Stand out in a crowd with the HTC Sensation XL Smartphone. Together with the Beats Audio and the in-box customized urBeats™ headset you can feel every single beat and you have better chances of giving justice to music. When you buy the Sensation XL in South East Asian countries, you automatically have a urBeats headset. You can now bring your audio experience to the next level and listen to the way artists intended the sounds to be.

The HTC Explorer smartphone has four attributes that makes it a unique smartphone and can make it stand out from the rest. Firstly, the HTC Explorer is an intuitive phone. It allows you to easily jump into the features that are most important to you. It’s lockscreen design allows you to quickly access the features that you frequently use. Secondly, the HTC Explorer smartphone allows you to make shortcuts on your home-screen.

One of Android’s biggest advantages over the competition is its large selection of apps. The Android Market is famously developer friendly, foregoing a drawn out approval process like Apple’s Appstore with the goal of cultivating a wider and more diverse landscape of applications. Even so, certain apps just aren’t available through the Android Market. Fortunately, unlike iPhone, Android is an open platform, allowing users to install apps through 3^rd parties without additional customization or risk of breaking warranty. Here’s a quick beginners guide to non-market apps.

What Kind of Apps Are Not on the Market?

There are a variety of reasons why an app might not make it to the official market. Many developers test their brand new apps on tech-savvy Android forum users before going big time in the market. Some apps get pulled off of the market because they conflict with the Android Market’s terms and conditions (this doesn’t mean they are illegal). Some developers prefer not to deal with the Market and sell their app directly through alternative app stores or their own websites. Here’s just a short list of cool and useful apps that you won’t find in the market:

Swype: This app provides an alternate way of using your phone’s keyboard. Instead of tapping with your fingers, Swype lets you slide your fingers from key to key, using auto-completion technology to guess what word you want. Fans of Swype claim that this method allows for much faster typing and texting. Although Swype comes prepackaged on many phones, those that don’t have it will have to venture beyond the market to find it.

Rjdj: This is a cool one. Rjdj is an innovative music app that uses your phone’s microphone to craft “sonic experiences” that react to the natural noises and sounds around you. Walk through a quiet park and the soundscape will be mellow. Walk through a crowded street and the generated sounds will become more chaotic and complex. The effect of these interactive soundscapes is supposed to be meditative.

Bacon Reader: This is a mobile version of the popular social book marking site reddit.com, aka “the front page of the Internet.” It hasn’t made it to the Android Market because it’s technically still in the testing phase. It might never make it there due to stalls in its funding and development. Despite the setbacks, Bacon Reader has established a dedicated following among active Reddit users who appreciate its clean, user-friendly interface.

SpoofApp: This somewhat controversial app single-handedly revolutionized prank calling in the mobile era. SpoofApp allows you to disguise your number when it appears on someone else’s caller ID, change the tone of your voice, and record the call, ingredients which lead to maximum prank potential. This app was pulled from the Android Market for undisclosed reasons, but remains perfectly legal and can be downloaded directly from SpoofApp’s website.

How Do I Install an App Without the Android Market?

Installing non-market apps takes a very slight amount of technical know-how. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to get you through.

1. First, find the applications setting menu on your phone. You should see a tab that allows you to enable unknown sources. Your phone will now allow you to install non-market apps.
2. Next, you’ll need to briefly head to the Android Market and install an app installer app (a little redundant, I know). Some good ones are Easy Installer and AppInstaller. These apps will assist you in installing .apk files (the type of file Android Apps are housed in).Download your chosen app’s .apk file onto your computer and then transfer it onto your Android’s memory card.
3. Download your chosen app’s .apk file onto your computer and then transfer it onto your Android’s memory card.
4. Insert your memory card back into your phone and then open up your installation app. The .apk file should be easily identifiable on a menu. Just highlight it and hit “install” and it should start loading like any other app.

If you’re a true app fanatic, and want to get the most out of your Android, it’s worth it to look into non-market apps. You just might find something cool. An added bonus from discovering an amazing non-Market app is watching your friends go crazy trying to find how to download it. Enjoy!

Halloween is just around the corner, meaning that everything that comes with it – costumes, candy, parties, and fall weather – is already upon us. Drive around town this weekend and you’ll probably see full parking lots at your local Halloween Express store, pumpkins sitting out on front lawns, and brisk sales at any candy shop.

But, for parents, Halloween means something more than just costumes and candy. For them, it is also a time of worry. Where are the kids trick-or-treating? Are they going to do anything unsafe? Is there candy they shouldn’t be eating? Doors they shouldn’t ring?

While it is impossible to fully assuage these fears without keeping your child locked safely away at home, a smartphone application released just in time for the holiday should give parents some peace of mind when letting their kids go out. Called Trick or Tracker, the app can be downloaded for free online and acts as a GPS communication device between parent and child. The app tracks the phone’s location and can be set up to coordinate with another smartphone that has also downloaded the app, thus allowing users to find people by name by using a predetermined security code.

Consequently, a child using Trick or Tracker can find out where they are on a map, send their location to their parent’s phone, or figure out where their parent is located. At the same time, the parent has the options of tracking and checking in with their child. Settings on the app allow for automatic updates to be sent at regular intervals.

For its basic communication tools and its ease of use, Trick or Tracker app can be used with children of all ages. With younger children who are trick-or-treating with their parents in tow, the app can act as a security blanket just in case any separation occurs. With older children, making them agree to use the app and let their parents check in could serve as a good prerequisite for being able to go out alone with friends. Either way, when your kids are running around at night, it’s good to know where they are.

The app can be downloaded at trickortracker.com.

While far from belonging to the same category as prepaid cell phones, the new iPhone 4S is not without it’s hang-ups. Apple was sure to release a superior machine, but as precedent shows, they have a habit of letting a few kinks be carried out and put onto shelves along with the rest of their otherwise impressive products. Reviews and consumer opinions regarding the iPhone have been fairly positive, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to complain about. In fact, the argument could be made that by comparing faults in terms of numbers between the iPhone 4 and 4S, the newest version is weaker than the older one.

Unimpressive battery life sits at the top of gripes against the latest iPhone. While the battery itself is technically an improvement over the one for the iPhone 4, the power demands take away any gains in terms of life. In fact, reviewers have concluded after intense evaluation that Apple has only made the “slightest capacity improvement” in their new device over it’s ancestor. According to them, a reasonable dose of Wi-Fi and conversation is enough to kill the iPhone 4S in about as much time as the original 4, and that 3G video play will drain it faster.

When news broke last year that Sprint customers would start getting the iPhone, support for the service reached a fever pitch. But the 4S’s potential is apparently barely being witnessed by Sprint customers angered over their provider’s infamously slow speeds. Sprint’s 3G network significantly lags behind their competitors, according to studies, and this clearly lends itself to the fact that iPhone users through Sprint are generally the most unhappy at the moment.

Once the opening hoopla dies down, the Siri app for the iPhone – introduced with the 4S – is certain to get an exorbitant amount of attention, but perhaps not in the way Apple would prefer. Currently the app only works effectively within the United States, which is alienating iPhone users in other countries right off the bat. Then, not only does the app only work if English, French, or German is spoken (Apple is busy adding more languages), it’s been alleged that heavy accents are incapable of being understood by the mobile personal assistant. Depending on how Android’s Google Translate improvements pan out, this may or may not be a lasting issue for Apple Inc.

While many problems abound the new iPhone, the positive feedback says something about the company’s handling of such issues. Before you know it, these big customer complaints will get fixed somehow. Remember when the original iPhone 4 couldn’t work unless you held it like a tissue? They were able to fix that within a few weeks. If you’re unsure about an iPhone purchase, cement that belief if you’re a Sprint customer. Otherwise, go ahead and consider getting one: the positives outweigh the negatives and they’ll be getting rid of the negatives before you know it.

Some of the many notable features of the HTC ChaCha include an amazing QWERTY keyboard, durable battery life, ergonomic design and the very convenient Facebook button. However, not every HTC ChaCha review is assenting because the landscape screen of the HTC ChaCha can be problematic and it also has limited flash support in the browser. The beauty mark of this smart phone is presented in its dedicated Facebook button. You can also benefit from the power of its Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the well-intentioned QWERTY keyboard. If you avail of the monthly contract, you can have the HTC ChaCHa for free with a monthly charge of £15 or you can have the phone for about £250 SIM-free.

The HTC ChaCha was released together with the HTC Salsa and it is one contemporary offering that is Facebook-dedicated handset. Manufacturers of mobile phones have embraced the fact that social networking has become a huge business, and most likely than not, the HTC ChaCha including the HTC Salsa will modify a significant quantity of units mainly because they wanted to assert the Facebook logo on their casing. If you compare the ChaCha with the HTC Salsa, it feels rather strange at the outset. There is a bend in the middle of the phone which is quite odd. The intention obviously is to improve the feel of the device in the hand. This can earn a positive HTC ChaCha review because it certainly serves the purpose but the odd bend in the middle of the phone still looks unusual.

With all the hype of social networking, the Facebook button is bound for success because in terms of suitability, this aspect is fresh and unique. For people who use their mobiles as much as they are connected to Facebook, marketing the HTC ChaCha will be effortless because on impulse it would be an easy sell. Additionally, Android tablet owners looking for a smart phone that is easy on the budget will find the HTC ChaCHa very interesting. Instead of spending money to buy a solid tablet for media use and spend additional cost for a decent Android phone for everyday use, it would be a good decision to just get an HTC ChaCha and relish the thought of using only one for dual purposes.

Each and every HTC ChaCha review agrees that the Facebook feature is one of the bestselling points of this outstanding device. Undoubtedly, the HTC ChaCha appeals to people who consider connecting to Facebook as part of their everyday activities. People who do a lot of text messaging and send emails on a day to day basis will surely love the HTC ChaCha as well. Because of the excellent QWERTY keyboard ChaCha is well-known for, typing becomes pleasurable. If connecting to Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites is already part of your daily routine, the HTC ChaCha is definitely the perfect gadget for you.