girl is dating a sex criminal or you learn that your child is dating a lady who is dirty you can protect them. It is the same thing you would wish to do prior to hiring somebody to deal with your lawn. You would not want to learn after you have things shown up missing that the person was formerly imprisoned for robbery. Protect exactly what is yours to protect. Discover who is trustworthy by using a criminal background check and rest much better.
Companies check their workers prior to employing them to ensure that they will have a good worker working for them. They use the web which is the same tool that you have access to. Why not utilize it to your advantage and understand exactly what kind of individual you are handling before you discover the hard way, by having your family or your business harmed by them?
Looking for a previous criminal record can be performed in lots of methods and it is constantly an easy job. All you need is a telephone number, a name, and a computer that will permit you to obtain onto the internet. With this little bit of details you can learn where they live now, where they lived in the past, what times they might have been in jail, and more. If they merely got a quality traffic ticket for no taillights, it does not matter. You can be sure before you enable that individual into your house and your life.
It is rotten to understand that we reside in a world where you have to check a person out prior to you can trust them; however, it holds true since you can not simply just depend on any longer. Many of the time, following your gut instinct will assist you however in other cases you may need a little more evidence. You can see it printed out in bold color white and black it all there is to know about the other person if you find yourself requiring evidence. It will enable you to rest a little easier during the night knowing that you did all you can to secure your family.
Making use of a background check is a truthful means to learn the fact about the things you should understand. Criminal records are public records. The internet merely makes it much easier for everybody to have and make use of access to it. You can discover past things that the person might have done while they lived throughout the nation in an additional state. If it is safe for your children to be near them, you can find out.
A download basic criminal background check will let you understand that they have actually been in trouble. An extensive report may cost you a little bit of cash. Both will offer you some piece of mind in this insane world and for that, you can not place a value on it. Use the devices that are offered so that you can find out what you need to know.
About the Author:
criminal back ground check for download is dedicated to providing thorough background checks. Learn more about their alternatives to download background checks.
Mobile phones play a very crucial role in the lives of people today. They are very effective when it comes to communication. This can never be better if it is a Smartphone. They have enhanced applications to ensure you have the best experience while communicating. Nonetheless, when they spoil, you must know the best place to have them serviced. When looking for the best iPhone repair Auckland has many options.
The big number of phone servicing experts is a true indication of how business is good in that field. On the other hand, research shows that at least half of the population of phone technicians is untested. They only set up shop to cash in on the good business environment in this field. You must therefore have the required skills to help you make a perfect choice of a phone repairer.
In the beginning, you need to know what it takes to be a successful consumer. A consumer who always gets best services at great discounts knows the best time to look for any service providers is not when under immense pressure. Being in a desperate situation, you may not take enough time to evaluate the service providers. Get an appropriate time, way before your phone starts getting faulty.
The surest way to have your Smartphone serviced is by using genuine dealers. Mostly, these come in form of service centers in different parts of the state. Apple Corporation wants their customers to get their phones serviced by people they have trained to handle the communication gadgets. You can call them to inquire if they have a service shop within your locality. You may have solved all your repair problems.
What is more is the fact that if you have a valid warranty, you could use it here. It means that you may not be required to pay extra charges for the services you get. At the same time, it will help you determine if your phone is authentic. The experts in the service have devices that detect counterfeit phones. This is because they are only supposed to service their brands.
There are chances that Apple may not have built a service center in your district. This is because they do not have the capacity to build these shops in every street. You could opt to search for Smartphone technicians who operate independently but have licensing from Apple Company to repair their phones. You can be sure that such technicians will offer reliable services having been vetted by Apple.
If the two above options are not available to you, you have no option but to make your choice from one of the service firms in your area. Here, you must evaluate them carefully if you need to get value for your money. You ought to inquire if they have any training in phone servicing, and more so the type of phone you have. They also need to be licensed to do business.
Finally, seek recommendations from friends. They are likely to have crucial leads. The best iPhone repair Auckland can give should be able to give you credible referrals.
About the Author:
You can visit www.drmobiles.co.nz for more helpful information about How To Select The Finest IPhone Repair Auckland Can Offer.
Web hosting needs to be carefully planned to come up with the best results in line with the website you are preparing to launch. With the proliferation of so many web host companies, choosing the best one is not that easy. There are many factors to be considered before getting their services. To select the one suitable to your needs, shop around and follow these tips for you to make a wise decision.
There are many website hosting Pakistan companies that have the technical expertise and will serve tour needs irrespective of how complex your needs are. You can locally get the best Linux hosting provider or best windows hosting provider. On the other hand you also get the lowest domain registration in Pakistan which is a good investment option to maximize on the profits. There are many web hosting Pakistan benefits especially if your website derives most of the traffic locally.
On the other hand, Reseller hosting in Pakistan offer you bespoke local technical support which is advantageous to your website downtime given that the servers are hosted locally. When these are integrated to a local Internet Service Provider (ISP), you can concentrate on your core online business. Once you choose website hosting Pakistan, these experts will be able to guide you on the server space that you require depending on your niche and business demands.
They also put in to place your vision on future growth and advice you accordingly. Acquiring the right amount of space on the onset is a surefire way of ensuring your business growth is unlimited due to the dynamic nature of online demands. Depending on your business demands and changing technologies, you need a website hosting Pakistan firm that offers you the downloaddom and flexibility to add visuals, graphics and access to FTP for the ease of uploading additional pages devoid of the limitations you get from customized website builders.
Remember online businesses require reliability, speeds and security for the best customer experience. When choosing a Domain Registration Pakistan provider, make sure your site does not fail since this is your opens shop and customers do not have to be restricted to specific shopping of visiting hours.
When a website is down for a minute it means you are losing business and they might not come back. This also applies to websites that take too long to load as many visitors do not have that patience. With the many website hosting companies, you need to do an online background.
- Payment method. Of course, always be on the safe side especially in financial matters. As they say, when money talks, everybody listens. Sometimes a web host may take advantage of its clients by charging them even if the contract is already cancelled. This holds true when credit card is used for payments. To be safe, look for a web host that accepts payment through Paypal, a safer option than credit card because it can be immediately terminated when disagreement arises.
Depending on your budget, you need to get the right hosting pricing package that you can afford and can support your business demands. There are online sites that can help you compare pricing across all website hosting Pakistan companies. On the other hand website design services in Pakistan providers are experienced enough to advice you on what is right and value for your investment.
About the Author:
The article writer is very knowledgeable about Hosting Pakistan. Please check out at their web site for more info.
Projects scheduling tools provide businesses small or large with better solutions in handling their tasks. The project management software tools help businesses to keep track and organize their tasks in order to complete them within the set timeframes. Although there are different projects scheduling packages in the market, you need to choose the right that is easily applied for your specific tasks.
Before you consider using one, you need to determine if it will work well for your task. Not all projects are the same, as some will take different forms while others require complex mechanisms to plan and execute. Depending on the nature and scope of tasks you are accomplishing, you can seek the right scheduling tool.
Businesses, small and large may wonder what is that being offered by the scheduling products, which cannot be achieved with the typical paper and pad. Using the projects scheduling products allows interchangeability. These products can act as basic organizers, and others help in planning and tracking all aspects of the projects.
Using the system to assign tasks to different employees ensures that you keep track of what is happening with every employee. The workers are able to access the information and know what is required from them within a specific period. In addition, through the system, workers know who to contact when they have concerns or issues to be sorted out.
The execution team has to stay on schedule by ensuring that every task is competed in time. The system helps alert employees of the upcoming deadlines thus enabling them manage their time and tasks properly to accomplish the results in time. Using these tools enhances speedy delivery of projects results and minimizes delays.
There are many things happening during the planning, implementation, and tracking of projects. You may not be able to remember all important things, and if you do not put them in a proper organized place, chances are that some of the details may be forgotten. This can adversely affect the execution process. The scheduling tool also provides easy tracking of events.
Many a times, status meetings and reading emails can take a lot of time, but when information is being shared hands on, it means that everyone is updated on what is happening around. With use of projects management tools, it delineates reasonable and cost effective deadlines. It also creates progress benchmarks, which help the employees to determine how they are fairing when compared to others, or different timeframes.
The workers can determine how much they had achieved in the same period the previous month, which allows them determine the pace in which they are executing the tasks. With use of project management software tools, it creates efficiency, eliminates delay in achieving results, and enhances teamwork and communication. If there are issues, which need to be tackled, it is easier to do so, and avoid delays or corrections when already full-blown mistakes have occurred.
About the Author:
If you are looking for information about project management software tools, visit the web pages online at www.project-note.com today. You can see details at http://www.project-note.com now.
printf(“You can answer this if you know how values are represented in memory”);
}
Answer:
You can answer this if you know how values are represented in memory
Explanation:
~ (tilde operator or bit-wise negation operator) operates on 0 to produce all ones to fill the space for an integer. –1 is represented in unsigned value as all 1’s and so both are equal.
int swap(int *a,int *b){
*a=*a+*b;*b=*a-*b;*a=*a-*b;
}
main() {
int x=10,y=20;
swap(&x,&y);
printf("x= %d y = %d ",x,y);
}
Answer:
x = 20 y = 10
Explanation:
This is one way of swapping two values. Simple checking will help understand this.
main(){
char *p = “ayqm”;
printf(“%c”,++*(p++));
}
Answer:
b
main(){
int i=5;
printf("%d",++i++);
}
Answer:
Compiler error: Lvalue required in function main
Explanation:
++i yields an rvalue. For postfix ++ to operate an lvalue is required.
main(){
char *p = “ayqm”;
char c;
c = ++*p++;
printf(“%c”,c);
}
Answer:
b
Explanation:
There is no difference between the expression ++*(p++) and ++*p++. Parenthesis just works as a visual clue for the reader to see which expression is first evaluated.
int aaa() {printf(“Hi”);}
int bbb(){printf(“hello”);}
iny ccc(){printf(“bye”);}
main(){
int ( * ptr[3]) ();
ptr[0] = aaa;
ptr[1] = bbb;
ptr[2] =ccc;
ptr[2]();
}
Answer:
bye
Explanation:
int (* ptr[3])() says that ptr is an array of pointers to functions that takes no arguments and returns the type int. By the assignment ptr[0] = aaa; it means that the first function pointer in the array is initialized with the address of the function aaa. Similarly, the other two array elements also get initialized with the addresses of the functions bbb and ccc. Since ptr[2] contains the address of the function ccc, the call to the function ptr[2]() is same as calling ccc(). So it results in printing "bye".
main(){
int i=5;
printf(“%d”,i=++i ==6);
}
Answer:
1
Explanation:
The expression can be treated as i = (++i==6), because == is of higher precedence than = operator. In the inner expression, ++i is equal to 6 yielding true(1). Hence the result.
main(){
char p[ ]="%d ";
p[1] = c;
printf(p,65);
}
Answer:
A
Explanation:
Due to the assignment p[1] = ‘c’ the string becomes, “%c ”. Since this string becomes the format string for printf and ASCII value of 65 is ‘A’, the same gets printed.
void ( * abc( int, void ( *def) () ) ) ();
Answer:
abc is a ptr to a function which takes 2 parameters .(. an integer variable.(b). a ptrto a funtion which returns void. the return type of the function is void.
