In Depth: Complete guide to buying an Android handset

In Depth: Complete guide to buying an Android handset

from Techradar - All the latest technology news

Have you been wondering whether to buy an Android handset? Now's the time to go for it. Android handsets remain dominated by HTC, but this is rapidly changing, with Motorola and Samsung among those getting in on the act and more phones on the way from Sony Ericsson, Acer and more.

And with Android 2.0 (Eclair) around the corner, the OS is certainly starting to gain traction - especially as Windows Mobile still lags way behind and not everybody wants to pay £35-a-month for an iPhone.

• Why Android 2.0 is going to be a very big deal

So, in no particular order, here's our guide to buying an Android handset. When looking for deals, make sure you have at least some form of "unlimited" internet included in your tariff. As with the iPhone, it's a must-have for Android.

Motorola Dext

One company for whom Android is make or break is Motorola. Its first offering is the Dext, a slide-out QWERTY with a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen in landscape format (like the HTC Touch Pro 2). Like many manufacturers do with Windows Mobile, Motorola has also supercharged Android with its own customised overlay, called MotoBlur.

It's available free on Orange for £35 a month, while if you pay £80 up front you can save cash on a £25-per-month tariff.

Moto will also be sneaking in the first handset with Android 2.0, the Milestone (also known as the Droid). It was rumoured to be coming to O2 and Vodafone - though O2 has denied it will stock either Moto handset.

Read: Motorola DEXT review

Browse the best Motorola DEXT deals in the UK

HTC Hero (Orange Graphite, T-Mobile G2)

The Hero is a superb handset - certainly HTC's best so far, running HTC's Sense UI. It's fast and has a great, responsive 3.2-inch touchscreen.

We think the Hero is a big improvement over the Magic, but you do pay a slight premium for it over Voda's Android offering - it's free on various £35-a-month Orange tariffs. We also found a £30-a-month deal on Orange (with 500MB of internet per-month) although it was a 24-month deal unlike the former, which is an 18-month deal.

You can have the G2 Touch for free on T-Mobile paying £30 a month - it's a £25-per-month deal with £5 for unlimited internet.

The Hero is a superb handset and isn't that expensive. The only negative is the 5-megapixel camera which gives disappointing results for both images and video.

Read: HTC Hero review

Browse the best HTC Hero deals in the UK

HTC Magic

The second Android phone to be released might not be at the head of the pack any longer, but that means you can pick it up at a good price on Vodafone. It's a very light phone at 119g with a 2.8-inch touchscreen and while some might view the casing as looking a bit cheap, we don't agree.

You can get it for free from £25 a month with unlimited internet - though this only comes with 75 minutes of calls, so you'll probably want the £30 plan.

Read: HTC Magic review

Browse the best HTC Magic deals in the UK

Samsung Galaxy i7500

Samsung wanted to put the cat among the Android pigeons with the feature-rich and O2 exclusive Galaxy, but as you'll see the network has rather priced this handset out of the game.

The handset is extremely slim at just 11.9mm thick and also packs an extremely bright OLED screen - even under bright lights the screen still stands out. It's also extremely lightweight at 116g.

Unfortunately O2 is offering the handset for premium prices - you'll need the iPhone-esque £35 tariff with 600 minutes and unlimited web, but you'll still have to pay £97 for the handset. You have to hike up to the £44 tariff before you can even get it for free. The phone is great, but the prices aren't.

Read: Samsung Galaxy i7500 review

Browse the best Samsung Galaxy i7500 deals in the UK

HTC Tattoo review

With a 2.8-inch touchscreen and 3.2-megapixel camera, the Android 1.6-sporting Tattoo is designed to be the first real budget Android offering. But because it's new, it's not always cheaper than other Android handsets that have already been on the market.

However, while we praised the design and battery life, we're not so keen on the screen and camera.

Like the Magic (which it certainly looks smarter than), you can get it on Vodafone for free from £25 a month with unlimited internet - once again this only comes with 75 minutes of calls, so you'll probably want the £30 plan.

Orange offer a nicer deal, still getting the phone free but with 200 minutes and 300 texts for £18 a month. You will need to put £5 on that for 500MB of internet, though.

Read: HTC Tattoo review

Browse the best HTC Tattoo deals in the UK

T-Mobile Pulse

Another handset designed for the lower end of the market, the Pulse is free from T-Mobile on the Combi 35 tariff with 1,000 minutes on a 24-month deal. It's £25 a month with the phone for free, though you'll need to boost this by £5 for unlimited internet, so it's not super-cheap.

The handset itself has a disappointing camera and battery life, but it's the first handset from Chinese company Huawei and it has an impressive array of features behind the 3.5-inch touchscreen.

Read: T-Mobile Pulse review

Browse the best T-Mobile Pulse deals in the UK

And what else is coming?

As you might expect, there are plenty of Android handsets on the horizon, too. Acer is steaming in with the Liquid soon but it appears the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (also found in the Toshiba TG01 Windows Phone) will be underclocked.

Yesterday Sony Ericsson unveiled its new Android handset, the Xperia X10, which also sports the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a 4-inch high resolution screen. Like the Liquid, it will run Android 1.6 Donut.

The aforementioned 3.7-inch widescreen Motorola Milestone will be the first handset to run Android 2.0. And then there's the Samsung Galaxy Lite - otherwise known as the Spica - though it's not yet confirmed for the UK.

Read: Our hands on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review and our hands on: Acer Android Liquid review

Posted by Mahdi at 10:55 PM

Even more Modern Warfare 2 reviews have surfaced: It’s good

Even more Modern Warfare 2 reviews have surfaced: It’s good

from CrunchGear by Nicholas Deleon

You know what day it is! Herein lies my usual review round-up (see yesterday’s preview), starring Modern Warfare 2. Right now I’ll highlight the good in the game, and later today I’ll highlight the bad. Very exciting, yes.

From 1UP (gave the game an “A”:

Mixing real-world locations with bombastic set-pieces MW2 continues the guided, thrill-ride experiences of its predecessor, and adds even more depth to its multiplayer offerings. It might not have fixed all the problems from the first game, but there’s just so much quality content packed into this game that it will almost certainly be one of the most-played games in your library for a long time to come.

From IGN (gave the game a “9.5,” but I wanted to see a “9.7”):

When you look at the total package, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is hands-down one of the best first-person shooters out there, and a truly amazing offering across any system. For those planning to check out everything Modern Warefare 2 has to offer – online competition, full co-op Spec Ops mode, as well as the campaign – you’re looking at a no-brainer purchase. For the strictly single player crowd, however, Modern Warfare 2 is surprisingly short, and doesn’t live up to the standard set by previous Call of Duty games. The campaign can be completed in as little as four and a half hours, and the missions make better scenarios and moment-to-moment adrenaline rushes than they do a cohesive, well-told story. If you’re going solo, you’ve officially been warned. Look at the complete Modern Warfare 2 experience though, and there’s no denying its rightful place at the top.

From Kotaku (no review number, thank God):

Modern Warfare 2 may not innovate or raise the bar as impressively as Call of Duty 4 did in order to grant it automatic game of the year consideration. The better praise it may deserve is that it’s likely the game that many will be playing well into next year.

From Joystiq (no review number, thank God)

Though we can’t comment on the plastic night vision goggles or the other bonuses you’ll get in the Hardened and Prestige editions, the actual disc containing the game is well worth every cent you’ll shell out for it. The single-player campaign might not engross you enough to want to play through the entire game again, but multiplayer and Spec Ops will both bring you back many, many times.

I’ll add more as I find ‘em throughout the day.

Additionally, later today I’ll do a round-up of negative things about the game—it seems the single-player is a bit short, which is a problem for me since I’m primarily a single-player guy—as well as some other Modern Warfare 2-related ideas I’ve got in my head.

Oh, I’m pretty sure none of us have the game yet, so it’ll be a while before you see one of us say “I think the game is such and such.”

Posted by Mahdi at 3:25 AM

Android 2.0 Review: Almost Human [Review]

Android 2.0 Review: Almost Human [Review]

from Gizmodo by matt buchanan

A year ago, Android was an unfinished OS for nerds, bursting with potential. With Android 2.0, it's evolved into something sleeker, more refined and focused—but still something not quite human.

Over the last year, Android's evolved more rapidly and appeared in more shapes than any other smartphone OS. Every major update has made Android more capable and advanced, while custom interfaces from companies like HTC and Motorola, mean it's constantly and continually shifting shapes. When you look at the bucket of bolts everybody started with, some of the oh-so-shiny end results were kind of amazing. Android 2.0 blows all of that away, and lays down a platform for the next year that's wildly more compelling, even as it retains a lot of the same fundamental weaknesses.

New Skin, Same Awkward Body

Android 2.0 is glossy—not in an Apple "the whole world is shiny and reflective" kind of way, but more like molded plastic for a collectible action figure. The cartoon whimsy—the classic Google rainbow of bright colors—are gone. The iconography, redrawn for high-res displays packed with tons of pixels, is smoother and sleeker, more subtle, and forces you to ask yourself, "Google designed this?"

While icons and menubars have been polished to fine gloss, and some things are cleaner and better organized—settings, for instance—overall, the user experience is basically the same: three desktops, which you can pack with icons and widgets; the still brilliant drop-down notification shade, which pools everything Android wants to tell you; and a pop-up tab where all of your apps are at. This is all still fine, mostly, if a bit muddled.

The reason that cluttered interface confusion is mostly fine is that multitasking with Android is addictive, and it's a better, easier-to-use implementation than any phone but the Pre. The window shade, a simple but powerful concept, is what makes it work. If I'm browsing the internet and get a message, I can pull the shade down, check the message, and go right back to browsing. Or flip over to messaging, reply, and get right back to browsing. At this, Android 2.0 excels, especially now that everything runs faster.

The long press and menu button conventions are still used nearly everywhere throughout the OS, but almost always inconsistently. If you're trying to do something in-app and have no idea how, there's a good chance the action you're looking for is buried behind the menu button or a long press. But these controls do different things in almost every single app, and even sometimes in the same app, depending on the context.

Universal search, and in particular, voice commands which let you quickly access search, map or navigate with surprising accuracy (seriously, it deciphers my mumbling better than my mom), are probably the most significant improvements to usability. Universal search isn't quite as universal as we'd like, though. It only pores over apps, contacts, YouTube, music and the web—you have to go into the messaging and email apps separately to search through them, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

And while Android 2.0 is capable of multitouch, other than making typing smoother, it's nowhere to be found, at least not where I want it: the browser and maps. Also, the portrait keyboard's still too tiny.

A Killer Machine, Sorta

Software is inextricably tied to hardware in many respects, and nowhere is that more true than performance. Droid, the first Android 2.0 phone—and the only one we've used—is ridiculously capable, with an ARM Cortex A8 TI OMAP3430 processor that's basically the same as the chips inside of the Palm Pre and iPhone 3GS. Point being, it's got heavy duty processor firepower.

So it's absolutely inexplicable that while it's overall the fastest version of Android yet—most apps fly open instantly, run zippily and practically zoom from one to another, even with a couple running in the background—very basic user interface elements, like the main pop-up menu on the home screen and sliding over from one desktop to another, often stutter or lag (with no apps running up front, and just a couple of widgets on the desktop). At this point, it's clear that these performance hiccups are an Android problem, not a hardware deficiency. It's maddening to hold a badass phone like the Droid and watch it handle menus like a pussy.

Accounts, Contacts, Exchange and Other Serious-Sounding Words

Besides Google Maps Navigation Beta, Android 2.0's most significant upgrade for regular people is all about contacts and networking. Like the Palm Pre and HTC's Sense UI, it integrates contacts from multiple sources—namely, Facebook and Exchange (no Twitter yet). The scheme works exceptionally well, with finesse that's almost out of character for Google. The way it pulls in your Facebook contacts actually makes sense: When you add the account, you can choose to add all 900 of your Facebook contacts, or just the ones who you have actual Google contacts for. Oh, sweet reason! It even managed to match our address book contacts with correlating Facebook accounts pretty accurately and seamlessly, with a few exceptions.

1. Everybody whose name is capitalized in the screenshot is matched up with Facebook—I loathe capital letters, but got over the inconsistency.
2. And the rarely mismatched contacts prove difficult, if not impossible, to completely straighten out.

Quick Contact is what keeps this orgy of personal information from getting too messy when it's time to get down to business—clicking on a contact's icon blooms a row of icons, letting you instantly ping them via SMS, phone, email, Facebook or whatever you want.

Android finally approaches a real smartphone when it comes to accounts. Multiple Google accounts and Exchange support come stock. What's that mean? Well, if you have a hosted Google apps account for work, and a personal one (like all of us at Giz do), you can use the awesome native Gmail application for both, instead of being forced to relegate one of the accounts to the separate, okay-but-not-as-good email app, which is what handles all of your Exchange, IMAP and POP mail. The only bummer is that you still have to toggle between each Google account mailbox in the Gmail app. (Yes, there are two different email applications. A Gmail app, and one for everything else. And they're completely different.)

There's one serious limitation to the multiple Google account support: The only Google calendars that sync to the phone are the ones from your main Google account, not your secondary one. Exchange calendars, on the other hand, use the separate-but-equal-as-far-as-I-can-tell "Corporate Calendars" app. We tested Exchange support using mail2web's free service, and everything seemed to show up correctly, FWIW.

Maps

The biggest change to Google Maps is Navigation, which Wilson Rothman, a Magellan for our time, reviewed extensively here. My assessment is mostly the same after a weekend in a car—it's pretty good, but occasionally befuddling and hard to get around. A potential point of confusion is that Navigation is both integrated into Maps and also its own distinct app, unlike Latitude.

Also new, sorta, is layers. Basically, every bit of information you wanna see in Maps is now a "layer." Like if I've got Latitude up on the map, and want to see nearby coffee places with satellite view, that's three layers—Latitude, a search for coffee, and satellite view. It can get a little confusing, especially if you're going from search to search or Maps to Navigation and then back to Maps—none of it's conceptually clean or simple, and the interface isn't always aren't entirely self-apparent. Also. Pinch. To. Zoom. I want it.

Browse Awesomer, But No (Multi)Touchy

The browser's faster, smarter and more powerful, and is probably the second best browser now, next to mobile Safari. It mostly cuts through lardass sites like Gizmodo with pep previous versions didn't, with more responsive scrolling and panning (slowdown does happen though). The browser actually starts you out on each site with a view of the entire page now, which is nicer in theory, but then it makes you want to pinch to zoom in—which, like Maps, is not enabled. You're stuck with unwieldly buttons and double-taps that never quite line the page up the way they should. If Palm, who's an insect by comparison, can pinch and zoom with impunity, why can't Google? Don't say it's out of friendship, because Apple doesn't even like you guys anymore.

Well, It Would Be a Better Camera

More controls! Yay! White balance, focusing mode, color and more. It's just too bad that on the Droid, the camera's completely unresponsive garbage. I don't know if it's software or hardware, so I'm mentioning in it both here and in our Droid review. Fix please.

Multimedia, or the Lack Thereof

The only way to get your music and videos on the phone is to manually drag and drop the files. There is no syncing, no easy way to get your music library onto your phone. How are normal people supposed to figure this out? Verizon reps actually joked about how putting music on the Droid is sure to make for a lovely Saturday afternoon. What. The. Shit.

And, there's not even a built-in video player! I have a phone with drop-dead gorgeous screen that I can't use to play movies without digging up my own video app, even if I could figure out how to get videos onto it. Correction: The video player's tucked inside of the slow and rather buggy Gallery application, where you also browse photos. And it wouldn't play videos that worked perfectly on a Zune HD or iPhone. Also, it and the music player are hideous.

Until I can magically and perfectly sync 12 gigs of music and videos over the air, you can't get away with not having a media sync desktop application. And DoubleTwist, a third-party app that can sync to Android, doesn't really count, since it's not bundled with it. (Update: FWIW, if you know where to look, Motorola offers a PC-only Media Link application for its Android phones. But it still doesn't solve the larger Android problem—Google needs to specify an easy-to-use syncing solution for people who need that.) Make no mistake, for a phone platform that's supposed to be ready for consumers now, this is a disaster, like a spaceship that's about to shoot into the atmosphere with a gaping hole in the side.

Goin' to the Android Market, Buyin' Some Apps

The Android Market has over 10,000 apps, and its state of the union is still a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's finally got official apps from Facebook, Amazon, Pandora and other critical names people expect on their phone. On the other, and almost universally, these apps aren't nearly as polished or full-featured as their iPhone counterparts (look no further than the Facebook app, which lacks even messaging in Android). And games? It's a pretty desolate wasteland, if you're looking for something beyond NES emulators. The library is getting better, and will undoubtedly keep getting better, but it's hard not to lament Android's comparative app ghetto, even as the platform's poised to explode. (Update: Another point I forgot to mention, and part of the reason Android games are limited in scope, is the storage limit for apps since they can't be installed on the SD card—for instance, it's 256MB on the Droid.)

A problem that's currently plaguing the ecosystem, and is hopefully not a foreboding omen of the fragmentation to come, is that many apps weren't designed for the higher resolution screens that Android 2.0 supports, so their icons and graphics render crap-ugly on Droid, even in the main menu. (Granted, the phenomenon is partly Google's fault for restricting access to the 2.0 SDK to all but a select group of privileged developers until basically the day Droid was announced.)

The Market itself, while it got a desperately needed facelift with 1.6, still has a ways to go. There's no way to update all of your applications simultaneously—you have to click through the update process for each one. And finding apps remains a problem. Browsing for apps exclusively on your phone is a tedious experience, especially when there's so many apps to wade through. Besides more refined browsing and suggestions, there needs to a way to look through the Market on your desktop. Also, Google's got this whole cloud thing going, why aren't my apps tied to my Google account, so if I move to another phone, they'll all magically repopulate it, like my contacts?

Wherefore Art Thou, Android?

I probably sound like I'm more down on Android 2.0 than I actually am. I like it a lot, truthfully. It's an amazing conduit for Google's services. If your online life is lock, stock and barrel Google, there really isn't a better or more powerful smartphone for getting stuff done in that universe. The Gmail app is a perfect distillation of Gmail for a small screen. The Google Talk app, if you have a bunch of friends using Gtalk, is fantastic. Google, really, is Android's greatest strength. Excellent multitasking is a close second.

In time, Android very well could be the internet phone, hands down, in terms of raw capabilities. And while it's not as easy to use or polished or seamless as the iPhone—or to some extent, Palm's WebOS—it's way more usable than most other smartphones, and keeps evolving, way faster than anyone else, continually closing that gap. Android 2.0's potential finally feels as enormous as the iPhone's, and I get kinda tingly thinking about it. I can't say Android 2.0 is ready for your mom yet, but it's definitely ready for anybody reading this.

Google's apps are simply awesome

Facebook and Exchange integration works pretty well

Second best mobile browser

New look, same feel

Multiple Google account support somewhat limited

Still kinda sluggish at random intervals

No native way to sync music

Crappy music and video player

Posted by Mahdi at 10:48 PM

Did you know you could play Commodore 64 games on your iPhone?

Did you know you could play Commodore 64 games on your iPhone?

from Download Squad by Sebastian Anthony

Maybe you did, maybe you didn't... but now you know!

The aptly-named Commodore 64 Emulator is yet again available in the App Store for the frugal sum of $4.99 (£2.99 for my fellow imperialists).

It was originally released back in June but unavailable due to violation of Apple's rules on launching executable code (which is what an emulator does). Then in September it was actually approved by Apple -- but only for a few days because of another security issue.

And now... it seems it's back! Properly! 30% faster!

There's bad news however: you can only play games downloaded from the App Store. No uploading your own abandonware ROMs I'm afraid. Maybe some enterprising fellow will manage to hack it...?

There's a fun and detailed 9 minute video of the emulator in action after the break.

Posted by Mahdi at 3:21 AM

20+ Photo Manipulations Art to Ignite Your Creativity

Photo Manipulations Art to Ignite Your Creativity

From instantshift.com

Throughout history, great designers always found new ways to show their creativity to express themselves and create new trends and techniques to remark their work apart from the rest of the crowd. Photo manipulation is an art in itself, that requires a skill and precision as we know, it is one of the most creative artforms to come out of the digital age.

This presentation shows an incredible collection of photo manipulation art related to nature, photography, objects, illustrations, HDR as well as some abstract and fantasy-related concepts. Hopefully, everybody will find something interesting to ignite their creativity.

Photo manipulation can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. Infect, we, designers, can derive inspiration from almost everything around, and this collection can fulfills your design inspiration related needs as we can promise you that when you start browsing them further in details it will surely refresh your memory.

Posted by Mahdi at 8:20 AM

Cinematical Previews the 'Prince of Persia' Trailer

Cinematical Previews the 'Prince of Persia' Trailer

from Cinematical by Todd Gilchrist

Tuesday afternoon at no less than the offices of Jerry Bruckheimer himself, Cinematical joined a small group of reporters from other online entertainment and gaming sites to screen the forthcoming theatrical trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Mike Newell's adaptation of the popular video game series of the same name. Following two screenings of the trailer, which runs approximately two and a half minutes, Bruckheimer and game creator Jordan Mechner answered questions from the group and discussed the development of the film.

While I'm no video game aficionado, the trailer seemed to have the right kind of quasi-interactive action that most modern games do - the "Prince," played by Jake Gyllenhaal, breezily navigates several death-defying scenarios in the short clip, including dodging an avalanche, diving off of a precipice into a swordfight, and fighting off the attention of the comely Gemma Arterton. According to dialogue and voiceover narration, the film essentially follows the Prince as he discovers and protects a sword that can literally turn back time; after several bullet-time sequences where Gyllenhaal transforms into a golden statue (well, more golden than normal), villain Ben Kingsley confesses that he wants to take control of the weapon in order to destroy the world, or control it, or something.

Posted by Mahdi at 3:31 AM

15 Free Guides That Really Teach You USEFUL Stuff

By Simon Slangen from makeuseof.com

Over the past months, we’ve written quite a few PDF manuals for you, on all kinds of diverging subjects, including BitTorrent, iTunes, iPhone, Twitter, Mac, Linux, Photoshop and several other topics.

Initially available only for subscribers, there are now multiple manuals released every month, for everyone to enjoy. After releasing 15 manuals and nearly half a million downloads we thought it was about time to look back and review what has been published so far.

Enjoy! No sign up need, downloads are free, no strings attached.

Do us a favor by sharing those manuals friends!

1 – Internet Guide for the Movie Addict

Written by Saikat Basu, this entirely free PDF production will show you anything you’ve ever dreamed about knowing related to movies on the web. Whether you want a quick heads-up, are looking for download and streaming possibilities, or even want to fix broken AVI’s — you’ll find it in there!



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online.

2 – Internet Guidebook for An Audiophile

In fourty pages, Will Mueller from tells you all you need to know about free internet listening to music, streaming audio to your computer, and free download music sites to get all your favorite songs and albums in a whim. Learn how to share music with others and track a band’s performance and album releases!



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

3 – The Incredible Free Manual for Every Mac User

Jackson Chung, devoted Mac writer and Assistant Editor on MakeUseOf wrote this slick, sixty-odd paged monster; based on Snow Leopard – the latest release of the Mac OS X operating system. In it, he tells you everything you need to know about Mac. Jackson supplies you with numerous tips, tricks and free applications. Get the hang of the interface and discover what your Mac is really capable of.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

4 – The Underground Guide to the iPhone

Written by Stefan Neagu. Read about the basic user interface and a ton of incredible iPhone features you would’ve otherwise missed. Stefan explains in detail how to perform both the very simple and the most tedious tasks. Find out how to get your hands on fresh applications, how to keep your device synchronized and even how to jailbreak your iPhone!



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

5 – Twitter: Best Practices & Tips

In this massive guide, our very own publishing editor Mark O’Neill, tackles every Twitter feature and tips and tricks you can think of. Learn to work the interface, to Tweet from your desktop, cool Twitter bots and funniest people to follow. With this free manual, Mark will make sure you get your black belt in Twitter.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

6 – The Ultimate Guide to your Windows Mobile Phone

If you have a Windows Mobile phone, you will know that stuff can occasionally get pretty difficult. These devices, which are basically mini-computers, have endless possibilities — and thus endless possible difficulties as well.

This is where we come in. Whether you want to (re)discover the most basic features and applications of your device, extend it with new applications and tools, or even flash a custom ROM, the Windows Mobile Guide comes to the rescue.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

7 – A Computer Geek’s Smart Productivity Guide

In this free twenty-paged PDF, Stefan Neagu (yes, he wrote quite a lot of manuals back then) will show you the most common productivity mistakes, as well as a number of applications to improve your touch typing, your time organization, and your global workflow.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

8 – Building a Media Center for your Home

Active MakeUseOf contributor and eBook writer Stefan Neagu, will walk you through all the steps of understanding and creating your own media center.

Read all about the different hardware components, software candidates and media extenders, in this manual for geek to techno-deprived.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

9 – The Only Easy Guide To Computer Networks

To help you set up your networks, as well as with all that comes after, MakeUseOf proudly presents the MakeUseOf Network Manual.

In 33 illustrated pages, Stefan Neagu familiarizes us with the networking knowhow, from Adapters to Zimbabwe-proxies. It’s a great place to start off as a newbie, or to pick up as an already more advanced user.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

10 – The Big Book of BitTorrent

BitTorrent, is a great, perhaps even the best way to download files, both in concept as in use – that is, once you’ve got the hang of it. Saikat Basu takes newcomers by the hand and guides them in their first steps. Initiates, but also the more experienced users get their fair share of information.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

11 – A Newbie’s Getting Started Guide to Linux

In this free ebook you’ll be introduced to the basics of the Linux operating systems. Get to know what it is all about, and familiarize yourself with the practical side. Basically, if you’re a complete Linux newbie and looking for a quick and easy guide to get you started – this is it.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

12 – The Idiot’s Guide To Photoshop

An Idiot’s Guide To Photoshop is the starter’s manual for every Photoshop initiate to carry! This guide starts right at the very bottom, assuming no knowledge at all, and walks you through all basic aspects of the application. The guide even comes with three full pages of shortcuts, cheat sheets covering all the application’s possibilities!



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

13 – The Big Book of iTunes

50+ pages of great iTunes tips and tricks along with illustrative screenshots, written by our very own Mac writer Jackson Chung. The iTunes book has got plenty of cool iTunes tips and tricks for you, some were published on MakeUseOf before and others were collected from different parts of web.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

14 – The Idiot’s Guide to Building Your Own PC

With the complete amateur in mind who has no technical knowledge whatsoever, we show you how to build your own PC! This is a guide where we literally ‘hold your hand’ every step of the way.

MakeUseOf has teamed up with our very own Karl Gechlik to bring you nearly 50 pages full of screenshots, links to video demos and easy how-to instructions for every step involved. The result? The Idiot’s Guide to Building Your Own PC.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

15 – Laptop Buying Guide for 2009

MakeUseOf teamed up with Laptopical.com to give you a Laptop Buying Guide for 2009. It’s a quick 20 page guide with an abundance of screenshots and links to video reviews. This guide is intended to help buyers make an informed choice regardless of previous computer knowledge.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

(BONUS) PSP Up- and Downgrading Guide

Learn how all about up- and downgrading your PSP. We discuss the older software methods, as well as the newer, hardware tricks. With this guide in hand, you can put a modded firmware on nearly any available PSP. Explained to accommodate the absolute novice.



Original Post | Instant Download | Read Online

Posted by Mahdi at 5:18 AM