The home stretch to Xmas by Leon Setaro
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The home stretch to Xmas by Leon Setaro
15 years 5 months ago
The home stretch to Xmas
Who can help but be distracted by the Xmas festivities and the overwhelming spirit of spending as the final run-up to D-day approaches. Out in the malls it’s crazy time with throngs of shoppers lusting to blow their wages lekker lekker! My cellphone was due for upgrade recently which prompted me to burn some serious hours merged with Internet and dithering around with specs, reviews, user comments and deals. There’s an endless churn of info about anything you want or need on the net and now we can all become experts if we put in the time. Just as with punting, the way I see it it’s all about value for money so if you’re in the market for a mobile handset and/or internet solution and couldn’t be bothered to do the ‘net’ work, read further and found out how to bypass the cellphone counter salesman and go straight in for the meaty.
Cape Season in full swing
There’s been an unrelenting stream of previews and build-up for the Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas to be run at Kenilworth in Cape Town this Saturday, get up to speed on the Interbet Facebook racing news portal here (no facebook account or login required) or catch the stories on the go with your mobile phone at news.interbet.co.za
KZN the rain the rain
This past week has been the first time in ages that we’ve had more than a day’s break from the incessant rain that’s put a damper on training proceedings in recent months. The sun has been shining and just when it looked all back to normal, the forecast leans on the gloom once again for this weekend. Anything can happen during theses times when the horses don’t get any work in for weeks on end and we’ve had 2 recent pick 6 carryovers to stamp home the message. But in horse racing there’s always an angle somewhere and Michael Roberts who trains at private facilities in the midlands where there’s been less rain, has seized the opportunity to bag 4 winners in the last 2 meetings,Keep on eye on his runners!
James Goodman has been in steady and reliable form with his podcasting for Interbet and he’ll be back to preview the meeting at Greyville tomorrow night. You can download the podcast on the Interbet Facebook site here or listen to it anywhere your cellphone will take you, simply by entering news.interbet.co.za into your cellphone web browser. Podcast available Saturday morning at 10h00.
Best mobile phone deals
Now if you’re about to buy/acquire a mobile handset then there’s a few deals you must have a look at before going anywhere near a salesman. The handsets of today are technological marvels that can do so much more that just lay the platform for a voice conversation. Browse Internet directly on the phone or use it as a high speed wireless modem for your computer/laptop, take pictures, record videos, watch movies, watch you tube live, send/receive emails, go anywhere with voice guided Satnav, play music, play games, listen to the radio, plug into your TV, stay connected.. the possibilities have brought us to the point where good o’ fashioned talk, is rapidly losing ground to the realm of ‘always on’ digital networking which comes in at a fraction of the cost! The new generation keep in permanent contact via their mobile handsets running social networking and instant messaging applications such as Facebook and Twitter.. add in GPS, geo-tagging, face detection.. the new developments just keep coming and all the while chipping away at the need to talk but still bringing everyone closer together.
Overall best deal, best value, best phone
This goes to MTN via the Nashua Mobile SP; they’re offering a heavily subsidized Nokia 5800 for R139.00/month which includes R100 rand value to spend as you like on talking, texting, or a data bundle or combo or whatever. With the R100 credit in your pocket, you’re left spending R39 towards the cost of the ‘free phone’; over two years this works out to under R1000 for a phone that costs R3700 cash retail. Not only is the rand-sense a big value score, but the Nokia 5800 handset is out there in the clear as the current best value phone on the market, rivaling even the most expensive phones when it comes to features and performance.
The outstanding Nokia 5800 with class leading display and audio fidelity
If you’re spending R200 a month or more then you get access to the high end and high cost handsets with only minimal additional contribution. The MTN Anytime 200 deal give back R200 in rand value each month and if you add in an extra hundred bucks monthly to cover a handset, then for R300 a month there’s 3 very serious phones to choose from.
The Samsung Jet at face value/on looks hardly draws a second glance in this price range but pop open the hood and you’ve got unmatched power and functionality lurking beneath. When it comes to the absolute full house of tech, this is the phone that leaps out tops in every aspect. The AMOLED screen resolution is an inconceivable 800x480pixels squeezed into a 3.1 inch display and currently leading the market in pixel density. Two other areas where it drills the relative opposition is in speed/processing power (800 MHz) and top class video recording at D1 resolution. This handset does it all right out the box with no mods necessary and takes first prize for best all rounder.
When it comes to features, the Samsung Jet is in a class all its own.
If you’re more into flash and style, then take a look at the HTC Hero running the Android o/s, also available on the Anytime 200 for R299 a month. This is the best looking phone on the market and is sure to elicit gasps and undivided attention where ever you choose to quick draw it. Unfortunately it falls short in the multimedia department but what it does offer is the best rated web browser available and a superb touch screen and user interface. Resolution comes in at 480x320pixels across 3.2 inches, it’s a great quality display but as with the feature list, once again it falls short when viewed next to the Jet.
The award winning HTC Hero for unmatched style and appearance
The 3rd phone worth considering in this price range is the HTC Touch Diamond2 which comes in at R289.00/month on the Anytime 200 package. It shares the top of the range resolution of 800x480pixels with the Samsung Jet but is geared more towards communication and as with the Hero, lets the side down when it comes to multimedia functionality eg. camera/video recording and video/movie playback. In line with the HTC stable, it sports a slick and visually impressive touch interface which runs atop the Windows Mobile platform, this phone is the compromise between the style and ‘flashiness’ of the Hero and the pure performance and full house feature list of the Samsung Jet.
The HTC Touch Diamond2 – top of the range pixel density (resolution) display with the style and cool factor that is HTC
If you’re looking to go even higher then you’re in the realm of the HTC Touch Pro2 and HTC Touch HD, these are the handset heavyweights with even bigger screens and bigger price tags. At the other end of the marketplace - cheap but still value, take a look at the Samsung Star available through Nashua Mobile/MTN for R79.00/month - you get R100 preloaded monthly and the phone worth R2k for free!
To read in-depth reviews about mobile handsets visit www.gsmarena.com and pay particular attention to the pros and cons section (located on page 1) of each review.
Best value Internet access and it's wireless
Another area where MTN has come to the party is with wireless internet access. With a bit of tweaking you can get 1gig of internet data per month at a cost of less than 10c per MB. As far as I know that’s just about the cheapest internet option on the market at the moment. Here’s how you do it –
Take the ‘no handset’ Anytime 200 contract with MTN at the cost of R99/month and you get R200 preloaded into your account each month, the equivalent of 50% discount! A 2gig HSDPA data bundle will cost R389.00 and will last for 2 months. By accumulating the first month’s R200 airtime, you can then add it to the next month’s R200 and purchase the 2gig data bundle at R389.00 which in effect gives you 1gig per month for the next 2 months at a cost of only R99/month.. ongoing for the duration of the contract. If you want cheap, high speed internet this is the only option to consider! All you need is a GPRS modem or cellphone; put your simcard in, connect to your computer via USB or Bluetooth and you’ve got Internet at 10c per MB.
If you’re stuck with any IT and/or communications issues, feel free to drop me a mail at leon@interbetsa.co.za and I’ll do my best to assist.
Have a great weekend,
Cheers!
Leon Setaro
Who can help but be distracted by the Xmas festivities and the overwhelming spirit of spending as the final run-up to D-day approaches. Out in the malls it’s crazy time with throngs of shoppers lusting to blow their wages lekker lekker! My cellphone was due for upgrade recently which prompted me to burn some serious hours merged with Internet and dithering around with specs, reviews, user comments and deals. There’s an endless churn of info about anything you want or need on the net and now we can all become experts if we put in the time. Just as with punting, the way I see it it’s all about value for money so if you’re in the market for a mobile handset and/or internet solution and couldn’t be bothered to do the ‘net’ work, read further and found out how to bypass the cellphone counter salesman and go straight in for the meaty.
Cape Season in full swing
There’s been an unrelenting stream of previews and build-up for the Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas to be run at Kenilworth in Cape Town this Saturday, get up to speed on the Interbet Facebook racing news portal here (no facebook account or login required) or catch the stories on the go with your mobile phone at news.interbet.co.za
KZN the rain the rain
This past week has been the first time in ages that we’ve had more than a day’s break from the incessant rain that’s put a damper on training proceedings in recent months. The sun has been shining and just when it looked all back to normal, the forecast leans on the gloom once again for this weekend. Anything can happen during theses times when the horses don’t get any work in for weeks on end and we’ve had 2 recent pick 6 carryovers to stamp home the message. But in horse racing there’s always an angle somewhere and Michael Roberts who trains at private facilities in the midlands where there’s been less rain, has seized the opportunity to bag 4 winners in the last 2 meetings,Keep on eye on his runners!
James Goodman has been in steady and reliable form with his podcasting for Interbet and he’ll be back to preview the meeting at Greyville tomorrow night. You can download the podcast on the Interbet Facebook site here or listen to it anywhere your cellphone will take you, simply by entering news.interbet.co.za into your cellphone web browser. Podcast available Saturday morning at 10h00.
Best mobile phone deals
Now if you’re about to buy/acquire a mobile handset then there’s a few deals you must have a look at before going anywhere near a salesman. The handsets of today are technological marvels that can do so much more that just lay the platform for a voice conversation. Browse Internet directly on the phone or use it as a high speed wireless modem for your computer/laptop, take pictures, record videos, watch movies, watch you tube live, send/receive emails, go anywhere with voice guided Satnav, play music, play games, listen to the radio, plug into your TV, stay connected.. the possibilities have brought us to the point where good o’ fashioned talk, is rapidly losing ground to the realm of ‘always on’ digital networking which comes in at a fraction of the cost! The new generation keep in permanent contact via their mobile handsets running social networking and instant messaging applications such as Facebook and Twitter.. add in GPS, geo-tagging, face detection.. the new developments just keep coming and all the while chipping away at the need to talk but still bringing everyone closer together.
Overall best deal, best value, best phone
This goes to MTN via the Nashua Mobile SP; they’re offering a heavily subsidized Nokia 5800 for R139.00/month which includes R100 rand value to spend as you like on talking, texting, or a data bundle or combo or whatever. With the R100 credit in your pocket, you’re left spending R39 towards the cost of the ‘free phone’; over two years this works out to under R1000 for a phone that costs R3700 cash retail. Not only is the rand-sense a big value score, but the Nokia 5800 handset is out there in the clear as the current best value phone on the market, rivaling even the most expensive phones when it comes to features and performance.
The outstanding Nokia 5800 with class leading display and audio fidelity
If you’re spending R200 a month or more then you get access to the high end and high cost handsets with only minimal additional contribution. The MTN Anytime 200 deal give back R200 in rand value each month and if you add in an extra hundred bucks monthly to cover a handset, then for R300 a month there’s 3 very serious phones to choose from.
The Samsung Jet at face value/on looks hardly draws a second glance in this price range but pop open the hood and you’ve got unmatched power and functionality lurking beneath. When it comes to the absolute full house of tech, this is the phone that leaps out tops in every aspect. The AMOLED screen resolution is an inconceivable 800x480pixels squeezed into a 3.1 inch display and currently leading the market in pixel density. Two other areas where it drills the relative opposition is in speed/processing power (800 MHz) and top class video recording at D1 resolution. This handset does it all right out the box with no mods necessary and takes first prize for best all rounder.
When it comes to features, the Samsung Jet is in a class all its own.
If you’re more into flash and style, then take a look at the HTC Hero running the Android o/s, also available on the Anytime 200 for R299 a month. This is the best looking phone on the market and is sure to elicit gasps and undivided attention where ever you choose to quick draw it. Unfortunately it falls short in the multimedia department but what it does offer is the best rated web browser available and a superb touch screen and user interface. Resolution comes in at 480x320pixels across 3.2 inches, it’s a great quality display but as with the feature list, once again it falls short when viewed next to the Jet.
The award winning HTC Hero for unmatched style and appearance
The 3rd phone worth considering in this price range is the HTC Touch Diamond2 which comes in at R289.00/month on the Anytime 200 package. It shares the top of the range resolution of 800x480pixels with the Samsung Jet but is geared more towards communication and as with the Hero, lets the side down when it comes to multimedia functionality eg. camera/video recording and video/movie playback. In line with the HTC stable, it sports a slick and visually impressive touch interface which runs atop the Windows Mobile platform, this phone is the compromise between the style and ‘flashiness’ of the Hero and the pure performance and full house feature list of the Samsung Jet.
The HTC Touch Diamond2 – top of the range pixel density (resolution) display with the style and cool factor that is HTC
If you’re looking to go even higher then you’re in the realm of the HTC Touch Pro2 and HTC Touch HD, these are the handset heavyweights with even bigger screens and bigger price tags. At the other end of the marketplace - cheap but still value, take a look at the Samsung Star available through Nashua Mobile/MTN for R79.00/month - you get R100 preloaded monthly and the phone worth R2k for free!
To read in-depth reviews about mobile handsets visit www.gsmarena.com and pay particular attention to the pros and cons section (located on page 1) of each review.
Best value Internet access and it's wireless
Another area where MTN has come to the party is with wireless internet access. With a bit of tweaking you can get 1gig of internet data per month at a cost of less than 10c per MB. As far as I know that’s just about the cheapest internet option on the market at the moment. Here’s how you do it –
Take the ‘no handset’ Anytime 200 contract with MTN at the cost of R99/month and you get R200 preloaded into your account each month, the equivalent of 50% discount! A 2gig HSDPA data bundle will cost R389.00 and will last for 2 months. By accumulating the first month’s R200 airtime, you can then add it to the next month’s R200 and purchase the 2gig data bundle at R389.00 which in effect gives you 1gig per month for the next 2 months at a cost of only R99/month.. ongoing for the duration of the contract. If you want cheap, high speed internet this is the only option to consider! All you need is a GPRS modem or cellphone; put your simcard in, connect to your computer via USB or Bluetooth and you’ve got Internet at 10c per MB.
If you’re stuck with any IT and/or communications issues, feel free to drop me a mail at leon@interbetsa.co.za and I’ll do my best to assist.
Have a great weekend,
Cheers!
Leon Setaro
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