Factors To Consider When Buying A Computer

As you might guess, there isn't one ultimate answer to the question of factors or things to consider when purchasing a brand new PC. To come up with an ultimate answer, though, you will need to answer some other little questions for yourself before beginning the buying process.

1) How are you going to use this particular computer? Are you going to use it solely online surfing, that is email and browsing the internet and perhaps typing a document or using a spreadsheet once in a period? Are you going to use it for playing music and managing images to and fro your smart phone or camera? Are you using it for business purposes? What of gaming? Are you a real gamer or will you be doing some serious video editing on the computer?

2) There are also some performance questions. Are you that type of person that wants the machine to perform as fast as possible regardless of what you are using it for or are you more satisfied or comfortable with a slower performance?

This may seem to be obvious, but you will only get a computer that meets the needs you have if you stop and take into consideration these and other, questions to ascertain what your general needs are. Those who buy a PC without doing such type of inventory are usually always disappointed simply because they will realize that they have spent lots of money on a PC that is fancy probably much than they actually needed or, conversely, notice that the machine they have really isn't up to the tasks that they are expecting it to perform.

So, practically, what does this mean?

Let's start with people who will use the PC almost exclusively online, occasional letter writing and using spreadsheet. Most basic model PCs, whether it’s a desktop or laptop, fits this bill. The higher RAM the computer offers, the faster it will be, but models with 2 or 4GB RAM will work simply fine. I would identify the actual models that fit this block and then decide basing on price. Also look at various models at your workplace supply store but buy online. You are likely to find great deals, especially from very reputable sites like Newegg.com along with Amazon.com. The All-in-One models will be appropriate to this set of people, though they are expensive in comparison with regular desktop computers.

Two more notes concerning this: 1) Even if you should only get 2-4GB RAM, try to get a model that could hold more RAM in case you would want to upgrade afterwards. 2) If your main use is Internet activities, then the speed of your web connection is influential on your surfing as opposed to the speed of the PC. In the case you have DSL or you have Satellite Internet, check to see if Internet cable is available where you stay. Cable connection is always faster, if not, ensure that you're not at the minimum speed your current service provider offers.

If you are going to use your PC for business purposes or other applications besides the Web, then you will want to have a faster processor than what the basic model computers have. You would also want to get a model with 4GB of RAM or more. At times it will be cheaper to get a model with low amount of RAM and upgrade to a higher RAM on your own. It will all depend on how the manufacturer packaged the computer. You will also want to make certain that you get a large enough hard drive. 500GB used to be much but now, things are different, we have so much to keep on our hard drives and it now seems little. You should get at least a new 1TB drive, it can be internal or you can just buy an external hard drive.

In case you need very high speed rates, consider a model that has a Solid State Drive instead of a traditional hard drive. They are quite high priced though. However, there are Solid State/Hard Computer hybrids, which are not that much expensive and are also faster than regular disk drive. The one I have been using in for three months now has considerably sped it up.

For the real gamers, you would need a fast processor, high RAM & high-end video card with a lot of video and graphics RAM. Most manufacturers sell computers labeled as gaming machines; you may well not need to buy one specifically labeled that, looking at their configuration will give you an idea on the kind and specifics of hardware you may need.

Last and important note; before you buy make sure you carefully understand the return policy and to make certain that the seller will not charge you a restocking payment for returning it back. This in case you would want to return it back if doesn’t meet your needs.

5 Best Applications to hide your media files and protect applications on Android

Many of us love sharing selfies, character snaps and family photos with our own buddies. It’s those private, not-meant-for-public-viewing media that you want to keep private from public access. Fortunately, some fantastic Android applications are available to hide pictures and video clips from public eyes. They offer various features for example decoy app, stealth mode, PIN protection, and military-grade encryption technology to make sure your “treasured” media isn’t readily available to just anybody.

Most of the apps in this list also protect applications and texts. They are all free, but can be upgraded to premium in case you would want to activate additional features. Most free apps boast about features which are on the premium version, so be sure to read each app description carefully before subscribing to the paid application. Let’s find out how these applications can safeguard media and keep them undetectable from intruders (even though I know that the “intruders” are your partners, I will just keep going)

1. Vault

This kind of virtual safe can protect your current pictures, videos and even applications. You can also hide sms, call logs, and contacts far from prying eyes, thanks to its special “private contact” feature that hides your complete private stuff.

Most important, Vault’s password-protection feature ensures that all pictures and videos are kept hidden and locked inside a private place. You can view your pics and video clips only after entering the right pass code. The premium version includes a nifty feature where the app takes benefit of your device’s front-facing camera to look at snaps of an intruder seeking to view hidden photographs. This characteristic can only be activated in devices running Android 2.3 or above.

There are plenty more features inside the Premium version, including a decoy burial container feature, cloud storage, and stealth mode which you could hide your Vault’s icon on the home screen. But I recommend downloading this free version if photo and video protection is your main objective. Besides media defense, there are bonus features just like appllication lock, which allows one to password-protect an Android application, in addition to protection for SMS, call history and Facebook messages.

2. Video Locker

A virtual locker to your video clips, this free application secures your video clips by moving the file to a secret location on your phone. The hidden media is actually then encrypted using advanced 128 AES encryption. This ensures total protection since the video clips can’t be located even if the intruder steals your SD Card. They are locked, kept safely in certain unknown location on your mobile phone.

The application uses a secret PIN method to hide media. You just need to type in the pass code to access your hidden clips. Another great part of Video Locker is that the application could be made completely invisible and will not show inside "recent applications" list. It also offers a special mode in which in turn it auto-locks itself when your device goes to sleep mode before you exit the appliacation. You can save your valuable videos into folders and lock individualy.

Video Locker is optimized for tablets and it has got a great user interface. In the case you forget your PIN, the app will email it to you personally. The premium version removes all adverts and has got a special stealth mode that replaces the app using a simple calculator. You should download the free version if the other features are of no use to you.

3. Hide It Pro

Your sneaky friend is going to try his best to look for photos and video clips on your phone, but won’t locate any. That’s because all mass media is kept hidden behind some sort of harmless-looking (and fully functioning) music player. It’s your secret hide, and nobody will ever locate it unless they long-press within the app. A single tap only reveals virtual volume buttons.

The app allows you to put pics and video clips in different folders. You can then sort files or folders by name and multi-select those files you want to hide. The app also has some sort of slideshow and video player option that lets you view media without having to unhide them and remove them from the app. There are other features such as a lock screen option and an encryption tool to protect and lock applications and files.

Hide It Pro is totally free and its one of the most effective Android applications to hide photos and videos on the device. The application takes the trophy for most cleverly disguised app.

4. Vaulty

Vaulty offers a private gallery which hides media from main gallery. After you transfer your private pics and video clips, simply lock the application utilizing a PIN code or a password. The app is unique in that it uses the front camera of your phone which automatically takes pics anyone trying to snoop inside your secret gallery. This feature is totally free in Vaulty.

The application also lets you create a backup of your hidden video clips and pics (although to use this offer you should subscribe to the cloud storage feature). The online backup is really pretty useful if your mobile phone is lost or broken. You'll be able to retrieve media files to the new device.

Vaulty is a good private image gallery, with a nice user interface. It offers amazing photo and video management capabilities, including image slideshow, image editing, secret camera, filters & image renaming.

5. AppLock

AppLock is normally used to password-protect your TEXT MESSAGE, contacts, apps, call logs and Google mail. But it can also protect images and video clips. Just select pics and key in your PIN code to lock them away. You can access them only after entering the right PIN. You also can hide the application icon, and then easily open the app by typing a password on the dial pad. And if you fear your app might be uninstalled, subsequently just password-protect it via "advanced configurations" A person won’t be capable of uninstalling it unless he or she inputs the correct password.

The free mode offers only application, video and photo protection. It uses little memory, it’s a decent app, but offers only basic features inside free version.

If you are interested in one of the apps just go the Google Play store and search for the names as I have written them.

The Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro Review

If you have been shopping around for a great ultra book in the last couple of weeks you have probably came across the Lenovo Yoga 3 pro. It’s a top end machine powered by the latest Intel Core M chip. It comes with a 13.3inch QHD plus display. It is also magnificently thin and light. Lenovo really weren’t kidding when they said that the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro will be one of the thinnest and lightest laptops going around. It’s actually lighter and thinner than the new Mac Book Air 13inch, which is a pretty impressive thing considering the Mac Book Air is one of the premier devices for being thin and light. It makes it extremely portable and easier to carry.

One of the main features of the Yoga 3 Pro is the watchband hinge which makes the device more user friendly than ever. Not only can you use it as a laptop, you can also fold it all the way to the back allowing you to use it as a tablet. It allows you to bend it into any position that you want with relative ease.  Well you might think, is this feature actually useful? Well it is really a handy device in the laptop mode, so easy and comfortable to use. When it comes to sharing content with family and friends I find the stand mode to be particularly useful. You can simply put it up on the table, use the touch screen and go through something like a slide show. You can alternatively have it sit next to you whilst you are cooking, you can see your recipe open. If you want to take the laptop around and show people documents throughout the office, the tablet mode is the perfect for that, simply using the touch screen to browse through. There is also the tent mode which comes in handy where you don’t want much of the device surface touching the ground.

The outer shell is made fully of aluminum and on the silver model I think it looks particularly great. It’s pretty similar to the material that Apple uses for their Mac Book Pro. That said, when you flip it around to see the inside that is not made of aluminum, so it’s not a full unit-body, it’s in fact made of rubberized plastic that feels quite comfortable to use when you are using it as a standard laptop.

The screen is protected by Gorilla glass. The bezels around that QHD display can be quite sizeable when you are using it as a standard laptop but it does facilitate the tablet use case. The display specs of the device are really awesome. It’s a 13.3 inch QHD+ or 3200x1800 IPSL LCD display which equates to a pixel density of over 270pixels per inch. Windows does still have issues with display scaling so not every application that you launch on the Yoga 3 Pro will look excellent on this high resolution display. If you do have one of those apps that scale correctly, it will look fantastic on this display. You also get the benefits of high saturation and fantastic viewing angles from the IPS nature of this display.

However with all the high quality specs of the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro, I was disappointed in the battery life of the device. The Intel Core M processor seems too much for the battery, it drains too much battery ppower. This is fairly disappointing when considering that it’s an ultra book and it wouldn’t be all that portable considering that you will have to carry the charger around.

Specifications of the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro

Display:                          13.3’ QHD+ 3200*1800 IPS Multi-touch

Graphics:                         Integrated Intel 5300 HD

Operating Sys:                 Windows 8.1 64-bit

Processor:                       1.1GHz Intel Core M-5Y70

RAM:                               8GB

HD Memory                      512 GB (total) SSD

Networking                      Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n (2.4, 5GHz)

                                      Bluetooth

Connectivity:                    2 USB 3.0

                                      1 DC-in with USB 2.0

                                      Micro HDMI out

                                      4-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, SDXC, SDHC)

Input:                             Keyboard

                                      Trackpad

Size:                               11.8*9*0.5 Inches

Weight:                           1.2kg (2.6 pounds)

Best Upcoming Smartphones 2015

2015 is going to be an awesome year with so much coming out in terms of technology. Not only in terms of smartphones, also have things liked games, movies, apple watch, ultra books and a whole bunch of other cool things we are looking forward to see.


Top 7 Best Phones 2015

In this article I'm going to talk about phones which I think it’s going to be a major step forward and there is going to be a ton to choose from. I just want to round up the top 7 smartphones that we are looking forward to in 2015. Do keep in mind that these phones don’t even exist yet so it will be a bit hard to provide much detail therefore I will provide as much as I can. Also I am not going to rank them in any particular order since they are still being worked on; it will be hard to know which one is better than the other. It will be more of what we expect to see in the mobile tech this year.

Iphone 6S

We can expect it to be called the 6S based on the previous Iphone generation. With this new Iphone we expect is to see a bump in speed, camera and battery life as usual. The outer structure will most likely remain the same; there won’t be any major revision in the built quality. However the internals with all the S models is where the major changes are. We can expect to see 2GB of RAM, apple could possibly bring the Ipad 2 air processor over to the Iphone 6S, the camera could see an increase to 10-12 Megapixels and the video and optical image stabilizer will probably be available on all models.

LG G4

Since the display on the G3 was one of the best displays that I have ever seen on any phone, I think the G4 is going to be awesome. The display will now be a 5.3 inch and we are going to see a 20.3 Megapixel sensor on the back. Also we are expecting a better battery life since most people complained about the G3 battery.

Galaxy Note 5

I got to admit, with the Galaxy Note 4 I was just blown away, that thing is incredibly powerful and the screen is amazing. It is indeed on the next level and an amazing phone. With the coming of the Galaxy Note 5, it will have some really big shoes to fill. Rumor has it that it’s going to have a 4k display, the very first one for Samsung on smartphone. That will be 746 pixels per inch and that will be amazing and the Iphone 6+ is sitting at 401, which is almost double the resolution of the Iphone 6+. The s-pen is going to receive some updates as well so it’s going to be the best at multitasking.

Samsung Galaxy S6

This is android’s flagship model; it’s the direct competitor of the Iphone models. Every year Samsung just wants to top Apple. There is rumor that they are going to cover the Galaxy S6 in aluminum like the Note 4. With this higher built quality, it’s going to be a long term device unlike the previous ones. It could see an increase to 3GB RAM and a 64bit processor which will be the first in the Galaxy series and it will launch with Android Lollipop.

Galaxy Note Edge

It has already been announced and there already is a release date therefore there is no much speculation here. It’s basically taking the internals of the Note 4 and putting them on a device which is almost the same size but with a slightly curved display that goes towards the edge of the phone. With that extra screen size, Samsung is adding a way to see notifications better on your phone. It looks like it’s going to be a cool feature and it might end up on all coming devices.

HTC ONE M9

This is an incredibly popular series on HTC and why would they mess with perfection. It’s still going to have that gorgeous aluminum enclosure; the internals is where HTC is going to modify the phone. We can expect to see more battery life and possibly a better display. We do know that HTC is always going to be one of those phones that do very well and the M9 is going to improve hopefully.

Google Project ARA

Now this one here is my favorite. We haven’t seen it yet but the concept is wonderful and I'm happy that it’s being produced by Google. It has been a project from 2014 and there is rumor that it will be released towards the end of 2015. Basically it’s a phone with pieces you can assemble or remove on your own. Like if you want a bigger battery life you can remove it and replace with another or say you want a better camera with higher pixels, you can just remove and put a better one, or say you want a better RAM, just take out the old one and replace it with the desired specs. It will be forever upgradable, you will not just be limited to what you buy in the box and I think that’s pretty awesome. I’m just waiting to see this thing in person, something I can custom built.

Feel free to comment the one that you are looking forward to have this year. There will be detailed reviews on this site as soon as they come out.

The top 5 best ultra books to look out for in 2015

 

I’m going to talk about the all time best ultra books you can get in 2015. These are the PCs that stood out for their built quality, performance, design and value. So that’s it, let’s go ahead and see the best ultra books to look out for in 2015.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1

Coming in at number five is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, a business ultra-book with a nice premium design and powerful internals. The connectivity on offer through this ultra book super slim design profile is also impressive. It has a great look with its adaptive keys with a ton of functions in a limited amount of space in an attractive presentation overall. This ultra book definitely proves that the MacBook Pro is no longer the only thin and light business option on the block.

Dell XPS 13

4^th place in this list goes to the Dell XPS 13, an ultra-book that provides both comfort and style like no other. I really like the soft touch on the XPS 13, which not only feels good but actually makes typing more enjoyable. A bright and crisp full HD display and strong houseware performance also makes this a great choice. It has an eight and half hours of battery life and so ultra portable that you can take almost anywhere.

Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro

Coming in at number three is the new Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro, which is one of the reverse style ultra books yet. The 2 in 1 innovative watchband hinge gives it the ability to easily change from laptop to tablet mode. With the HARMONY software, it presents the appropriate apps as you switch modes. The Yoga 3 Pro weighs just 3 pound but packs a brilliant 3200x1800 pixel touch screen, with a fairly speedy core m CPU

Samsung Ativ Book 9

At number two is the Samsung Ativ Book 9 which delivers a big 15 inch screen in a slim and light 4.4 pound package, which is said to be the smallest Samsung has ever built. Honestly it’s the bright full HD touch panel that really sells this laptop because it does look amazing. Other benefits to the Ativ Book 9 do include loud and clear audio and also well over 8 hours of battery life.

Acer Aspire S7

 

This is one of my favorite ultra-books from the list but now that it has gone quad HD, this is absolutely an amazing PC. The 3 pound Acer Aspire S7 features a powerful  5^th  generation Intel houseware processor, a faster 128 GB SSD. It has got a new super sharp 13 inch screen that packs 2569x1440 pixels. The new Acer Aspire s7’s battery life doesn’t last as long as that of the Ativ book 9, but it is still the most striking system in its class.

 

Anyway that’s it for today, if you are really looking for a nice ultra-book this year; you should definitely consider the ones that I have just mentioned. Please feel free to comment your favorite ultra-book below.