Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Beginning today, with new lines and a two year contract, Sprint is unleashing six devices into the wild free phone game.  From psuedo-smartphone capabilities like the Centro, to slide out QWERTY keyboards like that of the LG Rumor and lots more.  The Centro has been reducing in price for sometime, perhaps this is the warning shot of a Centro 2?  Keep reading for full details.

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Since it became an official standard in 1991, Moving Picture Experts Group -1 Audio Layer 3 (or MP3) has proven popular due to the fact that it is easily transferable, good quality and cheaper than hard copies.  So far it has been unpopular with record companies as a result of the close links it has to piracy, but recently Atlantic Records said that over 50% of their revenue was coming from digital sales.

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Gadgetell Quick Review: Navigon 2200T

Cool:

• Low Price(about 200 bucks)
• Good mounting hardware
• Reality view and Lane Assistant Pro feature is really helpful
• Speed warning
• Small size
• Lifetime traffic service

Uncool:

• Sometimes difficult to navigate the screens
• Traffic alerts not factored into initial route plans, but instead notifies you there is a problem and gives rerouting options
• Limited voice selections

The Crux:

Overall, if you can get past some quirks, the 2200T is a very good GPS and the lifetime traffic service makes it a stand out device for the low price.

This is a guest review by Robert Borgesi.  Rob co-hosts the website review program, “ChannelFlip Web” with Iyaz Akhtar on ChannelFlip.com.  Additionally, Rob is a tech enthusiast with years of computer building experience.

Keep reading for the full, in-depth review.

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Looking for a great Black Friday phone deal?  If so, you may want to check out the Motorola ZN5 because T-Mobile will be dropping the price down to free.  The good news here is that you can still take care of all your Black Friday shopping and not worry about missing out because T-Mobile has turned this into a Black Friday weekend and this offer is valid from November 28 through November 30. 

The one catch, which may be a deal breaker for some is that you still have to pay $99 at the time of purchase because the free comes in the form of a mail-in-rebate.  Also, as you would expect, you will also be required the accept the standard two-year agreement. 

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Just about all of us have probably been hit at one time or another by a virus, trojan, or ended up with that dreaded blue screen of death.  It’s certainly not fun when it happens.  These days, simply running Norton in the background often just isn’t enough.  Thankfully, there are several really good programs out there to download (free!) that help us to protect our computer from any nasties trying to worm their way in.

Keep reading for some favorites that are really worth a try.

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Sections: Computers, Security, Software / Applications, Originals, Web, Downloads, Features

Let’s say for whatever reason, you need some cash and have some iPods you are hoarding in case the economy crashes and they are used as currency.  As an economist (in my free time) I can tell you that day isn’t coming - at least the part about using iPods as currency - and it is time to get rid of them.  One easy way: NextWorth.

Find out how by clicking to follow the story.

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Sections: Audio, Portable Audio, Web, Websites

I’d rather not tell you how I found this exclusive deal that will save you $29.99, but I can tell you to thank Oprah.  It seems odd to talk about her again after doing so a couple of weeks ago when she was pimping out the Kindle reader from Amazon.  This time, Snapfish.com was on her show on ways to unclutter your messy home.  Oprah touts getting rid of all your kids artwork and putting them into a keepsake book.

Um, sure Oprah, that is what I am going to do.  Nope, I am half way through making a book from the thousands of images my digital camera took on summer vacation.  Thank God for digital film.

So how do you get your free 8"x11” book free?

Here is the deal:

• Visit this link.
• Create an account or log in
• The credit will be added to your account, so you’ll see it at check out.
• upload photos, arrange, slap in some text
• click “order this book”
• pay shipping.  Sorry, Oprah doesn’t have any connections at the USPS.  Bummer.
• get book while reveling in the fact you beat the man this one day.

The catch

Sweet, right (aside from paying for shipping)?  You must visit this link and get the coupon added today.  You have up to Sunday to create and order the book.  Not a huge catch, but act now.

I’ve made photo books with Snapfish before and have been happy with the results.  I’ll be even happier not shelling out $30.  A big thanks to Snapfish and Oprah!

• Sprint’s Cyber Monday deals: free Centro and 5 others
• Nintendo DS taps into e-reader market
• Nokia’s unlocked N85 now available with Amazon

Sections: Imaging, Accessories, Web, Websites

PhoneFusion announced yesterday that their Fusion Voicemail + is coming to the Android platform that will allow users to view their voicemails and listen to them in any order they choose.  This was a big selling point of the original iPhone and now it is coming to the Android platform.

Currently, PhoneFusion offers this software for free to Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Linux, Palm and Symbian phones via their downloaded application.  PhoneFusion announced the addition of the Android to their compatible platforms at the Under the Radar: Mobility event.  The company says the application will be available before the end of this year.

Find out more about this app.  Click more to follow.

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Yesterday,  Google let loose their video chat to the masses.  If your account doesn’t have the option yet, Google promises within a day or so you will.  The new option for video is very simple and many users are wondering, how does this differ from other online video services like Skype?

Skype is a full-featured video calling program.  It is easiest to think of Gmail voice and chat as augmenting their instant messaging chat rather than something completely new.  One of the biggest differences is Gmail’s version only allows video chatting with other Gmail users who have downloaded the plug in (about 2MB).  With Skype, users are allowed to contact both online and offline numbers, albeit for a fee.  There is not an option to go offline with Gmail voice and chat.

See what else Gmail voice and video users won’t be doing anytime soon.

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Sections: Communications, Email / IM, Web, Web 2.0, Google

Many users of AVG 7.5 and AVG 8 were stuck with Windows systems that didn’t operate after the AVG security scanner software mistakenly identified a necessary Windows component as a Trojan virus. 

The file user32.dll was tagged incorrectly as a banking Trojan after a signature update on Sunday.  The AVG scanner then advised users to delete the “harmful file.“  So, of course…many listened.  And when they did, they were stuck with a system that either would not boot or else was knocked into a continuous reboot cycle.  Continued after the break.

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Sections: Computers, Security, Software / Applications, Web, Downloads, Web Apps, Websites