When most people talk about cameras with me, all I hear is megapixels, megapixels, megapixels.  While megapixels on cameras are a big part of making some killer snapshots, they are only part of the equation for getting that amazing image.  Imagine a car that has a 500hp engine but it has no torque or oil, and has sub-par parts that can’t even handle the horsepower. That car wouldn’t be that great anymore, now would it? It is the same concept for cameras.  An 8MP camera isn’t much if the lenses aren’t great or the f-stop is super slow.  There are multiple components that make a great camera and I have found a few that outlast many others.

When the original HTC EVO 4G was released in 2010, it came with an unheard of 8MP camera that everyone freaked out about.  But when you analyze the photos today, they often appear grainy, and the color quality is washed out.  Fast forward to today, and we have the HTC One X.  This is probably the best phone camera you can get on the market today.  HTC has revamped its 8MP camera with its own HTC ImageChip, an f2.0, high quality lenses and features such as shooting video and still images at the same time so that no moment is missed.  I will say from use that there is no lag in shooting photos, and the color quality gives true, accurate hues. To be honest, the photos are just amazing.

The iPhone has always been synonymous with quality.  Apple made huge efforts in making their 8MP camera top line and they truly succeeded.  They use five custom lenses that shape the light coming into the camera and the f2.4 allows more light for a better, more accurate image.  They included a backside illuminator that allows you to take stunning photos even in low-light conditions. You can even edit photos off the camera app.  This camera is a must have for anyone who loves photography.

Lastly, the Nokia Lumia 900.  Nokia has always been huge in cameras and there is no reason not to include them here.  Also using an 8MP camera, they partner with Carl Zeiss lenses.  These are top notch in the camera market and allow brilliant photos to be captured.  Coupled with Windows Phone 7, you can edit your photos and set HDR for even more accurate pictures. You won’t ever miss a moment shooting photos because you can access your camera even when it is locked.

All of these cameras are truly amazing; you will not go wrong by choosing one over the other.  The One X is an all-around camera with amazing features and ultra-accurate hues.  The iPhone 4S gives you a truly stunning camera, especially for photography and movies, and the Lumia 900 gives you a snap-and-go feel while providing top-line snapshots.  The best way to see this is to try them out yourself and capture your own memories.

What are some of the best memories you’ve captured with your phone camera? Tell us in the comments!

Return/Exchange Policies
Best Buy gives you 30 days to return or exchange your phone, no questions asked. However, you’ll want to take into consideration the individual carrier policies.

When you upgrade your phone, or activate a new one, your carrier (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile) will charge you a fee. Should you want to cancel your upgrade/activation, you’ll want to do that within the first three days in order to have that fee refunded.

If it’s past those first three days, you can still return the phone, although that fee will not be refunded by the carrier. Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile all allow 14 days to return the device or cancel an upgrade/activation, and AT&T will give you 30 days to do this.

What to bring
For the easiest return/exchange experience, bring your original receipt with you, along with any accessories the phone came with, including the box. You’ll also need your valid driver’s license (which you would have needed in order to upgrade, too).

So long as the phone is not damaged, Best Buy Mobile should be able to accept your return, and help you make a decision on a better product to fit your needs. We’ll likely want to find out why that particular phone wasn’t to your liking so we can make sure you’re satisfied the second time around. That feedback is critical for us. We want to know what you like and what you don’t like. There are a few ways to let us know this valuable information.

Happy 24
When purchasing a new phone, your consultant will ask you if you’d like to sign up for Happy 24 text messages. In addition to helpful tips about your new device, Best Buy Mobile will send you a one-time text asking you to rate your service. You should be able to provide written feedback on your experience as well.

Online Survey
On the bottom of every receipt you get from Best Buy, you’ll see a website listed where you can share your experience with us online. Each survey completed also enters you in a drawing for a shopping spree.

Direct Feedback
And as always, we love to hear from you in person. We’ll likely ask you all about your experience when we see you, but please feel free to let us know what you think while you’re in our stores.

Beats by Dr. Dre
Beats have become a pop culture icon since famous hip-hop artist and producer Dr. Dre started the company in 2006. The Beats line of headphones was designed to give the listener the experience the producer gets in the recording studio. Upon their release, Dr. Dre said, “With Beats, people are going to hear what the artists hear, and listen to the music the way they should: the way I do.” Beats Headphones come in various styles and colors from in ear to over-ear. If you are looking for what the huge recording artists are using these are most likely the headphones for you!

Bose
Bose has long been famous for getting great sound from a small speaker, and that’s no different with their headphones! Bose headphones were pioneers in the noise-cancelling market, and were originally intended for aircraft pilots. These headphones have a great sound and provide a great level of treble without leaving out the bass. Bose headphones also are available as in-ear, on-ear, or over-the-ear design. Although they don’t have a lot of color options, once you listen to them, it won’t matter!

Skullcandy
Like skateboarding, snowboarding, or any other outdoor sport? Well, Skullcandy designed their line of headphones around you! They are quickly becoming one of the largest headphones makers around the world due to their great sound and low cost. Skullcandy headphones are available as in-ear and over-the-ear with tons of different colors and designs. You are sure to find one that fits your style!

Your individual use will determine which headphones are right for you. Each brand and style has its own benefits, and all go great with the huge assortment of mp3 players and smartphones that are available today. If you’re looking for better sound give one of these brands a try!

What would happen if all those pictures were suddenly gone… lost forever? Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence that causes frustration and grief to people who have lost the irreplaceable. When a smartphone is lost or broken, the memories are lost or broken with it. What is one to do?

The old fashioned (though still perfectly normal) way of backing up pictures is to simply plug a phone into a computer through a USB drive. The phone usually shows up as an external drive and it’s easy enough to copy and paste pictures onto the computer’s hard drive. Still, this process can be complicated for some and is hard to remember to do frequently. If only there was a way to store pictures without thinking about. But wait, there is a way!

Apple’s iCloud is a perfect way to keep your iPhone’s photos safe. Besides pictures, iCloud can sync your emails, music, contacts, and much more on any compatible iOS device. Have pictures of your new puppy on your Macbook? They are there on your phone to show your friends. See the perfect sunset while out hiking? Snap a picture, and it’ll be ready on your computer for you to use as a desktop background.

Android users have a similar cloud service available to them through Google Plus. This is an app you can download that allows your pictures to be uploaded to a Google Plus account. Since battery life can sometimes be an issue with our smart phones, Google gives several options for uploading. Once the Instant Upload setting is turned on, you can have your pictures sent through WiFi or a cellular network. If you want to upload your photos every night, you can click the option that mandates uploads only when your phone is on its charger. Your photos can be viewed from any computer. All you have to do is log into a Google Plus account and they appear under the photos section. This is a great way to save, view, and share your photos.

These are the best options for backing up your photos without having to think about doing so. If your pictures are important to you, set up a cloud service as soon as you can. If you’re unsure about how to set these up, stop into a Best Buy Mobile. Our employees are more than willing to help out. We understand and value the importance of those pictures, and we don’t want to see you lose them!

Square Card Reader
Square is largely considered to be the first and most popular mobile payment device, easily visible by the signature white square sitting atop the phone or tablet. Just have a customer swipe their card and collect your payment.  Before use, you must visit a secure website to connect the device to your bank account. While there is no monthly fee, it charges a simple fee of 2.75% of the total transaction price.  It’s the highest compared to the devices by Intuit and PayPal, but the increased rate translates to just a few pennies more for every $20 received.  The iPad is unique in the way it uses Square, in that it’s the only device that allows you to create an actual virtual “store” so that your clients and customers may choose preselected items and services.

Intuit GoPayment
The Intuit GoPayment reader looks like a thick blue cylinder with a slot for credit cards. It connects through the headphone jack like the other two devices.  It does feel a little more “premium” than Square because of its slightly heavier body. The most appealing factor about GoPayment is the low 2.7% transaction fee.  Intuit also provides the user an option to pay $12.95 per month to have the swipe rate reduced to 1.7%, making GoPayment an ideal solution for sellers who hande a large amount of transactions each month.

PayPal Here
Although it hasn’t been released yet, PayPal’s own mobile payment system, called Here, is highly anticipated.  Not only does it have the same low 2.7% fee that GoPayment does, but it provides the added benefit of letting you access the money made from the transaction within minutes, as it becomes available almost immediately in your PayPal account.  Additionally, one of the features that has merchants excited is the ability to not just accept credit or debit cards, but also take checks and PayPal payments.  Within the app you will also be able to create and send out invoices and requests for payments, and track cash transactions.

Everyone starts out the year with their New Year’s resolution, and many people I know always resolve to lose weight. This is fine and dandy until about mid-March or April when everyone becomes too busy or just forgets to work out and that gym membership becomes ancient history. So, what can you do if you want to stay motivated and committed toward your goal?

Well, the brilliance of modern technology has brought a personal trainer and calorie counter right to your fingertips with multiple applications. My Fitness Pal, Calorie Counter and Diet & Calorie Tracker are three different apps all designed with fitness and healthy living in mind. All three have major similarities. They all give you options to enter your foods and exercises for the day and require you to register with your height, weight and age along with weight loss goal. Once you’ve started your workout routine, they track your weight loss for you.

Some of the key differences that I found: Diet and Calorie actually provides exercise videos for you along with Wii Dance and other motion video games that you can incorporate into your exercise quotas. I like My Fitness Pal because I couldn’t find a food that wasn’t in their list of foods. Also, it includes house cleaning as an activity, great for those stay at home parents and those who clean houses for a living – gosh knows it’s exercise! Calorie Counter is a good general app but I wasn’t as impressed with it as I was with the other two – unless you like the lower calorie count it provided for the same foods.

Overall, I think to continue on your diet and fitness goal, Diet and Calorie or My Fitness Pal would be the way to go. Hang in there with your fitness goals and resolutions – come next year you’ll be happy you did!

First step was to figure out my wants and needs.  What do I need my phone to do to make life more convenient? I am always emailing, texting, listening to music, taking pictures, and Googling anything that comes to mind.  Oh and of course the occasional phone call. The nerd in me desires the latest and greatest so I had to keep that in mind as well.

Next I jumped on BestBuy.com so I could read up on the newer smartphones.  I was looking at specs and reviews.  I needed to find a phone with a powerful processor to handle all of my tasks.  I’d also want a pretty good camera and a decent screen to view my pictures and watch videos.  Gotta love YouTube!  My online research helped me narrow down my selection.  I was eyeballing the HTC Rezound, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and the Motorola DROID RAZR Maxx.  (I was purchasing a new phone for my Verizon line.)

Next stop…my local Best Buy!

Best Buy Mobile is the easiest place to shop for a cell phone because we have the absolute best selection of mobile phones and carriers!  I already had some online research under my belt so now I wanted the hands-on experience.  I walked into the store and started chatting with the employees about my three possible phone choices.  Heck, I even asked some of the customers about their phones and what they thought about my top three prospects.  After playing with the phones and pestering people with questions I made my decision.

I went with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus because it had a powerful processor, big beautiful screen, the newest version of Android, and 4G LTE for a high-speed web experience.  I grabbed a case and screen protector and signed up for Geek Squad Black Tie Protection.  The Nexus costs $800 to replace so the protection plan was a no-brainer.  I also jumped on the Buy Back program because I always want the new stuff and Buy Back will help me pay for that new stuff.  Another wise investment!

My phone purchase was a pleasant one.  I was prepared and Best Buy Mobile helped me with the whole journey from the website to the store.  If you want the best experience when you purchase your next phone, visit Best Buy.  Whether you are already prepared or not, we can help you get there.

Measuring in at 5.31″ by 2.72″ with a 4.7″ HD touch screen display, the EVO 4G LTE is  big  but not bulky. A sturdy, sleek design includes Corning® Gorilla® Glass to protect the screen. The familiar EVO kickstand makes it easy to convert your phone to a stand-up viewing screen. A built-in Beats Audio system delivers some of the highest quality sound ever found on a smartphone. An 8-megapixel rear-facing camera captures sharp-looking photos and video, while a 1.3-megapixel front camera is ideal for video chat.

Access to Sprint’s new 4G LTE network and a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon means exceptional speed for web-browsing, downloads, gaming and more. The state-of-the-art Android 4.0 operating system and updated HTC Sense interface provide an exciting, intuitive user experience, with access to hundreds of thousands of apps in the Google Play Store.

Hardware
Each of these phones is just beautiful.  It is really hard to grasp the sleek, sexiness of each phone until you see them.  The One X has a gorgeous 4.7” Super LCD-2 display which is brighter, more vivid and offers more natural colors than a standard Super AMOLED display. It also features a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor (international version) or a 1.5 dual-core processor with LTE (US version), an 8MP rear shooter with 1080p HD recording and a 1.3MP front camera. The phone is covered by an impact-resisting polycarbonate shell.

The One S has a truly amazing aluminum shell treated with micro-arc oxidation, in which the aluminum is zapped with 10,000 volts of electricity which makes it five times stronger and gives it a soft feel.  It also has a great 4” qHD Super AMOLED display, 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, the same rear camera as the X (though not HD) and a VGA front shooter.

Software
While the hardware of each phone is truly amazing, the software is where the phone really shines.  The thing is, it is not just Android 4.0 that makes it great.  It is the newly improved HTC Sense which has become more streamlined and doesn’t overwhelm the device like some past releases.

A newly improved camera is receiving praise as the best camera on a phone out there.  It has a lag-free shutter and its own Sense Image chip for better photos and camera performance, especially in low light situations. The camera allows you to shoot video and photos at the same time, which is something that no other phone can do.  It also has Beats Audio built into the entire phone, with an improved speaker that gives crystal quality sound which you have to hear to believe.

Overall, both phones give you the latest that HTC has to offer.  They both have great body designs, amazing cameras, and performance that outclasses many devices.  There is no way you can go wrong by picking either of these devices.  It will be a matter of comfort and which is more aesthetically pleasing to your eye.  Take a look at the One X on AT&T and the One S on T-Mobile and decide for yourself.

“Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” –William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Every day people come into Best Buy Mobile to have us look at their malfunctioning phones. We want to help them, but sometimes the devices are so dirty we don’t even want to touch them. Phones come in caked in dust, dripping wet and with face make-up smeared all over them. Sticky surfaces concern me.

Why Bother?
Keeping our cell phones clean is important for several reasons: First, dirty phones don’t work properly. Dust and dirt inside a phone clog the components, damage the circuits, and can cause malfunctions.

Second, dirty phones have lower trade-in value. More people today than ever before are trading in their old phones for credit towards buying new ones—and they want to get the highest possible value for their phones when they do so. Clean phones, shiny and fully functioning, have a higher trade-in value.

And third, dirty phones are ugly. Screens smeared with make-up, dust and crud in the speakers, cases sticky and stained—are all gross. Eww. And nobody likes touching such phones.

How?
Keeping our cell phones clean is remarkably easy. First, invest in accessories. Cases and screen protectors are simple, inexpensive ways to protect your phone from daily assaults of dust and dirt. At Best Buy Mobile, we can help you find the best accessories to meet your needs.

Second, clean it occasionally. Glass cleaner works very well. Lightly spray a cloth or paper towel, then gently wipe the phone clean. Never spray the device directly—caustic chemicals could get into the phone and ruin it. Cotton swabs are good for getting into small spaces and corners. Same as before, you should wet the cotton swab, not the phone.

And third, don’t get it dirty. As has been often said, “The best defense is a good offense.” Avoiding dirty pockets and purses, trying not to drop it in things or spilling other things on it, etc. are undoubtedly the best ways for keeping it clean.

“Cleanness of body was ever esteemed to proceed from a due reverence to God, to society, and to ourselves,” wrote Sir Francis Bacon. Or put more simply, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” And so it is with cell phones—clean phones work better, look better, and are worth more money in the end. So, do your best to keep it clean.