Over the years I have figured that I knew most of how to use computers....
BUT...
The other day I got an offer from my cell phone provider to upgrade from my flip phone to a smart phone for $19.95...
I decided to do it...and it WAS only $19.95!
The phone feature worked just fine right out of the box....BUT...figuring out the WI-FI stuff and dealing with the touch screen keypads is VERY daunting to this old fart with large fingers!!!
The damn thing came with a tiny, useless, "quick start" guide. BUT I downloaded a 167 page user guide for the thing!!!!
167 page user guide for a "phone"???
This old fart is gonna be a busy boy for a week or two, figuring out all the features!!!
BUT at $19.95 it is cheap entertainment for my brain and once it is "unlocked" I can switch SIM cards and use it in Mexico too.
So far I can access Wi Fi, and get online with it..watched a bit of a Netflix movie..got onto Google..actually accessed "Letterville" too!!
Love my new toy!!! Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
I agree ... still learning all the stuff that it can do!
Posted by Ricardo Davila (Member # 3854) on :
Dave,
$19.95 ??........Please do tell name of that provider.....Thank you.
RD
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Ricardo, It is a Canadian provider called Solo, which is a subsiduary of Bell Canada. The price was because I have been a long time customer, and required a 2 year contract at $20/month. The contract gives 100 minutes Canada wide per month plus unlimited national and international texting.
Posted by Ricardo Davila (Member # 3854) on :
Thanks, Dave....Got it.
RD
Posted by stein Saether (Member # 430) on :
Flip the phone sideways, thus making the letters on the keypad a lot larger.
Posted by Brian Oliver (Member # 2019) on :
I was offered a FREE iPhone4 by Verizon a few weeks back and took it as I needed a new phone. It required an extra $20/month on top of the contract I was already paying. I sent it back and substituted a flip phone for it after about a week. Like Dave, my fat fingers couldn't easily navigate the qwerty keyboard and I was constantly making corrections to my texts. Plus it was so bulky compared to my old flip phone. It didn't fit in my pocket and getting it out when it rang was a major P.I.T.A. Since I use my phone as mainly a phone with some texting and the occasional survey photo, I didn't need all of the bells and whistles available. Not to mention the endless apps. I guess I"m a hopeless old fart.
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
I have to say I'm with Brian, on this one. I don't do texting, don't belong to social networks. I use my phone for a phone, and occasionally to search for something, usually a vendor. I'll stick with my Rugby.
I had an Android, with all the bells and whistles, but I never used a fraction of them; and when you read about how many of those apps can track your whereabouts, check on your phone calls, call up your personal information, send information about you to spammers, etc..... And, if you made it thru an entire day without charging the battery, you were lucky. Many of those apps keep working in the background and updating themselves ( and your information) and constantly draining the battery. My Rugby goes a week or 10 days between charges.
There's too much invasion of our privacy now; and this old fart's not going to encourage it.
[ July 11, 2013, 12:48 PM: Message edited by: Dale Feicke ]
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
I hear ya Dale...I am working thru things and learning one or two steps a day, including how to be "incognito".
I won't be doing any banking on the thing, but acessing Letterville and other sites will be a novelty.
Can't see me walking down the street with ear buds and a mike though!! LOL
I just like new toys to figure out....and the 167 page PDF file is full of info!!!
As Stein suggested, I already knew that turning the phone would make typing easier, and it is...but still a bit "touchy".
Still loving new toy!!!!
[ July 11, 2013, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: Dave Grundy ]
Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
I resisted for years, now I wonder how I made it without one. I find most apps to be a waste, especially any that deal with the net. For example, the Weather Channel app is so feature loaded it basically doesn't work. Go online to the Weather Channel and it's great, same with the Facebook app, the only reason I have it is to be able to upload photos. I never use it relying on using the browser to go to Facebook. The camera aspect is handy as hell and the ability to accept credit cards just about anywhere is priceless. I do not, however, use any type of texting. Sorry, but I talk much faster than I type. I've yet to see any advantage to texting. Denise has it on her phone because her kids use it. There is often a many hour delay between sending and receiving a text. What good is that? There is a feature on these phones called task manager that allows you to shut down processes. I use it every time I use my phone to save on battery use. Go online, go to two sites and when you shut down there might be a dozen or more applications that were running.
Posted by Len Mort (Member # 7030) on :
I'm still trying to figure out how to text on my cell phone. Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Learning more and more as each day goes by...Shirl thinks I am an obsesive idiot, but I don't care..it's FUN.
Got a couple of tunes loaded and they sound GREAT on the earbuds!!!
I guess it doesn't take a whole lot to keep me amused!!!
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
I use my cell phone for calls and texting and a Tablet for apps,keeping my vehicles running, internet while out, GPS and a bunch more things. I just cannot see watching a movie on a telephone or matbe I just cannot see...
BTW, my beard got so long, down to my belly button and I was being profiled by so many, that I cut it totally off cept for my Dali Mustache
[ July 13, 2013, 12:56 AM: Message edited by: Joey Madden ]
Posted by Ricardo Davila (Member # 3854) on :
Now,....this is a real "smart phone"....check it out:
My trusty Samsung flip (which I've had since '05 and could see thru to the circuit boards) finally gave out a few weeks ago. So I gave in to pressure from my kids and got an iPhone5.
The phone itself is becoming a great work tool. It teams up really well with the iPad. I don't have to carry a separate camera around, and I can actually text now.
I may have to get a repeater for the house, though, because AT&T coverage is simply awful.
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
I don't know how AT&T stays in business. I just dumped them for Verizon & got a new iphone5. I resisted a smart phone for a long time but I see this is going to help. I absolutely hate to text, can't stand it when I see the kids with their heads buried in their phone, thumbs dancing all over the screen, and oblivious as to what's going on around them. So I love the talk to text feature and am amazed at how far this technology has come. You'll never see my thumbs on the display when I can just say my text and send.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Dave...When I was in my 30's I wouldn't have even dreamed of the technology we have available today!
I am so thankful that my son "forced" me into the computer/internet world.
I know that my phone has voice recognition capability...might be tomorrow's project!!
"baby steps" for me...when I was a baby, I took baby steps...now that I am an old fart, I need to take baby steps with electronic stuff!!!
I LOVE it!!!!
Posted by Nevman (Member # 332) on :
Dave...Netfix movies eat up a lot of your allotted data. Unless you have 'unlimited data' I wouldn't go there.
I LOVE my IPhone. And mine is only an IPhone 3G.
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
I got a Samsung G3 a few weeks ago.
I felt the same way about texting. But now I'm starting to like it. I can communicate with my salesman without getting interrupted with constant phone calls. If the message isn't critical, he texts me. He only calls when it is very important. It also helps in keeping the conversations short and to the point. I'm finding that it is actually saving me time. I don't have the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time the phone rings when I'm right in the middle of something important.
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Glenn, exactly. Finally using texting, I can see some advantages. Texting every move you make to your friends is not one of them. Maybe several years from now the novelty will wear off and kids will go back to being normal. (I know I'm dreaming)
Pat, don't know if you are referring to me or Grundy, but I don't have a Netflix account and don't plan on downloading movies or playing games on it. I may listen to my itunes once in a while, but for me it's more of a tool than an entertainment center, and I'm hoping to keep it that way. I think my data plan is safe for now. In 10 days I've used exactly 105 mb of my allotted 2 gigs.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Dave S. I think Pat was warning me about Netflix on my phone.
After Pat mentioned it, I did some searching and found that my version of the Netflix app only works when Wi-Fi is available. It does not work nor access cell service, therefor it does not use data time..
Obviously, it would only be of any value in a situation like sitting in an airport, with Wi-Fi access, for a couple of hours, just to relieve the boredom.
Also, just installed a 32 gig Micro SDHC card to the phone... Now I can preload a bunch of tunes and a few movies too, without even needing to use cell time or needing Wi-Fi.
After a couple of weeks, I am very happy with this new toy. And learning more about it every day! Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
I drowned my brand new S3 last March. It didn't survive the third dunking in two weeks. I had to wait a couple months before another phone on my plan was eligible for upgrade and got an S4. I love it, however, I occasionally have to hand it to a grandkid to show me how to do something.
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Dave, check out an otter box for your phone. It will handle a dunking now and then. There's another one that is totally waterproof to 3 feet I think. If you're out on a boat, that doesn't help when it goes to the bottom of the lake, so there is another device that the protecting cover snaps into that makes it float. Water wings for cell phones, who'd have thunk it.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Last evening I contacted my cell providor and talked to a very helpful service rep gal who happened to speak perfect English.
I asked her about my "data usage" and it was 19 kb in the last 2 weeks and that was all on the day that the phone was activated. No charge for that stuff. She mentioned that the main reason people experience unexpectedly high bills for data usage was because they used cell service for accessing internet or e-mail instead of Wi-Fi, OR spammers used it to send messages.
She suggested that the easiest way to prevent that from happening was to block "data usage". Since I only want cell service for voice or text and only use internet when connected to a Wi-Fi signal,I opted to do just that. She did it and I had a text message from the providor that it had been done before I even hung up from speaking to her.
Posted by Graham Parsons (Member # 1129) on :
So what was the actual phone you got, Dave?
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
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