Tag Archives: smartphone

My Dream Vacation and Must-Have Travel Gadgets | #HTCOne #TroopOneX

Smartphones, Travel, , , ,

If I am without my smartphone for just an hour I get a little anxious.  Don’t you?  I suppose that’s considered an addiction but I could be addicted to far worse things than my favorite gadgets.   That being said, I make sure that I have all of my gadget gear including my phone on my “tech packing list” well before packing for a trip.

blogger travel gadgetsWhat’s on my tech packing list?

1. HTC OneX+
2. External battery charger
3. A/C Charger
4. Regular length USB Cable
5. 10 foot USB Cable (like this one, for times when an outlet is not close)
6. Earphones
7. iPad – for watching movies on flight
8. MacBook
9. Charging Station

Before a trip, especially a blogger trip, I make sure that I move my most frequently used travel related apps to my HTC One X+ homescreen.  Some of my most used apps during travel are Delta for checking flight status, Foursquare for checking in, Pandora for music, Yelp for local restaurant reviews, Hootsuite for Twitter & Facebook updates, Instagram for fun photos, Google Maps for directions, Camera for taking photos, Skype for video chatting with family, and WordPress for blogging.

I mostly use my phone as my camera when I’m on trips.  I take a camera but chances are I’m going to snap the best and most candid photos with my smartphone, not my camera, because my phone is easier to get to.  And, it’s easy to share photos I’ve taken with my HTC One X+ with friends and family, and my social networks, in a snap!

On to my dream vacation

I stayed at Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa in San Diego California a couple of years ago for a media trip with Honda and have wanted to go back, with my husband, since.  While I have a few favorite places right here in Georgia that we travel to often for vacation, I would love for my husband and I to go on a vacation.. sans kids, sometime.  In the 14 years that we’ve been married, we have been on one (mini) vacation without the kids and that was a media trip for a cruise line about 5 years ago.  Hardly a vacation.

If I plan an amazing vacation my husband can’t say no, right?  Did you know that you can plan a vacation right from your smartphone?  There are tons of Android apps that will help you plan your dream vacation from flights, to hotels, to restaurants, and playgrounds!

The 2 top apps I used to plan my dream vacation

First, I checked the Delta app on my phone to see how much a flight to San Diego would cost.

Delta Android App

Then I searched for Estancia La Jolla using Expedia, Yelp, Kayak, and YP apps where I read reviews and got details about the hotel & spa and even checked room availability.  I was very happy to find that Estancia La Jolla gets rave reviews!

Estancia La Jolla

It looks amazing, doesn’t it?

I don’t think my husband will argue about my dream vacation destination.  I would love for the 4 of us to travel overseas to Italy, France, and Ireland but I can’t imagine finding the time anytime soon. I’ll keep you updated if that changes.

You can plan your dream vacation from just about any smartphone but I used my HTC OneX+ to plan mine.  Learn more about the HTC OneX+ and follow @HTC on Twitter.

Share your thoughts..

What is your dream vacation? What are your must-have travel gadgets?  Do you use your phone or camera to take photos while on vacation? Share with us in the comments below. 

Read more posts about my experiences with the HTC One X+:

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, HTC.

I received an HTC OneX+ as part of being a member of the TroopOneX review team.  All opinions in this post are 100% my own.

I Love These Fun and Unique HTC One X and One X+ Cases I Found on Etsy!

Etsy, Gadgets, Smartphones, , , ,

I searched online for cases for my HTC OneX this morning and not being thrilled with the standard, run of the mill cases, I turned to sites like Etsy to find unique, fun phone cases.   Now I am struggling to choose just one case for my phone! I pinned a lot of HTC One X+ cases to a board on Pinterest.  Take a look here.

Some of the cases in the image below are not the specific case for the HTC OneX as the artists doesn’t have an image but in all cases the artist states that they make the same case for the HTC OneX+ as what you see below. That can change at anytime.

Here are a few of my favorites.  (Pin the image below to share with your Pinterest friends!)

HTC OneX phone cases

 

1 – Tortoise and Hare – $19.50

2 – Vincent Van Gogh Almond Blossoms – $15

3 – Leather case and wallet – $69

4 – Smartphone Wristlet – Pretty Penney Clutch – Posies on Turquoise – $30

5 – Cover sleeve handmade with magnetic closure, colorful fish – $15

6 – Andre – a giraffe – $19.50

Where can you find more cool cases like these?

Take a look at my HTC OneX Cases board on Pinterest to see a lot more fun cases for this phone!

 

Which case if your favorite?

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, HTC.

I received an HTC OneX+ as part of being a member of the TroopOneX review team.  All opinions in this post are 100% my own.

A 2-Minute Sneak Peek Video of my Life

Gadgets, New posts, Smartphones, , ,

It’s been about 3 weeks since I started using the HTC OneX+ I’ve been talking to so much about.  Well, I decided to share a 2 minute documentary of our lives here at the Hagan house featuring photos taken on the HTC OneX+.

This video by no means shows you what our every day life is like. That includes messes, chaos, food, and more boring stuff. The shots in the video below are some of my favorite shots I’ve taken on my HTC OneX+ over the last week.

I created the video using the Movie Editor app on the phone and nothing else.. except adding it to YouTube. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it.

Be sure to change the setting of the video to 720p HD for best quality. Click on the gear icon in the bottom right to adjust the setting.

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, HTC.

Want to learn more about the HTC OneX+?

What are you waiting for?  Read these posts I’ve written about it!

Note to my readers: I received a complimentary HTC OneX+ for purposes of this review and giveaway. As always, all opinions presented in my posts are 100% honest.

Getting Great Photos with the HTC OneX+

Gadgets, Smartphones, , , ,

I’ve been using the HTC OneX+ for two weeks.  Transitioning from an iPhone 4s to an Android phone has been much easier than I expected mostly due to the fact that I can customize the OneX+ to my delight, via phone settings, apps, widgets, and the many camera settings.

The HTC OneX+ is currently one of the top selling Android phones on the market. Continuing where the original OneX left off, the OneX+ is even faster by 67 percent and includes a powerful 1.7GHz quad-core processor, twice as much battery power and a whopping 64GB of internal storage. The latter is particularly excellent for individuals who enjoy using their phone as their camera and consider themselves suave photographers.  I am always taking photos and videos of my two kids.  They grow up so fast, right?  I have to catch all of their most precious moments on film.  To that end, the HTC OneX+ is one of the best phones for shooting quality photos and video moments that you never want to forget. If you are considering a new phone based on its camera specifications, it is worth noting all the features found in the OneX+.

HTC OneX+ Android for AT&T
Content and/or other value provided by our partner, HTC.

The HTC OneX+ allows you to capture a group shot via group portrait view. This is the perfect feature if you are a parent and want to snap lots of photos of your kids. If your child’s eyes happen to be closed in a shot you are attempting to take you can rely on five shots taken by the phone at once. This allows you to select the best photo of each person in the shot, which means you can get the perfect shot while taking photos of the family. One of the typical great features of HTC’s One line of smartphones is that you can snap photos while shooting video. This is an excellent way to get terrific pictures time and time again.  If you are shooting a movie of your child’s birthday party, you can kill two birds with one stone simply by tapping the camera button while recording. Select your favorite photos to save them or record stills while you are capturing your movie.  Watch a short movie explaining how to use Group Shot here.

Capturing actions shots with the OneX+’s camera is also extremely easy.   You know those times when you are at your daughter’s ballet recital or your son’s soccer game and you know it’s going to take a lot of shots to get the ‘perfect’ photo?  Well, the OneX+ takes care of that with continuous shooting.  Continuous Shooting is a feature that allows you to get the shot you truly want. Hold down the shutter button to take multiple photos during an action moment. You can select your favorite shots through viewing your saved gallery. This allows you to find those perfect action shots.

The HTC OneX+ camera includes a feature that lets you get great photos in varying backlight conditions. HDR can help you to snap the perfect pictures in bright sunlight so that the subject of your photo is visible and crystal clear. The feature works by taking three shots and bringing together the best light conditions from each to give you the perfect photo.

The 8 megapixel camera includes Flash (with 5 settings), autofocus and HTC’s own ImageSense, which provides the variety of great features for shooting the perfect photos. You can snap up to 99 pictures with a single press. Great for those times that you absolutely can’t miss the perfect shot.  Smart Flash provides five levels of flash, which are automatically set depending on the distance to your subject. Sightseeing mode is available as well, making your phone’s camera always ready for snapping a great shot at any moment.

Photo taken with HTC OneX+

Some of the photographs featured in this post were taken with my HTC OneX+ provided by HTC.  Learn more about the HTC OneX+ here.

Read more posts, on my sites, about the HTC OneX+:

Note to my readers: I received a complimentary HTC OneX+ for purposes of this review..  As always, all opinions presented in my posts are 100% honest.

Droid Incredible 4G LTE Smartphone by HTC for Verizon – Review and #Giveaway | @HTCUSA

Contests, Giveaways, New posts, Smartphones, , ,

A couple of years ago, HTC’s Droid Incredible launched with great reviews and high sales.  The 4G LTE version is the third model in the line of Droid Incredibles, and is a very well designed phone. The HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE is available on Verizon, and is a great family smartphone. The phone itself is sleek and modern, and features competitive hardware. A snappy 1.2 GHz dual core processor powers the phone. It features a 4 inch screen with a 960×540 resolution, and 8 GB of internal memory expandable with an SD card slot.

Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC for Verizon Wireless
Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC for Verizon Wireless

The phone features an 8 MP camera and takes full HD video, making it perfect for capturing special moments. A front facing camera for video calling makes staying in touch with long-distance family easy. Like most smartphones, a built-in GPS provides directions as well as allows location information to be added to online posts, a great feature for bloggers! Integrated Google Maps and Navigation apps give directions and make it easy to find new places to visit around town.

Version 4.0 of the popular Android operating system is included, and has great integration with Google products, including Gmail, Google’s popular email service. The native email app syncs with other popular email services to make most email accounts easily accessible on the phone. Google’s Play Store is another built-in app, and offers a massive marketplace of apps, books, music, magazines, and movies. Verizon loads several of their own applications on the device, including one that easily creates a mobile hotspot to provide Internet access to your laptop, if your data plan supports this feature.

Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC for Verizon
Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC for Verizon

Busy moms will love the Netflix app, which makes streaming movies and videos simple. This app is great for relaxing on the go, or even for a family movie night when connected to a television. Several readers, available in the form of Google’s Play Books, Amazon’s Kindle, or Barnes and Noble’s Nook, allow you to read your favorite novels right on the phone, and connect to popular e-reader platforms if you already have an account with one of these companies.

Facebook is a popular app for teenagers. The Facebook app for Android is free and has most of the social features offered by the full site. The Fandango app is another popular one for teens who love going to movies with friends, and makes it easy to find movie times and other information about popular releases.

Busy moms and teenagers will appreciate receiving this phone as a Christmas gift! It’s slightly smaller than many other similar phones, making it extra portable. It still has all of the features, and is a great way to get entertainment on the go, from books to movies, for when you get a spare moment to relax. The Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC has all of the social features a teenager or busy parent could possibly want to stay connected to their friends and family at a reasonable price, and it can even be helpful for homework.

Both adults and kids will love the Droid Incredible 4G LTE.  I know I and my kids do!

Win a Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC for Verizon smartphone

Want to win a Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC for Verizon?

This is a subscriber only contest.  This means that you must subscribe to our email in order for your entry to be valid.

Use the form below to enter.

This contest is open to U.S. residents ages 18 and over only.  No P.O. Boxes.  Entries accepted through 11:59 December 31st, 2012.  The winner will be contacted by email and must respond to our email by January 3rd, 2013.  If the winner does not respond, another winner will be chosen.

I was provided with a review unit for review purposes and a unit to giveaway. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.