Whether it ’s a phone flattop file you for service you do n’t need or a cashier push pricy tribute design for your tablet , the tech - world is occupy with Mobile Madoffs trying to con you out of your hard - realise cash . Fortunately , you do n’t have to be the victim of data superhighway robbery . These are the 10 bad gadget rip - offs and how to avoid them .
There are plenty of contrivance that are enough worth their hefty price tag . But asLaptop Mag ’s Avram Piltch explains , there are also plenty that just are n’t worth it . Here are then biggest ripoffs in tech . Buyer beware !
Carrier GPS Navigation Services
Every Android headphone comes with loose twist - by - turn Global Positioning System directions . Same thing goes for the iPhone . So why on ground would you pay your phone carrier $ 5 or $ 10 a month for the same functionality ? AT&T charges $ 9.99 per calendar month for its AT&T Navigator service while Verizon wants $ 4.99 for VZ Navigator .
solvent : Just say no to these unnecessary services and their monthly fees . Android has Google Maps , arguably the lead military service for turn - by - turn directions , mapping and points of interest . iOS ’ Apple Maps app still has issuance , but it least it offer round - by - turn counsel for detached . you’re able to also download Google Maps from the App Store for complimentary , which deliver spoken directions . Both Windows Phone ( via Nokia Maps ) and BlackBerry 10 come with their own free solutions .
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Core i5 Tablets
The world ’s most pop tablet , the iPad , costs $ 499 and gets 12 hours of battery life story while 10 - inch Android tablets usually go for $ 400 to $ 500 and render 8 to 10 hours of juice . unluckily , a identification number of PC makers have released pricey Windows 8 tablets with Core i5 central processing unit , quick SSDs and really piteous barrage spirit .
From the $ 999Acer Iconia W700to theMicrosoft Surface Pro , which starts at $ 899 ( $ 999 with a keyboard ) , and the $ 1,199 Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700 T , these Core i5 tablets cost double as much as their Android and iOS rival while count 25 percentage more and providing importantly less battery living . Though they are design to provide gamey performance , their small screens and keyboards are n’t enough to make most citizenry toss their laptop computer , gain them $ 1,000 subaltern devices .
Solution : Buy an Atom - power Windows 8 lozenge like the ThinkPad Tablet 2 , which begin at $ 579 , weighs just 1.2 pound and live on 9 hour and 42 minutes on a flush . tablet with Atom central processor are n’t potent enough to do the most intense tasks , but are inexpensive enough to have you give that Ultrabook you ’ve been eyeball .
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Paying Extra for 4G on Your Tablet or Laptop
You give for information on your smartphone , but that ’s not enough for your mobile provider ; it wants you to pay another monthly fee for every laptop computer and tablet you own . Verizon and AT&T both have share information plans where you’re able to purchase one pool of data to utilize with all your equipment , but even then , you have to pay an extra $ 10 per month for each pad of paper and $ 20 per month for each peregrine hot spot / USB modem . Sprint requires a disjoined plan for each pad or hot spot , with pill plans starting at $ 15 for 1 GB per month .
Solution : Use your smartphone as a hotspot and touch base your other devices to it via Wi - Fi . If you ’re using a partake data program , you wo n’t pay extra for change state on your sound ’s hotspot feature article . If you ’re not on a shared data plan and you have an Android phone , you may use free hotspot software such as Fox . Fi ( availble in the Google drama store ) to get a connection without giving more money to the postman .
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Pricey Cables
All the major connexion on your figurer , phone and home theater use digital cables ; there ’s no tangible difference between one brand and another . So why does a 4 - foot Monster HDMI cable be $ 39.99 at Best Buy while Monoprice.com charges $ 2.96 for one of its 4 - human foot HDMI cables , which will do the same job ? The cable defrauder are hoping you wo n’t notice .
Solution : Do n’t hang for merchandising gimmicks by purchasing expensive name - brand cables . on-line retailers like NewEgg , Amazon and Monoprice have big prices on cables from lesser - known brands .
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Phone Insurance
When you buy a new earphone , most carrier wave will attempt to sell you an insurance plan that costs anywhere from $ 6 to $ 11 per calendar month , and predict to resort or replace your telephone set should it be lose or stolen . But this phone insurance has more grab than Yogi Berra , including huge deductibles and the caveat that you may not get the same phone framework as a successor for the one you lost or broke .
For example , Asurion , the party that in reality provides the insurance policy for all the major U.S. carriers , charge $ 11 per month to protect a Galaxy S III on Sprint with a $ 150 deductible . Let ’s say your telephone is stolen in month 18 of possession . You ’ll have drop $ 348 to substitute a speech sound that Sprint sell unsubsidized for $ 549 , and there ’s a chance you wo n’t even get a Galaxy S III , because it wo n’t be made anymore .
resolution : Do n’t bribe telephone insurance . The bad thing that could materialise is that you lose your phone while you ’re ineligible for a subsidised upgrade and must pay the full retail toll to replace it , a cost of $ 500 to $ 700 from most mailman . fortuitously , you could usually find a used or refurbished version of your telephone set online for importantly less .
However , if you buy insurance and do n’t misplace your earphone , you end up paying hundreds for certain to protect against the possibility that you might have to pass an additional $ 300 in the unconvincing event you lose or break your phone . Take the gamble that you wo n’t .
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RAM and SSD Upgrades From Notebook Makers
A figure of vendors , including Dell , Lenovo , HP and Toshiba allow you to custom configure your notebook computer when order from their websites . Unfortunately , they send you a lot more for read/write memory and memory board upgrades than you ’d pay if you bribe the parts on your own and put in them at home . For example , Lenovo charges $ 80 more for a ThinkPad T430 with 8 GB of RAM than with 4 gigabyte . Meanwhile , you may buy a name - brand 4 GB SODIMM for just $ 23 online .
Dell charges $ 346 more for a Latitude E6430 with a 256 GB SSD than the same system with 320 GB surd drive while online you could purchase a reputable 256 GB SSD for under $ 200 or the blazing - flying Samsung 840 PRO Series for around $ 230 . If it be you $ 23 for a SODIMM and $ 200 for an SSD at retail , how much less must it be personal computer seller , who grease one’s palms parts in bulk at wholesale , but jack up the margins on their client ?
solvent : corrupt a notebook with the lowest amount of RAM and smallest unvoiced drive available . Then purchase your own remembering and SSD or unvoiced drive rise at a scummy - price retailer like NewEgg or Tiger Direct .
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Exorbitant International Roaming Charges
Want to use your American phone to download a 500 MB television while you ’re working in Dubai ? You better be a sultan , because Verizon charge $ 20.48 per megabyte for datum carry-over there , making that received def episode of Breaking Bad you need to see cost as much as 106 cask of earthy crude oil ( $ 10,200 ) .
Even in the res publica where Big Red ’s global $ 25/100 mebibyte plan figure out , swarm that instalment in HD would cost you as much as an 8 ball of Walter ’s gamey Cartesian product . Verizon ’s not alone as AT&T would charge $ 120 for that file under its global data point programme or $ 9,984 in salary - as - you - go usage for countries that are n’t incubate .
result : If you do n’t demand to make phone outcry over cellular , charter a hot spot or USB modem from Xcom worldwide is your best bet . For $ 15 a daytime , you get unlimited 3 gramme data in the state of your choice . you may even connect your exist telephone set to the hot spot and use it to make VoIP calls .
If your telephone is SIM unlocked , you could also buy a local postpaid SIM card when you come in your destination . Local SIMs can be as short as $ 10 or $ 15 for 500 MB of data and plenty of voice minutes and texts . If your phone is not SIM unlatched , your carrier may be willing to unlock it for foreign manipulation ; a fellow convinced AT&T to unlock his iPhone 5 by threatening to invalidate his contract . If you move overseas a mess and ca n’t unlock your American phone , you’re able to purchase an inexpensive unlocked Android phone for around $ 100 .
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Buying a Phone Through Your Carrier
Psst , look over here . I ’ve got a great passel on a phone . Sure I charge $ 100 to $ 200 more than my competitors for the same production and avail , but you ’d rather line my pockets than theirs , because you ’re so used to getting rive off by me that you ca n’t imagine anyone else would treat you better .
That ’s the message come from the major wireless immune carrier as they repeatedly file hundreds of dollar more for handsets then Amazon and Wirefly . For example , Verizon charges $ 199.99 for the HTC Droid DNA while Amazon asks $ 49.99 for the same speech sound , with both operating on the same Verizon connection under the same Verizon plans . dash charge $ 299 for the Samsung Galaxy Note II , which Amazon sells the Sprint adaptation of for just $ 99 . Even if you ’re an survive client of a carrier wave , you’re able to still use a third party site like Amazon for your raise
root : Before you corrupt a new speech sound , shop at around at reputable phone etailers such as Amazon and Wirefly .
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Internal Storage on Your Phone / Tablet
Outside of the jewelry industry where it ’s mundane to charge client 300 percent more than they paid for a clump of useless rocks , intragroup pad of paper and headphone storage carries the boastful mockup . The meanspirited level iPad costs $ 499 with 16 GB of NAND computer storage while the 32 GB model costs $ 100 more , despite cost Apple just $ 16.80 more for the additional 16 GB , agree to IHS iSuppli . The 64 GB mannikin get going for $ 699 , despite cost just $ 50.40 more than the base theoretical account .
IHS iSuppli has n’t estimated a billhook - of - materials monetary value for the Samsung Galaxy S III , but it ’s secure to assume that the $ 50 divergence between the 16 GB and 32 GB variation of that telephone is about triple what cost Samsung for the higher - capacitance NAND . you may wager that Microsoft is also making bank on the $ 100 spare it charges to go from the 32 GB to 64 GB version of the Surface with Windows RT .
Solution : If you’re able to corrupt a phone or tablet with a microSD card slot , do it . you may buy a 32 GB microSD bill for under $ 25 . If you have your heart determine on a gadget like the iPhone that does n’t have a microSD time slot , you have two choices : use online storage to keep more of your files in the swarm or buy a wireless storage gimmick like the Kingston Wii Drive , which lets you get at your data file over the local web .
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Extended Warranties
Shopping at a big box retailer these days is like walking through Washington Square Park at midnight ; everyone ’s stress to sell you something bad that you do n’t require or demand . From the sale people on the floor to the teller , entrepot employees are heavily incented to hard - sell you on expand warranties , aka “ protection plans . ”
In - computer storage stooges will tell you all personal manner ofhalf - accuracy and outright Lie , to get you to plunk down century of dollars extra to add an extra yr or two to your warranty . They do n’t tell you thatmost products do n’t bust in the 3 - yr guarantee period , that the first twelvemonth is usually handled by the maker anyway and that , after a couple of years , most gadgets are n’t even worth renovate if they do break .
solvent : With few exceptions , you should never grease one’s palms an extended warrant . If you ’re a small commercial enterprise and want to buy extra service of process options for your embodied computers now from the manufacturer ( Dell , Lenovo , HP ) , it might make some horse sense . But when the blue shirt attempt to scare a few Franklins out of you , just keep walk .
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Republished with permission fromLaptop Mag.Laptopmag.combrings you in - depth review article of the hottest wandering production , the late technical school news show , helpful how - to advice , and expert analysis of the latest tech trends .
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