Lose The Laptop Challenge

It's hard to believe it's already been 4 months since the Lose the Laptop competition began.  I remember writing my first article in April about using the Tilt2 to research the possibility of seeing Garth Brooks Live in Las Vegas in August.  Well guess what?  We were able make it happen and went to see Garth just last week!  I'm telling you, he puts on a great show!  It was just him and his guitar - no band. 

As I mentioned in my post, Let Freedom Ring, what I thought would be a crippling experience -- giving up my laptop and replacing it with the Tilt2 smartphone - turned out to be a freeing experience.  Taking the time to investigate ways to use the Tilt2 has opened such amazing ways to find great travel deals, connect with friends, comparison shop, and become more efficient with Google tools. 

In case you missed some of my posts detailing what I learned with using my Tilt2 in the arenas of Travel, Social Media, Shopping, and using Google, I have highlighted my diary of learning's here for you:

TRAVEL

Cruising Deals

My fave online sites for the best cruise deals!

Technology to Take on Travel  

You no longer need to take a U-haul truck to take all your gadgets on the road.

How to Project Your Tilt2 to the Big Screen 

Now you can watch videos, pics, and play games from your Tilt2 to your TV!

Using the Tilt2 to Blog During Spring Break

Now you can blog anywhere - leave your laptop at home!

Free Navigation & Traffic Advisements!   

Use Bing for great satellite maps and point to point directions.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Using Facebook to Connect with Friends at an Amusement Park    

Could a friend be at the same park and you didn't know it?

Using Facebook to Score Deals with Sprinkles Cupcakes!  

Pssst!  Do you know the secret word of the day?

When Social Media, Travel, & Shopping Mix    

Travel deals to be found on Twitter!  I'll tell you where.

SHOPPING 

Searching Online to Satisfy Your Curiosity

How much can  an automatic toilet with a built-in mp3 player really cost?

Point, Shoot, Click, Shop! 

Using QR Codes and your phone's camera to find online product information without typing a word!

Mobile Shopping Set to Take Off!     

Consumers will order $2.2 billion of physical products from their phone this year.

Mobile Comparison Shopping with Ease

Comparison shop using free barcode scanner software and your phone's camera.

THE GOOGLE SERIES

Google Search While on the Run

Have you ever tried ordering pizza from the backseat?

Google Voice  

Sign up for a free phone number that calls and text's all your phones with transcribed voicemail messages!

Google SMS 

Ran out of time to post this article on LosetheLaptop.com, but visit me at WellConnectedMom.com for more info. on this great and fun tool!

My Final Thoughts

I have to say that the Tilt2 smartphone is a really slick phone.  The slide out QWERTY keyboard is the biggest and most comfortable keyboard I've used on a phone.  The vivid touchscreen is great and my pictures look fantastic on it.  The touchscreen works well, I can easily "flick" through my pictures, through screens, through text messages, you name it.  My children and I have enjoyed playing Scrabble, The Game of Life, Monopoly, Solitaire, Sudoku, Pac-man, Bubble Breaker, Tic-Tac-Toe, Checkers, Chess, and Teeter while on road trips and waiting in doctor's offices.  The Teeter game is a hoot - it's basically a labyrinth game where you tilt your Tilt2 phone to steer the marble away from holes and finish the course. 

In fact, it was because of Teeter that I thought the phone was named Tilt2.  It was only recently that I realized that when you slide out the keyboard, you can actually tilt up the screen so it looks like a mini laptop!  I'm embarrased to say I neve realized this before even though the main picture of the Tilt2 on the losethelaptop.com home page shows the phone in this position!  (sheepish grin)

It has been a fun four months.  I want to sincerely thank all of you who have voted for me and/or left comments.   They really make my day.  It is my hope that you learned about the Tilt2 capabilities as well as a few tricks that you might not have known about.   If you like what you've read and learned something new, I humbly ask you to vote for me.  Every vote counts and I can't win this contest without you. 

Every vote you submit gives you a chance of wining $5,000 too! Please be sure to leave a comment about how you would use the Tilt2 to lose the laptop along with your vote.  If you already own the Tilt2, tell us how it helps you lose the laptop as well!

Thank you and please join me at WellConnectedMom.com and TheWellConnectedHome.com to continue to learn more about making your life more fun and efficient with technology!

August 5, 9:10 pm

• View Comments: 0
• Add a Comment

It's hard to believe it's already been 4 months since the Lose the Laptop competition began.  I remember writing my first article in April about using the Tilt2 to research the possibility of seeing Garth Brooks Live in Las Vegas in August.  Well guess what?  We were able make it happen and went to see Garth just last week!  I'm telling you, he puts on a great show!  It was just him and his guitar - no band. 

As I mentioned in my post, Let Freedom Ring, what I thought would be a crippling experience -- giving up my laptop and replacing it with the Tilt2 smartphone - turned out to be a freeing experience.  Taking the time to investigate ways to use the Tilt2 has opened such amazing ways to find great travel deals, connect with friends, comparison shop, and become more efficient with Google tools. 

In case you missed some of my posts detailing what I learned with using my Tilt2 in the arenas of Travel, Social Media, Shopping, and using Google, I have highlighted my diary of learning's here for you:

TRAVEL

Cruising Deals

My fave online sites for the best cruise deals!

Technology to Take on Travel  

You no longer need to take a U-haul truck to take all your gadgets on the road.

How to Project Your Tilt2 to the Big Screen 

Now you can watch videos, pics, and play games from your Tilt2 to your TV!

Using the Tilt2 to Blog During Spring Break

Now you can blog anywhere - leave your laptop at home!

Free Navigation & Traffic Advisements!   

Use Bing for great satellite maps and point to point directions.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Using Facebook to Connect with Friends at an Amusement Park    

Could a friend be at the same park and you didn't know it?

Using Facebook to Score Deals with Sprinkles Cupcakes!  

Pssst!  Do you know the secret word of the day?

When Social Media, Travel, & Shopping Mix    

Travel deals to be found on Twitter!  I'll tell you where.

SHOPPING 

Searching Online to Satisfy Your Curiosity

How much can  an automatic toilet with a built-in mp3 player really cost?

Point, Shoot, Click, Shop! 

Using QR Codes and your phone's camera to find online product information without typing a word!

Mobile Shopping Set to Take Off!     

Consumers will order $2.2 billion of physical products from their phone this year.

Mobile Comparison Shopping with Ease

Comparison shop using free barcode scanner software and your phone's camera.

THE GOOGLE SERIES

Google Search While on the Run

Have you ever tried ordering pizza from the backseat?

Google Voice  

Sign up for a free phone number that calls and text's all your phones with transcribed voicemail messages!

Google SMS 

Ran out of time to post this article on LosetheLaptop.com, but visit me at WellConnectedMom.com for more info. on this great and fun tool!

My Final Thoughts

I have to say that the Tilt2 smartphone is a really slick phone.  The slide out QWERTY keyboard is the biggest and most comfortable keyboard I've used on a phone.  The vivid touchscreen is great and my pictures look fantastic on it.  The touchscreen works well, I can easily "flick" through my pictures, through screens, through text messages, you name it.  My children and I have enjoyed playing Scrabble, The Game of Life, Monopoly, Solitaire, Sudoku, Pac-man, Bubble Breaker, Tic-Tac-Toe, Checkers, Chess, and Teeter while on road trips and waiting in doctor's offices.  The Teeter game is a hoot - it's basically a labyrinth game where you tilt your Tilt2 phone to steer the marble away from holes and finish the course. 

In fact, it was because of Teeter that I thought the phone was named Tilt2.  It was only recently that I realized that when you slide out the keyboard, you can actually tilt up the screen so it looks like a mini laptop!  I'm embarrased to say I neve realized this before even though the main picture of the Tilt2 on the losethelaptop.com home page shows the phone in this position!  (sheepish grin)

It has been a fun four months.  I want to sincerely thank all of you who have voted for me and/or left comments.   They really make my day.  It is my hope that you learned about the Tilt2 capabilities as well as a few tricks that you might not have known about.   If you like what you've read and learned something new, I humbly ask you to vote for me.  Every vote counts and I can't win this contest without you. 

Every vote you submit gives you a chance of wining $5,000 too! Please be sure to leave a comment about how you would use the Tilt2 to lose the laptop along with your vote.  If you already own the Tilt2, tell us how it helps you lose the laptop as well!

Thank you and please join me at WellConnectedMom.com and TheWellConnectedHome.comto continue to learn more about making your life more fun and efficient with technology!

August 2, 8:14 pm

• View Comments: 9
• Add a Comment

I'm always looking for new ways to utilize my Tilt2 smartphone.  The LosetheLaptop.com contest has been great because it helps me to focus on new ways to make my Tilt2 phone indispensable.  And had I not been in this contest, I would only be utilizing a fraction of my phone's potential.

When I was at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) back in January, I spent a great deal of time in the Microsoft booth.  One of the areas of technology they were promoting was BING, Microsoft's answer to Google.  I was very impressed with some of the things you could do with BING.  So last week when I saw that I could get a mobile version free from the Microsoft Windows Mobile Store, I downloaded it.

Fortunately, a week later I was going on a road trip to Las Vegas with my husband and some friends.  A perfect time to check out BING - four hours of desert driving - what else would I do?   I loaded up my BING app and checked out their Directions area.  I found that BING offers directions and navigation, with optional voice instruction.  You can allow BING to locate where you are so when inputting directions, you only need to enter the "end" location.  BING also provides free traffic conditions and automatically avoids poor traffic areas if you select that option.

I spoke the destination, "Las Vegas" into BING and botta BING, botta BING, it showed me that we had 2 1/2 hours left until we arrived at our destination.  As we traveled, I had an up-to-date status as to how many miles and hours it would take for us to arrive.  It was like traveling on an airplane and looking at the screen to see how much longer until you land.  What a great tool for a backseat driver!

I used voice option that allows you to speak your destination into your phone.  The BING voice recognition is pretty accurate - as long as there isn't a lot of background noise.  This is a great feature - it allows you to point-to-point directions while on the run - you don't need to pull over to type in the address.

And it gets better.  You have the option to get directions for driving or for walking.  This feature is great - epsecially when you're traveling.  Say you want to go to a restaurant and it's somewhat close to your hotel.  Just put the address in BING and choose the Walk option and you receive the distance and directions or a map view of how to get there.

BING is completely free - there is no software or subscription fees for the GPS, navigation, or traffic updates.  BING has other great features too like search for local stores or restaurants - complete with ratings, directions, and phone numbers, local movie showtimes, weather updates, etc.   I still need to check them out.  I will get back to you if I find some other neat nuggets.  In the meantime, download BING for yourself - you've just gotta BING!

In my next article,  I will feature how I used Google's free 411 text messaging service while driving the streets of Las Vegas to find a well-known pawn shop.

Lori writes about making technology simple for busy moms and can be found at WellConnectedMom.com.  She also writes about technology for the home at theWellConnectedHome.com.  Follow Lori on Twitter @wellconnectdmom and @wellconnctdhome.

July 20, 9:45 am

• View Comments: 3
• Add a Comment

When I first got my HTC Tilt2 phone, it came with an accessory kit. The kit included assorted wires/cables to accompany my Tilt2. I took out what I needed from the kit to charge my Tilt2, but I left the thicker cable with the red, white, and yellow tips (component video) in the case. I was intrigued by them, but I didn't have the time to play with them back then. In the past 3 1/2 months I have had the opportunity to fill the mini-SD card in my Tilt2 with lots of pictures and videos. I hadn't realized how many pics and videos I had accumulated until recently. I love having my pictures on my Tilt, so I can "flick" through them, and show friends the latest cute pics of my kids. But when you have more than one person crowding around your phone to see your pictures, viewing from the Tilt2 isn't as comfortable.

I knew it was time to bring out the thick cable with the red, white, and yellow tips (component video). I have to admit, it was a little intimidating. If I hooked it up to the TV, would it work? Would I end up screwing up the TV so we couldn't watch our shows anymore? I like to fiddle with things like this and I have messed up the TV before to my husband's grave disappointment. I plugged my Tilt2 into one end of cable and the other end of the cable into the red, white, and yellow inputs in the TV. I then pressed the TV/VIDEO button a couple of times and bingo! I was given an introduction menu that gave me the options to go to PowerPoint, pictures & videos, the internet, or YouTube.

I was anxious to see if my pictures would work, so I tried that option first. My pictures were larger than life on my big screen TV. From the menu button on my Tilt2 I pressed slideshow and all my pictures began streaming on the TV.  My husband and I sat back and enjoyed the show. He had never seen most of the pics on my phone -- in fact, neither had I! Now I can take my show on the road. I can show my mom and in-laws the latest pics of the kids, our trip to San Francisco, my daughter's birthday pics, you name it! I love this feature! I can also watch the videos I've taken with the Tilt2. They displayed  nicely as well.

So now I had to know, how well do the YouTube videos work? When I clicked on the YouTube videos menu item, I was given a menu that showed "the most popular" videos, etc. I had several options, but I decided to search "wellconnectedmom." Right away the videos I had posted popped up. It took a little less than a minute to load. To my surprise, the video played well - no slowing down, no pausing, no skipping. Nice. I see the potential, how this could play out in hotels when traveling with kids. Turn on the TV, hook up your Tilt2, and search YouTube for kids' videos, then start them.  Just  be sure your Tilt2 is hooked up to a power source!  I even put Monopoly on the TV, which I downloaded from the AT&T Media Mall onto my Tilt2. Sweet! The whole family could play without crowding around a small screen.

The HTC Tilt2 is truly a multimedia-oriented phone. It's not enough anymore just to have pictures on your phone. Pictures are made for sharing and HTC knows that. Using the component video cable, HTC helps their customers take their phones from a personal level to a shared experience.

I wanted to ensure you could see how easy it is to use component video with your Tilt2 so I put together a video on YouTube.com for you to see how slick this is.  Anything on your Tilt2 screen will show up on your TV.  Check it out!

Lori writes about making technology simple for busy moms and can be found at WellConnectedMom.com.  She also writes about technology for the home at theWellConnectedHome.com.  Follow Lori on Twitter @wellconnectdmom and @wellconnctdhome.

***Please vote for Lori for your own chance to win$5,000!  The more votes you give this month, the better your chances of winning!  Good luck!
 

July 16, 10:53 pm

• View Comments: 3
• Add a Comment

Today I had several appointments - one right after another.  I left my house this morning on my way to the first appointment--I was halfway there when I realized I had forgotten my phone at home.  Drat!  I have two cellphones - my Tilt2 and the older phone I was using before the LosetheLaptop.com contest.  Luckily, I had my Tilt2 with me but I left my other phone at home which had the details and the phone number of the person I was going to meet with.

Hmmmm, I wondered, how am I going to manage this one.  If neither one of us were late to the meeting or got lost on the way there, forgetting my phone wouldn't be a problem.  But reality ranch is, the day I forget my phone would be the day I needed it the most.

Fortunately, two weeks ago I received an invitation (after signing up for it 3 months before) from Google Voice to activate an account.  I remember how excited I was to finally be able to check it out.  Google Voice is a great free service that acts as your voice-mail system and transcribes every message you receive into text and sends the message to you via e-mail and/or text.  It's like having your own personal transcription service!  The transcription is not perfect - but you get the gist of what the caller was saying.  You can also record personalized messages for specific callers who call you.  Pretty slick!  Google Voice can be attached to any phone number.

However, to take full advantage of the  Google Voice features, I recommend you sign up for Google Voice with a Google number.  I chose this option.  You can create a new phone number within your area code or any other area code across America.  What I liked about this process is that you can choose a customized vanity number.  For example, I chose a phone number that ends in CNCT which works well with WellConnectedMom.com and theWellConnectedHome.com. 

Even better, if you choose the Google number option, you can hook up all of your phones to Google Voice so that no matter which phone number a caller uses, all of your phones will ring.  I have my home phone and my two cellphones hooked up to Google voice.  So, any voicemail I receive  is transcribed and texted to my both my cellphones and my e-mail account.  To learn more about the two versions of Google Voice and many other great features, watch these Google Voice features videos.

So, getting back to my day.  Guess what happened?  The person I was meeting with was running late and he tried to call me using the Google Voice number I had given him.  I, unfortunately, was in a relatively new area of town with limited cellphone coverage, so I did not receive his call.  But thanks to my Tilt2 with data coverage and Google Voice, I received a text message with his message and phone number transcribed.  I walked out of the building I was in and gave him a call to let him know I would wait for him.  Phew!  My reputation was saved - I could still live up to my name as The Well Connected Mom, despite leaving my cellphone at home!

I have great news for you!  Google Voice just opened to the public - so you no longer need to receive an invitation to join!  Visit Google Voice  soon to snatch up your vanity Google phone number and become "well connected" today!

Lori writes about making technology simple for busy moms and can be found at WellConnectedMom.com.  She also writes about technology for the home at theWellConnectedHome.com.  Follow Lori on Twitter @wellconnectdmom and @wellconnctdhome.  Please vote for Lori for your own chance for $5,000!  The more votes you give this month, the better your chances of winning!  Good luck!

July 12, 2:41 pm

• View Comments: 1
• Add a Comment