That said, this hasn?t stopped manufacturers from developing new offerings that take previous models and significantly innovate on them. With the majority of the western smartphone market dominated by Apple and Samsung, we thought that we would look at their new flagship devices, as well as three devices we?ve found to be comparable. Without further adieu we present this year?s top flagship smartphones: Huawei Mate 20 Pro What if we told you that what could be the best phone on the market this holiday season may not be available on your carrier? The Chinese electronics giant currently isn?t available through carrier-sponsored deals in the U.S., but that doesn?t stop the Mate 20 Pro from being one of the best smartphones ever developed. The Mate 20 Pro is built on an aluminum chassis and features a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a Kirin 980 processor. It has four cameras: 40 MP fixed wide-angle lens 20 MP ultra-wide-angle lens 8 MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom 8 MP front-facing lens Other options include a first-in-class in-display fingerprint reader and Qi-enabled device charging from the device. It is available in Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Twilight, Pink Gold, and Black and can be found for $1,100 on the Internet. Specifications Build – Aluminum frame with Glass Front/Back Display – 6.4? AMOLED with ~538 ppi Chipset – HiSilicon Kirin 980 Memory – 6/8GB RAM Storage – 128/256GB with Nano Memory slot up to 256GB Software – Android 9.0 Pie, Huawei UI Cameras – 40 MP (27mm); 20 MP (16mm); 8 MP (80mm) with 5x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. Front facing 24 MP. Battery – 4,200 mAh (85 hours) Additional Features – Face ID, In-display fingerprint scanner, Qi wireless charging broadcasting, 40-Watt fast charging Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Samsung has done it again. Two years after its biggest debacle, the newest iteration of the Galaxy Note, the Note 9, is probably Samsung?s best phone to date. With an octa-core Snapdragon 845, six or eight GB of RAM and 128 or 512 GB of onboard storage, the Note 9 matches up with about any handset available on the market. The device is shipped with Android Oreo 8.1. Onboard the Note 9 has two lenses, a 12 MP wide angle lens, and a 12 MP telephoto lens with optical zoom. The battery checks in at 4,000 mAh and produces an industry-best 97 hours endurance rating. It has an onboard ?S Pen? that provides a lot of additional functionality including remote control over many of the phone?s applications. It is available in Metallic Copper, Lavender Purple, Midnight Black, Ocean Blue, and Pure White, and carries a $1,100 price tag. Specifications Build – Aluminum with Glass Front/Back Display – 6.4? Super AMOLED with ~516 ppi Chipset – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Memory – 6 or 8 GB of RAM Storage – 128 or 512 GB of onboard storage and microSD up to 512 GB Software – Android 8.1 Oreo Cameras – 12 MP (26mm); 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom; optical image stabilization; 8 MP front-facing Battery – 4,000 mAh (97 hours) Additional Features – Samsung S Pen, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, iris scanner. Apple iPhone XS Max Once again Apple has the most popular device in the U.S. market. This year?s iPhone, the iPhone XS Max is the […]
In particular, the cloud can be used to make your business much more mobile, scalable, and dynamic with enhanced features and more choices than ever before. The Cloud is Flexible The cloud can help your business? employees be much more flexible with the devices that they can work with. For example, let?s say that your employees have a Voice over IP application on their desktop and their mobile device. It can be used either with a headset on-site, or on the phone like a traditional handset. This kind of choice empowers employees to test the boundaries of the workplace and be as productive as possible wherever (and whenever) they happen to be. The Cloud is Scalable The cloud allows you to easily control how many employees have access to a software or piece of data that?s stored in the cloud. For example, in the above scenario with Voice over IP, you might have ten employees at first. Before you know it, you?re starting to experience growth. You have to hire new employees to handle the workload, but the traditional office space would require wires and handsets for each new number. You can instead simply make an account and add a user, eliminating one of the many roadblocks. The Cloud is Feature-Rich The cloud can give your business the boost it needs through the use of additional features in your cloud-based applications. For example, in regards to Voice over IP, you can take advantage of all of the traditional features of voice calling in addition to more modern communication techniques, such as instant messaging, video conferencing, and so on. Depending on the kind of business you run, a public or private cloud solution will be preferable. If you don?t mind having your data be on a shared cloud infrastructure, then public is a fine way to approach cloud computing. If you?d like more control over your cloud solution, then a private cloud hosted on your own in-house infrastructure can offer more enhanced security and functionality at the expense of having an in-house IT department managing it. Of course, the option for a hybrid solution that allows for both high customization and lesser responsibilities on your part can be quite helpful for your organization–particularly if you don?t have an in-house IT department. To learn more, reach out to the outsourced IT experts from White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.
The Stakes Are High A lost smartphone can have serious consequences in today?s modern environment. While the most immediate issue might seem like the price of the device, you also need to consider what the smartphone provides for users: access to accounts, access to data, and access to anything else stored on the device, including the ability to unlock any accounts (or your business? network) that might have two-factor authentication set up using that particular device. All of this combines to create a situation that is far from ideal, and one that Android developers have planned for with built-in device tracking features. Auto-Location While the features are there, you still need to take some proactive measures to enable them. In your Settings, you need to navigate to Find My Device. Next, you?ll need to turn this setting on. Your Location should be set to High Accuracy. Once this is done, enable Google to Use Location History. This might seem like a privacy issue, but it will make your phone much easier to find if you ever lose it. Once you?ve done this, you can access the same Google account that is used by your device from your web browser. Google will then give you an idea of where your device was last located. It can even detect which Wi-Fi network it?s connected to. If you need to, you can use the Find My Device application to accomplish the same thing for a secondary device. Find My Device also gives you the ability to remotely lock a device and display a message to anyone who might find it. This gives them the opportunity to locate you and return the device. Once you?re in the vicinity of your device, you can also tell the device to ring. It?s notable that this command will override your volume settings so that you?ll be guaranteed to hear the device when it rings (assuming you?re close enough to hear it). Also, of note is that the device can be remotely wiped through the Find My Device feature. Granted, this option is a bit on the extreme side, so try to avoid doing this unless you truly think the device has been stolen. In order for these features to work like you want them to, you need to enable them. Otherwise, you can forget about using them to find your device if you ever lose it or misplace it. Act Fast It?s incredibly important to keep these features in mind, but it?s even more important to understand their limitations. For one, the features only work when the device is on. While you can check its last known location, there?s no guarantee it will be where you left it. If you think your device was stolen, be sure to let your local authorities know and clue them in on what you know about it. For help with managing your mobile devices, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.
There?s so many threats,and with attackers so busy how can you stop them all without getting dizzy? To answer this question,we look to one Who, who smartly saved Christmas from disaster, part two! We all know this Who, Cindy Lou, she?s called, who opened her email but at that point, she stalled. She there found a message from her old friend, the Grinch but something about it was off by an inch. ?Hello you my grand chum,? this strange email read. This didn?t sound like what The Grinch would have said! ?I need a big favor, I feel like a fool, and right now I?m stuck in the Jungle of Nool.? The email went on, ?Just so you?re aware, I decided to travel and let down my hair. ?But while I was here, my wallet was taken! my tickets were in there, I?m broke and I?m shaken! ?So please, send me funds and send them quite fast! If I don?t get home soon I don?t know if I?ll last! ?I have included a link to a transactional site, please send it in Seusscoin, I need it tonight! ?So please, my dear Cyndi, help me come home! I want to be safe, nevermore will I roam!? Cindy sat back, a frown on her face. She said, ?I don?t think he?s really stuck in that place.? Young Cindy was wise, and, shaking her head, said, ?This might be a scam! Let me check what I read. ?Aha! Yes, here! This part doesn?t make sense!? Cindy was heard to exclaim. ?How could the Grinch misspell my first name?? She peered ever closer, and cried out, ?Success! I know the Grinch well, that?s not his address!? So Cindy was smart, and by dialing correctly, she called up the Grinch who answered directly: ?Hello, my dear, what do you need?? Said the reformed Grinch so nicely, and Cindy explained what had happened, concisely. Young Cindy knew that when one gets a strange note, one should try to make sure that note?s a real quote. Because email can be a tool for a crook trying to make you feel like a schnook. So be careful of email now, and all seasons and when you get a message always question the reason For advice to help keep Your business secure, Call White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800, We?ll help you for sure!
Why Gift Cards, And Why Businesses Let?s look at the situation for a moment. You spend most of your time around your team. You?ve more than likely developed some kind of familiarity with them, or at the very least have been roped into an office gift exchange. If you aren?t familiar with all of your coworkers or employees, you may have a rough time selecting the right gift for them. In light of this, it starts to make sense to gift them something that they can pick out for themselves, as gift cards enable you to do. This probably explains why gift cards are such a popular option for so many. Unfortunately, this also practically hands scammers the opportunity to make a lot of money. The Scam in Action Using spoofed emails and social engineering tactics to their advantage, a hacker can scam a company?s users by posing as an authority figure, like the president or the CEO. Under this guise, the scammer can instruct the user to purchase gift cards for the staff and to pass along the redemption codes to the scammer. Since these instructions ?come from above,? the employee complies, not realizing that they are sending company funds to a cybercriminal in an effectively untraceable form of currency. How to Avoid This Scam Awareness is key to protecting your business? interests, resources, and funds–and this awareness needs to be on all levels of your organization. Each and every member needs to be educated on how to spot these scams, and how to confirm them. This confirmation is another crucial component to your business security. If your employees don?t develop the habit of confirming requests like this through a secondary line of communication, the company is left vulnerable to this scam and similar ones. Sure, fielding confirmation requests from your employees may get old, and fast, but it will almost certainly be preferable when compared to being scammed. When all is said and done, scammers are going to keep trying to take advantage of you, your employees, and your business at large. White Mountain IT Services can help to protect you. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 today.
