Best Credit Card of 2010: Chase Sapphire
After having exhausted almost every financial websites' resources, I finally happened upon the Chase Sapphire card. I've been looking for a credit card that would insure me while traveling, have no annual fee, and offer the greatest benefits.
I've had the Citi Dividend and AMEX Premier Gold for quite some time now, but I don't want to pay for the AMEX annual fee when it comes time. The Citi Dividend card has a low APR of 12.24%, and comes with cash back program of 2% on supermarket, gas, etc. and 1% on everything else. The AMEX card has no pre-set spending limit, but the more I understand the complexities of the system, the more I'd rather have a definitive credit limit. Also, the card is set to charge me $175 a year, just to have it. It's definitely going to be the first one to go.
I pay my bill every month and never carry a balance. If you do, don't look at cash back or rewards cards -- look at basic, low APR cards.
I've built a strong credit rating, which led me to search for the best cards available. The Chase Sapphire card has consistently stuck out and impressed me.
Here's the point system:
- 1 point for every $1
- Points are actually 1% unlike AMEX. AMEX points can sometimes be about .75 of a point per dollar.
- Gift cards start at just 2,500 points for $25
- Or, you can pay off your bill in credits -- 2000 points for $20
- 2 points for every $1 on airline ticket purchases
- Like every other program, they have a bonus points mall
Just looking at the above, I'm not interested. My Citi Dividend card pays better and I get 2% cash back on common purchases. But, if you look at the insurance, things get interesting:
- Trip Cancellation Insurance
- "Offers reimbursement for travel due to covered cancellations, losses and emergencies when you purchase tickets with Chase Sapphire."
- 24/7 Dedicated Customer Service
- This isn't your everyday phone tree. Call the number and reach someone -- anytime.
- "For direct access to a real person, just call the number on the back of your card. You'll be connected to a Chase Sapphire customer service advisor immediately -- without pressing '#.' Guaranteed."
- Chase Global LifeLine
- AMEX has features like this, but as I prefaced earlier, I can't reconcile paying a $175 fee just to have a card.
- "Whether you're traveling within the U.S. or abroad, emergency service assistance -- including Emergency Card Replacement and Cash Access -- is available to you around-the-clock."
- Concierge
- Usually, you'd have to pay $450 at AMEX for this service. In this case, it's free -- anytime.
- "Chase Sapphire comes with a complimentary concierge service. Call anytime, 24/7, and a personal concierge can give you recommendations on restaurant reservations and entertainment, and even help you select the perfect gift."
- Travel and Emergency Services
- You might be liable for fees, but at least you'll get help.
- "Get help coordinating medical, legal and travel services while you're away from home."
- Travel Accident Insurance
- Most cards have something like this, and it's essentially a basic life insurance for the worst.
- "Receive coverage for covered common carrier accidental death or dismemberment when you charge your travel fare on your Chase Sapphire credit card."
- Trip Delay
- This is truly unique for such a cost friendly card. Once again, something you'd usually have to pay an annual fee for.
- "When a covered trip is delayed more than 12 hours due to a covered event, expenses incurred as a result of the delay, such as meals and lodging, are reimbursed."
- Lost Luggage Reimbursement
- "Carry-on or checked luggage is covered if lost or stolen when you purchase your common carrier ticket with your Chase Sapphire credit card."
- Baggage Delay
- Yet another benefit/feature that's unique to this card and gives such tremendous value.
- "If your checked bags are delayed for a period of 18 hours or more by a common carrier, you will be reimbursed for the emergency purchase of covered essential items."
- Auto Rental Insurance
- "Receive coverage for covered damage due to collision or theft up to the actual cash value of most rental vehicles. Remember to charge your entire rental transaction to your Chase Sapphire card and decline the rental company's collision damage waiver."
- Purchase Protection
- "Eligible items of personal property will be replaced, repaired or reimbursed within ninety (90) days from the date of purchase due to covered reasons."
- Extended Warranty Protection
- "Extend the length of the free repair period under the original manufacturer's U.S. warranty up to one additional year on eligible warranties of three years or less."
- Price Protection
- "Receive a refund of the difference between the price you paid for an item on the card and a subsequent covered lower advertised price for the same item within the first 90 days of purchase."
- Return Protection
- "If a retailer will not accept a return within the first 90 days of purchase, you can get reimbursed for the cost of an item purchased on your card."
All-in-all, these benefits add up to one great card. While there is a preferred, annual fee version, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're traveling year-round or for your business. The basic, Chase Sapphire card is an excellent choice for those with excellent credit.
Feel free to check out the card here: http://www.chasesapphire.com/ and if you signup today, it looks like you'll get 10,000 bonus points (equal to $100).
For a complete list of benefits: http://www.chasesapphire.com/card-benefits/view-benefits/
Don’t Pay $30+ For Droid Multimedia Dock — Get DockRunner Free
When the Droid was first released, a couple of interesting accessories from Motorola followed suit. I was dismayed to find hefty, $29.99, prices for things like the Car Dock and the Droid Multimedia Station
There's no reason that some sort of magnetic, plastic dock should cost so much. And for what? The docks are nice, but hardly a necessity. In fact, if you want to mimic the Car Dock's features, just press the Car Home app in Android 2.0.x. But until now, users haven't been able to mimic the Multimedia dock feature.
I was simply browsing the top app list in the Market, when I found an unassuming app called DockRunner. DockRunner is a FREE download and mimics the Droid Multimedia Dock (shown above on the left). The time, weather, music, pictures, etc. are all displayed and the phone thinks it's in the dock!
Save yourself $30 and just download this simple app. Desperately want a cheesy, clunky, plastic "dock"? May I suggest making your own? Stay tuned for a DIY dock later this December!
Top 3 News and Weather Apps for Motorola Droid
A few weeks ago we wrote an article on the Top 5 Android Apps for Motorola Droid. It was an all-encompassing look at our 5 favorites. But we left out a number of great apps. In the next few weeks we'll be looking at a variety categories and publishing our favorites! This week, we'll be looking at the Top 3 News and Weather Apps for the Motorola Droid.
As always, with the help of Twitter followers and Luke, we've created a list of the Top 3 News and Weather apps. What we found particularly difficult was collecting apps that would actually do everything we needed from a news and weather application. I continued to go to different apps for more relevant and specialized content. Tell us what you think in the comments below and enjoy.
- USA Today - [Link to Site]
Winner: Best All-Around News/Weather App- The 678kb USA Today app is powerful and fast. Flipping through the different panels of Headlines, Scores, Weather, Pictures, and Snapshots is a breeze. The application is set to update each time you start up the program and can be manually updated on the bottom of the screen. Weather is conveniently located in the banner with degrees Fahrenheit and basic weather logos. This program does headline news really really well with an elaborate array of: Top News, Life, Money, Sports, etc. By clicking the Weather tab, you'll get a 5-day weather forecast.
- Dislikes: Weather is by default, set to New York City. Doesn't allow for background news updates. Refresh interval isn't customizable. News articles are little snippets of what a New York Times article would be.
- Google Finance - [Link to Site]
Winner: Best Financial News Source- Unlike it's iPhone counterpart, the Droid doesn't have companies like E*Trade developing stock and market apps. Fortunately, the Google/Android team has created the Finance app. The application is a bare-bones streaming quote checker for the market. Check anything you want and it will stream the latest quote. In a simple, 3-tab design, the Finance application can have your Google portfolio synced and you'll see all your favorites in one easy to access tab. The "news" tab has a basic collection of overall market sentiment and news. Want to know what is happening today in the market and where your stocks are? Then Finance is for you. Finance comes with a little widget for the home screen that can load your personal portfolio write to your desktop.
- Dislikes: It's too simple. The streaming isn't true streaming, just a periodic update from time to time with the most recent quote. Refresh intervals for the widget need to be quicker. A more graphical user interface could definitely make this application shine.
- Weatherbug - [Link to Site]
Winner: Best Weather App- The Weatherbug application used to be an ad-ware filled mess of spam for Windows computers. Now you can get it for your Android phones! All kidding aside, the Weatherbug application is the most convenient, simple, and easy to use weather app for the Droid. Personally, I use it because it displays a temperature in the notification panel of my Droid. Even on restart of my phone, the Weatherbug application starts up and displays an accurate temperature to my location. I don't need a fully featured weather application--just the barebones; current temp and high for the day. By sliding down the notification panel, I can see the current temperature again, but also see today's high and basic prediction (e.g., "Partly Sunny").
- Dislikes: The actual application is buggy (no pun intended). The ads can be cumbersome in the free version. The user interface seems a tad slow and outdated.
What we still want to see:
- New York Times - [Link to Site]
- Unfortunately, there isn't a New York Times application like the iPhone. The iPhone version is incredibly powerful and the user interface is truly intuitive. We'd love to see NYT wise up and develop for the Android.
- NPR - [Link to Site]
- This was previously mentioned in our Top 5 Android Apps article, and we have yet to see the application in the Android Market. Recent reports and news has suggested that NPR is fast on its way to having on for the store. Also, the goal is to make the Android app more feature-filled than its iPhone counterpart. We'll see!
Please comment below or Twitter us if you have any other apps that we should take a look at or left out!
What’s The Google Phone? Specs, Pics, and More!
In a singular blog post, the tech news sources went crazy. The Google Mobile Blog, which covers most of Google's progress on mobile platforms, released a post on their "dogfood diet." The blog publicly announced a new device that would test the mobile gadgetry of Google and use the Android platform.
The new gadget will be tested by Google employees and in the meantime, the consumer will wait and see what they have up their sleeve. But like any device that is given to testers, those beta users snap shots, give feedback, and give us the insider information. What follows is a complete breakdown of the impending Google phone and what that means for soon to be competitors (i.e, the Droid and iPhone).
For starters, we'll look at the original blog post that lit the fire:
At Google, we are constantly experimenting with new products and technologies, and often ask employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements in a process we call dogfooding (from "eating your own dogfood"). Well this holiday season, we are taking dogfooding to a new level.We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.
Unfortunately, because dogfooding is a process exclusively for Google employees, we cannot share specific product details. We hope to share more after our dogfood diet.
TechCrunch.com was one of the first to break the news. The site says that the impending Google Phone will be Google-branded and sport an entirely Google-designed interface with Android 2.1. Along with being an advanced Google phone, the Android device will sport 1GHz Snapdragon processor that has already been tweeted as being surprisingly fast and snappy.
While the phone is being built by phone manufacturer, HTC, the phone will be entirely develop and customized by Google. This is without a doubt, going to be more Google than Motorola's attempt with their Droid. The phone's name is still up in the air, with some calling it the Nexus One and other sources touting it as simply the, Google Phone.
TechCrunch says that the phone won't be sold by any carrier, but rather be a SIM-unlocked phone for GSM carriers. This is where TC may have diverged from a reasonable path. Evidence like Verizon and Google's news suggests that if a new, unlocked Google phone is released that it will be both CDMA and GSM unlocked, and ready for essentially any network in the United States and abroad.
The OLED touchscreen is bright and super-high resolution. The phone is thinner than the Apple's iPhone and features a 5 megapixel camera, which is comparable to Motorola's Droid. And from the camera pictures that we see, it looks like the camera is once again inadequate and just seems to take simple shots.
A new voice-to-text feature is supposedly on-board, which would allow for super accurate dictation of emails, texts, etc. Similar to Ford's new Sync technology, your phone could be told to send an email to a person and then you could speak the body of the email.
Here at MarketMatador.com, we speculate that the new Google Phone may be advertised as a data only phone, with a hope that phone companies will quickly offer data only plans that allow voice calls through applications like Skype. Wi-Fi may be the standard method of use for the phone, similar to Apple's iPod Touch.
There's no doubt that this phone will throw a wrench to Apple's future iPhone sales and also the Droid's recent success. Expect the phone in the second quarter of 2010 for an unfriendly, unlocked, unsubsidized price of $550+.
Stay tuned for more information on the Google Phone as we receive it.
Review of Augmented Reality and Layar Reality Browser V3.0
Augmented reality for smartphones is seemingly the latest fad in the tech world. But the hype about augmented reality has been blown out of proportion. It's a way of looking at the world through your tech device's screen. In it's infancy, companies have come to the niche in the market to develop apps for the iPhone and Android phones. The most popular augmented reality app is Layar Reality Browser.
After a several month hiatus from the Android market, version 3.0 has just been released. Fans of augmented reality have already been calling it the "Killer App of the Day." Don't be fooled, Layar Reality Browser is just another method of greater consumerism and hardly a reasonable information source.
Let's say you're in a mid-sized college town like I am. Here in Fort Collins, I turn on the Wikipedia Layer in the browser. My camera proceeds to turn on and show me an on screen radar and grid. I'm supposed to be immersed into the augmented reality. Instead of actually seeing the world, I see yet another screen -- it's mildly depressing. And if I thought the browser was going to truly change my perspective I ought to think twice. For instance, the only Wikipedia blip that results is Colorado State's nearby stadium, "Hughes."
Switching to businesses, I see a mildly larger population, with reviews, and a basic description of the food, service, etc. All the while, I reminded that I'm looking in a little box less than 4 inches, and the camera continues to shutter along while I comically lift my phone to face to look at a building or direction. I look like an imbecile. Perhaps this is the future of technology with these savvy technological devices, but count me out of this one.
Heck, if I want to look at review, location, and the type of food I'll be receiving at a restaurant I use Google's local search and/or a Google voice search with my Droid. Google has a highly developed voice recognition system that easily trumps Apple's iPhone. Command your phone by pressing the mic, and simply say something like "pizza." Google's search is off to the rescue, cataloging the closest pizza places to your location, offering numbers, and addresses. And all the while, I don't look like such an idiot.
Augmented reality is comparable to walking around with a metal detector. Interesting hobby, and I bet it produces a number of 43 cent finds, but is it really the future? I'd advise you to delete Layar Reality Browser after trying it out for yourself.
Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear what you think about augmented reality and Layar Reality Browser!
Droid Phone To Get An Update Within 48 hours
Reports from Boy Genius Report are suggesting that the Motorola Droid phone will be getting an over the air update (OTA) within the next 48 hours. I'll be letting everyone know if I get it and what the update looks like. I have a feeling it may be completely behind the scenes.
If you get an update over the weekend, please let us know in the comments below.
Mac Fanboy Turned Windows 7 Fanatic
When I went off to college I needed a Mac. It was a such a simple decision; Macs are reliable and there was a certain coolness to owning one. Not everyone had one and they were still a novelty. But three years later, I'm lost -- Apple has become mainstream. Typing on my HP Mini 311 netbook, I wonder if I've bought into a fad of small, portable netbooks. They're underpowered, but reasonably priced. I'm not done yet, I'm looking to complement my netbook with a desktop counterpart. The rush of excitement over buying a new techie device is dwarfed by a sense of confusion--what will I buy next, Mac or Windows?
I could lay out a pros and cons list, be cliche, and hope that readers enjoy the breakdown. I could focus on Windows 7's major upgrades from Vista and XP. Or perhaps I could look at Macs energy efficient, sleek desktops. They're all appealing directions, but what is captivating me most is the social and business implications of the decision.
Am I the only Mac user that is contemplating switching entirely to Windows 7? The questions just seem all too numerous. Windows 7 has truly surprised me; and I hate to say it as a self-declared "Mac fanboy," but this is truly an amazing operating system.
Talk about the "everything works" stereotype of Macs, I've had plenty of crashes and freezes, it's not perfect! Windows 7 isn't either, but it certainly has moved into the same realm of "everything works." Google Chrome is fully-featured and completely amazing, unlike the Mac counterpart. And many of you will exclaim, "Well, it's in development and will be released for Macs very soon." But therein lies the rub, Macs software is frequently developed second. If you want the latest technology, go with Windows.
I can assure you that I'm not simply going with the age-old wisdom of Microsoft's totalitarian power. My college campus is full of Mac users; in fact, I'd say Macs have a 50-50 foothold on the college crowd. The only thing that stops most college students from buying a Mac is price, but god do they want one. The mystique and blind admiration for Macs is comical. Everyone wants one now, and they're captivated by Macs' unibody designs. Not to take away from them, they're beautiful, but it's what's inside that actually matters to me.
If you want beauty and ease of use, Macs may still have the market. But Windows 7 and the computers that are manufactured with them are powerful and geeky. Like my Droid, it's the power and geekiness that appeals most. Watch out Apple, I see a future where Windows 7 plays a greater role.
Where once I would've considered myself inseparable from the Mac way of life, I'm free. I'm free to choose whatever I want, and what I want most of all is a Quad-Core Windows 7 monster with a slick student discount at Dell ($569!). I feel disgusting even uttering the words, but at least I'll be able to run anything and everything! I'm excited and nervous, but I'm going to try not to look back.
Have you switched to Windows 7 from Mac (or vice versa)? If so, please let us know in the comments below.
Goodbye Radio — Hello Smartphones
I'm rounding out my break from college and remarking at how different my day to day music listening is. Even I, a 20-year-old and of a younger generation, can realize the immense progression that we've seen over the past few decades. I remember wanting to have a radio in my own room -- shocker! My thumb would abrasively rub against the left to right throttle of the band changer. Fuzz and interference would constantly persist. Quality became a factor and TV began to progress on the satellite level. Satellite radio followed in step. Unfortunately, they stepped into the wrong business at the wrong time; radio, even satellite radio, is dead.
Radio distributes content to a broad spectrum of people and shares news and music. Many frequent commuters have relied on radio for their early morning and post-work entertainment. Follow sports on ESPN, world news on NPR, and listen to the latest musical hits. There's still an aesthetic appeal to all of this.
While radio continues to broadcast out to the greater world, the deconstruction and decentralization of all things radio is swiftly occurring. The younger generations have their iPods for starters, and when they grow to have today's smartphones (Droid, iPhone, etc.), they'll probably be getting their news from it too. "There's an app for that" means more than the 100,000 some-odd apps, many a waste, but tens of thousands that can replace our previous needs with a car radio. The NPR app and DoggCatcher are perfect examples of this new web technology that's replacing old audio media.
Many of today's technology is ad-free or has very minimal advertisements. Pandora on both the iPhone and Android devices has nothing more than a little banner image. Unlike even the desktop version of Pandora, the mobile version doesn't have intrusive audio ads. Why would I go back to dialing into a radio station and suffering signal strength woes? Pandora is just an example of what I'm filling my ears with every day.
Part of the reason I love my Droid is because I can't download through the iTunes Music Store; the convenience would entice, and I'd be spending left and right on my iPhone. By turning on Pandora I save money and it's personalized, which I don't get by listening to my own music all the time.
Not to mention that podcasts are quickly replacing my TV watching and are perfect for casual walking. Download them over the air and have them in a couple of minutes. It's the future, and I have it in my hands. I haven't listened to the radio in years, and I'm predicting that they'll quickly lose funding in the next 10 years and wash away. Hello smartphone, you're my always connected computer!
Tell us if you're using your smartphone to replace your radio and music player! Let us know in the comments below.