Tag: DROID Turbo

TommyLog TECH – BLACKOUT at Work – Droid Turbo to the Rescue! #vzwbuzz #AD

Verizon Mobile HotspotKids, its Tommy and for today’s TommyLog Tech, I’d like to tell you a little story. For those of you know me, you know I work in the IT field. In case you were wondering, the 2 things that keep us IT types up tossing and turning at night are losing data and power outages. Well this past week, the latter came true. As I was on my 30 min commute to work, I received a phone call saying that the power was out at work… Aaaaaag. My mind immediately flooded with all the problems and troubles associated with power outages. Mainly will the power comeback on before our UPS runs out of juice? Well, as luck would have it, the UPS didn’t last that long and all my servers powered down. Double Aaaarg.

By the time I arrived at work, full power had been restored and quickly most servers were back online. Everything seemed to be in good shape with the exception of our internet access. That was dead in its tracks. In this day and age, no internet access = no work being done. YUCK! And to top it all off, in between support calls with our data provider and dealing with individual users needs, the US Postal Service calls with an urgent need. Kids lets be fair, when the USPS calls, you must answer this in a timely manner.

So a huge customer shipment had one detail that needed to be altered with the USPS paperwork. This required internet access to be able to finalize the change. {Enter Superman theme music here} To the rescue comes my Droid TURBO by Motorola- provided by my good friends at Verizon- and its mobile hotspot feature. I was able to pull the TURBO out of my shirt pocket, turn on the hotspot, and in less than a minute I was on the internet getting the post office the exact info needed to keep this customer happy.

Leave it to my Droid TURBO to save the day. I never thought having a mobile hot spot would be part of my disaster recovery plan, but thanks to the Droid Turbo, it is now!

The mobile hot spot feature on my DROID TURBO is totally Tommy Approved!

For more information on how to get your very own DROID TURBO by Motorola, Here’s a link http://www.verizonwireless.com/smartphones/droid-turbo/

[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]

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TommyLog TECH – Finding Your Dream Car with the DROID Turbo #VZWBuzz #AD

Hey kids, for today’s TommyLog Tech, I’m on location in the front seat of my new 2015 Honda Pilot and I want to talk about how the DROID Turbo helped me with my buying decision. Here are Tommy’s Top apps for helping you on your car buying quest.

True Car pricingThe first app I want to tell you about is the Kelly Blue Book or KBB App. This app just an indispensable tool for helping you know what your current car is worth.  Before you can start looking for a new car, it’s nice to know the value of your current ride. For that I turn to the Kelly Blue Book or KBB app. The KBB app will guide you through a series of questions to build an estimate of the value of your car on trade. You start off buy entering your zip code, and then picking out the exact model and options on our vehicle. You next have to dig really deep and pick the condition of your car. This can be hard, but you MUST BE FAIR with your evaluation. Setting the wrong expectation on the condition of your car will only hurt you, either with a lower trade in at the dealership or frowns from the seller if you set your price to high. You have to choose Fair, Good, Very Good or Excellent Condition. You may think you car is in showroom condition, but unless it has been professionally detailed and is in perfect working order and absolutely flawless- excellent condition is not what you should pick. Be honest and fair about your condition, it will only help you in the end.
Cost to Own
Now that you know what your trade is worth, it’s time to start looking for a replacement. Do you want new or used? What options are most important to you? Leather seats? Sun roof? Six Speed manual? The best apps I found to conduct your research are the Cars.com app, Autotrader app, and the Edmonds app. I especially like the Edmonds app as it has the “True Cost to Own” calculator. This tool looks at the total cost of ownership over the next 5 years, taking into consideration things like fuel cost based on EPA mileage, insurance, repairs, and depreciation. Never overlook these types of things when picking out your next car or truck.

So you’ve picked out the perfect match and are ready to take the plunge. Did you pick out a new car and want to see what others paid for the exact same model?  To help here, you want to download and use the True Car app. The way this app works is this:  Local dealers are part of the True Car network and the prices they paid for their vehicles are reported back to the True Car app. You can look in your area to see what others have paid for the exact same vehicle and then, loaded with this good information, you can now feel confident as you talk pricing with your sales person at the local dealership.

SirusXM AppNow that you have your new or used vehicle, my BONUS app is one that I just love. I’m a HUGE SiriusXM satellite radio fan. I spend at least an hour a day in front of the windshield and most times I’m listing to SiriusXM. I just love 80’s on 8, Classic Rewind channel 26, and Ozzy’s Boneyard channel 38. With the SiriusXM app, regardless if I’m in the car or on the go, I can always be tuned into my favorite music or talk radio.

So there you have it kids, my favorite vehicle research apps for my DROID Turbo and they are all totally Tommy approved.  Knowledge is power and when buying a vehicle, you need all the power you can get!

For more information on how to get your very own DROID Turbo by Motorola, Here’s a link http://www.verizonwireless.com/smartphones/droid-turbo/

Click here to get my fav car apps.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kbb.mobileplatform&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.autotrader.android&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cars.android&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.edmunds&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.truecar.mobile.android.consumer&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sirius&hl=en

[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]

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TommyLog TECH – 0 to 8 Hours Battery Life in 15 Minutes w/DROID Turbo #VZWBuzz #AD

Okay kids for today’s TommyLog Tech, I want to take a look at my Droid Turbo and one huge claim they make on the website. They say that a dead Turbo, can be charged for 15 minutes and can get up to 8 hours of use out of that 15 minute charge.

The Droid Turbo ships with a special high powered USB changer called a “Turbo Charger” They claim that with this charger is able to go from 0-8 hours battery life in a matter of 15 minutes.
DROID Turbo battery Life
Here’s the math as I see it.

100% Droid Turbo battery = 48 hours of usage. To get 8 hours of usage from a dead state, the 15-minute charge should take the battery to 16.7%.

Well as you can clearly see, the Turbo charged from zero to 16% battery life in 15 minutes, just like the math predicted.

The battery on the Droid Turbo by Motorola is totally Tommy approved.  You can go from 0 to 8 hours battery life in just 15 minutes using their supplied Turbo Charger USB power adapter.

For more information on how to get your very own Droid Turbo by Motorola, Here’s a link http://www.verizonwireless.com/smartphones/droid-turbo/

Music – UP by Asthmatic Astronaut

[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]

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TommyLog TECH – Dance Dad, DROID Turbo and the 21 MP Camera #VZWbuzz #AD

Dance Dad & ClaraHey kids for today’s TommyLog Tech, I would like to talk to you a little about my life as a dance dad. This is my daughter Clara and me and she is on the Little Chute High School dance squad. November thru February I spend my Saturdays sitting in regional high school gyms and arenas on my backside for hours watching Clara’s competitions. This has given me loads of time to play with my new- DRIOD Turbo by Motorola provided by my good friends at Verizon. One area that I just could not wait to get my hands on was the 21MP camera that Motorola tucked inside the Turbo. I have always said the best camera is the one I have available. I know people with big DSLR rigs and by the time it takes to unzip their camera bag, the moment may have passed and the shot missed. Keep that in mind.

One of my favorite features above all that the Turbo possesses is the “wrist flick” feature to activate the LCHS Dance Teamcamera. A simple flick of the wrist and the camera turns on. Flick it again, and it switched from the forward to rear facing camera. That’s one feature not found in any other smart phone I have tested.

The next feature that I really like is the ability to take HDR photos. What is HDR? HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. I think I said high definition resolution, where did I get that? Not sure but I had a brain lapse on that one. High dynamic range is a mode where it takes 3 pictures at once. One is under exposed, the other is over exposed and the 3rd is properly exposed picture and then stitches them together. The wider dynamic range of HDR pictures can be pretty stunning. Use your google skills and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The DROID Turbo also has a panorama mode, where you can take some pretty amazing shots. Gone are the Oshkosh Invite panodays where you have to stitch pictures together to get the shot you want. You just click the panorama mode and follow the on-screen cues to take the prefect panorama.

The camera on the Turbo is a 21 megapixel shooter. It’s a bit of a disappointment that the 21MP shots are only taken in 4:3 mode where the 15.5MP shots are taken in 16;9 more…or wide screen mode. I prefer 16:9 pictures over 4.3, but your mileage will very. Turning to video, the DROID Turbo simply rocks. Not only does this camera take 1080P video and slo-motion video at 720P, it also takes video at a whopping 4K. Now be careful, these videos are just HUGE in size, almost a GB per minute of video. YIKES! Another gotcha about 4K video is that you cannot play it back on the Turbo itself. You will need to watch it on a 4K TV or monitor.

The camera on the DRIOD Turbo by Motorola is Tommy approved.  Its ease of use can’t be beat. Not the best camera I have ever used, but certainly takes decent pictures.

For more information on how to get your very own DROID TURBO by Motorola, Here’s a link

[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]

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