PhoneTalk

It's that time of the year, when we first start to feel the temperature outside cooling a few degrees and students of all ages get ready to head back to school. Many students will have a cell phone with them either on campus or after class. (Note: Please check with your child's school about its cell phone policy) With that in mind, we've rounded up a slue of apps below that can help students with everything from getting a good deal on books to keeping track of homework assignments.


1. Find the best deal on books

Getting books for class can be a daunting task, not to mention an expensive endeavor. Enter Campus Books a one stop shop for buying, renting, and even selling college text books. This app will search local bookstores, online stores, and nearby libraries for the book you need. There's no need to type in book titles anymore either, just point the phone's camera at a book's barcode and the app does the rest.

Compatible OS: Android, iPhone
Cost: Free
How to get it: Visit the app market residing on your phone or corresponding app store on your computer.

2. An encyclopedia in your pocket

All solid papers begin with thorough research. Where better to start gathering that information than the Encyclopedia? Now, there's no need to dig through heavy volumes to find what you want. You can carry it in your pocket with the mobile version of the concise Britannica Encyclopedia 2011. It includes over 25,000 fact-checked articles on a variety of topics that can be navigated using a browser-like interface. Since the data resides on the phone, you'll never need a data connection to look something up. Want to learn something new? Simply open the app, shake the phone, and see what appears.

Compatible OS: Android, iPhone, BlackBerry
Cost: $19.95
How to get it: Visit the app market residing on your phone or corresponding app store on your computer.

3. Keep on track

Going to school means a busy schedule that's likely always changing. Whether its remembering to do a homework assignment or bringing an extra book to class, having a friendly little reminder can only help keep everything on track. That's the idea behind BugMe. It's essentially a virtual sticky note, but the key is that you can add alarms to the note so it won't get lost in the shuffle of all the other apps on your phone. The Pro version of the app offers more features such as adding notes to photos or sharing notes with friends.

Compatible OS: Android, BlackBerry (even OS 7), iPhone, and iPad
Cost: Free to $2.99
How to get it: Visit the app market residing on your phone or corresponding app store on your computer.

4. Money manager
(Read more)

Have friends in Mexico that you’d like to connect with over the phone? No problem. Today, Boost Mobile added unlimited calling to all of Mexico. The service costs $5 a month and includes the following features:

• Unlimited calling to landlines in all cities in Mexico including Mexico City
• Unlimited calling to Canada (excluding area code 867)
• Unlimited international text messages worldwide from the U.S.
• Unlimited international text messages from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (CDMA Series phones)
• Unlimited walkie-talkie from the U.S., Canada and Baja California (Mexico) to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Chile (available with iDEN Series phones)

In order to get the deal you need to have a monthly unlimited plan, but to get this price you need to add the feature by August 31, 2011. Already have International Connect and want this deal? No worries. If you added the feature on or after April 11, 2011 qualify as well. There’s no need to call Customer Care to make sure it’s added.

In September of 2008, Sprint was the first of the US cell phone carriers to offer 4G service in Baltimore. Currently, Sprint’s 4G service is available in 71 markets in the US. Additionally, if you have a Sprint 4G phone and are traveling in Jamaica or Taiwan you’ll be able to roam onto an available 4G network in those countries. Click this link to find out if 4G service is available near you.

The company uses WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology, a network that is built from the ground up, to deliver 4G service. Simply put, WiMAX is similar to WiFi in the sense that it can deliver similar speeds, but with less interference. The network is fast – approximately 10 times faster than 3G service. For example, sending a short video taken with your smartphone could take several minutes to send to another phone or e-mail address over a 3G network, but it takes just seconds using a 4G data connection. The difference between 3G and 4G is typically most visible when watching web-based videos on a 4G device (smartphone, notebook, tablet, etc). Watching via a 4G data connection can remove the choppiness and buffering issues typically encountered when watching the same video over a 3G data connection.

Here are a few more things you might want to know about Sprint’s 4G Service. If you have more questions, leave a comment and we'll do our best to answer them.

Can I use any 4G product with the service? 

You need a Sprint 4G capable product and have access to the company’s 4G network. Since the launch of the service in 2008, Sprint has announced 18 4G products and 12 are currently available. Here are a few of the most popular products: 

• HTC EVO 4G 
• HTC EVO Shift 
• Samsung Epic 4G 
• Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile HotSpot 
• Novatel 3G/4G MiFi Mobile Hotspot

One of the main features of the 4G products listed above is that they can be used as Mobile HotSpots, which means you can share the 4G connection with anywhere between five to eight (depending on the model) other WiFi-enabled devices. 

What if I have a 4G product and I’m not in a 4G market? 

You will still be able to use your product since all of Sprint’s 4G products also work with the company’s 3G network. In fact, if you are in a 4G market you’ll want to manually turn and off 4G service. As is the case with many extra features running on cell phones it can have an adverse effect on battery life.

Speaking of features, we should mention that if you’re using a Sprint 4G (Read more)

Today, HTC announced its first Android-based CDMA world phone, the HTC Merge.There aren't a lot of specs available about the HTC Merge, but we do know it will run Android 2.2, sport HTC Sense UI, have a 5-megapixel camera with flash that can also record video in 720p HD, and support 3G connectivity. Additionally, the HTC Merge will have a 3.8-inch touchscreen display (that's just slightly larger than the DROID Incredible by HTC) and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. There should be more details available about the HTC Merge when it becomes available this Spring.

Traveling to Taiwan or Jamaica? Imagine accessing Sprint's 4G service in those countries. Now, you can. Of course, you'll need a few things to make that happen. For starters, you'll need a compatible 4G device such as the Sprint 3G/4G U600 USB Modem and Sprint's SmartViewSM Connection Manager. The software will help you connect a computer to an available, compatible 4G network. To use the service in places like Jamaica or Taiwan you'll need to purchase and unlimited, 24-hour day pass that costs $14.99 before taxes and surcharges.

The DROID Pro by Motorola is an Android 2.2 smartphone that's designed with business users in mind complete with enterprise security features and the ability to wipe the cell phone remotely. The cell phone will also work around the globe. To make that easier for users Verizon has included all the adapters needed in the box. To see more about the DROID Pro by Motorola watch the video below.

We've seen glimpses of the new BlackBerry OS for a few months now and finally, today BlackBerry unveiled the BlackBerry Torch. The latest BlackBerry for AT&T will run RIM's new OS 6 and sports a design that we haven't seen from BlackBerry yet. The Torch will have a spacious 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen (that's just a smidge smaller than the one found on the BlackBerry Storm that slides up to reveal a full tactile QWERTY keyboard, much like the design of the Palm Pre. The cell phone has a sleeker looking design than the Storm, but measures just about as thick. It also has a 624Mhz processor (not as fast as the one found on the HTC EVO 4G, but still plenty fast), WiFi (support for 802.11n - more secure WiFi), 4GB of memory on board and will also come with a 4GB microSD card. Additionally, the cell phone has a 5-megapixel camera with flash and 2x digital zoom and the ability to record video. Did we mention it's also a world phone so you can use it in other spots around the globe.

The real story here is what the new OS 6 has to offer:

Universal Search: You can simply type on the home screen to find something. Universal search will scan folders, apps, Internet, email, and more.

Improved Web Browsing: The web experience is more like the one you find on your computer at home. The user experience is much improved over the web experience on current BlackBerry smartphones. It even offers tabbed browsing so you can have multiple web pages open simultaneously.

Social Media: In the new OS, all your social media feeds appear in one place via RSS feeds. When you type an update you can send it to a single social media account (Twitter, Facebook, etc), or to all your social media accounts.

Multimedia: There's now an integrated YouTube app. There's geotagging for photos so the cell phone will automatically add the location of where the photo was taken. Finally, the WiFi music sync lets you tag music not on the device for future syncing.

Finally, at the press conference it was announced that the BlackBerry Torch will be available with AT&T service on August 12th for $199 with a new contract.

Three new Samsung cell phones have arrived at T-Mobile all with an eye on messaging since they all sport slide-out QWERTY keyboards. They also all feature T-Mobile's Social Buzz for staying on top of social networks by integrating popular networking sites into a single application, which runs in the background and alerts you when a new update appears for any of the social networks you follow. Yet they all vary slightly when it comes to design.

The Samsung Gravity T has a touchscreen display with customizable home screens and task bar widgets. Additionally, you can check both web-based and exchange e-mail accounts on this cell phone. Other noteworthy specs include a 2-megapixel camera, music player, 3G connectivity, and the ability to take up to a 32GB microSD card for storing music and pictures. It can also be used in other countries around the world.

Next in the line-up is the Samsung Gravity 3. This messaging phone doesn't only sport a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but it also has a numeric keypad as well so you can still create messages using T9 or the old triple tap method. The Gravity 3 sports similar features to that of the Gravity T and has the added bonus of some preloaded games such as Guitar Hero 5.

Finally, the Samsung :) - yes, that's a smiley face - has a slightly different form factor. Designed to fit in the palm of your hand, the main display of this Samsung messaging phone is a bit more square. While this cell phone can also be used in other countries, will support up to a 32GB microSD card, and has a music player, but the camera only has a 1.3-megapixel lens.

So which Samsung messaging phone fits your style?