1. Vouchercloud

Vouchercloud is available as an app where you can receive your vouchers through text message or as a voucher code directly on your phone. This voucher is then presented to the cashier upon paying to enjoy valuable savings. The vouchers available are on a wide range of items from leisure and entertainment, from Alton Towers vouchers to eating out, to travel and many more.

The Vouchercloud app is now available on all smartphone platforms including Windows phones, iPhones, Android and Google. This enables the buyer to enjoy money saving discounts while on the go.

Another handy feature in this app is that it’ll helpfully provide you with a map of your local area, marking local participating businesses so that you can be sure that you’re always getting the best deal in town!

2. Hot Deals UK

Hot Deals UK has a wide selection of deals, vouchers, sale items and freebies available with a great app that is available for both iOS and Android based mobile devices. Get the information through push notifications, newsletters or just do a basic search in your area and see the great deals available to you. Hot Deals UK is a community run app where consumers share information and voucher codes with other consumers, so you can always count on someone to be keeping the database fresh!

3. Red Laser

Red Laser is one of the top iPhone, Windows and Android phone apps for those that want to pay the best price when you walk into any store and see a must have item. It’s so easy to use; you scan the item you’re interested in and the app will do the rest. You’ll be presented with buying options, product information, directions to retailers and more at the tap of a button.

If someone in the family has food allergies, this app is a definite must have. Scan the barcode of any food item and a list of the allergens will be available for you to check and determine whether the food is safe to take home with you.

4. Pricecheckah

Pricecheckah is a money saving tool available for the iPhone. It enables you to save money when you have the urge for an impulse buy or see something you really want. All you do is scan in the barcode or type in the name and Pricecheckah will find you the cheapest prices even from places such as eBay and Amazon, where you can order it straight away and have it delivered.

5. Spendometer

Spendometer is ideal for anyone who is trying to save money or buy on a budget. This free app lets you set daily, weekly or even monthly budgets and you just pop in your spending as you go. It will soon advise you if you are saving or overspending. Perfect for students who are living on a very tight budget and need to ensure they don’t overspend.

Whatever phone you have whether it’s Android, iPhone, Windows mobile or Blackberry, you can enjoy great shopping and discount code apps if you are trying to save money. Everyone these days is trying to save every penny possible and walking into a store and buying any item often isn’t an option. Being able to easily compare prices, receive discount codes and find the latest deals near you, is the great way to enjoy what you love but still save money wherever possible.

The team at Broadband Choices love to help you save money. Compare broadband plan prices at BroadbandChoices.co.uk.

By the time most of this year’s freshmen class members walk across the stage to receive their diplomas, a major shift in smartphone dominance is expected to have occurred. For those pursuing online degrees, their choice of smartphone may be more closely tied to the predicted shift than others, due to an innovation expected to go live when this class reaches Sophomore status.

The growth of smartphones

In June, a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) anticipated this year’s growth in smartphone purchased to increase by 55% and continue at a growth rate that will amount to roughly 1 billion annual sales by 2015. Among those growth figures was the revelation that, of the major phone platforms available today, Android will continue to rank as number one, but Windows’ phone, expected to remain a strong second, mainly due to Nokia’s transition to using the Windows system, may actually compete head-to-head with Android due to a development not factored into the survey of only three months earlier.

Today, a good three out of four students entering college use iOS computers or iPads. However, Microsoft’s demonstration of Windows 8, its latest though not yet released, operating system may have some far reaching impacts among higher education students. For those just hearing bits and pieces about the new development, Windows 8 is truly a departure from the Windows platforms dating back to the ’98 release. The new OS integrates desktop, tablet and smartphone usability through the user interface system, Metro UI. This mosaic format in which app shortcuts are displayed as touch screen tiles (desktop users can still use a mouse to navigate the screen), could well boost anticipated strong advances by Windows among student populations not using other OSs.

Busy intersection ahead

One question, the answer to which will guide the ultimate outcome of smartphone usage among university students those most likely to use smartphones and drive larger market trends, remains unanswered, but not unanticipated. Recent enrollment increases in online classes, including the trend for more universities to offer more distance learning courses as overall matriculation increases raise capacity issues, could result in cash-strapped students turning to the less expensive smartphones that interact seamlessly with their tablets or PCs. Should this be the case, both Android and iPhone shares may suffer with the now school-popular Blackberry models fading dramatically.

The new norm

As more technology aspects of work, business, and school begin to intersect, forecasts of smartphone trends will become increasingly less reliable in relationship to time.  As new norms are established for employment, economic conditions and education, OS providers will have to become more responsive to change in both their business models and their products.

About the author: Lindsay Paho is a profession writer who covers technology trends in business and education. She lives in the Indianapolis area and is pursuing a graduate degree.

Chirping for the Masses

The famous Nextel walkie-talkie phones soon became the IM replacement of the cellphone world, and became very popular with many people outside the business sector. The act of talking to someone using the walkie-talkie method quickly took the name, “chirping.” How many products in the world officially had slang terms created for their products? Not many, that is for sure, but now the exclusivity is gone because HeyTell distributes an Android and Apple application for smartphones that recreates the chirping act of communication.

Yes, that’s right, now we have walkie-talkie for the smartphones, and it is just cool. Now the company is going over the top with the recent addition of group chirping. HeyTell was not one of the “winners” at the SXSW conference in early 2011, but could upset the race. Group messaging systems like GroupMe and KiK took the show at the media and technology conference. Social networking is looking to be the next big move in mobile. HeyTell, with the addition of group messaging to its direct-connect app, makes it potentially a killer group messaging app.

The service is not perfect, as it has a bit of a lag, depending on the message length, and is because the system uses an IP voicemail transfer system. You push a button to talk, the system records your voice, digitizes it, and then sends it over the Internet to the target phone where it is played back, which make s a small delay, especially if you talk a lot, but it is still very, very cool. By incorporating the concept of group messaging and the walkie-talkie, users can create groups from Facebook contacts.

Who is HeyTell?

HeyTell is an application released by Voxitale, but beyond this, very little information exists on the company home page and what you see is what you get, as this is all that is currently known about the app’s creators. The basic app is free to download and use, while revenue is generated with the addition of other app extensions such as broadcasting to multiple contacts. The Facebook interconnect is built into the basic app.

We can only imagine that the capabilities of this platform are going to increase dramatically. One reason is that the company has recently scored millions in funding. The reviews are rave across the board, both customers and the media are filled with glowing statements about how cool it is, how easy to use. The addiction will begin. This company could easily extend the functionality of the app and grow is user base at the same time. The company is already expanding its capacity to 100 million users, and has over 4 million registered users now; by the end of the year, HeyTell might just grow to outpace all the other group-messaging systems. It could add geo-location and video; can you imagine a video walkie-talkie? It could be as big as Facebook itself, as the very idea of walkie-talkie smartphones is enough to ensure this start up has a major shot at the future.

About the Author:

Jon T. Norwood is a managing partner at High Speed Internet, a site dedicated to providing information on Mobile Broadband News. Jon can be reached at jon@velocityguide.com.

In this article, we’ll look at the top 5 reasons why the iPad 2 is still the best and why Apple will continue to dominate the tablet market for another year.

More Apps

Tablets are only as good as the software that runs on them.  You can have the best hardware on the planet but if there’s no software that runs on it, all you have is a glorified paperweight.  The major advantage the iPad 2 has is that there are already 65,000 tablet specific apps available for the iPad 2.  The Xoom, on the other hand, has less than a thousand.  While we can expect that number to grow for the Xoom rapidly in 2011 (and for Android 3.0 Honeycomb in general), it won’t be catching up to the iPad 2 anytime Xoom – you can expect more and better apps to be available for the iPad 2 for a long time to come.

It’s Cheaper

Who’d ever think that Apple would be holding a competitive advantage in terms of pricing it’s product.   Apple is famous for charging a premium for its products so it comes as a major surprise that a comparably equipped iPad 2 is $70 cheaper than the Motorola Xoom.   Also, you can get the Wifi only version for much less while you can currently only get the 3G/4G Xoom.  Yes, a Wifi only version of the Xoom is coming out the summer but right now Apple holds a major pricing advantage with the iPad 2

Smart Covers

It seems silly to think that a protective cover would be an advantage of note and that’s certainly what I thought too… until I watched this demo video.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZOThvjq6u0

The SmartCover is just one of those nifty little features Apple has become known for that makes other devices seem just a little less civilized by comparison.

It’s Lighter

For any device meant to be held in your hand for long periods of time, weight is a critical factor.  And Apple managed to simultaneously make the iPad 2 a more powerful device while making it both thinner and lighter than the original iPad and a lot thinner and lighter than comparable tablets like the Xoom.  It’s actually thinner than the iPhone 4 now and while 1.6 pounds vs 1.33 pounds may not sound like much on paper, it’s a difference you really notice when you hold it.

Better Battery Life

While most of us can handle plugging in our laptops fairly often to keep them charged, the same isn’t true of tablets.  When it comes to mobile devices like the iPad 2, the longer the battery life, the better.  While both the Xoom and the iPad 2 are rated for about 10 hours of battery life, real world testing reveals that the Xoom will only get about 8 hours of life out of its battery while the iPad 2 exceeds expectations and typically gets around 11 hours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIR7dLzjNZA

So what do you think?

Are you going to wait for the Blackberry Playbook to come out or are you getting the Apple iPad 2?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWqMivh3u8o

Xoom vs iPad - Best Tablet Computer Comparison

What do you think? Which one do you prefer? Post in the comments and let me know.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eIvDi7nKZY

Display

The iPhone 4 has a much smaller screen at just 3.5 inches, but has a much higher resolution.  The iPhone 4 screen really does look tiny when sitting next to a Droid X with its 4.3 inch screen but the “retina display” on the iPhone 4 looks a lot better and is brighter.

Processor

Both phones have blazing fast 1GHZ processors though the iPhone 4 uses Apple’s own A4 processor while the Droid X uses a Texas Instruments OMAP processor.   It’s tough to say which is truly faster, but both pack plenty of power for running all your favorite apps.

Storage / Memory

Both phones have 512 MB of RAM.  The Droid X comes with 24GB of storage space and is expandable to 40GB.  The iPhone 4 comes in two versions, a 16GB and 32GB version, though neither is user upgradeable.

Battery

Battery life on both phones is excellent.  I’ll admit I was surprised that the Droid X does as well as it does considering the monsterous 4.3″ screen, but it actually outperforms the iPhone 4 though both should last you through the day and you shouldn’t need to keep your charger in your pocket unless you’re using the GPS navigation or watching movies all day long.

Camera

From a specs comparison, the Droid X has the better camera with its 8MP dual LED flash camera, but in real world testing, the iPhone 4 with its 5MP single LED flash camera performs better though both are very close.  The iPhone 4 also features a front facing camera for using video chat via Facetime while the Droid X has no such functionality.

Operating System

The iPhone 4 runs Apple’s own iOS (formerly iPhone  OS) while the Droid X runs Google Android 2.2

Network

The Droid X is a Verizon exclusive while the iPhone 4 is an AT&T exclusive.

Price

Droid X $200 w/ 2 yr contract
iPhone 4 16GB Verision $200 w/ 2 yr contract ($300 for 32GB version)

Other

Both phones have a few extra features you simply can’t find on the other.  For example, the Droid X has HDMI out, can function as a mobile hotspot for up to 5 devices and supports Flash 10.1 for playing videos and multi-media websites.

The iPhone 4 has a built in gyroscope making it a vastly superior device if you like to play games on your phone and the seamless integration with iTunes is great for music buffs.

Overall Winner

I’m not going to declare a winner as both phones have their strong points so pick the one you like the best.  Go to both the AT&T store and Verizon store before making your decision and play around with one – that should help you make the decision.

To get one directly from Google, just login to your Developer’s account and you can get one for $529.  It ships with Android 2.1 at the moment but will upgrade to 2.2 shortly after being powered on.

While the Nexus One may not have been a hit with consumers, the Android operating system itself sure is proving to be a star.  Google estimates 200,000 Android equipped smartphones are being sold each day and analysts say that at its current rate of growth Android will be on more devices than iOS (the iPhone operating system) by 2012.

Official Android Developer's Phone - Google Nexus One

When the original Motorola Droid was launched in 2009, it was really the only worthy competitor the iPhone had.  These days there are plenty of smartphones on the market many of them quite good but the title of best smartphone really comes down to three phones – the Droid X, iPhone 4, and EVO 4G.

I’ve already done an iPhone 4 vs HTC EVO 4G post so I won’t rehash that here, instead we’ll do a rundown of how the Droid X and iPhone 4 stack up against each other.

iPhone 4 vs Droid X

Processor

Both phones are fast… really fast!  The Droid X features a Texas Instruments OMAP 1GHZ processor while the iPhone 4 features an Apple A4 1GHZ chip.

Display

One of the most obvious differences in the two phones is right here.  Apple’s iPhone 4 has a 3.5” screen (small by current smartphone standards) but it uses their new “retina display” technology at 960×640 resolution which results in a gorgeous display.  The Droid X, on the other hand, with its 4.3” screen makes the iPhone 4 look puny and while the display is good looking and sharp, it does run at a mere 854×480 resolution.

Memory

The iPhone 4 comes with either 16GB of memory ($199 with 2/yr contract) or 32GB of memory ($299 with 2/yr contract).  The Droid X comes with 24GB of memory, but it can be upgraded by the user to 40GB of memory.

RAM

Both the iPhone 4 and Droid X have 512 MB of RAM.

Camera

I’ll say this now before we compare specs – in real world testing, pictures look to be of nearly equal quality.  That being said, the Droid X has an 8MP camera with a dual LED flash while the iPhone 4 has a 5MP camera with single LED flash.

OS / Apps

The iPhone 4 runs IOS 4 while the Droid X will initially ship with Android 2.1 (will be updated to 2.2 shortly thereafter).

Which OS you choose is really up to you.  You are granted a lot more freedom to do what you want with Android while the user experience is better with IOS 4.

As far as apps go, the Apple App store has over 225,000 apps while the Android Market has about 75,000 apps.  For all intents and purposes, even though there is a large app discrepancy, at this point it’s a wash as to which is better – both have a ton of apps and if you want to do something with your phone, you probably can find an app for that on either marketplace.

One thing which isn’t in question here is gaming – gaming is vastly superior on the iPhone – there are more and better games available for the iPhone.

Carrier

For many, this will be the deciding factor. One is exclusive to the carrier many consider to be the best in America (Droid X – Verizon Wireless) and the other is on the carrier many consider to be the worst (iPhone 4 – AT&T).   This is really up to you – some people don’t have problems with AT&T, some do.  Where I currently live AT&T was hopelessly bad – Verizon has awesome coverage – in my hometown, neither is very good.  Both companies have an evil streak, but Verizon does consistently score better than AT&T in just about every category.

One thing to keep in mind, both networks will let you test their network for 30 days before you are locked into two years with them.  You can return your phone if you’re unhappy within 30 days with no penalty.  My recommendation is to test it out and make sure it works to your liking before you’re stuck for 2 years.

Other

Each has a bunch of features you won’t find on the other.

The iPhone 4 has Facetime and a front facing camera for video chat.  The Droid X has no such application and no front facing camera.  It also has a gyroscope, which as best I can tell has no practical purpose other than to make playing games even more awesome on the iPhone.

The Droid X has true multi-tasking (the iPhone has quasi-multi-tasking), HDMI outputs, wi-fi tethering and soon will be able to display Adobe Flash.

Conclusion

Declaring a winner is really not easy here and really it comes down to preference.  Plus I don’t feel like starting a flame war here on this blog.  Anything involving Apple products seems to bring out people who feel like any slight on Apple is akin to saying Hitler tried to do us all a favor or that Jesus had it coming.  Yeah, it’s that bad and I’m not falling into that trip.

Here’s the bottom line – they’re both spectacular phones.  Get the one you like better – go play with each of them at the store before you buy.

Motorola Droid X Vs Apple iPhone 4

I’ve got some good news and bad news.

The good news – there are a few apps in the App Store now that provide GPS navigation for free… the bad news is that none are as good as Google Maps Navigation (and I wouldn’t hold out a lot of hope of that app coming to the iPhone anytime soon given that Apple and Google aren’t exactly beer drinkin’ buddies these days).

Here are your choices:

Mapquest

In my opinion, this is currently the best free GPS app on the iPhone and one I’ve been wanting for quite some time (even if it wasn’t free).   You can learn more about it on Mapquest’s official blog.

Skobbler

Skobbler is an app that uses Crowdsourcing via the OpenStreetMap project.  It’s definitely an interesting app since you can correct errors and help give better directions – honestly, I don’t like a lot of trial an error when trying to get around places that I’m not familiar with.

Waze

Waze was the very first app to offer GPS guidance for free… yes, even before the mighty Google.  Like Skobbler, it uses Crowdsourcing for directions which can be great or terrible like I mentioned above.

The best GPS Navigation Apps for the iPhone are still the paid apps from the likes of Navigon, TomTom, and Copilot, but the free choices are certainly better than nothing and since they’re free, what have you got to lose?