Hey everyone, this blog can now be found directly at www.t3chsmash.com. The new website includes this entire blog as well as some new features. Be sure to check it out!!

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I have a huge question for everyone so here goes...

To show my thanks and appreciation to all my dedicated viewers (on YouTube) and readers on this blog, I would like to start doing giveaways of certain pieces of technology. However, this is out of my financial range seeing that technology is not cheap.

So my main questions is:
How would you guys feel about a PayPal donation button on this blog as well as in the description of my YouTube videos? 

The earnings from these donations will go towards purchasing items for giveaways. According to how these donations go, (depending on whether you guys are okay with it or not) giveaway prizes can range from anywhere from mobile phone cases to even mobile phones!

Please leave a reply below saying whether you support this idea or not. Even if this is the first ever blog post of mine you've ever read or if you have never commented on any of my blogs before. I would really like to hear your opinion before I make the move to add that donation button.

Thank you very much for your response.

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What's up T3CHSMASHers! So, for all you iPhone users who have been complaining that I'm not doing anything for you all..here it is! Some tips and tricks some of you may already know, while some might not and I'm hoping that there's at least ONE of these here that are new to everyone who reads this. So here goes...


#1. Stop Music Playback With Timer
Are you one of those people who listen to music to sleep? but then when you sleep away the music keeps playing overnight, wasting battery life or causing you to have to leave your phone plugged in overnight..so many worries...BUT..did you know you can set a timer for your music to stop playing?

Step 1: (This can be done whether music is already playing or not) Go to the "Clock" app.
Step 2: Choose "Timer"
Step 3: Click on "When Timer Ends"
Step 4: Scroll all the way to the bottom and choose "Stop Playing"
Step 5: Click "Set"

That's it! Now when you timer is up, your music stops playing and you can sleep away comfortably :)


#2. Take Photos At A Distance
So..you want to take a "selfie" with you and someone else but you can't both fit in the frame comfortably? Or you want to take a group photo from a distance..or for any reason whatsoever you need to take a photo but you're too far to reach the camera shutter button?

Step 1: Whip out your iPhone headset
Step 2: Connect it to your iPhone

DONE!..now all you need to do is use the Volume+ button on the headset as the shutter button. Enjoy your selfies.


#3. Scientific Calculator
Most of you already know this but..trying to do some homework and need a scientific calculator?

Step 1: Open the "Calculator" app
Step 2: Rotate the phone sideways

BAM! your scientific calculator awaits you.....(assuming your screen rotation is turned on).

                 Now you can calculate away as much as you want..even if it's for fun!

#4. Scroll Straight To The Top
This is another one you may already know. So, you're scrolling down this extremely long website and you realise you want to go back to the top..but..it's too much to scroll all the way back up? No worries...

Step 1: Tap the status bar (The bar that includes the signal, wifi, clock etc.)

Now you're at the top! :)....Happy scrolling...


#5. The Degree Character
Don't know how many of you will ever even use this, but its been bothering me for a while until I recently figured it out! (Yes I know..how stupid of me). Trying to get the "degree" character?

Step 1: Hold "0" on the keyboard
Step 2: Slide to the "degree" icon

There you go!...now go "degree" everyone on you friend list...

#6. Shake To Undo

This one actually caught me by surprise a while back. So I was having a conversation on Whatsapp and I typed a message, set down the phone for a few seconds and when I picked it back up, there was this popup message asking me if I wanted to "Undo" or "Cancel". This happened a lot of times and I looked past it (not knowing what was causing it) always thinking that my fingers were probably touching something while i was setting the phone down. This went on until one day I was reading my email and I deleted one, set the phone down for a while to do something and then picked it back up. This popup showed up again and I was confused. I then shook the phone and realized this was an actual "feature"! This can be used to restore deleted messages or undo various tasks in iOS.

Step 1: Shake the phone

Step 2: Choose whether you want to "Undo" or "Cancel"

Yes....this feature is fun...but if you shake your phone hard enough to let it fall out of your hand...I am not to blame! :)

#7. Focus And Exposure Lock

For all of you out there who loves taking videos with you iPhone, (including me, considering all my YouTube videos are shot with my iPhone) sometimes you may be recording something and notice you phone keeps shifting the focus to another object or keeps trying to refocus multiple times and even changes exposure if ANYTHING in the frame moves. This can mess up your video...well...

Step 1: Look at the screen, find the object you want to focus on

Step 2: Touch and hold that object on the screen for a few seconds

You will now notice that it is highlighted in yellow and the Focus and Exposure will be locked to that object. Happy recording.

So that's it for my tips and tricks. Hope they were useful and that you learnt at LEAST one new trick that you can use and apply to your daily usage and make your life with iOS easier and more convenient. (Not that it can get any easier with iOS...JUST KIDDING..maybe...) LOL...anyway keep checking this blog out daily for new posts if you liked this and be sure to check out the YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/t3chsmash.

BONUS: Take a look at the "Clock" icon on your homescreen. It's a real live clock with a moving second hand...now go show off to your iOS 6 friends and tell them you have a "widget" on your phone! haha...

Facebook: www.facebook.com/t3chsmash

Twitter: www.twitter.com/t3smash

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Ask anyone what they think is the best budget phone. You'll hear S3 mini...Galaxy Ace...Galaxy Y and anything along those lines. But are they really worth it compared to other available "real" budget phones?

The main budget phone that I want to tell you about and will compare against these well known phones is the Moto G.

The Moto G specs is as follows:

SCREEN and CAMERA:

4.5" HD 720 x 1280 screen with 326ppi pixel density (Same ppi as iPhone 5)

Corning Gorilla Glass 3

8/16GB Internal Storage

5MP Camera with AutoFocus, HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Panorama

720p Video recording with HDR

1.2MP Front Facing Camera

OPERATING SYSTEM and SPECS:

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box and upgradeable to Android 4.4 KitKat.

1GB RAM

Quad Core 1.2GHz Cortex A7 CPU. (Snapdragon 400 chipset)

Adreno 305 GPU

This phone is AMAZING for the price and in my opinion, its the perfect "Budget Phone." Quad core CPU with an Adreno 305 GPU will ensure that this phone can run some of the best games, browse the internet and handle everyday tasks with ease. 

The price of this phone is $179US...and its highest competitor on the list above which is the S3 mini is priced at $185.99US. You may think that its just a bit more, but considering the S3 mini has a 1GHz DUAL core CPU and a 480 x 800 display (not to mention its running Android Touchwiz which has some major downsides which you can find here), it makes no sense paying a higher price for a downgrade. Below I'll list some specs of the other budget phones you can find in Trinidad and Tobago, and you can compare them yourself with the Moto G to see the difference.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini:

480 x 800 screen with 233 ppi pixel density.

8/16GB internal memory

1GB RAM

5MP Camera

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

1GHz Dual core CPU

Mali-400 GPU

Samsung Galaxy Ace:

320 x 480 screen with 165 ppi pixel density.

158MB internal memory

278MB RAM

5MP Camera

Android 2.3 Gingerbread

800MHz CPU

Adreno 200 GPU

Samsung Galaxy Y:

240 x 320 screen with 133 ppi pixel density.

180MB internal memory

190MB RAM

Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread

2MP Camera

830MHz CPU

So, with these comparisons in mind, its obvious that the best bang for your buck will be the Moto G. If you live in the country of Trinidad and Tobago, this Moto G can be bought at [clickable link: Roc Boyz Electronics] for $1900TT (they actually have a special going on at the moment where you can get it for an even better price) and they also offer FREE delivery to some places. This phone can also be found at Let's Talk Ltd which is available at many locations so no excuse for not having one if you want it!

If i had to choose I'd definitely choose this Moto G over any other budget phone because of its QUAD Core CPU and Adreno 305 GPU. That's a HUGE amount of power for a $1900TT smartphone. If you already own a Moto G or thinking about it, let me know below! Also feel free to shoot any questions at me. Hope this was informative enough and keep letting me know what topics you want me to cover.

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Remember that viral video of a modular smartphone with interchangeable hardware components from a while back called "Phonebloks"?...well...its called Project Ara and its real...and Google is currently working on it.

The video below is from Phonebloks, and shows a prototype of the device. We get to see some interesting concepts and some of the components as well as how they hold the parts together and the Ara configurator app. I'm very much excited for this to become a reality because it will give our smartphones TRUE customizability. Take a look at the video below and let me know what you think!

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Android is open-source and free for any manufacturer to build on, which is why we see Android skins such as Sense(HTC), Timescape UI(Sony), Motoblur(Motorola), ColorOS(Oppo), Touchwiz(Samsung) and many more. These manufacturers take pure Android, add their own touch, features, look and functionality and load them onto their smartphones.

Some of these skins have exceptionally great features while some have gimmicks disguised as features. For example, the LG G2 has some really cool multitasking features and so does Samsung. But some of these features are not as functional as they should be and some are even useless, which brings us to the topic of today: Touchwiz vs Pure Android.

Touchwiz is the Android skin used by samsung. This skin comes with MANY features such as Multiwindow, Smart Stay, Smart Scroll, Air View and a LOT more. Some of these features are extremely convenient and useful while others are not such as Multiwindow, which is extremely convenient whereas Smart Scroll works maybe 50% of the time depending on the lighting conditions. This is all well and fine but what this comparison will be focusing on is the performance and aesthetics between Touchwiz and Pure Android.

PERFORMANCE:
Firstly, just to give a rough idea, a Pure Android firmware is approximately 200MB-300MB whereas a Touchwiz firmware comes in at a whopping 1GB and over. The amount of features and special functionality packed into this firmware really increases the size and this impacts performance in a negative way. Now smartphones such as the Galaxy S3 and S4 perform well but the main downsides are the amount of time it takes to open system apps such as the dialer app (The main app on a mobile phone), messaging, contacts etc. Quad Core/Octa Core phones should not be straining to open these simple apps.
Pure Android on the other hand, blows through daily tasks with ease and dialer and messaging apps open almost instantaneously. Performance-wise, Pure Android will always beat the competition.

AESTHETICS:
When compared to Touchwiz, Pure Android seems a lot cleaner and simpler and less cartoon-ish as we will notice below. All Touchwiz images are on the left while Pure Android images are on the right.

Lockscreen

These two lockscreens does not differ much. In this case, the Touchwiz lockscreen is actually a bit more convenient because you are able to swipe anywhere on the screen to unlock the devices unlike having to slide a small ring out of a slighly larger circle like Pure Android. Aesthetics in this area will depend solely on personal preference.

Home Screen

These two homescreens are similar, and different in their own ways. The similarities includes a dock area with static icons, and between the status bar and the dock, you can add widgets and shortcuts. Where it differs, however, is the fluidity, animations and overall look. Pure Android's swipe transition is a simple left or right transition which is snappy and very fast, whereas the swipe animation for Touchwiz is a more aesthetically pleasing "Inside Cube" effect but this again, comes down to personal preference. The major advantage Pure Android has here, is with the 4.4(KitKat) update, you can now say "Ok Google" on the home screen no matter what page you are on, and it will launch the Google Now app.

Notification Bar

In the image above, we see that Pure Android has a very clean and simple look whereas Touchwiz is very colorful and a bit more functional. On Touchwiz we have the scrollable toggle bar, as well as a brightness bar right at your fingertips once the notification bar is pulled down. Pure Android though, just shows a blank pane when there is no notifications. I however, prefer the clean look of Pure Android.

Quick Settings Panel

Right off the bat here you notice that Touchwiz looks a lot more jumbled and colorful when compared to Pure Android's simple, minimalistic look. Pure Android is definitely the winner here (to me) because although there are less toggles, they are much larger and easier to touch accurately than the small ones included in Touchwiz.

And Lastly.....

Settings

I definitely prefer Pure Android's settings screen over Touchwiz. The settings screen on Touchwiz is categorized into sections and although this seems more functional, its inconvenient because these categories cannot be swiped through. They must be touched directly to go to them and with a 4.7" and over screen size, this is really tough and the icons are also very colorful and cartoonish. Pure Android on the other hand, provides a cleaner, more convenient settings menu providing everything on one screen. The icons are all one color so it gives a more uniform look and quality appearance.


CONCLUSION:

Touchwiz Advantages:

• Smart Scroll, Smart Stay, MultiWindow, Air View, Air Gestures, and all the other smart features.
• More functional notification panel with toggles and brightness bar.
• More convenient lockscreen.

Touchwiz Disadvantages:

• Performance.
• Cartoon-ish look.
• Cluttered Quicksettings panel.
• The amount of time it takes to open system apps (Dialer, Contacts, Messaging etc.)
• Updates take a long time.

Pure Android Advantages:

• Cleaner, Elegant, Minimalistic look and feel.
• Performance.
• Well organised settings menu.
• "Ok Google" command on the homescreen (applies to KitKat devices only).
• Snappier animations and scrolling.
• Updates arrive as soon as they are released.

Pure Android Disadvantages:

• Less convenient lockscreen than Touchwiz.
• Less functional notification panel.
• No Smart Scroll, Smart Stay, MultiWindow etc.
• Less attractive animations on homescreen.

Feel free to let me know if I left out something or just let me know what you think in the comments!

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Google+: www.google.com/+t3chsmash1

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Hey t3chsmashers! Today I'm doing something new. Don't normally do comparisons but something inspired this blog..I wonder what..(MM?) lol.

To start this off, the main difference is the shape and size of the phones. The Nexus 4 is slightly smaller and more rounded than the Nexus 5, while also being a little bit thicker. In addition, the black vs white Nexus 4, has the exact same materials and design with just the different colour on the back whereas the black vs white Nexus 5, uses different materials for the different colours. The white Nexus 5 uses a matte back with a slightly harder feeling material, glossy sides and a white earpiece and the black nexus 5 uses the soft-touch matte back, matte sides and a black earpiece.

So now we are going to move around the phone. Firstly we'll deal with the back, then the sides, then the front.

BACK:

If we take a look at the back of these two devices, we notice they are very different. Once has a glossy, glass back panel while the other has a matte back panel with a soft touch feel. I find both of these devices to be very attractive but my personal preference is the Nexus 5 because of that elegant, simple look(aesthetically speaking). The main downsides of the Nexus 5 when compared to the Nexus 4 is that the matte back can attract oil and dirt rather easily (but the same can be said for the Nexus 4 and fingerprints on the glass).

The speakers are also differently placed which makes a huge impact on use. The Nexus 4's speaker is on the back and would definitely be affected when lying on a surface. The Nexus 5's speaker however, is on the bottom and while not being affected when lying down, it is definitely affected when the phone is held in a landscape position for games, videos and normal media consumption.

SIDES:

The top device shown here is the Nexus 4. It has a rounded chrome bezel running around the entire device which matches the colour of the power and volume buttons. The Nexus 5 on the other hand (bottom devices) has a glossy black material running around the sides with ceramic power and volume buttons. On the black Nexus 5, this glossy material is replaced with matte, soft-touch plastic.

FRONT:

Both of these devices, when off, shows a completely black slate. However, their earpieces are shaped differently makes the "black slate" look, different on each device. The Nexus 4's earpiece is wide and along the top border of the phone giving it a more clean, edge to edge look while the Nexus 5's earpiece is a circular ridge in the glass. This circular ridge takes away from the "black slate" look but it doesn't look bad. On the white Nexus 5, the earpiece is white and stands out a lot more than the black. This, however, is a look that I prefer personally and that's why I opted for the white Nexus 5. When the displays are lighted up to reveal themselves inside the "black slate", the Nexus 4 will provide you with a (resolution aside) 4.7" display and the Nexus 5 will give you a 4.95" display. The bezels on the sides of the screen are smaller on the Nexus 5 and this makes it just as easy to hold and use as the Nexus 4 because of its entire width. One interesting aspect though, is on the Nexus 5, the status bar and navigation bar are both transparent and makes the display look much larger as compared to the Nexus 4 where they are solid black. This can however be customized on the Nexus 4 with special apps that require root permissions.

In conclusion, both are great, very powerful devices and the design that you prefer all comes down to personal preference. There are also many different accesories such as "Slickwraps", "DBrand" and much more that provide skins that can replace the colour of your phone with a new colour or even a pattern such as Carbon Fiber.  However, when comparing specs, its an entirely different story.

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