I
t has been very busy with few news stories except for year-end round-up and the year's best. We at Wireless and Mobile News have noticed the top best stories for the past week and month.
Our most popular story is our how to unlock your iPhone 5/5S/5c/4/4S for free guide. You'll have to jump through carrier hoops until the new recommendations from CTIA and the FCC are adopted by carriers. Basically, if you pay full price or have completely paid for your iPhone, own it outright and have completed your contract, you can get your iPhone unlocked for free from the carrier.
AT&T has the easiest to understand ways to unlock iPhones right now. Sprint seems to require more than the others. It is better to choice to buy the iPhone 5 or whatever model you prefer for the specific carrier you will be using.
The theft rate for iPhones is very high. If you are buying a used iPhone, it could be stolen unless you buy it refurbished from places like Cowboom. Never models of iPhone 5/4/4s that are using iOS 7 have the Apple account and password linked to the device making it harder than ever for criminal to unlock and steal data from iPhones. The iPhone 5S has a fingerprint scanner that holds the owners fingerprints on the device, making it even more difficult for an outsider to break into the iPhone and unlock it.
If you decide to buy an iPhone and it is not unlocked, the price of unlocking iPhones has gotten more expensive due to way AT&T charges third parties for unlocking iPhones.
2013 was the first year, that we saw iPhones not be in the top three devices by Consumer Reports. The Samsung Galaxy S4 was the top rated smartphone across most carriers. The Nexus 5 did not appear in Consumer Reports testing because it came out too late.
We reminded our friends in disaster climate areas either freezing or in fire zones some disaster safety reminders for cell phones, smartphones and computers during disasters. It's always helpful to have car charger and an emergency contact plan as well as backups of you contacts.
We reviewed the low-cost options for cheapskates and low-income families, including free government subsidized cell phones, FredomPop, Republic and Ting . Another lower-cost options are Tracfone and Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile sells the iPhone 4 for $199.99 (see price comparison).
Other very popular articles included:
Dura-Seal was the worst review of the year. Our favorite WordPress theme was CyberChimps while the fastest government website for healthcare is Covered Care California.
Typically December is a big month for discounting cellphones, smartphones and tablets. New announcements will be made at CES in January in Las Vegas, Nevada.
We followed Best Buy sales carefully especially after Christmas and realized all to late that if you wait a day the price may change. A trip to the Best Buy store a day after the sale showed prices $60 higher for an item. However, we know the price will be reduced in the future, again, we just don't know when. It's a pain but buying online then going in store to pick-up may be the best way tot get the best deals at Best Buy.