HOUR 2:
Tech News & Commentary
Jim in Wilmington, Delaware listening on WDEL: “If you wanted to drop your cable TV service, what would you be able to receive on a high-quality old-style antenna — like on your chimney or in your attic?”
With a good HD antenna, you would be able to receive high-quality, actually the highest quality digital television. And that’s why we always recommend an antenna — even rabbit ears can work. Every cable and satellite provider compresses the HD TV signal, resulting in a loss of quality. For the most part this isn’t really noticeable, but it is most definitely there. Over the air broadcasts direct from the TV affiliate to your antenna, are uncompressed and will give you a perfect picture, assuming you have signal at all.
And, of course, that’s the rub. Signal at all. Jim is calling from Wilmington, Delaware, which is not “way out in the country,” so you’d be fine. But others who live far outside of a populated area may find that they can’t get a signal. For them, satellite may be the only option. Also don’t forget, you’d be dropping back to network programming only, and foregoing all the cable and satellite network choices. You can make up a lot of that over the Internet, these days, but it’s something you should be prepared to do.
For recommendations on HD antennas, our friends at the CEA run a great site: AntennaWeb.org. Check it out for some great tips on how to best set up your antenna.
Tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast for more details.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Joan in Miami, FL asked: “Dave, which is better: the iPhone 4 with AT&T or with Verizon? I know that all you guys are well versed in electronics.”
Dave responded: I’ve heard that Verizon iPhone users are quite happy with their service. They experience far less “dropped calls” than AT&T iPhone users. As a matter of fact, 2-3 times more, according to a recent study. If call quality is your top priority, Verizon is still the better choice. As a non-iPhone user, I will leave that question to our AT&T iPhonies in the studio …
Rob’s opinion: “I’ve had an iPhone since 6 months after it was first available on AT&T back in 2007. For years, we read and heard rumors about the iPhone going to Verizon, but I didn’t get excited or started making plans to switch. I visited two Verizon Stores here in South Florida when their iPhone version finally came out and wasn’t tempted to switch. I could’ve, but chose not to. 1) I travel and need a GSM phone — only AT&T can handle that right now. Verizon has a CDMA iPhone version. 2) I can surf the Web and talk at the same time. Verizon iPhone users can’t. 3) I don’t make that many calls on my phone. I text, check email and social network. I’m usually around a WiFi network and can do all of those things. That’s how and why I’ve put up with AT&T’s iPhone service for almost 4 years now.”
Our other AT&T iPhone user, Chris, hasn’t switched to Verizon only because his contract isn’t up yet!
So, ask yourself the following: What will you be doing with an iPhone? Do you travel? What matters most, making calls and not dropping them as often? or, surf and talk when possible?
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Alan Wallace, Senior Global PR Manager – Trend Micro
Keep your Android devices safe from harmful applications with TrendMicro’s mobile protection.
Craig Powell, CEO – ConnectEDU
An organization helping every student get the best opportunity to achieve a college education and a promising career.
Frank in Fresno, California listens via the Android App asked: “Hi Dave, I listen via my Android HTC Inspire 4G. What a great phone! No more iPhone for me! Right choice Dave or what?”
Well, the HTC Inspire is AT&T’s first “4G” phone. Several people in the tech industry — including us — questioned if the phone and the network would live up to the hype that AT&T provides the fastest downloads over a cellular network.
Last month, Consumer Reports reviewed it on our show. To remind our listeners, including Frank, here’s what they determined …
The HTC Inspire is an appealing smartphone with a gigantic screen that’s well-suited for data entry, reading text, and viewing web pages.
The Inspire’s sense interface allows you to initiate or change various services or settings from just about any computer. Sense services include remote phone lock or wipe in case of theft, or you can forward calls or messages to different numbers. You can also have sense send a signal to get the phone to ring at full volume, a great option for people who frequently misplace their phones.
The only shortcoming they found with the Inspire was with network speed. They were unable to measure download speeds any faster than about 0.5 megabits per second. That’s barely respectable for 2G much less for 4G. In fairness, they thought it was a glitch with their evaluation unit. [Credit: Consumer Reports – Weekend of March 4, 2011 – Reviewed by Mike Gikas, Senior Editor]
If you’re experience with the Inspire has been more favorable than what our friends at Consumer Reports experienced, please share with us. I highly recommend you install the SpeedTest.net app and determine what kind of network speeds you’re getting in your area.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Improv Electronics: Several Boogie Board Paperless LCD Writing Tablets in a variety of
colors and accessories including sleeves with stylus holders &
magnet kits.
iolo: Several copies of System Mechanic – Fix & speed-up your PC, Automatically
SmartShopper Electronics: Several SmartShoppers — Electronic Grocery List Organizer
ZAGG: A variety of goodies, including: ZAGGsparq battery packs, ZAGGMate iPad cases, dual USB 2.0 in-car chargers & XL gadget wipes.