Bullogna's Back-To-School Shopping Guide: Smartphones and Tablets

        Whether you're already in school, heading back to school, or graduated 60 years ago, there's always a good excuse to buy yourself (or your kid) a new gadget. Yeah, I'm talking to you, grandpa. And with so many various options in the wonderful world of devices, it can sometimes be hard to choose a new smartphone or tablet. That's why we're here; so we can pick it out for you (and so you don't get sucked in to buying from a company just because they're the biggest, or because they recently won a dispute between themselves and another company-- not mentioning any names.) So hurr wehr gehrr agerhn. Ehrr yurh redehr?

Smartphones

Samsung Galaxy S III

Price: $199.99 w/ upgrade

        If you know me well enough, or you creep on my Facebook every now and again, you probably saw this coming as my top choice for smartphones. At this point, the iPhone 4S is incompetent and irrelevant, and this beautiful device remains at the top of the smartphone food chain, devouring everything in its path. Its beautiful screen, powerful processors, and hi-def built-in cameras all account for a phone that excels at anything one would need a smartphone to excel at, making a tablet completely irrelevant to anyone whose device upgrade was made available near its release date. (I'm jealous of all of you who were that fortunate, as I'll probably upgrade to the Galaxy S VI by the time my upgrade comes around.) Nevertheless, this phone  marks the moment where the iPhone itself becomes irrelevant, providing the reason Apple decided to sue Samsung in the first place. They're afraid, and I don't blame them.

Sony Xperia Ion

Price: $99.99 w/ upgrade

        If you're lucky enough to live in an area where AT&T's service isn't complete crap, then allow me to introduce you to their greatest phone: the Sony Xperia Ion. When you hold it in your hands, you'll know it's the one, but if you don't have AT&T, you can hang this idea up altogether, as it's only available on the network who once raised our nation's bar, but for those of you who are with big blue, you can get your hands on this beauty for only $99.99! (Wouldn't have been worth it for $100.)

Tablets

Nexus 7

Price: $199 (8 GB) or $249 (16 GB)

        This is a device I can actually speak with experience from, and here's my opinion on tablets in general. If you have a nice new smartphone with a large HD screen, you probably don't need any kind of slate PC, unless of course your smartphone lacks Android, or for some odd reason you need your tablet to have quad-core processors. Tegra 3 simply isn't worth an extra 200 bucks. But I have a Samsung Stratosphere with a 480p screen and very poor processors. It's great for on-the-go Google-"ing" and possibly a news article now and then, but at home I prefer my Nexus 7, and no doubt wish it was my phone. It's got speedy processors, a sharp screen, and even a newer, cleaner OS (4.1 Jelly Bean). It was worth every penny, but depending on what phone you have, it may not be for you.

iPad?

Price: $499

        

No, that question mark was not a typo. I know I'm just constantly bashing Apple in this article, but trust me, I do it out of love. The iPad is almost as irrelevant as the iPhone which itself is nearing the irrelevance of the iPod Touch, and the reason lies just above this sub-article: The Nexus 7. Who needs an iPad when the Nexus 7 does more for a lower price? If it wasn't for its 2K screen resolution, the iPad would no longer exist, but I must admit the resolution is quite impressive, though the games at this resolution most likely lag, and most probably don't even support its 2K screen, but it was a nice attempt on Apple's part. But why would we need a resolution that's not even available on most larger-sized consumer TVs on a 10-inch screen? We don't, but Apple assumed we did. The human eye can't even tell the difference between the iPad's and the Nexus 7's resolution at this size, but if you really want to pay over $300 more for something your eyes can't even distinguish, or size inconvenience, it's a free country; do what you please. I recommend looking into the Nexus 7, though.