Mobility Digest » Site News

Ask the Readers: How do you like your eggs?

Doug Smith — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:42:26 +0000

Personally, I’m a scrambled sort of eggs guy. I don’t like sunny side up or even over easy. If I had my way about it, I’d get a huge order of pancakes. There are a lot of people who do in fact like over easy, and then even more that could care less about breakfast. What’s my point? Well, reviews and how we do things around here at Mobility Digest. Maybe you’ve noticed, maybe you haven’t, but I have been reviewing a lot of devices lately and other sorts of devices accessories. Let me be the first to tell you that reviewing devices is incredibly time consuming and I feel strongly that if an OEM sent me a device to review, they are going to get their monies worth in effort. Now, I only get loaner devices that are returned after a week or two, that is unless I can beg to keep them longer like the Galaxy Nexus, that is consequently number one on Simmons Post Rank experiment on the top of the sidebar. So after some lengthy debates with the team here, we have come to am impasse on what the readers want when reading a review. Have we all become a bullet-point, less is more, video only reader community? Or do you still fancy the long drawn out review format I currently use. (look here for my latest reviews)

I’m willing to go the extra mile for you guys, but I won’t be wearing a Simmons Cam. So I currently have a LG Spectrum, a 1.5GHz Dual Core hot rod up for a review. What do you guys want to see? Got questions, send them to me, or leave a comment below. I am really interested to hear your feedback, and honestly, so would the companies that send us stuff to review. I might be able to see who’s looking at what, but I want to know your thoughts. Believe me, you don’t want to get into our heads! So thanks for stopping by and let us know what you would like to see more of from our content.

Lastly, you want to join in with us? Be part of the team? Hit the Writers Wanted button at the top of the page or click here, we need some passionate Android and iPhone writers! And if you are not a writer or wanting to share your passion, how about clicking on any one of our social media outlets (Like Facebook) and showing us some love?

Allow me to introduce myself…

Shawn Bennett — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:33:54 +0000

Greetings and salutations. I’m one of the new contributing writers for the site. I apologize for taking so long to familiarize myself, but things have been quite hectic as far as my schedule goes.

We’ll start with the basics. I go by many names, but most people call me Hype. I feel being formal is unimportant unless there’s monetary purposes involved and I’m far beyond unorthodox, amongst other things. Alcohol fuels my greatest thoughts/ideas…so more than likely, besides today since I’m at work, I wouldn’t doubt that most of the posts I make will be under the influence. No worries however, as my focus is stronger in that state and it’s impossible to slur text, so everyone will be alright.

I’m an IT technician, but have been a techie for quite some time now. Never will I accept the terms “geek” or “nerd”, primarily because that’s not who I am, although I’m associated with the same line of work. If you met me, you’d understand and probably would never think my profession is actually what I do for a living. Also I have no filter. When it comes out, it comes out and I don’t bother stopping it. I definitely exercise my freedom of speech without warning. If stereotype holds truth, by now you can probably guess where I’m from.

Now that the formals are out of the way, I’d like to skim through some of my experiences in the smartphone world. My first “true” smartphone was the Audiovox XV6600 (Verizon), otherwise known as the PPC-6601 (Sprint) or the “HTC Harrier”. If you’re unfamiliar with this phone, allow me to introduce you:

I’ve always had some type of obsession with large screen phones with QWERTY keyboards. Factory loaded with Windows Mobile 2003, this phone was a pretty big deal at the time, being considered in the upper echelon of phones. The 400MHz Intel processor made loading programs a breeze as they didn’t use much resources at all, and best of all, it came with Microsoft Office Mobile. Sure, the camera lacked by our current standards, but the VGA wonder of its time snapped some pretty nice photos. I was only 19 at the time, but the looks on the faces of some businessmen who saw me, an urban youth with no briefcase or Wall Street background using a $600 phone that destroyed their dated Blackberrys, was well worth the price. Not to mention the flexibility that rivaled the new-coming iPhone (sidenote: I’m not a huge fan of iPhones…), but that’s another story.

Moving along to 2008 — I had tried a few Blackberry (Wackberry, as I call them — definitely not a huge fan of RIM either) devices that didn’t quite butter my popcorn, and my XV6600 had finally expired. We had our fun with various hacks and even an iPhone skin, but the poor workhorse of a device that kept me entertained for 5 years was not only on its deathbed, but also very obsolete. I’m usually not one for major unnecessary changes, so instead of going the iPhone route, I decided to purchase the Samsung Omnia (Samsung WiTu/SCH-i910) since I worked at Verizon and had sold enough of them to be very familiar with how they worked.

Windows Mobile 6.1 was certainly a breath of fresh air, as was the 5MP camera from the 640×800 VGA I had migrated from. Within the same light, I also became obsessed with the HTC Touch Pro, so I did what any conniving man at my age would’ve done — convinced my then-girlfriend to purchase one. The Omnia was simply perfect. My favorite “apps” were the business card reader and the built-in Slingbox type app (the name escapes me at the moment). Also, yes…I did choose this phone particularly for the screen size, even though it didn’t utilize a keyboard. It’s a very sleek and sexy device. I can’t tell you how many women I met in various places (i.e. train, bus, restaurants, etc.) that would immediately comment on how they’ve never seen it before and would wind up putting their number in my contacts. Smooth.

From there I migrated to the Motorola Droid X, which I am still using. Quite honestly I love it. It has definitely caused me to shift from Windows Mobile devices (which I still have undying love for) to the Android platform. As I’m uncertain which device I’ll purchase next, I’ll definitely be sticking with an Android device and maybe a Windows phone as a side-piece. Moreover, who knows…it could be one of you guys (readers or writers) that help me make a decision…

Happy Holidays from Mobility Digest

Doug Smith — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:24:53 +0000

I wanted to thank everyone who stopped by Mobility Digest in 2011 and made it an exciting year! We had a blast here at Mobility Digest bringing you all of our articles, reviews, tips and tricks and look forward to doing it all again in 2012! So as many of you will stop and take time off to enjoy the Holidays, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and a very Happy New Year.

Doug Smith

Happy Thanksgiving from Mobility Digest

Doug Smith — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:02:07 +0000

As we all take a break from the daily grind and enjoy a day off for Thanksgiving, I just wanted to take a quick second and wish everyone a great Thanksgiving and Holiday Season. Thank you so much for coming to our website and being part of our community!

Happy Thanksgiving from Mobility Digest!

Mobility Digest new look and social media

Doug Smith — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:18:45 +0000

Hopefully you all have noticed Mobility Digest’s new look! We needed a freshen up but did not want to get to heavy with our theme selection and finally decided on this one. I definitely hope you all like it as much as I do. We have done our best to keep the ads to a minimum, just enough to pay the bills, and make sure there is no annoying text link for our readers to trip over. In all fairness, I tested them not too long ago and Simmons (Mobility Digest Writers Union Leader) organized a revolt and they were taken down. One of the cool things about this theme was the opportunity to add more related content links around the page. We now have over 5,555 article in our database and we hate to see them get buried. So we have some avenues now to bring them back from the abyss and provide our readers with even more related material they may want to read. I also need to thank Kristofer Brozio for the massive work he put into the upgrade. Of course, Doug Simmons does a lot to fix problems and keep things fresh. He is also the keeper of our sidebar polls plugin which is always amusing. Lastly, Patrick Kortendick who has been a long time contributor.

Now, did you happen to notice we are all over the social media thang too? Check out our RSS, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and now Google+! Please like us or follow us on these social media outlets to our content.

Lastly, who out there is creative? We need a new logo to go with our new look. Got any ideas? Send them to us!

As always, thank you for reading Mobility Digest. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make our website a better place for everyone to enjoy.

Doug Smith

Editor-in-Chief

Mobility Digest looking for more writers, tipsters, and tweeters

Doug Smith — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:11:59 +0000

It’s been a while since we put out a call for more help and I am once again looking to see of there is any interest out there from our readers who would like to donate some of their time and energy into contributing to our community. There are varying ways to contribute and make Mobility Digest a great place for our readers to stop by. First and foremost we need some writers. Daily news, tips, tricks, or anything mobile related is great to keep the content flowing and the readers reading.

Second we need tipsters. See some breaking news, tip us ASAP so we can share it with the community. Pictures in the wild of devices that are not supposed to exist really make us excited. So send us everything, send us money, or send us nothing, it’s all good, we thank everyone for stopping by anyway.

And third, we need some help with our social media presence. We had a GREAT young Jedi Master who worked his craft and got us going on Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. Hence the picture. Just kidding, Jagan has gone back to school and has very limited time, but we really want to thank him for getting us this far. We need some more help to keep us going on our social media presence.

Thank you all very much for reading Mobility Digest. We are working very hard to continue to bring you great content. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or interest you might have in contributing, or any feedback you might have to make Mobility Digest a better place for all to enjoy. Lastly, any fabulously wealthy potential patrons in need of a tax write off, just drop me a line as well. LMAO

Thanks again and click here to CONTACT US.

Mobility Digest new feature on sidebar stock updates

Doug Smith — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:44:51 +0000

I wanted to give Doug Simmons a slap on the back for a new widget he tweaked and added to the Mobility Digest sidebar that he is presently calling lol stocks!?. It simply has all of the major mobility stocks of interest displayed for your easy viewing. From time to time we report on a mobile companies stock health whether it be Apple’s stock value which seems closely tied to Steve Job’s or Google’s up and down trends. I am not saying that Simmons gave Google preferential treatment being on top the list because of the continual cannonball he does into the Google Kool Aid, but I am hoping a little coding and time on his part will add a sorting feature by stock performance.

So head on over to Mobility Digest and check out our sidebar to keep close tabs on your favorite companies stock value and let us know if you would like to see a stock added. Any other suggestions for our website are always welcome so please use the contact us button at the top or just leave a comment here.

BTW, it’s always worth a look at our current poll that is also on the sidebar that Simmons manages as well. Thanks again to Doug for his efforts and let us know how we can improve Mobility Digest.

Mobility Digest Twitter Giveaway

Doug Smith — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:36:18 +0000

I have been getting hammered by the team to do a better job with our Twitter Followers and it was brought to my attention that we do not have as many Twitter followers as we would like. Proportionally, XBOX360Digest.com, our other website is pretty much kicking our ass. So we need you to follow us on Twitter and we are going to throw some stuff your way to make it worth it.

Since this is my first Twitter giveaway, go easy on me. Comments are welcome. Basically, for our first Twitter giveaway, all you have to do is subscribe to our Twitter Feed, and retweet this. Can’t get much easier than that.

The winner will get a iFrogz EARPOLLUTION Ronin Professional DJ Style Headphones that was reviewed here:

http://mobilitydigest.com/mobility-digest-review-ifrogz-earpollution-ronin/

Subscribe and retweet for your chance to win. Winner will be picked on Monday randomly.

NOTE: Anyone can win, International readers outside the US must arrange their own shipping.

http://twitter.com/MobilityDigest

You know that crazy “Social Media” thing?

Doug Smith — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:41:46 +0000

You know that crazy “Social Media” Thing? Mobility Digest is on them! That’s right, Mobility Digest is on Twitter, Facebook, and don’t forget our RSS Feed. I have never really pushed our Social Media outlets but I am getting tired of listening to David chew me out over it. So why not show your support for Mobility Digest by heading on over to all three of these exciting ways to experience Mobility Digest’s content by either subscribing or “liking” us?

Simmons has some crazy direct link to our Google Analytics and he says that we have a pretty damn good reader base, so we want to see your support. Our other site run by Patrick Kortendick, Xbox360Digest has over 4000 Twitter followers! That’s crazy! I know you guys won’t let them beat us out so SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Are you on Facebook? Head on over and “like” our page: Mobility Digest Facebook

Are you a glutton for mobility news and don’t have time to come to our site, read about us on Twitter, or check out Facebook? Well then why not SUBSCIBE to our RSS Feed?

Okay, so that’s enough with my Social Media for one day. But I do have a few other things I needed to mention. I know we were once a niche WinMo website turned multi-platform blog. It wasn’t my choice, it just kinda happened that way. If you read our website daily, which is highly recommended of course, you would know that we still lean heavily towards Windows Phone. nothing wrong with that, but you know what, there is a lot of cool things happening in iOS and Android that a lot of folks want to read about. So we need more writers for the iPhone especially. I am tired of battling these guys and need your help! Look at the top of our website page for the link to get more info.

Lastly, and most importantly, compliment our writers! The best way to do this is drop a comment. Tell them thanks, or engage in a discussion with them about their article. These guys do this for free and all have day jobs. They take time away from family and friends to be part of the community and share their passion with us. They deserve a little appreciation and I would like to start by thanking them myself. You guys rock! So until a fabulously wealthy patron makes us a sizeable donation to spread around between us, please pat them on the back once in a while.

Thanks to all of you readers, commenters, and ass kickers who keep us going each day.

Doug Smith

PS: We’re on YouTube too: Mobility Digest YouTube

Thank you Simmons:

Help Mobility Digest with a new logo idea

Doug Smith — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 07:45:45 +0000

It’s the weekend so the news usually slows down a little and I thought I would throw the weekend readers a small poll and get their feedback on a new logo idea we have been working on. I have never been all that happy with our logo with the tower in the middle and I wanted to create something different. Well, in the first image below is the center icon I created. The second and third versions are by our own Danny Lam. I am torn between them and wondered what you all think. Vote for one, two, or three to decide the fate of our logo. If you have a some artistic skill, and have a fresh new idea all together, let us know. Thanks!

[poll id="70"]