The other night I was watching the newest episode of The Vampire Diaries (my ultimate guilty pleasure) on DVR and doodle-texting away on my Samsung Galaxy Note. At one point I thought I was seeing double after I hit “send” when I looked up at the screen to find one of the vamps doing the exact same thing…on the exact same phone. Being a total nerd, I shouted to everyone in my house, “Klaus has my phone! I have Klaus’ phone! Guys! We have the same phone!”

Proof that evil vampire Klaus and I both love a good doodle-text.

Though it may have been merely a personal moment of glory, I still thought this was a great time to share my love for the Galaxy Note. Bigger than your typical touch-screen phone, but smaller than a tablet, the Note is perfect for someone like me. I don’t want, nor can I afford, to own two separate devices — one for calling and texting, one for comfortably reading and surfing the net. The Note brings me the best of both words all in one device, plus it’s got this super cool S Pen that lets me dominate in Draw Something and send wonderful doodle-texts to my friends. (They love receiving silly caricatures of themselves at 2AM on a Saturday night, I swear!)

The screen is huge and has become my BFF during commute hours. I don’t have to squint to read text like I used to have to do on my old phone and watching Hulu has become infinitely more enjoyable. And since I’m always working, should I be stuck with a great idea during my browsing/watching/reading, there’s the super awesome feature called the S Memo. Just whip out your S Pen, tap the screen while holding down the button, and you’re ready to jot down your notes, then seamlessly go back to what you were doing.

Another feature that I love? The multiple, customizable homescreen panels. You can populate them with whatever widgets you choose, in whatever order and size you want. I have a screen set up for work, one for my messages, one for games and fun stuff, and four more waiting to be organized. Yup, seven panels you can effortlessly scroll between…welcome to heaven.

The Samsung Galaxy Note comes in Ceramic White and Carbon Blue, both featuring an 8MP camera with LED flash. I suggest getting a case for this phone to protect the huge screen, and Samsung’s got a great one that snaps right to the back and has a folio flap to keep everything protected. Learn more about the Galaxy Note here!!

Got something awesome everyone needs to know about? Email your “The Know” ideas to Jill@collegecandy.com and I’ll pass them along to everyone right here, right now. Everyone’s got something to cool share and it’s the season of giving so give it to me.

Folica.com
If its one thing I hate shopping for, it’s beauty products. Between makeup, hair products, hair tools, skin care, body wash, and the list goes on, I usually find myself running around to a million different places when in reality I’d rather just use that time to sit on my couch and watch TV and just walk around looking like a hot-mess. But I know my grandma would not approve and tell me that it is NO way to meet a husband.

But now I found the BEST way to still sit on my couch and look damn good too. Folica is by far the best all-encompassing beauty site out there. They have everything from the best flat irons to the best potions to get rid of that monster zit on your face. Not to mention they always have SWEET deals and usually free shipping. And they ship it out faster than you can type in your credit card information. Check out this curling iron by Enzo Milano; I’m OBSESSED. It’s pricey, but gives you red carpet curls that last all night.

One more thing to know: through tonight they have a big holiday sale going on. You can get $20 off any purchase of $100 or more and $35 off of purchases $150 or more! Plus FREE shipping! Aren’t you glad you’re in The Know? Read More »

You may not use your computer for memory-eating gaming or need it for its high-power computing capabilities, so when it comes to watching videos on our computers, chances are, we don’t put much thought into just how powerful our laptop is. But, we’re in college! You can’t say you don’t use YouTube, play an online game here or there…or at the very least, appreciate some good graphics.

Like many of us,  your computer was probably your graduation present so it won’t be you forking over your hard-earned cash (lucky!) for an upgrade. But if a brand new PC wasn’t waiting for you on graduation day or you just need something a little smaller/faster/better, it’s time to start thinking about what you need in a laptop. (There is more to them than Facebook and AIM.)

When you watch videos you probably take for granted what it takes to get them there so allow us to break it down for you:

Every computer has a video card which determines the quality and capabilities the machine has to display images. So, why should you care? Because even if you’re not editing feature-length films on your PC, you’re going to want a decent video card to do the regular stuff (like a DVD or YouTube or Hulu…) Read More »