5 best sites to trade in your iPhone

5 best sites to trade in your iPhone

Trade in that old iPhone for the new one you've been waiting for

With the impending Apple iPhone launch, you're probably scrambling to get rid of your old iPhone to make sure you can get your hands on the new iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C, right?

It involves a bit of research and we know you don't have time for that, so we've created a list of the best sites to trade-in your iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 with estimates of the most recent maximum values for 64GB AT&T devices.

Since prices fluctuate according to the market and may change on you, we figured our estimates will give you a good idea of the prices you're getting.

If your phone is in great to good condition, you're bound to get a better deal - but if the phone is cracked, or has water damage the price won't be as high. Some sites may also give you better (or worse) prices depending on your carrier and model.

Hopefully we've saved you the trouble of researching the best sites for trade-in deals so you can better spend your time scouring our site for the latest iPhone news (iPhone 6, anyone?).

1. Amazon

Amazon
Easy as 1, 2, 3

Being the biggest internet e-tailer out there, it's no surprise Amazon has a trade-in program for just about everything including Apple phones.

To participate, just look up your device in the Amazon search bar, then look for the "Trade in" button on the righthand side of the page, sign in to your account and provide answers about the quality of your phone.

One thing to remember is that Amazon pays in gift cards, not cash.

Amazon's recent prices:

iPhone 5 around $441 (about £280.87, AUD$477.74)

iPhone 4S around $253 (about £161.14, AUD$274.08)

2. Gazelle

Gazelle
They'll give you a run for your money

Gazelle is a great trade-in site that is currently offering a 30-day price lock guarantee to up to 50 days for orders placed before Sept. 10, or the day of Apple's announcement.

If you act fast, you can get today's price for your old iPhone but still keep it until the new iPhone is released, with Oct. 15 being the last day you can send in the old phone.

Simply head to the Gazelle site and select the phone you have to get an estimate. Gazelle pays with a check, Amazon gift card or PayPal.

Gazelle's recent prices:

iPhone 5 around $350 (about £222.92, AUD$379.16)

iPhone 4S around $220 (about £140.12, AUD$238.33)

3. BuyBackWorld

BuyBackWorld
A world of good deals

Another site with superb prices, BuyBackWorld's trade-in process is just as easy as Gazelle.

In fact they look pretty similar but that's fine - as long as you're getting a good price for your phones, we're happy.

Search the site for you iPhone or choose the iPhone category, select your carrier and model - then figure out if your phone is in excellent condition to get the best price.

BuyBackWorld's recent prices:

iPhone 5 around $415 (about £264.31, AUD$449.57)

iPhone 4S around $250 (about £159.23, AUD$270.83)

4. Best Buy

Best Buy
Your best trade-in

Best Buy has a surprisingly good program for trade-ins, though the site isn't nearly as nice to look at as the other ones.

However, it gets the job done and gives you decent prices for your old, Apple phones so it's definitely worth checking out.

Type "trade in" into the Best Buy search bar, select mobile phones and look up your iPhone model and carrier.

Like Amazon, Best Buy only offers store-exclusive gift cards.

Best Buy's recent prices:

iPhone 5 around $420 (about £267.50, AUD$454.99)

iPhone 4S around $241 (about £153.49, AUD$261.08)

5. Nextworth

Nextworth
What's your iPhone worth?

Nextworth is another website similar the other buyback sites, and organizes its products into easy-to-find pages.

The site probably has the most efficient estimate system with only two questions you have to answer.

Nextworth pays through PayPal instantly, a mailed check, or a Target gift card. You can even get the Target gift card immediately by bringing your device into a participating Target store.

Nextworth's recent prices:

iPhone 5 around $410 (about £261.13, AUD$444.16)

iPhone 4S around $245 (about £156.04, AUD$265.41)


Source : techradar[dot]com

Samsung shores up its internet usage lead among devices vs Apple

Samsung shores up its internet usage lead among devices vs Apple

Samsung continues to grow in emerging markets (credit: StatCounter)

Hurry up and launch that iPhone 5C already. Samsung has extended its lead vs Apple when it comes to internet usage on their respective devices, particularly in emerging markets.

Samsung mobile devices captured 25.7 percent of global internet usage in August, leaving Apple with 23.4 percent, according to web analytics firm StatCounter.

Nokia, the former leader as of last December, has faded to third place at 21.7 percent.

The interesting thing is that while Apple still dominates in key areas like the U.S., U.K., and Australia, it's being lapped in entire continents like Asia, South America and Africa.

Apple vs Samsung comparison
iPhone 5C could make all the difference

Samsung vs Apple stats breakdown

Apple is doing just fine in the U.S., maintaining its lead of 52.2 percent vs Samsung's 19 percent of internet usage among devices.

Nokia's numbers, previously propped up by feature phones, have fallen to a measly 1.5 percent in the U.S.

In the U.K., it's almost the same deal. Apple users are surfing the web at a rate of 46.8 percent compared to 21.5 percent for Samsung. Nokia is holding onto 3.7 percent.

But when it comes to emerging countries like India, Samsung is more than making up for these losses with a 26.7 percent share of internet usage.

Apple has a paltry 1 percent share of India's mobile usage, according to StatCounter.

iPhone 5C to the rescue

Apple could blunt the impact that Samsung and its Galaxy devices have had on the iPhone by launching a cheap iPhone model alongside the iPhone 5S.

"Over the past 12 months Apple has increased its share in the US and UK but globally there is an on-going battle taking place between it and Samsung," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen in a press release today.

"Should the rumors prove true, it will be fascinating to see if a less expensive iPhone will help it increase market share against lower cost competitors in global markets."

Another factor the web analytics firm pointed out was Microsoft's purchase of Nokia's handset business, bringing more weight to the third-place contender, which still leads in Asia and Africa.


Source : techradar[dot]com

Best portable chargers: 14 we recommend

Best portable chargers: 14 we recommend

The best portable chargers for your smartphones, tablets, gaming devices and more

With the massive amount of email checking, texting, mobile gaming and internet surfing everyone does, a reliable, portable charger has become essential to avoid that inevitable dead battery.

Whether you're traveling for business or pleasure, going camping or simply out of the house all day, you'll probably need something that isn't too cumbersome and has enough juice to power your mobile devices.

Based on amount of usage we were able to get, weight, size and overall functionality, we tested a variety of chargers by mixing around charge times with an iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPad 4 in different situations to create a list of the best portable chargers - though most of the external batteries are compatible with an assortment of phones, tablets, cameras and handheld gaming devices.

Generally, the portable chargers are on the pricey side but you'll definitely get your money's worth for large mAh capacities and moderate to heavy form factor, or decent capacities and lightweight portables.

We've also added a few chargers that even smaller making them more suitable for a day out rather than a long trip away, just in case you're just looking for a quick backup charge.


Source : techradar[dot]com

Vodafone offers everyone 4GB of free 4G data

Vodafone offers everyone 4GB of free 4G data

Ultrafast and extra data

The 4G war is heating up in the UK and Vodafone has mobilised its troops in an attempt to win more custom, offering an extra 4GB of data every month to pre-existing and new 4G customers.

Its "4GBonus" promotion (see what they did there? Clever) will give anyone currently on a Vodafone 4G plan an additional 4GB on top of the allowance already provided in their contract.

If we look at the SIM-only plans that means you'll now get 6GB for £26 per month, 8GB of data at £31 per month and a whopping 12GB if you are prepared to splash out £36 for 12 months - trumping EE and O2 at every price point.

Get in there soon

For those of you not currently a 4G Vodafone customer you'll need to sign up to a 12 or 24 month plan before the end of the October to take advantage of the offer.

Currently Vodafone's 4G rollout has only hit London making the service pretty limited and the smallest out of the trio of networks, but from September 28 it will arrive in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield.

We can't help but think the timing of this announcement is a little coincidental, considering a certain Cupertino-based firm is said to be launching a couple of new handsets (the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C if you've been living under a rock for the past months) tomorrow.

O2 and Vodafone are currently in the tricky position which sees their 4G networks unable to support the iPhone 5, so the hope is the new iPhones will be more forgiving when it comes to frequency.


Source : techradar[dot]com

How much 4G data do you really need?

Now that everybody's rolling out 4G mobile data, it's time to compare data plans - and in particular, how much data you can use each month.

While Three promises all-you-can-eat data when it launches in December, the other operators will cap your downloads according to your data plan, even on the most expensive tariffs.

So which one's best, and how much data do you really need? Let's find out.

Who offers what?

To keep things simple we'll compare each provider's SIM-only 4G plans; if you need a 4G handset too you should of course expect to pay a little bit more.

EE's cheapest plan is £21 per month for 500MB, rising to £36 for 5GB and £61 for 20GB if you sign up before the end of October.

Vodafone's cheapest is £26, but you get 2GB. The most expensive plan is £36 per month and gives you 8GB.

O2's cheapest tariff is also £26, but the data allowance is 1GB. £31 gets you 5GB and £36 gets you 8GB if you sign up before the 31st of October.

Three says its tariffs will be the same as 3G, so that should be around £12.90 for unlimited data.

How much data do you need?

This is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string?" question, because the amount of data you use will of course depend on what you do. If all you use your handset (or tethered tablet or computer) for is checking email and browsing the web, you won't go through much data - but once you start streaming and downloading the numbers soon add up.

It's important to think about what data you might use rather than just look at the amount of data you use now: for example, you might barely bother with YouTube clips or HQ streaming on your current 3G phone because your connections isn't good enough.

Given a faster, more reliable connection, which is what 4G is all about, then your usage may change dramatically.

Here are some numbers to think about:

Music streaming (average quality, 160Kbps): 1.2MB per minute, 72MB per hour
Music streaming/downloading (320Kbps): 2.4MB per minute, 144MB per hour
iPlayer video: 50MB to 225MB per hour
Netflix video, SD: up to 0.7GB per hour
Netflix video, HD: 1GB to 2.8GB per hour
Photo uploading: 5MB per photo
Online gaming: 5MB per hour

[sources: Spotify, BBC, Netflix, Verizon Wireless]

What does that mean in practical terms?

Let's take a real-world example: you stream an episode of your favourite sitcom on the train (50MB), check Twitter whenever you're waiting for the lift (2MB), upload a photo of your lunch (5MB) and stream a few songs as you jog around the park for twenty minutes (24MB at average quality).

That's 81MB in one day. Keep it up every weekday and you'll go through 1,620MB (1.6GB) in a four-week month - and that doesn't include any incoming emails or smartphone app updates.

Maybe you're not so keen on streaming but you're a social media addict. You average five photo uploads per day (5MB each) and spend around fifteen minutes a day clicking on people's Facebook updates and photos (5MB in total). That's 30MB per day, which works out at 840MB if you do it every day in a four week month.

Perhaps you just want to use your 4G phone to tether your laptop, browsing around 30 web pages per day. The average web page is now 1MB, so that's 30MB per day or 900MB per month.

According to Vodafone's figures, which use slightly different numbers to ours, if you don't stream anything but make 12 social media posts, send or receive 12 emails and use 12 websites or apps every day, you'll use 510MB per month. Add 12 minutes of streaming music and 12 of streaming video and you're looking at 2.09GB.

Fancy busting through the 8GB barrier? To do that, Vodafone reckons you'd need to stream 36 minutes of video, 120 minutes of music, make 48 social media posts, send and receive 56 emails and look at websites or apps 30 times per day.

You can minimise those numbers, of course: you might download your music for offline listening, or use Wi-Fi wherever you can (EE, O2 and Vodafone all offer Wi-Fi minutes as well as mobile data). But the numbers give you a good indication of just how much data you might need for everyday activities. As you can see, you don't need to be downloading enormous amounts of data to exceed the cheaper plans' limits.

Are the networks having a laugh?

Left to their own devices, companies will try to offer as little as possible for as much as possible - but once things get competitive, they're usually forced to raise their game or fall by the wayside.

There's already evidence of that happening: with rivals' 4G launches imminent, EE decided last month to double the data allowances on its £26 per month tariff and up its £51 per month plan from 5GB to 20GB for anybody signing up before the end of October.

As the various networks roll out beyond the initial handful of locations we'd expect competition to become more fierce - and we can't wait to see what happens if Three keeps its promises and offers 4G connections for 3G money come December.

One thing's for sure: the prices and plans available today will look fairly stingy years or maybe even months down the line.

Is it time to sign up? Let's ask consumer magazine Which? its advice: Consumers should "not upgrade" because coverage "is too limited" to make the cost worthwhile. Phone users should wait until "coverage improves outside big cities."

4G? Nope. 3G, in 2004.

  • What's the best 4G network? We pitted EE against O2, Vodafone and Three to find out

Source : techradar[dot]com

Supposed iPhone 5S specs reveal very few differences to iPhone 5

Supposed iPhone 5S specs reveal very few differences to iPhone 5

Farewell, faithful friend. Farewell

We're into the final 36 hours before Apple's iPhone 5S event so get ready for the leaks to get granular.

And you don't get much more granular than "THE SQUARE ON THE HOME BUTTON IS GONE" and "OMG IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME WEIGHT AS THE iPHONE 5" on this leaked spec sheet for the upcoming smartphone.

The fact that so many details are literally exactly the same as the iPhone 5's does make us question the legitimacy of this spec listing which comes from a Chinese network via CTechCN.

Camera bag

For the same exact size and weight, the sheet claims that the iPhone 5S will come packing an Apple A7 processor (versus the iPhone 5's A6) and a slightly improved camera with f2.0 aperture, double-flash and 1080p video recording.

It's worth bearing in mind that these specs could relate to an iPhone 5S specially formulated for the Chinese market.

It's also worth bearing in mind that they could be completely made up.

Still, not long till we find out for sure: join us here or on Twitter on Tuesday September 10 at 10am PT / 6pm BST / 4am AEST for all the official news on the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C as it breaks.

  • In the meantime, here's all the latest on the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C for your enjoyment

Source : techradar[dot]com

Nokia Lumia 1520 springs another leak, new photos gush out

Nokia Lumia 1520 springs another leak, new photos gush out

Campaign to bring back the Bandit starts here (credit: The Verge)

While it may be on the road to Redmond, that's not going to stop Nokia launching its first Windows 'Phablet' in the form of the Lumia 1520 which has come out of hiding in a big way.

The Verge got its hands on an album's worth of photos of the thing, with the Lumia 1520 seemingly boasting a 6-inch screen capable of 1080p Full HD playback.

The tipster responsible also reckons the handset will come with 2GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 32GB of on-board memory and an SD slot to expand that out.

Camera talk

Peering at the photos reveals that traditional Nokia Lumia rounded-corner styling, an array of buttons on the edges of the handset, a front-facing camera of indeterminate megapixellage and a slightly protruding rear-facing PureView snapper too.

Nokia Lumia 1520
Credit: The Verge

That camera isn't expected to be quite as heavy on the megapixels as the Nokia Lumia 1020's 41MP sensor.

We've heard tell of the Lumia 1520 before too: the upcoming device was codenamed Nokia Bandit until scourge of mobile phone secret keepers @evleaks let slip that "Nokia Bandit = Lumia 1520" on Twitter.

No official word on when the Lumia 1520 will officially become official, but you might want to keep an eye on September 26.

  • How will the Lumia 1520 measure up to the snap-happy 1020? Prime yourself with the Lumia 1020 review

Source : techradar[dot]com

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