Considering that 100,000 Droids were sold the first weekend that it was released, it is clear that there is demand in the market for the phone, which is Motorola`s answer to the iPhone. Ever since the popular RAZR phone, Motorola has seemed to be somewhat quiet on the cell phone front, getting left behind by the popularity gained by Nokia and others. Their introduction of the Droid may be what puts the company back on the map.

The Droid runs Google`s AnDroid platform which allows for many of the same features of the iPhone, some which run as well or better than Apple`s and some which do not. Ultimately, it is up to the consumer to decide which they prefer.

As far as aesthetics go, the Droid is quite pleasing to look at. Slim and narrow with a large touch screen, the phone also can be pushed upwards to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. This is obviously a plus for those who are not comfortable typing on a touch screen. There are those with strong opinions on the matter and it seem that touchscreen typing versus keyboard typing is quite the hot topic. It may feel more natural to type on a keyboard and you can send texts with fewer typos.

Obviously, no one uses a Smartphone just for making phone calls and texting. If that is your sole reason for having a phone, you might as well just use the free one that you can get when you sign up for a plan with any provider. Smartphone users want to be able to check email and surf the web while they are on the go. The Droid seeks to provide a good experience for doing so.

Droid users are able to maintain multiple email accounts on the unit and can see the emails from each account consolidated in one place, a convenience that should not be overlooked if you happen to use multiple email addresses on a regular basis. The large screen and crystal clear display make viewing webpages a pleasure on the Droid.

Any busy Smartphone user also realizes the importance of having a camera on the phone. You just never know when you will need to snap a canyon photo to forever memorialize something that is happening in front of you. Whether it is your child`s first steps or your friend`s bad hair day, it can come in handy to have a camera always at your fingertips. Unfortunately, the camera seems to be an area in which the Droid is slightly lacking. While it is possible to take decent pictures, the usability is not quite so easy.

If the phone is not being used as your primary picture-taking device then it is probably sufficient. To make up for the deficiency in terms of taking still pictures, the Droid is very adept in the video department. So if you forget your video camera at your child`s school play, the Droid could serve as a viable replacement!

Ultimately, it is not likely that the Droid will take many consumers away from the iPhone. Apple is likely to maintain its brand recognition and loyal consumers. But for those who are willing to try something new, the Droid may be the best option.

It's brand recognition and consumer loyalty. But those who are willing to try something new, the Droid can be the best option.

Up until 10 years ago, our cell phone ownership/usage was not that common.  Our cell phones looked a lot like  Zach Morrison’s phone off of Saved by The Bell and we probably carried it in a bag the size of a woman’s purse. Printers and copiers were enormous and extremely expensive and you would almost never find one in a home.  If you were lucky your parents had satellite TV (you remember… the dish in the back yard that you had to play around because it was usually stuck directly in the middle).  But today we have an unbelievable amount of electronic gadgets in our house.  For example, in my own home you would find:

• two desktop computers with monitors
• two laptop computers
• 1 printer
• one combination fax, scanner, copier
• three TVs
• 1 VCR
• one digital video camera with tripod for our home recording studio
• one audio mixing board, one microphone, one amplifier, two external soundcards, and a 500GB hard drive, all for our home recording studio
• two DVD players
• two ipods
• one satellite TV system with a 24″ dish on the roof
• two iphones

You may not have that many but I know some who have even more.  Electronics have boomed over the last ten years as the price for them has decreased just enough that the average Joe can afford them.

But are your electronics covered?  If something happened would you be able to turn around and replace them all?  There is a lot of misinformation today regarding electronics and how it is treated by insurance companies. Most people seem think their homeowners or renters insurance policies will cover their electronics.  WRONG…and unfortunately they won’t usually find out their wrong until they submit a claim.

Sure, some of the property is covered, but there are limits and exclusions that would shock you! And don’t forget that your policy deductible will also apply.

The reason I bring this all up?  I’ve found the solution!  I have our electronics insured thru Worth Ave Group.  After reading thru their site and saw that they’ll cover us against against accidental damage, fire, flood, theft and even natural disasters for a full calendar year, I was sold.  They were also cheaper than the rest companies selling electronic coverage.  Some of them wouldn’t insure our iPhones because they weren’t brand new, some wanted to sell me warranties instead of insurance (not a good idea) and the list goes on and on.  So, anyway, check out Worth Ave Group and see what you think.

Can you imagine where we’re we’ll in another 10 years?

Have you ever been on vacation while abroad and your cell phones won’t work?  Well, with the Freedom Phone, you shouldn’t have to worry about that.

This small prepaid phone is just what travelers, who can’t use their own cell phones while overseas, are looking for.  Upon arriving into the new country, you have the option of purchasing the Freedom Phone with 60, 100 or 200 minutes. There’s no trouble of roaming tariffs or extra prefixes to remember.  You’ll have complete freedom when calling friend, family or even work.  The Freedom Phone needs no SIM card and you’ll never have to worry about roaming charges.  I’m also a little jealous that it will charge in 10 minutes!

Reports have said there is a huge market out there for those who are only interested in receiving and making calls. They also said that most cell phone users only use approximately 5% of the phone specifications.  So, if an older person who doesn’t care about the bells and whistles or maybe a parent who wants their young teenager to have a cell phone but would like to limit their use, this might be a phone to look into.

The phone’s information, phone number and important services are located on the back.

Should kids 15 and younger have cell phones?  I can understand a 16 year old, as where I live they’re legally allowed to drive.  When my daughters start driving I would like for them to have a cell phone but, then again, by the time my daughters are old enough to drive we’ll probably have cell phones permanently installed in our heads at birth!

I can understand how some of these children could benefit from having their own cell phone; like if they have a health condition, they have to walk to and from school or even if they have a lot of afterschool practices and need to set up a ride home on a regular basis.  Maybe it’s the mother/control freak in me but how would you know who your child is talking to on their phones, how would you be able to control HOW much they talk on their phones and isn’t that a little too much technology for someone so young?  You would either have to be over their shoulder, constantly checking their phone activity or buy them a kid version cell phone like the Firefly.

The Firefly Phone, which is a popular ‘first phone’ for younger kids, allows the parents to control who their kids talk to, so you don’t have to worry about a very large phone bill or wonder who they’re talking to.

I’m sold but, unfortunately for my 5 year old, she’s not getting her own cell phone for another 6 or 7 years…

Today, Microsoft launched their most ambitious project to date.  Windows Phone 7 Series was introduced in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress 2010.  With a completely altered home screen and user interface experience, robust Xbox LIVE and Zune integration, and awesome social networking tools, Windows Mobile seems to have been completely reconstructed!

Click here for the full story…

At this point in time, the FBI and other police agencies have the ability to obtain records of your past locations from your mobile phone providers without the hassle of obtaining a warrant to do so.  If you’re a cell phone user like me, we can now expect when and where our calls are made and received to be retrievable by the FBI and other police agencies if they believe a crime has been committed.

The U.S. Department of Justice told a federal appeals court in Philadelphia Friday that they do not feel The FBI and other police agencies need to attain a search warrant to determine the locations of Americans’ cell phones.  A Justice Department attorney told the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that there was no constitutional dilemma in obtaining records from cell phone providers which will reveal the approximate locations of handheld and mobile devices.

Some believe there is not constitutional bar to acquiring business records help by a communications service provider and that the government is not required to use a warrant when it uses a tracking device.

This is the first federal appeals court to address this issue and it raises issues of government surveillance and whether Americans have a right to privacy anymore.

I love looking at new apps for my phone and found a really cool one today.  It’s called ICE (In Case of Emergency) app.  Its sole purpose is to inform emergency personal who to call in case of an emergency.

I had heard of this idea before and even put ICE as a contact in my old cell phones (with my husband’s number) but this app is different.  Not only can you include emergency phone numbers (and email addresses) you can also include:

• Date of Birth
• Height
• Weight (Eek!)
• Medical Conditions
• Allergies
• Whether or not you’re an organ donor
• Medications
• Physicians name
• Insurance provider
• Blood type

I’m lucky enough (crossing my fingers and saying a little prayer) that I don’t have a medical condition, or even an allergy for that matter, but if I did, this app would be ideal.

I spoke with a friend who is a paramedic for a small town and was told they do in fact check phones for this sort of information.  Although I wouldn’t tell my friends to go ahead and throw out their medical bracelets, I believe this is a really great idea.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced yesterday that truck drivers and bus drivers we immediately prohibited from text messaging while driving their Commercial Vehicles.  I feel those who are dumb enough to continue to text while driving SHOULD face criminal and civil fines  up to $2, 750.

Research shows that while a person is driving they will usually take their eyes off the road for 4.6 out of every 6 seconds while they’re texting. I also read that drivers who text while on the road are 20 times more likely to cause an accident.

Come on people?!  How bad would you feel if you seriously hurt someone (by causing an accident) just because you wanted to tell your buddy the latest gossip?  Why not get one of those hands free gadgets (like this one) gossip guilt free!

States that already prohibit talking or texting while driving:

Alaska

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Illinois

Louisiana

Maryland

Minnesota

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Oregon

Rhode Island

Tennessee

Utah

Virginia

Washington

In the past ten years I have probably owned around 9 different cell phones and usually had to turn in my old phone in order to obtain a new one (yeah, I’m talking about you AT & T!).  So, I’ve never thought of where all the old cell phones go once they’ve been replaced.  I guess in the back of my mind, I must have hoped there was a beautiful cell phone heaven in the sky.  So I guess you can say I was pretty surprised when I realized how many unwanted phones end up in trash dumps.

From what I read, there are two pretty excellent reasons not to toss your old phone. 1) Most cell phones contain precious metals like silver and gold (I always said cell phones must be made of gold with as expensive as they are) and 2) Cell phones contain substances that really need to be disposed of in a safe manner, such as Brominated flame retardants, Lead, Beryllium (which if not burned correctly can omit serious toxic dioxins) and Cadmium in the battery.

I had no idea how people would go about recycling old cell phones but I came up with a few good ideas while playing around on the internet. www.grcrecycling.com offers you money for your old phone with free shipping and promises no landfill recycling. www.cellularrecycler.com is another great idea in that instead of asking for just YOUR old phone, they provide you with promotional letters and guides so you can start a cellular recycling program.  This is usually done to make money for an organization or charity. And last but not least…EBAY BABY!  There’s always somebody out there that for some reason would just die to own your outdated, broken (probably dropped in the toilet if you’re my mom) and seriously unuseful cell phones.

So with a little extra work on your part, you can dispose of your old phone safely AND put a little money in your pocket!

Wireless cell phone comes with the freedom of making a phone call from any given place. However, every coin has the other side of it. The convenience brought with the use of wireless cell phones has also come with the temptation to make calls at any time and place at the risk of ballooning costs of communication. Cost control for both company’s and individuals are, therefore, a necessary precaution that accompanies any cell phone purchase.

The best way to tame skyrocketing costs of communication from cell phone is to purchase a prepaid wireless cell phone tariff plan. This is the surest way of ensuring that you do not become a slave to your cell phone and instead maintain it as your slave. Unlike other tariffs, prepaid wireless cell phone provides the opportunity to control the costs. It is very natural for any animal to utilize resources to the most of its own comfort as long as it has no eye to the available limits. A prepaid account ensures that the user has an eye to what resources are available and takes the natural saving mode

Prepaid wireless cell phone tariff plans enable you to budget for regular periods e.g. monthly calling needs. This enables you to spend just what you can afford. Budgeting and spending what you can afford is the primary step towards living a debt free life. Besides, when you learn to spend within your means, then you learn to save more and therefore be able to invest more.

A prepaid wireless cell phone is the best choice when buying a phone for home or child’s use. Often, children or those members of a household who do not directly take responsibility for the bills, have the tendency to spend with no precaution. By purchasing the amount of airtime that you and the family or child needs and limiting the spending to purchase, you are able to contain communication costs. In this same manner, you are able to control the usage of the cell phone by the children.

Paying monthly bills or servicing credit checks can be a hustle both in terms of the time and the resources required to pay unexpected costs. The risk of paying at the end of the month or any other regular period is the challenge of not knowing what to expect. This is especially if it is a shared cost.

Prepaid cell phone plan is the best tariff plan that gives you control over your communication and finances.