Tech Talk

Is your contract about to expire? Is it time to decide to sign on to another two years with your current carrier or jump ship? The decision is easy — go with Verizon and the HTC Incredible.

Tech Talk previously told you how the Incredible lives up to its name. And then the iPhone 4 came out on AT&T’s network.

Don’t get the iPhone 4. Your Tech Talk editor has been using the smart phone since shortly after its release and has been disappointed — and is not alone.

While the device is great, particularly the screen’s impressive resolution and forward- and rear-facing cameras, the phone is not so hot.

Dropped calls and substantially reduced reception are common — making it difficult to even send text messages at times.

While the ability to multitask is great, as is the ability to lock the rotation of photos, the advancements are available for the iPhone 3GS, as well. If you have the iPhone 3GS — do not downgrade to the iPhone 4.

The Incredible, in addition to having a dropping substantially fewer calls, allows users to easily upload multimedia to a number of services in very few strokes.

While the iPhone 3GS and the HTC Incredible compete valiantly, the Incredible blows the iPhone 4 out of the water — and should be avoided.

Fireworks are among the most difficult subjects to capture with a camera. 

However, Tech Talk has some advice to capture professional-quality photographs of fireworks.

Last year, we shared the following information:

In a nutshell, a Wired.com wiki suggests:

• Using a slow shutter speed
• Using a tripod
• Get a shutter release cable
• Set the ISO to its lowest setting
• Dial in a low f/stop — specifically somewhere between f/8 and f/16
• Set focus to infinity

For more details on the points listed above, and for more tips, I encourage you to check out the wiki.

And, please, have a safe and enjoyable Independence Day weekend!

HTC Incredible

Tech Talk recently had the opportunity to take the HTC Incredible for a test drive — and was blown away.

The smartphone, which runs on Verizon’s network, puts both Apple’s iPhone and the Droid released in November to shame.

The Incredible, which goes for $199.99 to new or renewing customers, offers a powerful punch and might convince some iPhone users to switch sides with its 3.7-inch touch screen, 1GHz processor, 480 by 800 pixel display and 8-megapixel camera.

During the test period, I attended a conference in Dallas. The photos I took with the 4.59-ounce Incredible were substantially crisper and more clear than what I captured with my point-and-shoot camera and iPhone 3GS.  The Incredible also managed to take more photos in the same time period than the iPhone. Another perk was that unlike the iPhone, which saves each photo as photo.jpg making it difficult to e-mail and quickly save multiple photos, the Incredible saves each photo in the same way a traditonal camera would — in a line of consecutive numbers, such as IMAG_0001. There was truly no comparison.

The Incredible also allows users to quickly and easily upload photos to the Internet. A user is able to share multimedia via Bluetooth, Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, other e-mail clients, text message, Twitter, Picassa and YouTube.  The speed of Verizon’s 3G service makes it possible to upload a half dozen photos in a matter of seconds. Good luck getting the iPhone to do that. And if those perks were not enough, the Incredible’s charger can easily be removed leaving a USB connection to easily transfer music and multimedia with the user’s computer.

Below are examples of unedited photos I took with the iPhone and the Incredible. Each photo could be clicked to see the photos in greater detail.  Here are some more pictures I took for NBC Dallas/Fort Worth with the Incredible.

A photo taken out of an airplane window with the HTC Incredible

A photo taken out of an airplane window with the Apple iPhone 3GS.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio and 8GB of internal memory are all included with the phone. It also supports Flash Lite 4.0, Google Maps with navigation, Latitude, Google Talk and Google Calendar. The Android Market now touts 50,000 applications.

According to HTC, a user gets up to 312 minutes of usage time and up to 146 hours of standby time, something that seems about right.

The incredible is one of the fastest smartphones I have ever used. Even with multiple applications open, I was able to bounce from screen to screen without any delay — which was refreshing as the iPhone does not allow added apps to multitask at all.

I was surprised and impressed with the Incredible’s power. As loyal iPhone user, who had a BlackBerry previously, I did not think HTC would be able to produce something so great.  Suddenly my previous phones and cameras seem inadequate.

Maybe it’s time for a switch to Verizon so I can get my own Incredible.

It is important to understand the risks of the gadgets you are bringing into your home — and bedroom.

A lawsuit alleging that officials from a high school in an affluent area in Pennsylvania watched a 15-year-old at home on a school-issued laptop’s webcam has raised awareness of a relatively unknown risk.  Many laptops sold today have webcams built into the monitor creating for the potential of increased voyeurism.

According to an article on philly.com:

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, the family said the school’s assistant principal had confronted their son, told him he had “engaged in improper behavior in [his] home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in [his] personal laptop issued by the school district.”

The Lower Merion School District, the suit alleged, was able to turn on the webcams and illegally invade students’ privacy.

According to the publication:

A statement on the district Web site said the lawsuit’s allegations “are counter to everything that we stand for as a school and a community.”

Stephen Henderson, a law professor interviewed for the story, told philly.com that using such a camera for home surveillance “would violate wiretap laws, even if done to catch a thief.”

It is important for folks with webcams to understand how the popular device works. Some have lights that illuminate when activated, while some do not.  Many have the potential to be activated remotely.  To preserve one’s privacy, users with webcams could simple place a small Post-it note over the camera’s hole to avoid any unexpected or undesired exposure.

It is important to remember to always think of the worst-case scenarios with any piece of technology you bring into your home, because chances are someone else already is.

One of the perks of living in New England is the annual showcase of vivid colors that dot the horizon.

But before the vibrant reds, yellows and oranges fade and tumble gently to the ground, you could capture them on your memory card.

The technology Web site ZDNet published an article Thursday sharing tips to capture the best the season has to offer.

Among the advice:

• Use the highest megapixel count when shooting
• Shoot in the morning, after it rains or as the sun begins to set
• Don’t stand in one place; consider chasing chipmunks
• Use a setting of 1/250 of a second or higher shutter speed

For more details and tips from ZDNet, please click here.