The Blackberry z10, Quick Review

The blackberry 10 is finally here!. If you didn't reserve one it may still be a little hard to get one, But by the end of march I am sure all who want one will be able to get one for sure. Even by early march I believe.

A little background about us at KW-PC and blackberry or Rim as formerly known. 

We at KW-PC Started it all with and on blackberry's. We started using and repairing blackberry's right from the beginning. I am a huge blackberry fan and have always used a blackberry except for the last year in which I mainly used an android phone and windows phone 8. I wanted to try something newer and more modern. But in all that, I missed the functionality of a blackberry that I did not get from the android and Windows phone 8.

I was excited to see the blackberry 10. It has finally come and I must say I love it. I think that it needs minor improvements but over all I would use it as my main phone. I will talk about the immediate pros and cons as follows.

Pros:

Build quality. The build quality has impressed me. The battery cover is plastic, but it is really well made, you can't even tell it is a removable battery door once it is on because it fits so well and tightly against the back. Also the rest of the phone weighs what I believe a just right weight. It is not flimsy in any way, nor is it too heavy that it can't take a drop or two.

The onscreen keyboard is amazing. For me the best onscreen keyboard to date. The heat sensitive layer under the glass helps the phone recognize where you hit the keypad most and auto corrects according to your accuracy. Also the swipe up function is great for one handed typing. This is a one up on all touch screen phones for blackberry. 

Fluidity of the new blackberry O/S is great. The flow interface and the way the O/S looks and feels in my opinion is amazing. The apps load fast, web pages load very nicely. All in all a really fluid and fast user experience. 

Emails are what you would expect from a blackberry. Excellent, from receiving, to sending emails and composing. It is all there for full productivity and efficiency. Blackberry once again lives up to the core basics it was founded on. 

Blackberry Hub, I believe one of the best features of this device. Staying connected at all times has never been easier, the hub works as advertised. 

The camera is good, and the time shift works great, as advertsed. 

Battery life is also good, It is not amazing but it is good, It gets me through the day easily, and I use it through out the day consistently. 

 This is just a quick over view, but all in all highly recommendable product so far. now for some of the quirks or cons. 

Cons:

I don't have much to complain about but one thing could be the app store is a little scarce in apps right now. Of course there will be a lot more coming. Blackberry has promised a host of apps that will be available. But as of now it is scarce. The main core apps are great, facebook app is great. But there is no instagram as of yet. Also no netflix is a bummer. However I believe in time all those apps will come to the BB 10. 

The camera, although nice with its functionality is not awe inspiring. The sensor takes run of the mill smartphone camera pictures. Nothing really special, but it is not bad. Could have been better though.

Probably my biggest complaint although Blackberry claims it to be un needed, is the lack of a real home screen. It seems that with the blackberry 10 I am always IN something. Sometimes I miss just having a basic point of reference to go back to. But I believe in time that will not be a problem, but it will take some getting used to for a lot of people. 

Now for some tech specs below. 

Specs:

The Blackberry z10 comes in white and black. 

-LTE Speed connectivity. 

-NFC

-HDMI Connectivity

-4.2-inch 1,280 by 768 display with 356 pixels per inch 

-Dual-core 1.5 GHz processor with 2 GB of RAM

-16 GB, expandable with MicroSD card up to 32 GB in size ( I Have heard up to 64gb cards, but it is not confirmed)

-User replaceable 1,800 mAh battery

-8 megapixel rear camera with 1080p HD video recording, 2 MP front camera with 720p recording

Conclusion

In Conclusion I think the Blackberry z10, Might have some quirks to work out, but that is expected of all new devices. All in all, I would highly recommend getting one if you have been waiting. I have no reservations in recommending it. I believe it is unwise to pay for an early upgrade if you have just upgraded to an iphone 5 or note 2. Although I prefer the z10 over those devices I believe some of you won't So don't jump on a bandwagon without thinking it through, but by all means the Blackberry z10 will hold it's own.

I am rooting for Rim or Blackberry, I like the company and I am still a fan. I hope that someday soon rim will once again be at the top of the smartphone game. But realistically it has a ways to go yet, it has been out of the game too long. But for those of us Blackberry fans, there is hope yet. 

iPhone 5 is here, First thoughts

So the iPhone 5 finally came. If you are anything like me, then almost a year ago on Oct. 14th 2011, you were heavily disappointed with the iPhone 4S that was supposed to be the iPhone 5. But now alas, the real iPhone 5 came out, and I do feel for those who purchased the 4S. So without further ado, let me me highlight the new features of this phone, as well as the pro's and con's. Also some advice for you folks who purchased the iPhone 4S less than a year ago.

First of all, The iPhone 5's new breakthrough design.

So the new iPhone has managed to become even thinner, and lighter. I think this is a pretty good feature for the iPhone. The screen got stretched a little so now it is a 4 inch screen. This is a well overdue change but now it is here. In my opinion a 4.2 screen would have been much better. The reason apple gives for only stretching it is because it will still fit in your hand like the iPhone 4S. The other change in the design is the headphone jack is at the bottom of the phone. This also has its pro's and con's but I personally prefer it at the bottom as well.
One of the new design changes also includes the smaller charger port or charging dock. This may mean faster charging times and quicker data transfer. I believe it is about time Apple got with the times and got rid of the ridiculous charger port it had. But on the other hand, get ready to change all your accessories or buy adaptors. Unfortunately this means a bigger hit to your wallet. As you can see in the pictures, the back has a 2 tone approach. I personally do not like it at all but I have heard a lot of people like it.


Now, enough about the design. I talked so much about it because that is what seems to be the biggest change. 

Network Speeds, LTE
Not much to say here, except what we already know, LTE simply means faster data. LTE in some cases can be as fast or faster than your home internet or your WIFI connection. However upgrading to LTE is not a feature that I will congratulate Apple for, as it is long overdue, and nothing new to the market. Samsung, HTC, and a few others already had LTE when the 4S was released. But welcome apple now to the LTE world.


A Few other quick mentions that I think are a good improvement are: 

• First of all the headphones. They have a nice new design and apparently will be more comfortable and sound better. 
• As well I am pleased that face time finally works on the cellular network, meaning you no longer HAVE to be connected to wifi when using it. 
•  The camera has been improved as well, but not by too much, however the panoramic picture taking is nice. 
• The screen size obviously, is a nice improvement although not the best size in my opinion. 
• The new processor. The A6, is better than the A5. Almost 2 times as fast. For full tech specs see the link at the bottom of this article. 

So that has been the rundown of the main changes done to the iPhone 5. Is it worth buying if you already own the iPhone 4? I would say yes it is, especially if you are already due for an upgrade with your current service provider. The iPhone 5 will be noticeably better in many ways than the iPhone 4.

 Is it worth buying now if you just bought the iPhone 4S Last October or even recently?  In my humble opinion. Absolutely NOT. I believe it was a little greedy of apple to take a lot of peoples money with the iPhone 4.5, less than a year before releasing the actual iPhone 5. They could have released with ease the iPhone 5 last year. If you already have the 4S, the difference is not huge and definitely not worth the early upgrade fees, or attempting to sell the iPhone 4S at a loss on kijiji. I would wait it out until the upgrade is due.

In conclusion, I believe that if this iPhone was released last October, then the hype would have been worth it, and I would have actually been excited. However, if you clear your head of the hype and look at the facts, it is actually starting to look like apple is no longer the pioneering company it once was. There is too much evidence that it is now playing catch up to Samsung and other brands, and I personally see more value in some of the android devices such as the Galaxy S3 by Samsung. But one thing is for certain, iPhone 5's will sell really well this year either way, I commend apple for building such a loyal customer base, but for me, it is no longer a leader in the smartphone business.



http://www.apple.com/ca/iphone/specs.html

Will Rim Survive 2012? Do you love Berry's? Why?

As we near 2012, I think back through all of 2011. It seems Rim was hit on all sides all year. Stock prices dropping dramatically, Playbook sales no where near Apples Ipad sales. ETC ETC. Now we are hearing about Indonesia wanting to rid itself of the Blackberry services. Indonesia is a huge market for Rim, losing it could cause a lot of damage to Rim.

All this brings me to the question, Will Rim be around as we know it in 2013?

Well for starters, we hear all the bad and the ugly that Rim is going through, what about the good? What about the possibility of it being purposely under attack by larger companies who would love to buy out Rim?

I believe that if you are an investor, you may want to be careful with investing in Rim. On the other hand I also believe that Rim will recover, or even if it is bought out, the Blackberry as we know it will not quiet cease to exist.

As far as the company goes, it is doing bad at the moment, but I want to talk about the devices themselves, seeing as how I am a tech junkie. I firmly believe that although the company as a whole is not doing great this year, and things look bleak, that people actually love their Berry's. I personally have used every device from Apple, to Samsung, etc. I always revert to my Blackberry. And I will tell you why.

The iPhone is a solid device. Apple has the o/s down pat. It just works. Android struggles because there is much too many devices using android so you can't give android in general a good rating. But, when it comes down to what you do MOST on your device every day you can not beat the Blackberry. At lease for me, I feel slowed down when I use anything else. Below I will list the features I love about Blackberry. As primitive and outdated as some Apple fans and Android fans might think it is I believe it is still a viable, relevent device.

Here is simply 3 things I can not live without on my smartphone. 

The Physical Qwerty Keypad:
I do not care what anyone says about how great a touchscreen is, nothing beats my tactile full qwerty keypad on my 9900 Bold. It is amazing, I can type without looking at lightning speeds. No matter how fast you get on a touch screen phone, you just can't type without looking. I don't think that we will be steering away completely from this form of input for at least a few years yet. And Blackberry has the leading design on full qwerty keypad phones.

The Email Service, Push Email:
I love the efficiency and ease of use on all Blacberry devices Email service. I have 5 email addresses on my device, All of them work great and fast, and easy. To set it up, all I do is put in my email address and password. And that is it! No further set up or tweaking required. I get an email I hear a ding or whatever noise I assign to it. I do not get error messages, I do not get mail missed, I don't have to refresh or re sync, etc etc etc!. Trust me I have had nightmares using other devices email services. Don't get me started on androids.

Battery Life:
Now, this I have tested first hand. The battery life on Blackberry's stomps that of other smartphones. Including, iPhone, Samsung galaxy series, HTC desire and up. Sony ARC Series. I have owned them all. And I have to charge all of them during the day or at very best every single night.
I have owned, Blackberry torch, Storms, Bolds, Curves, and Pearls. And guess what. They all did 2 or 3 days for me sometimes, without having to turn off every feature on it. Enough said, the battery life is something really important when you are depending on your device to work when you need it to.

Based on these three things, which I believe are the CORE of features a Blackberry offers, not to mention the security, I believe Rim or at least the Blackberry as we know it, is NOT going away soon. The security however may soon be available on other devices.

Feel free to comment below!, Thanks for reading.

Is Repairing Your Smartphone an alternative to buying a new one?

As you may already know from reading previous blog posts or watching my you tube videos, I do repair smart phones for a living. it has been a growing trend the last 2 years. There is smartphone repair shops popping up everywhere.

The reason the trend is growing is because in reality it is a great idea. It will save you a lot of money, especially if you are on contract and are stuck with that phone. Also if you are pay as you go it will save you money also because instead of buying a new iPhone 4 for example for $500 +, the repair may only be $100-200. Or even less in some cases. So you can see the savings could be huge. I will go into more details in what can be repaired generally and what to look for when looking for a shop.


Below I will list a number of things that most shops will be able to repair on a phone.


Repairable Problems with your smart phone and services commonly available:

• LCD Screens/digitizers and Lenses, This I would say is the number one repair I do. Every breaks their screens these days. Especially on touch screen phones.
• Trackballs, Track Pads (Blackberry's) 
• iPhone Batteries
• Charger Ports. 
• Housings
• Keypads
• Camera/Antenna/Headphone Jack
• Sim Card slot/Memory card slot
• Software Issues
• Unlocking/Jailbreaking
• Water damage

These are the main things you will see being repaired at most shops. 

None of the repairs above go over $200 For any of the phones I have ever fixed. The only one that may go higher are iPads. Also if it needs a new motherboard.In most cases if it needs a new motherboard you may as well get a new phone.


What to look for in a repair Shop and what to do when you are there:

1. Read all their policies! They may be written on the wall on a paper. Or on the counter, or in the invoices. 
2. Avoid shops that offer no warranty. Warranty should always be given on a repair no matter what .As a shop owner I know that I have to back my products and services. Some repairs you can't get more than 7 days warranty but on labor I offer 90 Days. Make sure the shop offers some kind of protection. 
3. Be skeptical if they tell you the parts may take 3 weeks or more to arrive. It may be okay but ask why it will take so long. Also ask around other shops to see if this is normal expectations. In most cases parts never take over a week to arrive if they need to be ordered. 
4. Look for a receipt after your phone is ready. Always. This will ensure you have proof of what was done to your phone. 
5. Try not to offer to pay cash for a discount. This will guarantee you poorer service and you will negate your right to get a receipt. Also you are putting the shop at risk with the government as it is illegal to not charge taxes. 
6. Make SURE you pick up your phone before 30 days! Most shops as a policy will reserve the right to recycle your phone after 30 days! It will be considered abandoned.
7. Ask if the parts are good quality. But don't expect 90 percent of parts to be OEM . Reason being is RIM, APPLE, ETC do not sell parts! it's common sense that real parts are not around unless they are pulled from dead phones or refurbished. But don't be afraid there is high quality after market parts out there.

SHOPS OR WORK FROM HOME TO AVOID

Me personally wouldn't recommend leaving your phone at someones house for any reason. But there are some respectable people working from home out there. I will point out this warning signs. 

1. They don't let you step inside their house
2. They don't offer recieits
3. They do not have a legal business name or license!
4. They ask to meet at a Tim Hortons ETC!!!(common sense)
5. They ask you to pay before it is repaired
6. They ask for an advance on the money for repairs.

These are the main things to look for and avoid, it will save you tons of headaches and lost phones. 

So now that you are more informed on deciding whether you will have your product fixed I'd like to tell you that YES Having it repaired is the responsible thing to do for your wallet and for the environment! Thousands upon thousands of these things go to waste when they don't have to!. Keep some money in your pocket and instead of buying a new one, help out your local businesses and have your phone repaired.


For an example. An iphone 4. Costs starting at $599. Plus tax for a new one. Oops you dropped it. Screen is cracked. Guess what. The repair at most shops is not more than $179!. I have seen them being repaired for as low as $129. Thats a quarter of the price you'd pay to buy a new one. 


The new Blackberry bold 9900. $649 Plus tax. For a new one. You broke your screen? guess what, The repair is between $120-180! Again...it is a no brainer Start repairing your broken smart phones. In doing so you will do 3 things. 

• SAVE MONEY
• HELP OUT LOCAL BUSINESS(CREAT JOBS POTENTIALLY)
• HELP THE ENVIRONMENT. 

Thanks for reading!

iPhone 4S Tech Specs in Comparison With iPhone 4

The iphone 4S Has been released. You may be wondering if it is worth it to upgrade if you have the iphone 4. Well that will be a matter of opinion mostly, but here is a few things I will point out. Also I will give my opinion. 

First i'd like to say...First iphone I ever bought at retail price...the iphone 4S. Yes I did buy it. And to add to it...I have been the most loyal blackberry fan ever. I still am a fan. But I decided I will give the new iPhone a shot. 

I have used a few iphone 4's before the iphone 4S. But I never owned one. The first thing about the iphone 4 was that there was plenty of other phones with better cameras .Also the operating system to me was a let down since it didn't offer much more as in features. However the iphone 4S at the moment in my opinion has the best camera I have seen on a smartphone. the 8 Megapixel camera made by Sony is exceptional for picture taking. As well as the 1080P video recording is great for many applications like youtube and facebook. It almost eliminates the need to have a traditional point and shoot camera that costs $200 or less. Of course the high end point and shoot cams are better but most people have regular joe camera's. 

Now before I continue I'd like to add that just because the camera I wouldn't upgrade from iphone 4 to the 4s. I'd wait for the 5. But if you are someone that relies on picture taking and video on your phone then yes the switch just on that is worth it.

The A5 Processor is considerably faster and I have had the chance to test the 2 phones side by side and in the 4S does everything faster. Almost everything anyways. 

SIRI!

I actually love siri. I will do a whole post on siri alone shortly .As well as video demonstration. 

It is awesome and I use it daily. I think so far my favorite feature is the reminders app coupled with siri. I can remember things now!. People tell me something that I need to remember. I just use siri and tell it to remind me periodically or at a specific time. It's awesome. but anyways I will review siri later on its own because its alot to talk about.

This is just a short post but in conclusion I think...if you are happy with the iPhone 4 it is NOT worth the upgrade. Just wait for the 5.  If you are disapointed in the camera and speeds and really want siri then yes be my guest and get the 4S. IF you a 3GS or lower. Definatly a good time to upgrade. You won't be disapointed. 

Below are the specs comparisons. 

Rundown of the specs:

iPhone 4	iPhone 4S
Starting Price $99	Starting Price $199
Network AT&T/Verizon/Sprint	Network AT&T/Verizon/Sprint
Screen 3.5" 640x960	Screen 3.5" 640x960
Storage 8GB	Storage 16/32/64GB
Cameras (rear/front/video) 5MP/VGA/720p	Cameras (rear/front/video) 8MP/VGA/1080p
Dimensions 4.5"x2.31"x0.37"	Dimensions 4.5"x2.31"x0.37"
Weight 4.8 ounces	Weight 4.9 ounces
Battery Life 7 hours talk time 300 hours standby 6 hours 3G web 10 hours Wi-Fi web 10 hours video 40 hours audio	Battery Life 8 hours talk time 200 hours standby 6 hours 3G web 9 hours Wi-Fi web 10 hours video 40 hours audio
Processor Single-core A4	Processor Dual-core A5
Colors White/Black	Colors White/Black

Cell Phone Unlocking- The ins and outs

Okay where to begin....

We will start from why.

WHY your Cellphone is locked;


It is locked because your carrier has it locked. The reason that they want it locked is so you do not cancel the contract and switch to a different provider. Basically what the carrier thinks is that if the phone is locked, then you won't want to buy a new device just to switch providers. It is a mechanism to discourage you from switching carriers. However, most phones are unlockable for a low price thus if you have been wronged by your carrier don't hesitate to leave if possible.

So what is unlocking you ask?


As you may have guessed, unlocking means to remove the restrictions on your phone so you can use it on other carriers. Pretty much you are breaking your carriers hold on your phone. However, you CAN unlock your phone and still keep using your current carrier.
To sum up what unlocking is,a phone that was once locked to a single carrier is now compatible with all carriers of its kind.

The benefits of Unlocking your Blackberry or Cell phone. 

As mentioned above, you now can take your phone to another provider. Say you have blackberry bold 9000, locked to rogers, but you want to use it on fido, then you can unlock it and take it to fido. You can carry your phone from plan to plan or network to network by simply inserting different sim cards in it.
Also if you are traveling it can save you 100's literally. Instead of paying for roaming charges you can buy a local pay as you go simcard and use the service in the country you are visiting.

Thanks for reading, I hope I have cleared some questions up, if not then feel free to leave a comment and I will answer your questions!.

Introduction

Hello Peoples,

This is my first blog...ever. My Name is Isaac obviously, I live in Canada and I'm 26 years old.
If you read my profile you will know some basic info on what my interests are ETC.
I will have 2 blogs, this is my TECH blog, I also will have a music geared blog because I share an almost equal passion with music and Tech.

The reason i decided to start blogging is because I want to give back. I am knowledgeable on a lot of things regarding Tech and music, and I know a lot of the knowledge and experience I have gained is already out there but everyone is unique and learns and sees things differently, in a different light and angle.

I own a computer and blackberry repair shop in Kitchener Ontario Canada and I come across all sorts of problems with all the new cellular devices and smart phones and I will be available for questions you may have on common or uncommon issues with your device.

I hope I can be of some service to someone out there and like I said I'm new to blogging so bear with me on the process of learning, thanks and welcome to my blog.