ABOVE THE FOLD

Remember the first Samsung Fold phone? You could unfold it to get a much larger display. What a dud. Now they’ve announced their third foldable phone: the “Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G.”

The reviewers of the first Fold went ballistic over cracking screens, black-outs and an unsightly bulge that appeared below the display. They also hated the bulky hinge. (This follows Bob’s general rule: Never buy anything with a low serial number.)

The new Z Fold 2, Samsung’s third foldable phone, is getting good reviews, even before it’s out. There’s less of a gap between the screens. The hinge is better. Though some reviewers suspected a plastic screen, it’s actually ultra-thin glass. Samsung poured dirt and gravel all over it to show how well it escapes damage.

People like a foldable phone because it’s easy to prop up for reading or watching movies. It also gives you more screen real estate. It’s 7.6 inches when unfolded compared to 7.2 inches on the original phone. But as we went to press, Samsung hadn’t announced the price. The previous Fold phone cost $1,980.  The new one is available for pre-order September 1.

Some people will be tempted to get a new phone just for the 5G connection. But 5G is mostly hype for now.  In trying to broaden coverage, AT&T and T-Mobile use “low-band” networks, which provide almost no advantage over 4G.  Another approach,  “Millimeter Wave” technology, covers only a city block. That means that users will  connect to the Internet via a high-speed 5G connection less than one percent of the time. Mostly, they’ll be using 4G.

Internut

We find it highly annoying when we give $25 to a charity only to be bombarded with solicitations afterward.  Here’s a better way.

CharityChecks.us allows you to give anonymously and still get a tax receipt.  The charities won’t have your name, so they can’t waste paper on you. The checks can be made out to any of 1.5 million organizations. They’re partially blank; just the amount is written in. You fill in the rest. Unlike other organizations, CharityChecks doesn’t charge user fees.

The organization began as a way to provide learning tools for school children, as well as rewards for employees, and gifts for anyone who has too much stuff. (These days, that’s most of us.)  Joy put one in a gift basket for her sister’s birthday. We recently bought two $25 checks for $50, just to try out their new online system. Worked like a dream. No tax or extras. The checks are in the mail.

Google Maps Tip

Booking a hotel room has gotten more complicated since the emergence of so many  travel websites. When you search for a hotel,  you get a dozen or more discount sites. Joy’s sister thought she was calling a Holiday Inn, but got a travel broker. It worked, but felt like a scam. The guy had almost no information about the hotel in question. We suggest using Google Maps. Look up the hotel you want, and you’ll get the right phone number.

Hold the Phone!

These days, people keep their cell phones for about three years, according to Techlicious.com. They used to switch every two years. But a phone can last much longer with these tips.

First, take a look at the battery. Apple started offering cheaper ones in 2018 after admitting they throttled the batteries on older phones. They did it in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns. They’re still doing it. Almost any old phone may benefit from a new battery.

Another good way to improve your phone’s performance is to clean its charging port with a toothpick. Lint gets in there and blocks the charge to the battery sensor. Next, try removing the phone from its case. Then dust it.

Finally, to keep a phone speedy, don’t take up more than 75 percent of the storage space with files and apps. To see how much space you’re using on an iPhone, tap “Settings,” then look for “Device” in the “General” tab. On Android, “Storage” is under “Settings.”

If your phone is still slow, consider a factory reset. Find out how in a Google search.

Reading for Free

Our niece was having trouble getting free books from Gutenberg.org on her Kindle Paperwhite. That’s because the Paperwhite is slightly trickier than other tablets.

If you use an Amazon Fire HD or an iPad, books from Gutenberg open automatically when you go to Gutenberg.org on your tablet and click on the title you want. With the “Kindle Paperwhite,” you need an extra trick. Tap the menu in the top right ahd choose “Experimental Browser.” Then go to Gutenberg.org and click on any title to download it. Presto, it will open on the Paperwhite. We liked “The Bet,” by Anton Chekov.

Slow Chrome

If you use Google Chrome, you may have noticed that it’s a resource hog, slowing down your computer. Firefox is no better. But we found good advice from Marketwatch.

First consider a different browser. The latest version of Microsoft Edge uses five percent fewer resources than Microsoft Chrome, works in Windows or Mac and is now based on the Chromium operating system.  In Marketwatch tests, Safari used 10 percent fewer resources on a Mac, which translated into two extra hours of battery life.

If you prefer Chrome anyway, as we do, the main thing is to get rid of extensions you aren’t using. Click the three vertical dots, go to “Settings” then “Extensions.”  You can  disable them. No need to remove them. You may want to turn them on again.

 

 

 

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