smartphones

What's the best mic for recording audio on my smartphone?

Episode 980

Jerry from Plymouth Lake, CT

Jerry is making instructional videos and wants the audio to come through his bluetooth headset while recording it so he can do wirelessly. Leo says that the Bluetooth earpiece profile is only phone quality and that's not what he'll want to record quality audio. Leo advises recording to the iPhone via a lapel mic that's plugged into it. Or, he could try a Wireless system like Audio Technica. It would work great as long as he doesn't get a lot of RF interference.

What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy SIV vs the HTC One?

Episode 977

David from Manhattan Beach, CA
Samsung Galaxy SIV

David is going to Google I/O for the first time and he's excited. He wants to know about the Samsung Galaxy SIV. Leo says it's pretty fast, and he got the international version which is more powerful and fully unlocked. However, because it's more powerful, he loses out on getting LTE. He also likes that the Galaxy SIV can exchange batteries.

How can I bring a smartphone overseas without paying for international data?

Sandy from California

Episode 976

Sandy's daughter is traveling to China and she wants to be able to stay in touch. Leo says Sandy will want to tell her daughter to turn off the data roaming feature in her smartphone and just use it via WiFi. That way she can connect and make calls using Skype. She should just be careful to only use her phone on Wi-Fi, though.

Leo's New Companion: The Samsung Galaxy SIV

Episode 976

Leo now has the Samsung Galaxy SIV, and one of the things that it has is a feature called "S Health," which aims to make the Galaxy SIV your "life companion." It'll automatically count steps, calories burned, and even your "comfort level." It really shows that smartphones are really the computers of the future as we get more mobile and wired. With their new ad, Samsung is really milking the generation gap, showing young kids using the Galaxy SIV's new feature, while the older, out of touch parents are using iPhones.

As a first time smartphone user, should I get iPhone or Android?

Episode 975

Carol from LaVerne, CA
iPhone 4S

Carol's family has iPhones, but she's wondering whether she should get the iPhone or the phone Leo got for his Mom, the Samsung Galaxy Note. Leo says that since most of the family uses iPhones, then Carol should get an iPhone. That'll make it easier for her kids to support it. It's also an easier phone to introduce people to the whole smartphone universe. The iPhone also has really good accessibility settings such as making the font bigger one some apps, email and messages.

Should I get a screen protector for my HTC One?

Episode 970

Dino from Syracuse, NY

Dino has ordered the HTC One and can't wait. He wants to know if he should put a screen protector on it, though.

Leo says he doesn't use screen protectors because he hates the loss of the experience and he probably won't be using it for that long anyway. OtterBox is making cases for the HTC One. It won't save it from the glass breaking though. Even if it's scratch resistant, glass does shatter. The Gorilla Glass 3 though, is pretty tough.