@MrGutts: Name a price.

I think that essentially it boils down to this:

MFT (Micro four-thirds) cameras are the (almost) quality of entry-level DSLRs, with increased portability. Interchangable lenses. Recall that the best camera is the one you have with you, so it's worth it to have something that you WILL carry around with you. I think the Sony NEX-5 is the winner here. Might want to check that fact.

If you want a real DSLR... a bit bulkier, but larger selection of lenses and the ability to grow to the best-of-the-best lenses and cameras. Here the best options are Nikon (D500???) Or Canon (Tx/Txi series)

@RavenSword: unfortunately, no :(

I'm not sure about the chargers, but all of the cables are a good bet for sure.

How does sleepmode effect uptime? Pause it? restart it?

Anyhow, Since I don't run servers and find my machines usually need a good reboot once in a while,

Make sure that your monitor is plugged into your graphics card, and not some other video slot located near the other ports on the backpanel of your motherboard (i.e. not beside ethernet/usb ports)

@fang273: Hey, you might be able to find a replacement cord. If you're up for a bit of hardware hacking... you just have to find a replacement cord, take out a few screws, some careful disassembly, unplug one cord, string the new cord through and bam, repaired.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-High-Quality-USB-Mouse-Cable-For-Logitech-G5-Mouse-/230942321834?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35c53c2caa

10 minute repair, and cheaper too. In the mean time, you can always just splice the wires together for a quick fix while the new cable arrives.

... or buy a new mouse. I repaired a couple my MX518s before, because they're awesome.

@RavenSword: I find that SwiftKey offers a better keyboard (as far as regular Keyboard is concerned) over Android.

I'm not familiar with HSPA:10 or :15... never seen that before.

@RavenSword: Where do I set push email setting? I want to set it to manual, but can't find the option or menu to do it.

no clue, actually.

Can I use any kind of internet hotspot use the phone with my ipad like I could my iPhone? If so, where do I do that?

Yep. Go into settings. Neat the top, click "More...". It's under Tethering & Portable Hotspot

Is flash disabled automatically now? I can't find the menu or setting to disable or limit it.

Yes. You cannot even install flash on the device through Google Play. It is no longer supported.

Is their any recommended utility apps. Like keyboards, power consumption managers, or etc.

Some people like Swype Keyboard, I use SwiftKey X, which also just got swype-like functionality (I keep it off). I don't use any other utilities. DashClock Widget is pretty cool.

I need a good podcast app for the phone so I can listen to my podcasts.

DoggCatcher is good but sorta pricey. There is another thread about someone thinking about switching to Android... it was active just a couple week ago. Lots of podcasting app suggestions in there.

Is their any recommended tips for improving battery life? Should I even use auto brightness?

If you're in a place with poor connectivity, definitely turn on Wifi if it's available. Screen is probably the biggest draw. If you pull down your "dashboard" (not notification tray), and tap on the battery icon, you'll get a detailed breakdown of what's eating your battery usage.

Thanks for the help, guys :) I'm a little confused by all this newness.

The TPU gel cases are good, and you can find cheap ones on eBay.

Here is my take on it:

Bumper is enough. The bumper adds a small lip around the front and back of the device, which is designed to absorb and prevent direct blows to the glass, which is usually the cause of it shattering. Combine the bumper with front and back glass protectors, and you have the strength of gorilla glass with the scratch protection from a regular case.

Hi had my nexus S naked, and this seems like the right balance of maintaining the sleekness of the device with additional protection.

My coworker went to Korea and bought a real bumper and a fake bumper, both in "retail" packaging. My fake bumper is IDENTICAL to his,although the build quality is cheaper (it's not as rigid/doesn't hold the phone quite as well).

He also brought a hard 'cover' with him that the phone slipped into. It was pretty sleek, no idea where you'd find them or how much protection it actually offers.

@RavenSword: if the money is in your paypal account, you can send the item. as far as the buyer is concerned, they've paid and you've got yours. Unless if there is some 'hold' on the money coming in, I guess. Generally, if the money shows up in your account balance, it is yours. Sometimes moving the money can be difficult with paypal.

You might have to send some extra information to PayPal, as they have very strict security settings that someitmes make them a PITA to deal with. You can call PayPal's customer service, and they might be able to give you a bit faster response than their ticketing system.

@DBrim: if you're just looking for surge protection, then just buy a surge protector. UPSes will keep your PC running after a poweroutage for a short period of time.

I'm talking like maybe a dozen minutes. Don't think you're going to be able to continue playing for hours after the apocalypse beings :D

I like to believe that one day we'll see TV channels open subscriber youtube channels. Subscribe to Discovery? Hello Internet, goodbye TV.

Have all of the webpage rendering issues been resolved yet?

@JJWeatherman: you cannot apply a charge to a full lithium battery unless you want heat + fire. That said, the charging circuit is generally disabled once the battery is full.

@JJWeatherman: with all li-ion/li-pol batteries, the best technique is to keep it charging, but do a complete discharge once per month. This serves two functions:

a) it helps maintain the battery's life (as these batteries deterioriate when kept unused at a full charge)

b) it allows the system to calibrate the battery, so that it knows how a rundown will typically look, at how long until it discharged, voltage levels etc. Should make the 'time remaining' (/%) more accurate, also.

It doesn't hurt to use the battery, but you should definitely discharge once per month.

What do you consider light use? You'll get significantly more battery power when the brightness isn't at full, and Wi-Fi isn't on. I can usually net about ~2 more hours (IIRC) with Wifi off.

@hydrotherion1979 said:

@RavenSword said:

@hydrotherion1979 said:

@RavenSword said:

@hydrotherion1979 said:

@RavenSword said:

@SLUSHIE said:

@Conmused: Well in the Nexus 7 thread I was saying not to get it.

I don't think you'll be unhappy, but I don't think your going to be blown away either. Sure Google maps is a little better, and contacts are integrated with gmail and whatnot, but all n all in daily use the differences are minimal.

They do the same things in a slightly different way.

Yeah. I'm not expecting to be blown away. But I think it'll be a nice change. At least cosmetically.

I'm curious what you're opinion is going to be about android and the nexus. Check out the root thread if you want more things about Android. With all the third party apps you can change in to whatever you want.

Well, I'm not much interested in rooting or hacking the phone. Mainly due to laziness. But I'll check out the thread.

that's no problem. Most stuff in there is for the non rooted. Just some third party apps that are better then the stock stuff. Yes, even google. ;-) if there was a 32 or 64 gb nexus i wouldn't have bought a s3.^_^

Yeah. I wish nexus 4 had a 32gb version. But I think I'll be fine with 16gb. I had a 16gb iphone 4 and while space was cramped, I did have video, music, games, and a bunch of apps.

With the nexus 4 I'm probaly going to use it as a streaming consumption device (with google music, net flicks, and etc) and as my web browser and such. I'll also play some games, but really I think my ipad is where I'm going to watch my downloaded movies, play games that are beyond bejeweled or something, and use it for my heavy memory apps.

i use my s3 as phone but also as my main musicplayer replacing my ipod touch. 32gb is the least i want. My dataplan won't allow me to stream my music as google wants people to do.

Unfortunate. Google Music is the bomb-diggity,

@Conmused: I could be wrong, but I think for the most part, issues are going to arrise storing media more than large applications.

It's not a tool you download once. Your notebook bootstraps the installation from apple everytime you enter recovery mode. If they stored the entire osx recovery, then you'd end up with a recovery partition not dissimilar to Microsoft's/surface's.

It works, but it's sort of a hack. but lots of technology is built on hacks, because they're cheaper and sometime do the job with little to no disadvantage.

@Evelgest: Yeah, but you can trim another 3 or 4 GB of the Macbook's space due to their decimal interpretation of Gigabyte.

You're looking at around 43 vs 30. And the storage inside of the surface is easily expandable with flash memory. It's hidden, so it's not like you have a card or a usb stick jutting out the side of your machine. Granted, it is an added cost, but it's always an option if you decide that the 64gb isn't enough for you. All of that is usable space, too!

It's true it's not a perfect implementation, and 43GB vs 30GB is still a pretty big difference (around 30% more, in fact). On the other hand, the Surface can restore itself without an internet connection :)

Doggcatcher was the go-to Podcast app a year or two ago. It's possible that it still is.

Add your casts, and it'll download them automatically, keep however many recent episodes you want, etc. It does cost $5.

If you live in a country that Google Music has launched in, then that is pretty exciting for you. If not, if you can get an american friend or an american proxy to activate your account on the service, then you should be able to access it no problem from there on out. supports FLAC uploads, too!

p.s. swiftkey is a better keyboard than android stock i find ;)

@RavenSword: I don't know what you get for the phone, but I will comment and say that if you have the opportunity to get both and take your pick, do it, especially if you're interested in switching to Android.

If the phone is in mint condition and you have all of the cables, I'd imagine that you could probably resell it for around retail price. It's best to check ebay and craigslist and find what other people are listing their phones for, because it can definitely vary from locale to locale. For ebay, see what is being bidded on and go from there.

There are some sites that you can purchase an unlock code through for a bit of cash. I'm not familiar with any reputable sites. you can look around, see how much it costs, and do that if AT&T won't unlock, and an unlocked phone will be worth your while.